[Whippler]

Quote:

It just came to me. How the hell does the left ear piece connect with the right ear piece? There's no wire.

seriously tough, there's a ribbon cable, might be visible on the end of the headbands padding. Here's a pic of my K550 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11374881/IMG_0394.JPG

 

[nakedhand]

Quote:

 
Q701 do not have the plasticicer smell. It is of different construction. I believe the odour came from the glue used on the head band or the ultra soft faux leather. But if you are lookng for a closed can, Q701 is an open can.
 
Q701 do have strong leather smell on the head band though because it is made of leather.
 
Also, to me the plasticiser smell dissipated, if I remember correctly, in a week or two. Now it smell like me ; )

Thanks for the info RTTO. Yes the Q701 or Anniversary edition was meant as a replacement for my K701, hopefully an upgrade in the open department
I already decided on a closed head phone, since I need it for field recording I went for Sennheiser HD 25-1 II

 

[CheeseWithWorms]

Does the bass get better after the burn in period?

 

[inasafeplace]

I still don't really know how what to think of the K550. Have used them for around 50 hours and from day to day I hear changes. Sometimes they sound good to my hears, sometimes not. The fit and the pad changes probably go for a lot. The other headphone I'm using these days is the T1 and it's probably a lot better in every point of view, except comfort as the K550 are closed and a lot lighter.

 

[bonfirehay]

Quote:

I still don't really know how what to think of the K550. Have used them for around 50 hours and from day to day I hear changes. Sometimes they sound good to my hears, sometimes not. The fit and the pad changes probably go for a lot. The other headphone I'm using these days is the T1 and it's probably a lot better in every point of view, except comfort as the K550 are closed and a lot lighter.

 
Do not forget these are reference headphones. They are supposed to serve the interests of the engenier, producer, mixer, etc.. better than the interests of people looking for a fun, warm, smooth, forgiving headphone.

 

[dablues]

Do not forget these are reference headphones. They are supposed to serve the interests of the engenier, producer, mixer, etc.. better than the interests of people looking for a fun, warm, smooth, forgiving headphone.

This was my problem. You're absolutely right: I didn't know that I wanted a more "fun" headphone, and it was my fault for not knowing. I still think the K550's are amazing headphones, but just not what I want right now.

 

[RTTO]

All I can say the bass is very deep, impactful and extends very well with amplification.
 
For eg. "The Dark Knight Rises", the last few minutes of the movie due to the rapid change of events, the background music escalate 3 times. To see how the K550 would respond to some serious bass, I set the E17 Bass to +10. OMG, it is not the loudness, I can feel the bass passing from my skull down to my back. I almost tricked into trying to grab something to hang onto.... : )
 
I tried the same with my Q701, this does not happen. The portion of bass that were amplified is of some higher frequency. The quality of sound is good but not bone shaking.....
 
I wonder if this is what you mean by better......; )
 
Of course, this is after a fair share of burn-in. When it was brand new, even if I pumped the E17's bass to +10, there's nothing in the bass department. My guess is the diaphragm material may need some exercise before they are fully functional.
 
 
Quote:

Does the bass get better after the burn in period?

 

[JakeJack_2008]

Quote:

 
Regarding the "shrillness": I don't feel that my K550:s are very shrill. When I purchased them, I was comparing them to the (in?)famous ATH-M50, and I found them to be more shrill than the K550. And, nevertheless, it seems that plenty of people are enjoying the M50:s. I have been disturbed by sibliance exactly once since my purchase, and I have only found a few recordings that came across as annoyingly bright. The highs are otherwise mostly spot on for me. They are far from laid-back, though. I did notice that the highs seemed more fatiguing when listening straight out of my Galaxy S mobile phone than when using my O2/ODAC, so the mentioned "shrillness" might be amp/dac dependent. I greatly prefer using them with the O2/ODAC.
 
When listening to various AKG phones in a store at another time, I found that the highs/mids of the K550 were pretty similar to the K702 or Q702. They are all very detailed and bright phones. The K550 has a bit more body and a clearly improved bass, but can also come across as sounding a bit congested at times. Probably due to being closed back. I'd be very interested in trying the K702 Annies or the new K712 for comparison.
 
I must say that I was never bothered by the smell of mine. Maybe when just new out of the box. If mine has the smell, it is not very overpowering. It might be worth removing the pads to wash them with a nice smelling soap if you're deciding to keep them.
 
Now, the undoing of the K550 is undoubtedly the awkward fit. The phones essentially sound like crap until you get a good seal and position. I found it to be very finicky and annoying until I did the "pad-mod" on the first page and some careful bending of the head band. Now it's mostly OK, but it could do with still more clamping force or anatomically shaped pads.
 
The blessing of the K550 is the clear, detailed and open sound despite being a closed back phone. Especially at this price point. If you need closed back and like the AKG sound, they're great and worth the hassle with the fit (in my opinion). If you can get away with open back phones, then I'm sure there are better alternatives where you don't have to mess with the awkward fit.

 
From the above: 
 
 

Now, the undoing of the K550 is undoubtedly the awkward fit. The phones essentially sound like crap until you get a good seal and position.
I found it to be very finicky and annoying until I did the "pad-mod" on the first page and some careful bending of the head band.
Now it's mostly OK, but it could do with still more clamping force or anatomically shaped pads.

 
This pad-mod is above my head. I'm not a high school/college DIY'er. I would simply mess it up.
And more importantly when modifying the K 550's headphones one loses the AKG's  warranty. Am I right?
I wouldn't stand the smell of the K 550's as reported above either.
 
Well, should we call the  K 550 - the AKG's  flagship headphones under $300 -
the AKG's  flagship-stinky-spikes? 

 
 
Upon a time I bought a phone and it stank terribly. After  a couple of days the terrible smell was still  present.
When I was returning it the store's  owner was laughing at me -  making fun of me.
 
Anyway, in the meantime I've ordered the Audio-Technica ATH-A900X (closed-back). We shall see.
 
Perhaps the AKG will release the K 550 MKII and then count me in.
 
 
JJ

 

[CheeseWithWorms]

Quote:

All I can say the bass is very deep, impactful and extends very well with amplification.
 
For eg. "The Dark Knight Rises", the last few minutes of the movie due to the rapid change of events, the background music escalate 3 times. To see how the K550 would respond to some serious bass, I set the E17 Bass to +10. OMG, it is not the loudness, I can feel the bass passing from my skull down to my back. I almost tricked into trying to grab something to hang onto.... : )
 
I tried the same with my Q701, this does not happen. The portion of bass that were amplified is of some higher frequency. The quality of sound is good but not bone shaking.....
 
I wonder if this is what you mean by better......; )
 
Of course, this is after a fair share of burn-in. When it was brand new, even if I pumped the E17's bass to +10, there's nothing in the bass department. My guess is the diaphragm material may need some exercise before they are fully functional.
 
 

Well, i am boosting the bass via my amp and some EQing on foobar media player. Having done that, the bass is really nice as is the punch it has.
 
However the ''stock'' bass is pretty shy.

 

[RTTO]

Quote:

Well, i am boosting the bass via my amp and some EQing on foobar media player. Having done that, the bass is really nice as is the punch it has.
 
However the ''stock'' bass is pretty shy.

 
The good part is even when I boosted the bass to +10. The bass is still tight and solid. Seemed like if I have a more powerful amp, it can be pushed even further without degradation.
 
Comparing to a lesser can ATH-WS55, when I set the bass to +6 or over, the sound start breaking up and become noise.
 
When I played from my computer, I did try using the player's EQ for adjustment. The sound get distorted very quickly and not as pleasant compared to EQ with the E17.

 

[dafadau]

Just got mine! However after reading this thread I'm convinced my head is massive (oo-er). I'm using the 4th rung...
 

 

[bimtrum]

What brand of replacement pads do you guys recommend for k550 at affordable price (< $100)

 

[inasafeplace]

ep-007

 

[bimtrum]

Is it Stax ep 007? I checked the price and it is crazy. I bought the headphone for 190 bucks and the replacement pads costs me almost the same @@. Do you have any other suggestions?

 

[zackzack]

Anyone can recommend a way to modify the K550 to fit a standard mini XLR for balanced cabling?
I did ask some of these guys who provide recabling service and they only do a proprietary mod,
meaning you can't use a 3rd party XLR cable once the mod is done.