[johanchandy]

The Akg Y50 received whathifi's best on-ear headphone award (up to

£​

100) for 2014. This line does look promising!
 
http://www.whathifi.com/news/awards-2014-13-best-pairs-headphones

 

[obsidyen]

muddy k series? O.o the k702 is the furthest thing from muddy.

Sorry, I should have said K4XX series. K450, 451 and 452 in particular. On-ear portables.
 
I tried Y50 too and it was impressive but too big for me to be really portable. Y40 is really mini, very portable.

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

... http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LPR9FX0?cache=c5c33ef6c6d20a42fb2a6d3aed8f1ecb&pi=SX200_QL40&qid=1414015380&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2 when did this come out?

 

[mcilie]

Are there any new owners of akg y40?
 
I just bought a pair. I really like the overall sound clarity. The mid tones and vocals seem a bit shot down. Bass management is acceptable, but they don't like it boosted. I own a rockboxed ipod via line out and the fiio e6 mini amp.
 
Any suggestions of eq's? I tried equalising via empirical ear method and sine waves but it just doesn't hit the spot. In the end I still prefer flat eq. Also turn down the volume because the mid high's scream. Any thoughts are apreciated.
 
Thanks!

 

[Valephar]

I bought the Y50 Black Headphones over December and am really impressed with it. I saw someone wearing them on a train in London and I though they looked familiar seeing the large logo on the side... remembering I read that they won the What Hifi Award. I had never really seen the black pair before and am not a fan of those other shocking color schemes.
 
I must just say that these headphones are absolutely amazing. They have now become my favorite travelling portable headphones. I use them mainly with my iPod.
 
They sound absolutely brilliant and have a good build quality. I've just bought myself a PS4 and have started using these headphones by plugging them into the controller. Now I can use them as my chat/gaming headphones since they include a mic on the cable.
 
The black ones really look amazing, if you're not a fan of the other colors. This is my second pair AKGs the first being the Q701s. Well done AKG.
 
I must just point out that the stock cable seems a bit weak and flimsy and if your not using them on a phone or a device where the mic is supported I would suggest investing in a better quality cable. Also, I have noticed that plugging the cable into my iPod or other devise have caused some scratching sounds. I think this just might be due to the poor quality of the connector on the cable.

 

[Elsweyr]

can anyone have an akg Y40 and post a review here?
mine will arrive next week. i bought it completely blind, because i can't find reviews on the internet, just for the y50.
i think y40 deserve more attention. maybe it is better than K450 and K81ds. at least i hope...

 

[cmpessoa]

Hi, you can read this post in another thread where I compare my AKG Y40 with some other phones I own:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/674878/akg-k374-review-greatness-is-in-the-details#post_11238334

 

[Elsweyr]

  Hi, you can read this post in another thread where I compare my AKG Y40 with some other phones I own:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/674878/akg-k374-review-greatness-is-in-the-details#post_11238334

oh, thank you sooooooooo much!!! so the Y40 looks like a good headphone for the price (i bought it on an online shop for half the price from others retailers here in Brazil).
can you answer me just one more question?
are the cushions from the Y40 memory foam cushions, like the philips citiscape downtown? i am very curious to test the comfort and isolation from this type of memory foam!

 

[cmpessoa]

Confort:
Well, they have memory foam and it is very soft and very comfortable. I can use them all day and my ears never get tired. On the contrary, I really enjoy the feeling of that soft touch against my ears. I really like the materials used in these phones.
 
Isolation:
Even not having tested them outside, I think they isolate very well given the fact that they are small. They only cover your ear so cannot isolate as much as over-ear models but I think this is a good thing for a portable model as, this way, you get enough isolation but still be able to be alerted by stronger sounds around you.

 

[Elsweyr]

thanks, so the comfort and isolation are as good as the citiscape downtown i see on reviews.
i used to listen music on a K414p, the isolation was great but my head were smashed by the clamping force of these things D:

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

I love how AKG releases a new portable and nobody cares, but the Sennheiser Urbanite (which I found mediocre) gets tons of attention. :/ I blame Harman's marketing budget for AKG... Which I am assuming is either inexistent, or very small.

(note: Haven't tried any AKG portables sadly. But I wonder how they stack up...)

 

[altrunox]

I love how AKG releases a new portable and nobody cares, but the Sennheiser Urbanite (which I found mediocre) gets tons of attention. :/ I blame Harman's marketing budget for AKG... Which I am assuming is either inexistent, or very small.

(note: Haven't tried any AKG portables sadly. But I wonder how they stack up...)

 
Yeah, bad marketing, and people tend to love sennheiser...

 

[RaintoSky]

Got myself a pair of y40, at this price I cant think of anything that's better than them.
They were tuned for balance I would say, thicker on the low end, but not basshead style.
They are just new and haven't fully burned in yet, I am just gonna do some brief comparison of some portable on-ear's that I have tried based on my memories.
 
vs B&O h2: y40 is brighter than the very warm h2. y40 has similar bass as the h2, very smooth bass, a bit harder hitting though. Kinda like bose oe bass too. Vocal is thinner and crispier very small difference, I would say it is right in the middle of the mix. y40's top end is brighter than h2, still on the warmer side though. y40 has smaller soundstage.
 
vs v-moda xs: xs has tighter bass, more forward in low treble, vocals sounds crispier. Treble is brighter, about neutral with a sense of warmness. Larger soundstage. 
 
It may look like that xs wins handsdown, in a monitoring point of view, maybe, but not enjoying music.
 
y40 is smooth, some say they are stereo sounding, alongside with h2, kef m500 or bose, but I think it does a better job in revealing and keeping it "real" than all of those. The largest con would be soundstage.
 
And it is really comfortable, definitely better than hard padding xs, better fit on large heads than bose oe
 
but.. why would it has a detachable cable design but not come with an extra audio-only cable  
 
update: after some burn in, its vocal seems to be less bloated, crispier, tamer low-mids? Overall separation is better, soundstage didn't improve or very lightly.
Enjoying vocal in my k-pop track right now.

 

[johanchandy]

  Got myself a pair of y40, at this price I cant think of anything that's better than them.
They were tuned for balance I would say, thicker on the low end, but not basshead style.
They are just new and haven't fully burned in yet, I am just gonna do some brief comparison of some portable on-ear's that I have tried based on my memories.
 
vs B&O h2: y40 is brighter than the very warm h2. y40 has similar bass as the h2, very smooth bass, a bit harder hitting though. Kinda like bose oe bass too. Vocal is thinner and crispier very small difference, I would say it is right in the middle of the mix. y40's top end is brighter than h2, still on the warmer side though. y40 has smaller soundstage.
 
vs v-moda xs: xs has tighter bass, more forward in low treble, vocals sounds crispier. Treble is brighter, about neutral with a sense of warmness. Larger soundstage. 
 
It may look like that xs wins handsdown, in a monitoring point of view, maybe, but not enjoying music.
 
y40 is smooth, some say they are stereo sounding, alongside with h2, kef m500 or bose, but I think it does a better job in revealing and keeping it "real" than all of those. The largest con would be soundstage.
 
And it is really comfortable, definitely better than hard padding xs, better fit on large heads than bose oe
 
but.. why would it has a detachable cable design but not come with an extra audio-only cable  
 
update: after some burn in, its vocal seems to be less bloated, crispier, tamer low-mids? Overall separation is better, soundstage didn't improve or very lightly.
Enjoying vocal in my k-pop track right now.

Damn, nice review. I'm tempted to get the y40. I'm using an Ath-m40x as my portables which I love but would like to have something lighter that sounds good.

 

[zombywoof]

Late to the party...looks like this thread is played out.
 
Anyway, in case someone is still following, picked up the black Y50 today.  Nice build quality...seems solid.  So far, I am finding them comfortable.  Clamping pressure may be bit too much out of the box..time will tell...but the ear pads soft and provide a good seal.  Guessing the clamping will diminish with use...that is usually the case in my experience with on ear phones.  Had them on backwards for a while...cable enters the right ear cup...the only single entry set of phones I have that doesn't have the cable entering the left side.
 
Sound is not bad out the box, but I will burn them in for a couple days between use to see if it changes.