Post by Rabbit on Dec 25, 2016 21:58:00 GMT
A few years back, I used to buy quite a lot of k550 headphones for students and noticed that they weren't always consistent. In fact my original K550 sounded quite thin and sharp by comparison to newer ones that I bought so I swapped to a newer one before I got my hands on a K553.
I also had a couple of K545 headphones and direct comparison showed that the image on one wasn't centred. Obviously working by 'ear' so it's a rough comparison but if the ear could detect it, then it must have been significant. I just presumed that I had a duff K545.
Then I bought a K553 which I loved. In fact, while I had the AT M7, I did directly compare the two and found the exact same problem as I had found in my K545's.
First, the sound of the M7 had more body in the lower treble (would you believe?) where the K553 sounded thinner and a little more edgy, but worse, the K553 centre image was very 'hazy' in comparison to the M7 which was rock solid centre. Again, because I'm going by ear, I'm not sure whether this was poor driver matching and due to tonal differences between left and right or whether one side was actually softer than the other. I felt that the m7 was a better headphone.
To me the image sat just left of centre slightly, where the M7 put it dead Centre and very plain to hear. The K553 just seemed hazy and unfocused.
So this is the third time, where I have found slight but odd differences with AKG headphones. Could be the cause of quite diverse opinions on forums perhaps?
I now wonder just how good the driver matching is at AKG because I have had the same problem three times with three different models. I have to admit, it has made me wary of AKG TBH.
I also had a couple of K545 headphones and direct comparison showed that the image on one wasn't centred. Obviously working by 'ear' so it's a rough comparison but if the ear could detect it, then it must have been significant. I just presumed that I had a duff K545.
Then I bought a K553 which I loved. In fact, while I had the AT M7, I did directly compare the two and found the exact same problem as I had found in my K545's.
First, the sound of the M7 had more body in the lower treble (would you believe?) where the K553 sounded thinner and a little more edgy, but worse, the K553 centre image was very 'hazy' in comparison to the M7 which was rock solid centre. Again, because I'm going by ear, I'm not sure whether this was poor driver matching and due to tonal differences between left and right or whether one side was actually softer than the other. I felt that the m7 was a better headphone.
To me the image sat just left of centre slightly, where the M7 put it dead Centre and very plain to hear. The K553 just seemed hazy and unfocused.
So this is the third time, where I have found slight but odd differences with AKG headphones. Could be the cause of quite diverse opinions on forums perhaps?
I now wonder just how good the driver matching is at AKG because I have had the same problem three times with three different models. I have to admit, it has made me wary of AKG TBH.