AKG K-702 Reviews

Real Monitoring

These lane of headphones are made strictly to monitor any source of sound.

Sound: detailed, truthful, strict, cold neutral - everything you can expect from REAL monitoring headphones.

Usability: comfortable, non-sweating, light - creates no pressure on your head even after few hours of non-stop work.

Obviously not for recording, since it's an "Open" model.

Not for regular music listening\watching movie\playing games - no enjoyment.

Studio only.

excellent

ex top-de-gamme for akg. (remember to do a proper 150hrs burn-in time)

coming from k-240 models it was a real pleasure to see that it maintains the original sound signature, revealing more brandwidth (notably on bass part) without exaggerating anything. no fatigue, not heavy on head.

impedance is too high for good listening volumes with portable devices, but when properly driven, it's just revealing.

it feels really natural and translates incredibly well. now that the price dropped by 100 it's a must buy for every producer/s-engineer/designer

(it's open design, so nothing for tracking or monitoring here)

Satisfied

I bought them to better the sound of my productions at my home studio and i am very pleased.

On the sound department: all frequencies are very balanced and distinguishable. When I switch from them to my monitors (Ayra 6) the sound is incredible similar.

On the build section: they r solid. I know this because i drop them at least once a day and no problem. Also very comfortable on the head. Light and it does not bother me on the top of my head as others do, and i use them several hours per day.

Recommended.

Huge headphones

I have used these headphones for practicing and for home-recording work. I didn't think that they are going to be so enormous, but they are extremely comfortable.

The pads on the sides aren't too soft neither too weak, right in the middle.

The sound is very clear, but there is no dubstep kind of bass with these headphones, so don't expect that.

If you want to have a headphones to listen a quality music with a very clear and nice sound, then buy these headphones. If you're looking for real big bass sound headphones, then buy something else.

But they still work fine for practicing bass guitar with head, just if you also add a higher sound (music with aux) then it starts to make noises that it can't take so much bass and play higher frequencies at the same time.

I've had better experiences with headphones, but not for that kind of money.

Good sound, a little uncomfortable after a while

I bought these headphones to produce electronic music and I'm 100% happy with their sound, they meet my expectations.

Be aware that these are open headphones, so they are quite loud for someone near you.

They're a little uncomfortable to wear, after a while my head starts to hurt a little due to the hard leather strap.

After 6 years some parts are worn out, the little tension rubber straps at the sides which are supposed to keep the headphones in position are now worn out and the headphones are now constantly to big for me. I see no obvious way to exchange them or to fix this.

The ear cushions are filled with a fine black powder which now almost completely disappeared, because if you remove the cushions, e.g. for cleaning, the powder just falls out of the holes.

I filled them with rice (yummi) and it does the job.

Everything else is just fine, the cable seems to be of superiour quality, it never broke.

I would recommend these AKG headphones if you can live with the minor flaws, after all they still do a good job after 6 years almost daily use.

Glad I took advice

Took me a long time to pick a decent set of monitor headphones and glad I did. These are quite cheap for the quality. very light, easy to forget you're wearing them, and the sound quality is excelent for the price. I spent a long time discussing online with a friend who's a sound engineer and headphone geek (he used to use these)

I use them in a small home studio so it's always hard to choose new equipment. no point spending thousands on anything if you're plugging it into something that cost hundreds (in this case mostly Apogee Gio).

the cable is replaceable. I need to do that because it comes with a fairly flimsy(ish) wire that's perfectly good for what I need but I tend to roll over stuff on my swivel chair constantly.

Sound is good, very flat response, none of this unwanted extra bass some manufacturers insist you want .

They do tend to fall off quite alot but that's because they're so light you forget you're wearing them and I'm clumsy with the lead.

The impedence is quite high, as you'd expect so don't buy them for your iPod, you will probably need some sort of headphone preamp to drive them properly.

They're open backed which may be a personal preference issue but for me, I always prefer open for monitoring/critical listening, and for vocals (tend to get better pitching but does mean a bit of sound bleeding).

K 702

When I put this headphones on for the first time it was like - ahhhh, too much highs. The thing is that ears have to get use to new headphones and it can take several weeks. Very comfortable, good quality headphones. But despite many reviews I would say they are better for tracking/listening than for mixing and mastering. Also the price could be less.

I tried a friend's pair and then had to have my own.

I wear headphone for up to 10 hours per day, 5 - 6 days per week. I have been using a pair of phones made by a different company and I was always happy with this pair. That was until I heard the AKG K-702. My fellow audio engineer friend brought a pair over when we were doing some mix adjustments and he offered for me to try them. I put them on and was immediately shocked at how comfortable they were. I hit play and WOW. I heard clarity that I had not heard before and I knew that I could wear these phones all day without any chance of discomfort.

My mixes are now a lot tighter and my head is a lot less squashed at the end of the day. They are open phones so not good for recording (get a closed pair for that). These headphones are for those wanting a professional mix and taking their music production to pro level. I will never part with mine!

I have some divided opinions about these headphones. Obviously it has to do with my own expectations and demands, but I will try to make a fair assessment with the price of the headphones included.

I will begin with the positive... The comfort is very good with a self-adjusting belt over the head in leather and smooth ear-pads in fabric. After many hours in the studio they still be comfortable. The audio cable is detachable, if it should be damaged for any reason. Most importantly, the sound of course, is generally very good. Clear and bright sound and good acoustic separation. I'm more than satisfied with both the tweeter and midrange. The bass is solid and clear, but I miss the real depth ...

The negative then... I would say the bass in that case. As I wrote, it's solid and clear, but I would liked a little more heavy depth. But for the given price, you can not demand everything. Relative to the price, the bass is more than approved. I think it also depends on the fact that I'm used to my subwoofer in the studio, and that the difference becomes so clear when I put my headphones on...

I am more than satisfied, highly recommended.

Brilliant Buy

When i first got these headphones i was really dissapointed. The sound seemed like it was lacking bass and it was really hard for me to hear bass sounds. I used them several hours everyday. After a week,the frequency response seemed to have levelled out -the 'phones were "burning in"- and I was becoming more satisfied with the clarity and detail. Bass sounded much tighter , the music was becoming more pleasurable and you could hear every single detail from a track!

The soundstage on them is one of the biggest soundstages i've ever heard on headphones- it is like you are in the middle of a huge hall and hear things come from various directions & distances.

Excellent headphones, very comfortable and definitely worth buying!

Wonderful mastering headphones for picking out hidden details, not for recording with mics though!

Let me start by saying I bought these over the 701's because they were in stock and the waiting time on the white 701's was several months. Apparently though they are the same drivers but a bit more comfortable and they feature a removable mini XLR cable.

They come in a fairly low key cardboard box, no fancy accessories or case included though. They are incredibly large if you haven't used pro headphones before, but at the same time wonderfully comfortable. The plush soft velvet ear pads completely fit over the ears and they auto adjust to the size of your head. They are very light and you soon forget you are wearing them! As they are of an open back design, they do little to reduce the background sounds around you. The advantage of this is that you get a very open sound, as if you were listening to speakers. The disadvantage of course is t hat they leak a lot of sound so I would advise against using them when recording a vocal line. For that I use my excellent Audio Technica ATX M50s.

Unlike many reviewers I chose not to 'break them in' and started listening immediately to a few high bit rate m4a tracks in itunes via the headphone output on my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP. The sound is best described as being faithful, very uncoloured and extremely detailed. Many have said they lack bass, this is not true. Listen to a good quality source and track and you can feel all the low frequencies and hear the instruments, but without the usual bloat and muddle that other cans bring with their emphasised low end. The stereo imaging is extremely solid and well defined, each instrument perfectly placed in the stereo field with precision and clarity. The sound is very open, crisp but not coloured in any way. There's a great sense of depth and this makes these headphones perfect for picking out defects in a mix or analysing the player's slightest nuances on a recording. Listen to a good classical recording and you can clearly hear the players breathing and their hands moving! A very exciting pair of headphones that will surely improve the more I listen to them.

Overall I am very impressed at the 702's, especially given the price of them when compared with other mid to top end headphones. Note that they do take a bit of driving though, I found when using on my iPod that I needed to turn the volume to maximum to get a good listening level so they aren't as sensitive as ear buds or smaller headphones. Get a good headphone amp though and you will love them!

Definitely recommended!