[DaveK1977]

Over the last couple of years, JBL and Harman/Kardon have brought out new lines of headphones in a much higher profile way than those brands had been affiliated with before.  Has anyone on here used any of these a pretty good bit?  They've not be reviewed by any of the usual suspects, but I'd hope that a company like Harman would leverage AKG's experience into helping these JBL and Harman/Kardon products to be good.

 

[GREQ]

I've tried out almost all the recent Harmon Kardon and JBL headphones, and regrettably they were all horrid. 
Ok, that's a bit harsh. The JBL's were simply ghastly echoey honky-bass-fart cannons, but the Harmon Kardons were just grotesquely overpriced. (but acoustically somewhat acceptable)
 
If I remember correctly, the much cheaper rectangular on-ear model $70'ish actually sounded overall better than the larger over-ear $300'ish model.
So...there's your fun fact of the day. 

 

[DaveK1977]

That fact isn't very fun.
 
It's also unfortunate, and it's a sign that Harman isn't taking its own brands seriously enough.  I thought of both JBL and Harman/Kardon as being decent brands, and I thought maybe their headphones would be worth trying especially because of the AKG link.  Instead, it makes me worry for the future of AKG.  I did a little research after posting this, and I found that one model of JBL Tim McGraw signature headphones is sold as an AKG in other parts of the world, but mostly these two brands are striking out on their own and plenty of users back up exactly what you said.
 
I do still want a lime Q701.

 

[GREQ]

Yeah, the AKG brand has taken a giant dump in quality variation since the take-over.
K518's for example seem to have the same generic chinese-made (probably) drivers as Creative headsets.
Here's an old photo I used to demonstrate this in one of the K518 threads.

Happily, AKG have absolutely nailed the enclosure and these drivers sound good in a K518 (and brilliant after a simple blue-tack mod).
But they sounded absolutely awful in the Creative Tactic 3D Alpha I pulled them out of. (now they're house in another DIY project headphone and sound almost as good as the AKG K518).
Plus the higher end stuff seems to have the same quality consistency as they used to.. just not the same creativity/experimentation/innovation as the past. (IMO)
 
Even the JBL computer speakers from the past 10 years I think have been dreadful, but that's how they tap into the consumer market. Which mostly seems like decent 'tuning' of cheap parts.