[JohnnyOps]

Gosh. Though I still keep these by my bedside, I’ve moved on to a bunch of other headphones - mostly open back (HD-6xx, HE-5xx, about to add a ZMF to my stable). I’m not going to be that much help when I say that asking for soundstage at this price point in closed back cans is just plain hard. The Focal Elegia is $400 and might be your cup of tea, especially if you can find used, especially if you can drive balanced end-to-end. Personally I prefer the senn HD-598cs for soundstage slightly to the AKG’s, but you’re really playing at the low end of the game here - we are talking comparing a few that I don’t think have a great soundstage. They have great tonality, wonderful clean mids, and a sense of natural timbre for classical and enough bass to write home about. But... they barely have headstage, let alone soundstage. So I wish I could help you. I spent years on a similar quest, and ended up with open back cans for the same purpose and price, and much more expensive closed back cans. (And frankly, this landed me square in the world of tube amplification and Roon/DSP and NOS and MQA as well, so there are a lot of cans of worms here). Good luck!

 

[Themilkman46290]

Gosh. Though I still keep these by my bedside, I’ve moved on to a bunch of other headphones - mostly open back (HD-6xx, HE-5xx, about to add a ZMF to my stable). I’m not going to be that much help when I say that asking for soundstage at this price point in closed back cans is just plain hard. The Focal Elegia is $400 and might be your cup of tea, especially if you can find used, especially if you can drive balanced end-to-end. Personally I prefer the senn HD-598cs for soundstage slightly to the AKG’s, but you’re really playing at the low end of the game here - we are talking comparing a few that I don’t think have a great soundstage. They have great tonality, wonderful clean mids, and a sense of natural timbre for classical and enough bass to write home about. But... they barely have headstage, let alone soundstage. So I wish I could help you. I spent years on a similar quest, and ended up with open back cans for the same purpose and price, and much more expensive closed back cans. (And frankly, this landed me square in the world of tube amplification and Roon/DSP and NOS and MQA as well, so there are a lot of cans of worms here). Good luck!

Thank you for your advice, I have a couple pairs of open back for the same reason, but keep hoping to stumble on to something closed, I have noticed a lot of older reviews about the k55x and found a couple used in fair condition but not sure if it's worth it or if I should give up on the thought, today's variety seems so diverse but in actuality 90% seems to be over hyped junk, I have heard a lot about focal, great sound but flimsy builds and high prices
I understand that making a product to last forever is bad for business, but I would like for what ever I buy to last atleast a few years
I will keep looking around, thanks for the response!!!

 

[JohnnyOps]

The focal is not nearly as flimsy as described by some. It’s the cheapest one of a brand whose prices go into the stratosphere, so people complain. If you can afford it, I’d try it. I personally don’t carry any of these phones around for use on the go... but see if you can get it returnable.

 

[Themilkman46290]

Thanks, I checked the elegía, sadly in my country they cost about $1000 used

 

[JohnnyOps]

A couple other thoughts...

• monolith 1060c
• Beyer 1770

I personally hate the beyerdynamic sound, and don’t think of them as soundstagey in any case, but many love them... and I have never heard the monoliths, but have heard about them a lot from friends who have tastes that overlap with mine. Good luck!

 

[Themilkman46290]

A couple other thoughts...

• monolith 1060c
• Beyer 1770

I personally hate the beyerdynamic sound, and don’t think of them as soundstagey in any case, but many love them... and I have never heard the monoliths, but have heard about them a lot from friends who have tastes that overlap with mine. Good luck!

I have actually been interested in the monolith, thanks!

 

[zombywoof]

Wanted to weigh in here as long time user of the AKG K553. Have had two K553's. This first with fixed cable, modded by me for replaceable cable (3.5 mm jack), sold in 2019, and re-acquired in 2020 (removable cable Mk II). Between K553's tried lots of other headphones, including open back, but decided I needed close back and liking the sound signature of the K553, went back. Is the sound stage the best for closed back headphones. Probably not. Is it really good for closed back headphones. I think so. But, it is not Grado GS1000 wide (the best open back headphones I have heard). The sound stage is more wide than deep. I would not say it is out of your head wide, but I can detect different instruments coming form different locations on the left and right quite easily on certain recordings, and there is space between them. Depth of the sound stage is not as discernable to me. I think these are remarkably good for the price (I paid $100). I would not think these are end game headphones for everyone, though.

 

[Themilkman46290]

Wanted to weigh in here as long time user of the AKG K553. Have had two K553's. This first with fixed cable, modded by me for replaceable cable (3.5 mm jack), sold in 2019, and re-acquired in 2020 (removable cable Mk II). Between K553's tried lots of other headphones, including open back, but decided I needed close back and liking the sound signature of the K553, went back. Is the sound stage the best for closed back headphones. Probably not. Is it really good for closed back headphones. I think so. But, it is not Grado GS1000 wide (the best open back headphones I have heard). The sound stage is more wide than deep. I would not say it is out of your head wide, but I can detect different instruments coming form different locations on the left and right quite easily on certain recordings, and there is space between them. Depth of the sound stage is not as discernable to me. I think these are remarkably good for the price (I paid $100). I would not think these are end game headphones for everyone, though.

Thank you, I will keep checking, if I find a pair under 150 I will probably grab them, how is the build?

 

[ADUHF]

Thank you, I will keep checking, if I find a pair under 150 I will probably grab them, how is the build?

You said you wanted an honest appraisal of your headphones, so here are some of my honest and unadulterated experiences from using the K553 Pro (sans detachable cable) for about 5 years of heavy daily use. They begin here...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/impressions-of-akg-k553.776393/

The pleather material began to flake off the pads after only a few months of rather heavy use. And the filter rings on the baffle plate also started to come loose in roughly the same amount of time. However, both of those things may have been accelerated by my frequent fiddling with and removal of the earpads, in order to try some different foam inserts to better improve the headphone's seal.

Re sound quality... my recollection is that they had a somewhat narrow sound stage, but a fairly open sound for closed-back headphones. Those may sound like contradictions, but other folks here who are more familiar with those terms can probably do a better job of explaining why they are different than I can. The stereo imaging was also not particularly good imo, due to the imbalances in the drivers at different frequencies.

Tonally, the headphones are fairly neutral, but slightly warm leaning in the upper bass, and a little harsh or bright-sounding in some spots in the mids and treble, due to some unevenness in those areas. And they are fairly well-extended in both the bass and treble. These headphones use the same extended frequency titanium drivers as the K371 btw. So they have a somewhat similar sound, but with more warmth in the upper bass. And maybe not quite as much emphasis as the K371 in the sub-bass.

I used various forms of EQ to correct the tonal balance as best as I could on them. But it was exceedingly difficult without any reliable graphs to work from. Oratory recently added a plot of the K553 headphone to his new graphing tool though, so it can now be a little more easily compared to the frequency responses of some other headphones...

https://headphonedatabase.com/oratory?ids=219

You can add up to 4 more headphones (5 total) to the above graph by selecting them from the Headphones drop down menu. And also choose which target curve to use, and whether to display them raw or compensated using the various tools above the plotting area.

The main reason I got the K553 is because it was much more comfortable than any other pair of headphones I tried in the same or lower price range. (I got them on sale btw, for only a little over $100.) And I also liked their somewhat more open, warm, and relaxed, but still fairly detailed sound due to the good extension in the treble and bass than some of the other headphones I tried. Ironing out some of the less pleasing qualities in the mid-range and treble was difficult though. And took quite a bit of work on my part.

So far, I'm liking the construction of my 250-ohm Beyer DT-770's a bit better than the K553. But I've only had the DT-770's for about 5 or 6 months. And have run into a couple minor issues with them as well. The detenting on the DT-770's extenders is not very good. The 1/4" adapter plug was unreliable, and had to be replaced. And I wish the coiled cable could be detached and replaced with a straight double-sided cable. I've never liked the single-sided cables on any of these headphones.

The frame of the AKG K553 was fairly durable. But it was not an especially well put together design imo. And there were too many little things in it that could've easily been improved, or were just sloppy from a design standpoint imho. I got my money's worth out of them though... And then some. And enjoyed them quite a bit, after fixing alot of the minor issues in their design that bothered me.

Based on your previous comments, I suspect you'd find the design and construction of the DT-770 more to your liking than the AKG K553. Whether you'd like the sound as well, I have no idea. Because they are on the brighter side and also require some EQ-ing to produce a better sound imo. The drivers on the DT-770 are better matched imo than on the AKG K553. I actually went through several different pairs of the AKGs before finding one that I felt was adequate in terms of its driver symmetry. And it was still off enough that I had to use some corrective measures to improve the balance between the left and right cups.

The 250 ohm DT-770 also has a slight imbalance in volume between the left and right cups that requires a small correction. But it's more uniform across the frequency spectrum than on the AKG K553. All of the parts on the Beyer DT-770 can also be replaced if they ever break or wear out. And the pads are also washable in some soapy water. I have 3 pair, so I can always keep them relatively clean. Because the velour material does pick up quite a bit of perspiration and oil from your skin.

 

[Themilkman46290]

You said you wanted an honest appraisal of your headphones, so here are some of my honest and unadultered experiences from using the K553 Pro (sans detachable cable) for about 5 years of heavy daily use. They begin here...

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/impressions-of-akg-k553.776393/

The pleather material began to flake off the pads after only a few months of rather heavy use. And the filter rings on the baffle plate also started to come loose in roughly the same amount of time. However, both of those things may have been accelerated by my frequent fiddling with and removal of the earpads, in order to try some different foam inserts to better improve the headphone's seal.

Re sound quality... my recollection is that they had a somewhat narrow sound stage, but a fairly open sound for closed-back headphones. Those may sound like contradictions, but other folks here who are more familiar with those terms can probably do a better job of explaining why they are different than I can. The stereo imaging was also not particularly good imo, due to the imbalances in the drivers at different frequencies.

Tonally, the headphones are fairly neutral, but slightly warm leaning in the upper bass, and a little harsh or bright-sounding in some spots in the mids and treble, due to some unevenness in those areas. And they are fairly well-extended in both the bass and treble. These headphones use the same extended frequency titanium drivers as the K371 btw. So they have a somewhat similar sound, but with more warmth in the upper bass. And maybe not quite as much emphasis as the K371 in the sub-bass.

I used various forms of EQ to correct the tonal balance as best as I could on them. But it was exceedingly difficult without any reliable graphs to work from. Oratory recently added a plot of the K553 headphone to his new graphing tool though, so it can now be a little more easily compared to the frequency responses of some other headphones...

https://headphonedatabase.com/oratory?ids=219

You can add up to 4 more headphones (5 total) to the above graph by selecting them from the Headphones drop down menu. And also choose which target curve to use, and whether to display them raw or compensated using the various tools above the plotting area.

The main reason I got the K553 is because it was much more comfortable than any other pair of headphones I tried in the same or lower price range. (I got them on sale btw, for only a little over $100.) And I also liked their somewhat more open, warm, and relaxed, but still fairly detailed sound due to the good extension in the treble and bass than some of the other headphones I tried. Ironing out some of the less pleasing qualities in the mid-range and treble was difficult though. And took quite a bit of work on my part.

So far, I'm liking the construction of my 250-ohm Beyer DT-770's a bit better than the K553. But I've only had the DT-770's for about 5 or 6 months. And have run into a couple minor issues with them as well. The detenting on the DT-770's extenders is not very good. The 1/4" adapter plug was unreliable, and had to be replaced. And I wish the coiled cable could be detached and replaced with a straight double-sided cable. I've never liked the single-sided cables on any of these headphones.

The frame of the AKG K553 was fairly durable. But it was not an especially well put together design imo. And there were too many little things in it that could've easily been improved, or were just sloppy from a design standpoint imho. I got my money's worth out of them though... And then some. And enjoyed them quite a bit, after fixing alot of the minor issues in their design that bothered me.

Based on your previous comments, I suspect you'd find the design and construction of the DT-770 more to your liking than the AKG K553. Whether you'd like the sound as well, I have no idea. Because they are on the brighter side and also require some EQ-ing to produce a better sound imo. The drivers on the DT-770 are better matched imo than on the AKG K553. I actually went through several different pairs of the AKGs before finding one that I felt was adequate in terms of its driver symmetry. And it was still off enough that I had to use some corrective measures to improve the balance between the left and right cups.

The 250 ohm DT-770 also has a slight imbalance in volume between the left and right cups that requires a small correction. But it's more uniform across the frequency spectrum than on the AKG K553. All of the parts on the Beyer DT-770 can also be replaced if they ever break or wear out. And the pads are also washable in some soapy water. I have 3 pair, so I can always keep them relatively clean. Because the velour material does pick up quite a bit of perspiration and oil from your skin.

Thanks, actually, I think I have understood you very well, and I appreciate you taking the time to write that, you guys have been very helpful, I actually almost bought the dt770, they sound good, only reason I didn't take them is that I felt the bass and highs a little too boosted, no where near as bad as the m50x.


Seems like I should give up finding an affordable, open sounding closed back cans, I will keep eyes open for a cheap pair of used k553 or k550
I might grab some srh840.
I appreciate you guys and your honest reviews, I am getting annoyed with the hundreds of review, all saying how amazing everything is.
No reviews mention that dt770 are v shaped with slightly forward mids.
That m50x is very boomy and the it has weird artificial treble.
I was told that the he4xx have sharp highs and not enough bass, but as soon as i heard them I sold my m50x, the bass is perfect on them, deep, linear and never boomy, and the treble is nice, extended, the way reviewers say it should be on the m50x

You guys have been more helpful then any reviewer has.

But I still want a good pair of closed backs, I might just stick to iems for isolation, but cans are better for long listening sessions, to bad the industry keeps getting worst, good headphones today cost a lot more then a few years back, and seem to break a lot easier

 

[zombywoof]

I should have added that I purchased the Brainwavz sheepskin pads to replace the stock pleather. I knew from my previous experience that the stock pads would not last long. I did not notice any significant change in the sound going from pleather to sheepskin (unlike pleather to velour transition, which is good for long range comfort, but impacts sound). I also made a straight cable from an old Grado cable I had stashed away.

@Themilkman46290
The SRH840 were also a strong consideration for me. I was able to try some at a local shop. I liked the sound signature of the SRH840 but found the AK553 a bit more comfortable (less clamping force on the AK553). I believe I am in agreement with you about the value of published reviews. Personally, I don't put much stock in graphs or specs, either. These threads are usually the best option for getting a good cross section of opinions. Unfortunately, however, there is no substitute for ones own ears. Good luck.

 

[Themilkman46290]

I should have added that I purchased the Brainwavz sheepskin pads to replace the stock pleather. I knew from my previous experience that the stock pads would not last long. I did not notice any significant change in the sound going from pleather to sheepskin (unlike pleather to velour transition, which is good for long range comfort, but impacts sound). I also made a straight cable from an old Grado cable I had stashed away.

@Themilkman46290
The SRH840 were also a strong consideration for me. I was able to try some at a local shop. I liked the sound signature of the SRH840 but found the AK553 a bit more comfortable (less clamping force on the AK553). I believe I am in agreement with you about the value of published reviews. Personally, I don't put much stock in graphs or specs, either. These threads are usually the best option for getting a good cross section of opinions. Unfortunately, however, there is no substitute for ones own ears. Good luck.

I found a pair of used srh840 for about 65 bucks vs 150 bucks for k553
I think it's mainly do to the fact that akg, AT, senn, and Sony are marketed a lot in my country
For example, Sony mdr 7506 is 180 bucks new and around 100 used, m50x is 250 new and 130 used, akg ak553 was around 220 new and now its around 150 - 180 bucks used

But these shure I found a pair used for 65 and 75 bucks, new it's about 180

Think I might end up with them, even though I dislike the pure plastic build, atleast a new head band is only 40 something bucks

I use small hats, and rarely if ever need to extend my headphones past the smallest setting hopefully the clamping force won't be too bad, thank you very much for your help.

I should have asked different threads instead of searching reviews, I know everyone's ears are different
But m50x is really far from neutral, the m40 maybe but the m50x is like getting hit in your ear with a super boomy pillow followed by a needle
It's all metallic bloomy with the mids in a diaper

Sorry I keep ranting, but I lost about 100 dollars on those, only used them for about 2 weeks.


I tried the k371, they sounded pretty good, but I felt they would break if I breathed too heavy on them, I understand they had been purchased buy Samsung, a company who has been mirroring apples every move, that means prices will double or triple and build quality will drop..... And there whole line up will be pushed as audiophiles Bluetooth (even though we all know, Bluetooth and neutral high resolution doesn't exist)

 

[Kramertc]

Thank you, I will keep checking, if I find a pair under 150 I will probably grab them, how is the build?

I have a pair I don't use in as new condition. Please PM me.

 

[SomeTechNoob]

As others have stated, the sound stage on these headphones is quite small. However, the imaging is great and incredibly accurate.

Regarding pads, I can't recommend brainwavz pads as they are too thick and put the driver far away from your ear, killing what little bass response these cans have. I've been much happier with a set of dekoni leather pads. I think they're made for Beyerdynamics but they fit onto the K553 Pro without having to do ridiculous stretching like the brainwavz. I've tried both angled and regular brainwavz, with the angled being better but still quite hollow sounding.

 

[zombywoof]

@Themilkman46290
I was not aware that Samsung was now parent company of AKG. I would not say that this bodes well for the future of AKG. I looked at K371 (wired--totally agree with your comment regarding Bluetooth) and there is no way that the K371 are pro studio headphones as they are advertised. I have seen them and heard them in person and the construction (while likely OK for casual home use) is no where close to pro standards. They didn't sound bad, though.