[cfranchi]

My K371 arrived today and it's currently plugged into a Chord Mojo2 running optical / spdif out from a computer, streaming Amazon Music HD.

How is K371 with Mojo2 compared to phone/computer output ?
Also did you play with Mojo2 crossfeed ?

 

[The-One]

I'm using my K361 right now with Dekoni Velour pads through a Mojo2... so I'd call this space more "dormant" than dead.

Totally agree about the "studio monitory" sound, although the K361 is particularly flat through the bass.

Listening to these this morning has made me decide that I don't think its worth moving much higher up the budget scale than these for closed backs (even though I already have been there... sometimes you have to travel far only to realise you were already at the destination). The K361 sound great and I don't think you can get a "much better" sound in closed back form without spending significantly more. At that point I would say budgets would be better dedicated to IEMs or open backs because from a pure "price to sound-performance" perspective closed backs can't compete with those other form factors... at least not yet.

Of course, If you can't wear IEMs due to discomfort and need the sound isolation that open backs can't provide, then of course you may look higher up the scale for a more high end closed back, but you'll always be paying a premium with closed backs and not getting the best sound available at that price IMHO. For example, I love the sound of the Focal Radiance, but if I had USD1600 to spend, I'd be getting a Monarch Mk2 or Arya Organic (or for an extra US$200, both of them).

So I guess this means my only sensible closed back recommendation for a closed back going forward will be the K361 (haven't tried the k371).

Why did you change pads? Replacement or better fit?

K371 didn't cost much more than the k361 and it came with extra sub bass boost so i got the k371. To be honest, if u wear glasses rather than contact lenses, the bass from the k371 probably drops to the 361 anyway

Yeah I agree with your opinion on expensive closed backs not worth it as much. But open backs leaves me "wanting more", more bass, more sound stage. Which is why I sold a pair of Sennheiser HD800 long ago to buy speakers instead. I like iems too, they're portable and usable in more situations. I have a Yanyin x HBB Mahina at $650, which if I'm being honest, think sound better running out of the Mojo2 than the K371.

But I really think the K371 at its price point hits a sweet spot for performance / form factor so I still think it's a good buy. I wouldn't want to buy more expensive headphones than this, where as I would for iems.

 

[The-One]

How is K371 with Mojo2 compared to phone/computer output ?
Also did you play with Mojo2 crossfeed ?

I haven't tried running straight from computer yet, I'm away from pc rn anyway. I'd hazard a guess that it's not going to sound better than the mojo2 lol

Mojo2 crossfeed is on low, a setting carried over from my iems.

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

Why did you change pads? Replacement or better fit?

K371 didn't cost much more than the k361 and it came with extra sub bass boost so i got the k371. To be honest, if u wear glasses rather than contact lenses, the bass from the k371 probably drops to the 361 anyway

Yeah I agree with your opinion on expensive closed backs not worth it as much. But open backs leaves me "wanting more", more bass, more sound stage. Which is why I sold a pair of Sennheiser HD800 long ago to buy speakers instead. I like iems too, they're portable and usable in more situations. I have a Yanyin x HBB Mahina at $650, which if I'm being honest, think sound better running out of the Mojo2 than the K371.

But I really think the K371 at its price point hits a sweet spot for performance / form factor so I still think it's a good buy. I wouldn't want to buy more expensive headphones than this, where as I would for iems.

I changed the pads for comfort. My ears would touch the drivers with stock pads. I went for the Dekoni Choice Suede and Dekoni Velours. I've written about them in more depth earlier in the thread. I like them both and alternate depending on my mood.

 

[gargani]

Why did you change pads? Replacement or better fit?

K371 didn't cost much more than the k361 and it came with extra sub bass boost so i got the k371. To be honest, if u wear glasses rather than contact lenses, the bass from the k371 probably drops to the 361 anyway

Yeah I agree with your opinion on expensive closed backs not worth it as much. But open backs leaves me "wanting more", more bass, more sound stage. Which is why I sold a pair of Sennheiser HD800 long ago to buy speakers instead. I like iems too, they're portable and usable in more situations. I have a Yanyin x HBB Mahina at $650, which if I'm being honest, think sound better running out of the Mojo2 than the K371.

But I really think the K371 at its price point hits a sweet spot for performance / form factor so I still think it's a good buy. I wouldn't want to buy more expensive headphones than this, where as I would for iems.

I really liked your sound description of the k371 in your previous post. It dovetails perfectly to how I hear it.
I also like the bass better on closed backs than open backs, although you don't get the same soundstage as on open backs.
I have other closed backs that give more mid and upper bass than the akg k371; but for a more reference studioish bass the akg k371 is better.

 

[The-One]

So I've listened to the K371 for about an hour every night since I got it, paired with the Chord Mojo2, which I got 5 days before that.

I only really have 1 update to my intial impressions. It's that K371 definitely wasn't tuned to make everything sound "nice" and paired with the Mojo2, which to me seems to have a habit of accentuating different things in different songs. The K371 also doesn't "wow" me with the music, so much as simply sounding very "competent".

I've also been playing with some basic EQ and basically lowering it's peak at 3k (along with general 1-2k also) would reduce "shout" or "glare" and make more songs more enjoyable. However, it is much more obvious that the K371 was designed to be a tool. For example at the same given volume, Doja Cat's voice would sound much sharper, aggressive and "shouty" than say Lana Del Rey which is soothing by default.

Currently the IEM that I use blunts a lot of sharp voices, tastefully raises the bass (given it's also 4x the price of the K371, sounds more "bouncy" and "distinct" anyway), needs no EQ for pretty much every song to sound good.

I might end up creating a custom EQ for the K371 to emulate what I did on my studio monitors to simply dial the tweeter down by -1db to take the edges off voices for general listening also. But at the same time, I am still really happy that for such a relatively affordable price, the K371 is an awesome referencing tool.

--

oh also, your ears do get hot, but like after an hour. when you take them off, you feel immediately cooler.

 

[jasonb]

What I feel the K371 needs most is a boost up top. To me they lack a bit of sparkle and air, and I think are the darkest sounding thing I own. Otherwise they are good.

 

[ekjellgren]

Just ordered a used pair of K371. What pads do you recommend for best comfort and sound enhancement if possible?
Are they easy to replace?
Also looking for a nicer cable.

 

[InvisibleInk]

Just ordered a used pair of K371. What pads do you recommend for best comfort and sound enhancement if possible?
Are they easy to replace?
Also looking for a nicer cable.

Dekoni Sheepskin pads. Dekoni leather is also nice and better for comfort.

Not the easiest, and not the hardest to swap. Somewhere in the middle.

Go on AliExpress and shop for a nice 3-pin single-ended cable. There should be a bunch of nice ones for not too much money.

Great headphones. Enjoy!

 

[ekjellgren]

Dekoni Sheepskin pads. Dekoni leather is also nice and better for comfort.

Not the easiest, and not the hardest to swap. Somewhere in the middle.

Go on AliExpress and shop for a nice 3-pin single-ended cable. There should be a bunch of nice ones for not too much money.

Great headphones. Enjoy!

Nice, thanks!

Can you describe the difference between the Sheepskin and Leather?
Did you try the other ones as well?

/Evert

 

[Papking]

I recently got the AKG K371s and the Sennheiser hp58x. Spent about a week with them. Both are great hp but I'm keeping the k371 and returning the hd58x. The K371 won out on comfort, overall sound signature. Hd58x won in build quality and looks. These hps sound fairly similar but I prefer the mids, vocals and treble on the k371. The big deciding factor was the the k371s are closed back and are powered fine by my phone. The hd58xs would be another desktop hp witch I really don't need. I really wanted to prefer the hd58x as I wanted to own a pair of Sennheisers and these have bass. If I could afford to keep both I would. Oh well

 

[Hypops]

So I’ve had my K361 pair for a while now and got them originally for casual mobile use on commutes. Just recently I decided on a whim to shell out for a set of the Dekoni pads (Choice Suede), thinking that the improvement in comfort and the minor adjustment to frequency response might be “nice.” I had tried a set of Brainwavz pads for a few months, but didn’t like them at all (for both comfort and sound quality reasons). I really wasn’t sure what to expect with these Dekoni pads.

However, I was not prepared for just how big a difference the Dekoni pads would make. I had long since written these headphones off as bass-thin and a bit lifeless, but usefully portable with “good enough” sound quality for listening on flights and walking commutes. I figured the Dekoni pads would just provide a minor tweak to make them somewhat better than mediocre. But the bass suddenly showed up and punchy dynamics appeared?! And because of the firmness of the pads, the overall “clamp-feel” is feather-light. I’ve been A/B-ing them against headphones I have lying around in the $200-$300 range. Maybe it’s just my elation at the improvement, but the K361’s seem to be holding their own against them?

I’m kind of in (pleasant) shock.

EDIT: Because I’d never taken these headphones very seriously before, I never bothered to do much “critical listening” with them. But suddenly I’m paying attention to performance traits. For example, of the headphones I own, they’re probably closest in performance to my Focal Elegias. Not a comparison I expected to make, but since both are closed-backs (and punch harder than my other headphones), I guess there’s a kind of sense there.

 

[thecrow]

Just a small note re brainwavz replacement earpads for the k371 (of my sons).

bought the oval microsuede earpads.

early impression:

quite comfortable.

compared to the stock earpads these have given a bit more elevation to mids/upper mids/ (maybe) top end and as a result the bottom end emphasis is a little less than the stock pads.
- this is similar to what i have read some others say.
perhaps one could say this is a bit more “neutral” (whatever that is) v the harman curve sound of the stock earpads

(as a note: dekoni’s were not in stock in australia and if ordered directly the freight charge for one pair made it a bit too much ($35 usd from memory) for me at this point.
and local distributor store told me they only put an order in once every three months, so was happy to try the brainwavz first rather than wait)

 

[Hypops]

Just a small note re brainwavz replacement earpads for the k371 (of my sons).

bought the oval microsuede earpads.

early impression:

quite comfortable.

compared to the stock earpads these have given a bit more elevation to mids/upper mids/ (maybe) top end and as a result the bottom end emphasis is a little less than the stock pads.
- this is similar to what i have read some others say.
perhaps one could say this is a bit more “neutral” (whatever that is) v the harman curve sound of the stock earpads

(as a note: dekoni’s were not in stock in australia and if ordered directly the freight charge for one pair made it a bit too much ($35 usd from memory) for me at this point.
and local distributor store told me they only put an order in once every three months, so was happy to try the brainwavz first rather than wait)

Awesome. Yeah, I think for me the stock pads and the Brainwavz pads were actually too small for my ears. I wear glasses, but experimenting with listening to the K361’s with and without my glasses, there was no difference. I think it was actually my ears breaking the seal on those other pads. I think that’s the big difference for me with the Dekoni pads: my (evidently) big ears actually fit fully inside them!

 

[idsyphe]

If you're considering aftermarket pads, I'd suggest Yaxi's pads, they are my favourite for these headphones, compared to the Brainwavz pads they fit the form factor much better.

I have the stpad2 on my K371BT, these pads are fairly stiff but the material inside is very nice, the opening is a bit wider so should suit most ears/heads. These pads are very comfortable, but don't quite feel as plush as...

I have the MSR7 Comfort on my K361 wired, and these are amazingly plush earpads, they feel really nice on your ears/head, the only downside about these is that the opening is rather small both in depth and circumference, so YMMV if you have larger ears. With that said, I do have large ears and these aren't a problem for me.