AKG
May 15, 2012 at 9:50 AM Post #4 of 12
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is it me or AKG dont get the recognition they deserve. they make one of the best headphones in the world and have a 6 drive in ear headphone as well.

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I think AKG headphones get lots of attention. Their new K550 headphone has many positive reviews.

 
I think AKG gets loads of attention.  AKG has traditionally garnered much attention around here.  Back in the day, the old royal trio of flagship headphones was the Senn HD650, Beyer DT880, and AKG K70x.  Every thread was dominated by flame wars between the three the same way you see D2k, LCD-2, etc threads floating everywhere these days.  They had as much time in the sun as Senn and Beyer that generation.
 
You see a little less mention of them now simply because they don't have a $1k+ top tier flagship offering at the high end.  Their old K1000 flagship was quite famous (they called them "earspeakers".)   They did post announcement of a pending future flagship on their website a while ago, but they didn't trot it out for CES 2012, so they're in between "ultra-luxury" models at the moment, and that reduces their attention on the "summit-fi" side of things. 
 
But most importantly AKG has always traditionally been a pro-audio brand, not a consumer audio brand.  You'll see them mentioned more often in studio trade mags than consumer products.  But after the Harmon buyout and the realigning of the brand for consumer use (the rebadge of K702 as Q701 and tying it to Quincy Jones, the Tiesto rebadge, etc.) they're trying to get it back into the consumer realm as well, and it's working.  There's quite a few popular Q701 appreciation and Q701 vs K701 and "need amp for Q701" threads popping up rather often around here.  In addition to the K550 threads.
 
With Senn's new crazy pricing, it's easy to call K/Q70x the best value on the market right now. 
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 12:38 AM Post #5 of 12
AKG & Beyerdynamic didnt have good marketing department as Sennheiser.
AKG didnt have strong lineups as Sennheiser, and Beyerdynamic focus heavily on Pro segments with premium tags. Of course AKG will change that with more consumer-grade lineups & more marketing hype. But for beyerdynamic I still feel they focus heavily on Pro with their tesla technology.
Price wise, AKG is more budget friendly than Sennheiser offering. Why AKG populars on studio because basically their prices aren't premiums
Their top line-up only cost $300 or so. 
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 2:10 AM Post #6 of 12
I suspect that the current AKG owners & management are trying to determine how to best market their line of headphones--and/or (I fear) on how to restructure it.
 
AKG is well regarded by the pros.  The three brand of cans that studio and sound pros that began in the 60's and 70's mention to me are Beyers, Sony and AKG.  As an extension of that, they have become well known to "audiophiles" and music lovers who are looking for quality headphones.  However, they are not/have not been well known in the general consumer market.  They certainly are not hip and do not compete in the under 30 market and the big sales and margins that it offers to successful entrants.
 
For now it is very difficult to find a better deal on a quality headphone that the $22x to $23x that will bring you an AKG Q 701. 
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 2:34 AM Post #7 of 12
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I suspect that the current AKG owners & management are trying to determine how to best market their line of headphones--and/or (I fear) on how to restructure it.
 
AKG is well regarded by the pros.  The three brand of cans that studio and sound pros that began in the 60's and 70's mention to me are Beyers, Sony and AKG.  As an extension of that, they have become well known to "audiophiles" and music lovers who are looking for quality headphones.  However, they are not/have not been well known in the general consumer market.  They certainly are not hip and do not compete in the under 30 market and the big sales and margins that it offers to successful entrants.
 
For now it is very difficult to find a better deal on a quality headphone that the $22x to $23x that will bring you an AKG Q 701. 

 
 
today hip-hop, R&B, trance, technno & many modern genres flooded markets, which cans can render those genre nice enough to the amateurs ears will be regarded as nice sounding. 
They all should build new genre headphone that play very fun on those genres, otherwise they will not able to compete 
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 2:40 AM Post #8 of 12
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today hip-hop, R&B, trance, technno & many modern genres flooded markets, which cans can render those genre nice enough to the amateurs ears will be regarded as nice sounding. 
They all should build new genre headphone that play very fun on those genres, otherwise they will not able to compete 

 
That's a little like saying all car companies should build Chevys.  I don't believe that such a thing will work or is a good idea for all companies.  I will say that I think that is where the big money is--at least for now.
 
Assuming you want to tap into such a market that is so different from the ones you serve well now and so different from your current brand image, such facts may suggest getting into it with a new nameplate.
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 2:41 AM Post #9 of 12
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today hip-hop, R&B, trance, technno & many modern genres flooded markets, which cans can render those genre nice enough to the amateurs ears will be regarded as nice sounding. 
They all should build new genre headphone that play very fun on those genres, otherwise they will not able to compete 

 
Compete with what? beats by dre 
tongue.gif

 
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:02 AM Post #10 of 12
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That's a little like saying all car companies should build Chevys.  I don't believe that such a thing will work or is a good idea for all companies.  I will say that I think that is where the big money is--at least for now.
 
Assuming you want to tap into such a market that is so different from the ones you serve well now and so different from your current brand image, such facts may suggest getting into it with a new nameplate.

 
I didnt mention have to be chevy (one brand fanaticism). What i meant is when CityCar became popular, be sure old headphone makers also built it. That's Beats recipe of success, they play on different category than old makers. 
 
>> akg tiesto might be a move to counter beats. senheisser haven't done anything like that (yet)
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:07 AM Post #11 of 12
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i didnt mention have to be chevy (one brand fanaticism). What i meant is when CityCar became popular, be sure old headphone makers also built it.That's Beats recipe of success, they play on different category than old makers.

 
In this analogy by "Chevy" I meant a lower quality (measured by traditional audio quality standards) product line that appealed to and penetrated the "mass" market.
 
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:19 AM Post #12 of 12
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In this analogy by "Chevy" I meant a lower quality (measured by traditional audio quality standards) product line that appealed to and penetrated the "mass" market.

 
Sorry just edited my comment. My personal opinion :
The problem with Beats is the sound sig can be really fun with modern genres compared to old maker.
Old maker have experience to produce better audiophile SQ, but often they dont produce fun sounding that market wants. 
Take a look on Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser or AKG they only focused on Hi-fi Audiophile headphone that focused heavily on Orchestra performance, Classical performance, Jazz performance,
But hey... they did little for modern genres.
 
Anyway mainly people buy Beats because of the style & image. Apart from "fun SQ" or "lower quality sound"
 
AKG Tiesto might will change that, I can't comment for now. 
 

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