[Tompie913]

For the life of me, I can't seem to figure out what the difference is between these three headphones and why I shouldn't just buy the cheapest of the three (K550 MkII).
 
First of all, I have seen the other threads here on this topic. There is Bagheera's comparison of the K550 MkI and the K553, where he concluded that the K553 sounded significantly better than the K550. Then there is this comparison by RockStar2005 where he concluded that all three were pretty much the same, though he admitted that it had been a while since he'd had the K550 MkI and was just going by memory. AKG, by the way, says that all three are the same.
 
So which is it? If I had to guess, I would say that the K550 MkI is different from the K553 and MkII, because otherwise what would be the point of the latter two models even existing? But It does seem possible to me that the K553 and K550 MkII are the same thing, especially since the K553 seems to only be marketed in the US while the MkII seems to be marketed in the rest of the world. People also commented on a relative lack of padding and more basic packaging on the K553, so maybe the K553 is sort of a budget model of the K550 MkII. Oddly enough, I've found the MkII cheaper than the 553.
 
Does anyone have all three or even two of these and care to weigh in?

 

[PurpleAngel]

This might help.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/805897/akg-k553-pro-vs-akg-k550-mk-ii-and-thoughts-on-the-akg-k550-mk-i

 

[Tompie913]

  This might help.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/805897/akg-k553-pro-vs-akg-k550-mk-ii-and-thoughts-on-the-akg-k550-mk-i

I did link to that in my original post. My problem is that the other review I linked disagreed, going very thoroughly into the driver differences between the K550 MkI and the K553. Anyway, I found the K550 MkII for under $100 so I sprang for it.