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AKG has been owned by Harman for almost 20 years...
And I have disliked their headphones more and more for 20 years in spite of the cool purple tint on the new K240 and the green qable on the Q701.
I think we've had this discussion before, and as I remember, you like the K701 a lot. Which is not to be disputed of course, but there are a lot of folks on here who prefer the K400 to the K701, enough that the K701 can't be simply called "better" IMO, but instead "different". But regardless, AKG released innovative (if imperfect) headphones and Harman has taken decades to turn the K400 into the K701 and meanwhile repainted and cheapened the rest of their lineup. We'll see what happens with the K550, maybe they'll prove me wrong. That would be cool.
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In terms of the high-end, what's disturbing (and rhythmdevils and I had have much discussion on this), is that many of these recently released high-end phones have increased resolution, but have not addressed or even gone backwards on neutrality (linear frequency response and lack of ringing.) I've railed against this on other threads: the manufacturers should start producing truly good and innovative stuff instead rehashing designs with the same 'ol issues.
Yeah, the new stuff is all higher resolution, but just as flawed as headphones produced 3 decades ago IMO. In my experience with the LCD-2, HE6 and HD800, they have their charms but I don't find them any more listenable than my K240 Sextett, they just have different strengths and different, but equally (if not more) bothersome weaknesses.
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Think about this so called 'increased resolution'...
I suppose if I were to move from a HD650 to a HD800 I could say the sound is so much clearer, but what I'm really saying is the treble is louder. I grouped the HD800 in with the SA5000 for this similar reason, they both have +dB highs and this translates into resolution. While on the subject a HD650 owner might consider the LCD-2 more of an upgrade than a HD800 which they might consider a side step or possibly flat out dislike the phone for it's energetic treble.
Ultimately we're seeing tweaks with emphasis on the treble to give the illusion of a higher-tier for audiophiles. At the other end of the headphone game we're seeing boosted bass which attracts bass-heads/kids.
I agree with you, but I don't think the new flagships use this trick anymore than their older "mid-fi" brothers. I mean is the DT880 more even in the treble than the T1? The DT880, IME, has spiked treble to create the illusion of speed and detail as well. So do many "mid-fi" offerings like the SA5000.
What bothers me (and I think Purrin as well) is that many of these companies have created much more expensive headphones with various new technologies, yet instead of fixing the problems with their old designs, they've just tried to increase the apparent resolution. They have faster drivers that still exhibit the same (if not worse) issues with uneven FR and ringing. So if all you care about is hearing detail, then you're in luck. Otherwise listening to all these flagship headphones is like watching a crappy movie in HD. All the detail is great, but it's still a crap movie, the color is still off, the cinematography is still rubbish, whatever...
