[Aman]

Many people have classified the AKG K271s headphones as having very little bass, or possibly "recessed". I agreed to a degree - I really thought that the bass COULD be more present, and that when I DID hear the bass, it seemed too low in volume.

I discovered the true reason for this:

THIS IS A RECORDING PROBLEM!

The AKG K271s headphones must just be EXTREMELY revealing, because I have never experienced anything like this before! I played Frank Zappa's 2LP set "Joe's Garage Acts II & III" - it is the best-sounding LP in my collection... and WOW! The bass just OPENED up! I have made no equipment changes of any sort - I just never listened to this LP through headphones before. I put on some other recordings - and what do you know.. the bass is gone!

I put the Frank Zappa LP on again ... and what do you know ... the bass is alive! It's vibrant! It's full of depth and life! It's impactful!

What's the deal here? I really believe it's just a really bad bass track on many albums that give the AKGs their bass characteristics. Really, on a well-recorded track this bass problem is DEFINITELY not existent. On a recording of Handel's "Messiah" (another of one of my better-sounding LPs) the bass is there in extraordinary detail and depth.

You guys wouldn't believe your ears listening to the 271s headphones through this Frank Zappa album - I have yet to achieve bass like this on any other headphone through any other album! It's just so much fun, so punchy, and so deep - it's better than anything the Grados have been able to put out!

I can't explain this one really... this is beyond anything I could comprehend - and my ears are not deceiving me...

I just thought I'd share this to any of the people thinking about purchasing one of these phones.
Comments?
-Andrew

 

[Flea Bag]

Hmm... I never felt bass in the K271 to be weak or 'recessed' in the first place! I quite love my K271 and its balance. I can't think of another closed headphone that can be considered a definite step-up that doesn't cost a leg or an arm...

 

[Aman]

Well it was only the bass I found recessed. The mids are FAR from recessed... they're beautiful

But honestly.. does anyone know anything about how the quality of recording can change the headphones' sound so drastically?

 

[ilovesocks]

Aman -

Good discovery! Do you have an EQ with which you could boost the bass of lesser recordings? I have a pair of 271s coming Wednesday (

).

 

[halcyon]

AKG K271s is no overall bass deficient, but it _is_ undeniably bass deficient in the lowest two octaves.

Take a powerful enough headphone amp, drive 20, 32, 40, 45Hz pure or warble tones to your AKG K271S.

What do you hear except intermodulation distortion at high levels? Not much.

Do the same with HD600, HD650 and many other headphones. Whad do you hear? Bass.

Also, please do understand that EVERY headphone out there is revealing in some way.

Human hearing is based on a principle of masking (temporal, amplitude and frequency masking).

This means that headphones A and B with different spectral characteristics will both mask AND reveal different things.

However us humans are tuned to spotting new stimuli (not always lack of old stimuli) and as such we will almost always pay attention to the "new" things we hear, when we change from headphone A to headphone B.

However, classifying headphones as "revealing" on the basis of this, can be very misleading.

IMHO, revealing can only be assessed through long head-to-head listening/comparison sessions when going from cans A to cans B, back and forth and attentively listening to what one can hear (micro and macro) and what one can't hear.

If one just changes cans, there is almost always going to be "wow, all this new stuff that I'm hearing" comment, because that's our hearing works.

Also, if you do a 8+ kHz test with AKG K271s you will also notice it's deficiency/pleasantness there. It'll mask some things there, while letting the lower frequncies shine while at the same time protecting you from listening fatigue.

I've listened to HD600, AKG K271s, HFI-650, ER4P/s head-to-head extensively and these are my personal findings.

regards,
halcyon

PS I'm not saying K271s is a bad headphone, but all headphones have their pros/cons. The lowest frequency bass and lower treble / upper mids attenuation are not its strong forte.

 

[Runningwater]

Actually, I am quite satisfied with K1000's bass

 

[Large4mat]

I too love the bass response of the AKG K271s. I like the overall presentation, (using the Stefan AudioArt Equinox cable), as well as the Senn HD650.......The isolation is an added bonus.....Definitely "the" can to own if you can only have one pair.

 

[Andrea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aman THIS IS A RECORDING PROBLEM!

REALLY!

 

[pbalcer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by halcyon AKG K271s is no overall bass deficient, but it _is_ undeniably bass deficient in the lowest two octaves. Take a powerful enough headphone amp, drive 20, 32, 40, 45Hz pure or warble tones to your AKG K271S. What do you hear except intermodulation distortion at high levels? Not much. Do the same with HD600, HD650 and many other headphones. Whad do you hear? Bass.

I have HD600 and K271S. I don't have the equipment to measure the frequency response but when I plug in AKGs I hear more bass than on Senns.
My impression (by ear) is that AKGs can actually go lower than HD600 but it only shows on some recordings. Maybe it is because the mid-bass "hump" on HD600 actually masks the real bass?

 

[halcyon]

If you use single tones at lower-bass frequencies, there will no effect from any upper-frequncies. I.e. no so-called mid-bass hump effects to mask this test.

Try it out with pure simple tones for yourself. And make sure you have a beefy enough amp to drive both headphones.

I'd be very surprised if sombody found AK271s to have more bass response in the lower octaves

 

[philodox]

Nice to see some K271S bass love...

I too enjoy the way that they handle bass. The only reason I find them somewhat lacking is that the K340's do it even better.

 

[saint.panda]

I think the AKG 271 does not portray the lower octaves very well for example when it comes to the digital cannons on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (Telarc). The bass fades away too quickly and most likely that is neither a recording issue nor damping issue because the HD 650 may have a mid bass emphasis but the bass decay should be very controlled nonetheless. The K271 has a very tight bass but I'm not sure if this isn't simply a matter of missing fundamentals (or just more "missing" compared to other headphones). The pitch of a very deep bass can still be perceived as such but the actual deep bass frequencies might be actually missing leading to a lighter and less full-bodied overall bass impression.

However, the AKG 271 really has a very nice midrange although the upper midrange almost feels a bit dark due to the slight hill in the frequency response right down the middle (not on the AKG K1000 though). As far as resolution goes, the AKG 271 is excellent as well when compared to other closed headphones.

 

[bubbagump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea REALLY!

while avoiding the overflogging of eq vs. non-eq, I would like to take this opportunity to strike a metaphor.

Life is short. Don't eq your music. You should have stopped using sugar in your coffee around 12 or 13.

I now return you to your akg ad hominem.

 

[pbalcer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda The pitch of a very deep bass can still be perceived as such but the actual deep bass frequencies might be actually missing leading to a lighter and less full-bodied overall bass impression.

This is an interesting point. I think you may be right here. Maybe that's why the bass on K271 sounds so strong on some (more dynamic) recordings. But I'm still quite pleased with it.

 

[hawky]

I'm with pbalcer and saint.panda on this one. I enjoy the bass when it is present and also enjoy that fact that it is not over present..