[bequietjk]

I too am considering, and have been for many moons, buying these cans. Just wondering... Has anyone had the chance to listen to both Austria and Slovakia made models? Have you noticed any difference?

 

[musikverein]

Hi I'm thinking of buying these headphones as my gaming cans and I have a few questions.

Will the creative g6 power these headphones properly

Are these good for gaming both in a competitive setting and in a casual laud back immersive setting.


Can somebody explain the center imaging problem on this headphone? Like if there's footsteps in front of me 12 o'clock will the sound as if they're coming at 2 o'clock/10 o'clock, or do things in front of you just not sound as crystal clear as everything else?

Good for music? Guessing that's just subjective tbh.


Thanks people

To get significantly better (central) imaging, you would have to step up to a Beyerdynamic T1 f.i.

 

[musikverein]

I too am considering, and have been for many moons, buying these cans. Just wondering... Has anyone had the chance to listen to both Austria and Slovakia made models? Have you noticed any difference?

No there is no difference neither in built nor in acoustics. And I heard several ones.

What is significant is the inferior quality of the stock cable, all weaknesses are enhanced with it.
Go for an upgrade immediately to avoid disappointment.
I do run them with a Forza Audioworks.

 

[Markolav]

Hi I'm thinking of buying these headphones as my gaming cans and I have a few questions.

Will the creative g6 power these headphones properly

Are these good for gaming both in a competitive setting and in a casual laud back immersive setting.


Can somebody explain the center imaging problem on this headphone? Like if there's footsteps in front of me 12 o'clock will the sound as if they're coming at 2 o'clock/10 o'clock, or do things in front of you just not sound as crystal clear as everything else?

Good for music? Guessing that's just subjective tbh.


Thanks people

G6 is probably plenty for them, I dont think they really need as much power as some people claim but well, I dont like to listen my music very loudly. I have personally really liked to use K712 for gaming, movies, Netflix etc, I have to admit that the center imaging is sometimes little vague but things can be located more and more accurately the wider the image gets. Besides in gaming your eyes will make up some of it.

As far as music goes I like them for most genres maybe except the most ultra bass heavy EDM/electronics, imo they are especially good for genres like post-rock/metal, space rock, stoner etc.

 

[zqa20]

G6 is probably plenty for them, I dont think they really need as much power as some people claim but well, I dont like to listen my music very loudly. I have personally really liked to use K712 for gaming, movies, Netflix etc, I have to admit that the center imaging is sometimes little vague but things can be located more and more accurately the wider the image gets. Besides in gaming your eyes will make up some of it.

As far as music goes I like them for most genres maybe except the most ultra bass heavy EDM/electronics, imo they are especially good for genres like post-rock/metal, space rock, stoner etc.

Good to hear thank you!

Can you be specific in terms of where the center imaging is a little off? Would you say it's between 11 and 1? If yes. from 2 to 10 is it accurate all the way round?

The creative g6 is currently going for £70 will I hear a meaningful improvement going to a k5 pro at £130-140 depending on import fees?

 

[bequietjk]

I managed to scoop up the K712 Austria made pair in the classifieds the other day! But I've got to say. I am 100% not digging the coiled cable.

Has anyone used this cable, or have any recommendations for a 5-6ft replacement?
https://www.amazon.com/AKG-TA3F-VDP...55?keywords=k712+cable&qid=1572569024&sr=8-55

I was also considering Lavricables but then were going up into that epic price category.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

It’s funny how one some times seems to circle around a particular headphone - trying every other variant instead because...well I’m not sure it’s even intentional at least it wasn’t on my behalf regarding the K712. I’ve always had a sweetspot for this old school AKG design and while having owned the K701, 702, 7XX as well as the Q701 twice, I never seem to love them enough in the long run to actually keep them.
Bar the K7XX which I sold off for being far too scooped in the uppermids, the rest of the headphones simply experienced a listener that ended up reaching for his Sennheisers/planars instead...which in effect left them hanging out in the shadowy parts of my apartment.
I blame the brightness...not so much the one found in the treble but the extra boot of energy in the uppermids quite simply makes mince meat out of a lot of my favourite recordings. Try putting on The Upsetters’ classic Super-Ape whilst wearing the Q701 and experience your brain desperately trying to flee out your nostrils.

Fast forward to me getting the K712 on a whim: ‘Hey man...Super-Ape sounds positively dope over this orangy coconut!!!’

Now is that any way to come to any sort of conclusions regarding any headphone out there? Sure. While far from sounding correct or flat for that matter the 712 still wields a presentation that is easier on both the ears and less than stellar recordings than any of the aforementioned cans...again bar the K7XX at the expense of the mids and overall clarity.
The 712 sounds weird...in a very very enticing manner no less. When I put on some of my wellknown reference tracks spanning from Ennio Morricone to Neurosis and AIR to Sun Ra the 712 continuosly amaze me in it’s ability to sound ‘just right’ whilst at the same time sounding weird, funky hell almost psychedelic.
It’s also something you can witness in the frequency response where the mids look like they just decided to eat some peyote and ever so slightly stagger very zig-zaggy up towards the treble. It’s so bizarre that it manages to punch through ‘kitsch’ and ‘hipster’ and rather ends up being beautiful instead.

This strange frequency response does something to the stage and delivery as well. It’s as if instruments you normally expect to be certain places are further away or closer depending on the track...yet once your head succumbs to this presentation the stage goes SWOOF and everything is huge...again in a very very enticing manner.
Don’t come looking for neutrality or something you can use for mixing...but approach with the mindset that you’re purchasing a flavour - a tube amp-like headphone that will colour your music in a highly specific way..and you’re good to go.

I just came from Amon Tobin’s Bricolage and it’s mosaic beats n synthesizer sways and am now deeply engulfed in Amen Dunes’ 2018 album Freedom, and everything sounds so welcoming. I highly recommend the Valhalla 2 with the AKG as it seems to extrapolate on the headphones’ endemic qualities ie the strange peyote-like delivery. It’s done with impeccable grace and refinement though and seems to pull even more detail and dynamics out of the drivers (low gain 12 o clock).

In short? What a delightfully strange and beautiful headphone!! I’m not sure I even knew I needed it..but man am I ever thrilled that I decided to take a chance on it.

 

[abmwinnoch]

What a great post! Yes indeedy. Here's a truth that I'm just coming around to accept, about the 712's. (typing this with them on) I have always assumed that headphones, like most hifi, improves more or less in direct relation to £$ spent; imagining a graph with an ascending line x-axis=performance, y-axis=price, with a gradual levelling off around the £$500 mark where the law of diminsihing returns sets in, flatening that upwards curve. By the £$1000 mark the curve is almost flat with only subtle improvements on a 2k headphone over a 1k headphone.

A few months ago I spent £1400 on a pair of Focal Clears, with the expectation that despite me loving my AKG's, they would be left spitting dust and probably on ebay after I took delivery of the Focals. Aterall, according to my imagined graph above, the AKG712's should have a signifciantly poorer perfomance than the focals. You can afterall pick up the AKG's for around £250 in the UK. Now, however it's the Focal's i'm seriously considering selling on. It's not just that I don't think they are worth £1400 or that they don't sound 1k better than the AKG's. If they were both the same price, I would still prefer the AKG's presentation of music. It perhaps comes down to the fact that, unlike speakers, a manufacturer simply doesn't have to spend that much on materials and R&D to produce a great sounding headphone; they are a relatively simple device with a limited range of factors that can be tweaked. Exotic materials add to the price, but not significantly, the performance.

What is it I like about the 712's ? They just sound right. They have an effortless, natural and above all, clean sound. Vocals especially, just hang there between the ears as if I'm in the studio and I'm hearing the sound in spite of wearing the headphones, not because of them. Whether or not this is objectively true, I feel as if I am hearing absolutely everything in the recording. With the same tracks on my focal clears. I feel that there is a veil, hiding some of the finer details. It's a hifi review cliche, but I really do hear space around all the elements of the mix. Whilst the Focal's simply present the location of the layers in the mix on a 2D soundstage with all the elements touching each other.

Bass provides me with a range of aural textures, whereas the Focal's seem a bit 'one-note' to me in comparison. To my ears, I hear speaker-like sub-bass with the AKG's; the Focals just hint at the presence of sub-bass on a track.

I find it hard to accept that I may have reached my headphone end-game with £250 headphones, especially when I was prepared to spend 1.4k, but there it is. Maybe it's just lucky synergy with the components I have, but whatever it is, if I had no idea of the price of these headphones, it's the AKG's I would've guessed at being the 1.4 ones, not the Focals (build quality and comfort considerations aside). Go figure.

 

[musikverein]

What a great post! Yes indeedy. Here's a truth that I'm just coming around to accept, about the 712's. (typing this with them on) I have always assumed that headphones, like most hifi, improves more or less in direct relation to £$ spent; imagining a graph with an ascending line x-axis=performance, y-axis=price, with a gradual levelling off around the £$500 mark where the law of diminsihing returns sets in, flatening that upwards curve. By the £$1000 mark the curve is almost flat with only subtle improvements on a 2k headphone over a 1k headphone.

A few months ago I spent £1400 on a pair of Focal Clears, with the expectation that despite me loving my AKG's, they would be left spitting dust and probably on ebay after I took delivery of the Focals. Aterall, according to my imagined graph above, the AKG712's should have a signifciantly poorer perfomance than the focals. You can afterall pick up the AKG's for around £250 in the UK. Now, however it's the Focal's i'm seriously considering selling on. It's not just that I don't think they are worth £1400 or that they don't sound 1k better than the AKG's. If they were both the same price, I would still prefer the AKG's presentation of music. It perhaps comes down to the fact that, unlike speakers, a manufacturer simply doesn't have to spend that much on materials and R&D to produce a great sounding headphone; they are a relatively simple device with a limited range of factors that can be tweaked. Exotic materials add to the price, but not significantly, the performance.

What is it I like about the 712's ? They just sound right. They have an effortless, natural and above all, clean sound. Vocals especially, just hang there between the ears as if I'm in the studio and I'm hearing the sound in spite of wearing the headphones, not because of them. Whether or not this is objectively true, I feel as if I am hearing absolutely everything in the recording. With the same tracks on my focal clears. I feel that there is a veil, hiding some of the finer details. It's a hifi review cliche, but I really do hear space around all the elements

What a great post! Yes indeedy. Here's a truth that I'm just coming around to accept, about the 712's. (typing this with them on) I have always assumed that headphones, like most hifi, improves more or less in direct relation to £$ spent; imagining a graph with an ascending line x-axis=performance, y-axis=price, with a gradual levelling off around the £$500 mark where the law of diminsihing returns sets in, flatening that upwards curve. By the £$1000 mark the curve is almost flat with only subtle improvements on a 2k headphone over a 1k headphone.

A few months ago I spent £1400 on a pair of Focal Clears, with the expectation that despite me loving my AKG's, they would be left spitting dust and probably on ebay after I took delivery of the Focals. Aterall, according to my imagined graph above, the AKG712's should have a signifciantly poorer perfomance than the focals. You can afterall pick up the AKG's for around £250 in the UK. Now, however it's the Focal's i'm seriously considering selling ...

AKG K712 has a certain "raw" but highly musical and "real world" sound characteristic, provided it "likes" the source and amp. In German we talk about Klangfarben for a reason, hence it is "colored" with a good and noble cause.

I like your comparison to the Clear because, well, you describe the weakness of all Focals i.e. - to my ears - a certain flatness which translates to an artificial 3dimensional sound tapestry . A not too involving signature, although I know and respect audiophiles with a different musical taste who would disagree, at least regarding the Clear and Utopia.

 

[abmwinnoch]

Is it just me or, for 1.4k shouldn't a headphone be virtually free of compromise and be very close to being as good as it's possible for humanity to build a headphone? (though I know that it's possible to pay far, far more). Perhaps niavely I thought this might be the case, hence my confusion that, to my ears a £250 headphones sounds better!

 

[musikverein]

Agreed, regarding the Clear which I don't fancy either.
Although, take another 1,4k phone, for instance the HD800s. This is on a significant higher level if we are talking about technicalities.
Hence, in terms of musicality, not so much.

 

[MrVitalic85]

Little update on my side : I recently built myself a protools hd 8 system out of 1 hd core pcie, 1 hd accel, and a digidesign 96 i/o hd. I also got in the process my license for pthd and a license for a virus indigo tdm. As for an audio interface, the digidesign omni hd is still 1500$ and up (kind of the head of the whole hd rack) so I had to buy a 96 i/o for 350$ locally to even be able to hear something out of protools and the incredible virus. I dont have an headphone amp and the 96 only have 8 trs out and 8 in. One seller at my local shop offered me to buy a ruppert neve hp for 650$ but anyway, I dont have that cash on hand right now.

So after a failed attemp with aggregated device and toslink ( to connect to my regular presonus firebox), I'm using a 2 ts plug merging into a single 1/8 headphone plug and WOW. Getting the output directly from the 96. I set the output of the 96 to +4dbu and omg : BASS! no over emphasis on high frequency, big soundstage, a really pleasing and clinical listening experience. I can use the digi core audio manager as a volume knob and adjust the volume inside my daw. So I got from having difficulty listening to the k712 for more than 5 min without having hearing fatigue to really loving them. I'l let you know when I buy or try the neve hp. Cheer

 

[MrVitalic85]

I take my words back a bit. Some gentleman told me that plugging headphone directly on monitor output is not the greatest idea (could damage my interface over time). Alright, so I'm back to the tape deck for the moment. Its a denon drr 730. The signal is almost the same, but a tad less clear. All and all I really love the 96 i/o. It is the cheaper interface out of the bunch from avid for that generation BUT my first true studio grade audio interface and I repeat, I like it a lot. So instead of going for a neve hp and having to eat spaghetti for a month, I'm interested in a mackie big knob command mk1. They say that It emphasis the low mid a bit, but hey, its all analog and seem to be a really useful piece of gear that I could use and it have two headphone output. When my car loan is finish I want to get a pair of adam a7x, so the mackie make sense (kind of). When I get them, I'l make a mark on the mackie at 45db and 83db. I'm in a apartment, and no longer have monitor. In some previous place, I was alone 5days a week, ahh the great times.

 

[bequietjk]

Something ive noticed, and woth most headphones ive used... The K712 are an ENTIRELY NEW BEAST when i connect them to a AVR. Is it because of the power? When plugged into my desktop amp it sounds thin. Still clean and detailed but with the AVR there is a dramatic increase in everything.

 

[bequietjk]

Ok, game change. I hooked up a different DAC and now it sounds much better.

So maybe the K712 just really love to have a good signal.