[raindog1975]

A couple a weeks ago a friend gave me a pair of fairly new  AKG K77 ( he managed to brake the cable and decided he wanted an "upgrade" anyway so he bought a pair of Sennheiser 555 ). Yesterday evening I finally decided to replace the cable on the AKG's and when I opened the up the driver looked very familiar so I took apart my Senn's hd457 and indeed the drivers where identical with a single difference : the AKG's are marked 425AW and the Senn's 425C1 as can be seen from the picture. So the only conclusion I can draw is that the two companies use the same drivers ( at least in some products ) but with very different results ( the HD457 sounds a lot better then the K77 , at least until I will start to mod the K77"s ). It would be interesting to see if the high end models from these manufacturers share the same drives. P.S. in the picture the AKG in on the left.

 

[desktophifi]

Interesting, i've never done such comparison. Anyone could confirm this? 

 

[Keiko]

maybe same type of driver, but its most likely not the case. but we do have to take into consideration Both of those companies are German & that both those models are considered low-end taking into account their other products on the lineup, so they might just be throwing generic drivers that have been modified for their sound signature into them.

 

[paulb09]

I've seen pictures of the HD600 drivers before, and they look significantly different from the K601, so I doubt this is the case in their higher end models. But I do agree, the rear of those housings are remarkably similar, and even the 425 part of the coding is the same, so perhaps they are similar / the same (a view of the diaphragms and a look into the specs may give a better idea).

 

[Uncle Erik]

Interesting find - thanks for bringing it up here.

Though I doubt they share drivers at the higher end of headphones.

 

[Keiko]

If everyones really overly curious about it, I can ask my step uncle if he has any details on the similarities. (He works at Senn germany)
 
What I think of it now : Some of the parts required for the driver were purchased at the same chinese company. As both companies low-end models are made in china...
 
EDIT: I learned something i think you guys might want to know!
 
The following AKG models make use of the 425AW.
 
K55
K66
& Quite possibly the K44
 

 
Sennheisers that made use of the 425C1:
 
HD 477
 
 

 

[MDR30]

What is the diameter (diaphragm) of this driver?

 

[raindog1975]

40mm

 

[Wildstar]

Ahem, AKG is austrian. Not that it matters much, as even the K701s are now being made in China.
 
Quote:

Both of those companies are German

 

 

[Cankin]

Quote:

Ahem, AKG is austrian. Not that it matters much, as even the K701s are now being made in China.
 

 

 
Did you receive a pair of made in China K701 from a reputable dealer recently?
 

 

[Wildstar]

No, I'm just talking from what I've seen at the photos thread. Seems at least one of them came from Thomann, which I have no reason to not consider a reputable dealer (in fact, I was considering getting a K701 from them!).

 

[Cankin]

Quote:

No, I'm just talking from what I've seen at the photos thread. Seems at least one of them came from Thomann, which I have no reason to not consider a reputable dealer (in fact, I was considering getting a K701 from them!).

Would you please kindly post the link to that photo thread or Thomann?
 
Thanks

 

[KuKuBuKu]

Most interesting thing I have seen on Head-fi today. cool find.

 

[Wildstar]

Quote:

Would you please kindly post the link to that photo thread or Thomann?

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/202122/the-headphone-driver-pics-thread/120#post_7232813
http://www.thomann.de/
Post on AKG forums claiming they're all made in China: http://www.akg.com/forum/index.php/topic,3098.msg7691.html#msg7691
 
This is complete hearsay, so it should be taken with an enormous grain of salt, of course.

 

[Keiko]

Quote:

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/202122/the-headphone-driver-pics-thread/120#post_7232813
http://www.thomann.de/
Post on AKG forums claiming they're all made in China: http://www.akg.com/forum/index.php/topic,3098.msg7691.html#msg7691
 
This is complete hearsay, so it should be taken with an enormous grain of salt, of course.

"I'm a old customer of AKG products and I loved AKG products so far, because of the high quality AND because it's not produced in China, but in Austria and the pricing reflects that."
 
  I have to sort of agree with this, It seems most of their high-end products are still made in Austria and the pricing does reflect that. 30 euro in Germany for a $100 in-ear model in the U.S, etc. though the models like the K701 have evened out in every single country & models with higher demand could I suppose get shafted to a chinese factory. Every AKG I own says made in Austria minus the AKG K450 & K530 and with the high prices in japan, I was delighted to find them for 1/3 the price, with some models a huge steal here... even at official stores (Media Markt & Saturn)
 
@Wildstar I bought a pair of K450 from them three weeks ago to sell to a friend who really liked the sound on them, the box looked like it went through a storm & was very beat up. So I returned them & bought them from Amazon 5eu more & they came brand new and even wrapped in plastic over the box free 3-day DHL if in de.
*points to the post count of those people in the official AKG forum thread* one has a 2 and the rest are 1's...