[NotJeffBuckley]

Just took delivery on a pair of these. Initial impressions are nicely favorable. I have used AKG Q701 for 11 years and while I have been able to semi-refurbish the parts that wear on them (new cable, new pads, modded the elastic bands since they become flimsy over time) I was looking for a newer-production headphone with a similar overall sound that I could add to my collection. I like AKG's headphones in this family for striking a really nice balance between comfort, euphonic listening, and analytical listening - the Q701 have been indispensable when recording and mixing, just a great "close look" at the sound.

K712 Pro, like the Q701, definitely have more treble than my other preferred headphones which are Sennheisers (old favorite HD-650, current favorite HD-660S - really love what they did with the sound and the somewhat quicker driver, and the Senn midrange focus puts a smile on my face with a wide variety of listening material). The added treble might be a little fatiguing for longer listening sessions, though not to the extent that Beyer's more hyped cans can be (though, I've really loved some of those over the years for fun listening - I digress!), but it can also really help when trying to get that "close look" and make sure that I don't have unwanted sibilance or high frequency resonance when working with audio. I loved the Q701 sound overall but they are a bit bass light and I feel the K712 Pro addresses this nicely.

It is difficult to overstate how improved the low frequency handling is on these - what a nice change!

I think this will prove to be a very pleasing addition

 

[mmmadog]

Hey have had a set of K712 for awhile and they came with a aftermarket cable made by Impact Audio. They still have a website but it seems broke. Anyways I went back to the stock straight cable and thought wheres the bass and midrange. I went back to the impact cable and there it was killer low bass and much better midrange and mid bass. I wouldn't recommend spending a whole lot on a new cable but the stock straight cable sucks. This was thru an older Burson conductor. Cheers.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

I think the stock cable is poorly made, personally, I dunno if it's in such a way as it could hurt sound quality but I've got a replacement coming myself also to get away from the orange one. I haven't tried its coiled cable but my experience with a DT-770 with a coiled cable turned me off of that forever, I do not care for coiled cable with a headphone at all.

 

[Silver Wolf]

Converted to balanced wiring config using Custom Cans BAL conversion kit with alloy cover, cable is my own SW 16awg (560 strand count) braided copper litz.

 

[Ferdinando1968]

Maybe a silly (and already answered) question, but I’ve taken from Amazon these ‘balanced’ cables for K712-Pro:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K7J8T2K

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MD28T6F

This cables connect 4 pole pentacon to 3 pole mini xlr, so Left- and Right- signals are shorted together.
I still not tested them, because I have fear to damage the amplifier.
Someone can give me an opinion about ?
Thanks.

 

[dstarr3]

Maybe a silly (and already answered) question, but I’ve taken from Amazon these ‘balanced’ cables for K712-Pro:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09K7J8T2K

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MD28T6F

This cables connect 4 pole pentacon to 3 pole mini xlr, so Left- and Right- signals are shorted together.
I still not tested them, because I have fear to damage the amplifier.
Someone can give me an opinion about ?
Thanks.

Yes, those have a potential to damage any properly balanced amp they get connected to. The only way to connect the K712 and similar to a balanced amp is by modding the headphone

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

Couldn't sleep tonight and I ended up reading a bunch of the early thread - wow, had no clue this was such a controversial headphone! I've grown fonder of it as I've used it personally, great strengths in terms of positioning, very solid overall frequency response and they've proved handy in working with audio at a low volume when I'm trying not to wake everybody up messing around with a track. Plus, I like how they sound with music. I guess AKG has long since discontinued them? Even Thomann is out of stock now. Well, glad I got a pair while the getting was good.

I hadn't paid much attention to how things went for AKG since the 2000s, but I see what they are today is a really different story from what they were back then. I love my made-in-Austria Q701 and will endeavor to keep them in as good of shape as I can, same with the K712, but their relatively light and plastic construction does worry me what the years may hold for them. But maybe I ought to have more cheer, as the Q701 are no spring chickens at this point and they've only needed normal refurbishment plus a couple rubber bands to take over for the rather flimsy elastic bands to seem good as new, so far.

 

[schmalgausen]

I guess AKG has long since discontinued them? Even Thomann is out of stock now.

K701, K702 and K712 are in stock.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

I checked prior to posting and I just checked again, here's what I see:

I was searching for other information about them and came across numerous references to them on Headphone reddits and forums, even their Facebook page, suggesting that they were discontinued some years back - BUT, AKG does still list them on their web site and says they are in stock, though at $639 dollars I could have got at least three pair from Thomann for that and had some cash left over, before they went out of stock on them.

Happy to learn more and revise my impression, if anyone knows the scoop!


EDIT: I looked into this further, reached out to Thomann for their thoughts on the matter, and they said that it isn't necessarily always easy to get in stock but it is not discontinued - the page therefor seems to just be some kind of placeholder in some cases, at least. Right now if you go to Thomann they're in stock and have the best price I've seen on them anywhere (by a mile).

 

[schmalgausen]

I bought mine one year ago brand new in a music shop.

 

[iFi audio]

The only way to connect the K712 and similar to a balanced amp is by modding the headphone

That seems to be the case, yes.

 

[Disadadi]

Couldn't sleep tonight and I ended up reading a bunch of the early thread - wow, had no clue this was such a controversial headphone! I've grown fonder of it as I've used it personally, great strengths in terms of positioning, very solid overall frequency response and they've proved handy in working with audio at a low volume when I'm trying not to wake everybody up messing around with a track. Plus, I like how they sound with music. I guess AKG has long since discontinued them? Even Thomann is out of stock now. Well, glad I got a pair while the getting was good.

I hadn't paid much attention to how things went for AKG since the 2000s, but I see what they are today is a really different story from what they were back then. I love my made-in-Austria Q701 and will endeavor to keep them in as good of shape as I can, same with the K712, but their relatively light and plastic construction does worry me what the years may hold for them. But maybe I ought to have more cheer, as the Q701 are no spring chickens at this point and they've only needed normal refurbishment plus a couple rubber bands to take over for the rather flimsy elastic bands to seem good as new, so far.

AKG was bought by Harman and Harman was bought by Samsung and the AKG Austrian HQ was shut down entirely. So yes, it has changed tremendously and is nothing like AKG used to be. Now they pretty much slap the brand logo and name on some cheap wireless headphones to try to make them sell better.

 

[dstarr3]

All the AKG people that actually made AKG what is was now work at Austrian Audio. AKG itself is just a sticker on Samsung products now

 

[Ferdinando1968]

sad news.

 

[Kozwoz]

Converted to balanced wiring config using Custom Cans BAL conversion kit with alloy cover, cable is my own SW 16awg (560 strand count) braided copper litz.

Did you mod the AKG 712 for balanced connection? Was it it difficult.

Can you share the process / instructions or where to get the kit?