AKG K702

Mr Belt, no idea who or what that is referring to. A room audio with speakers is whole different topic

I don't get the fancy headphone wires and such either, especially since so many headphones come with no removable cables or have proprietary plugs such as most Sennheiser HPs. Beyer not removable on DTxxx line. AKG is a mix at least some have the mini XLR. Removable cable is useful to me, for moving the headphones, making sure the cable is not twisted etc.

OMG Grado XD I did not bother listening to them, I saw some newer overpriced ones even with an amp and all, just passed around it. But those tiny cheaper original ones, all hype I believe. SR60/80/... To me these fall into a "hipster" category of headphones On ear, no thanks Grado. I bet people get them as a retro looking "fancy" portable headphones, same as Marshall Major 2 is popular now from what I have seen. Again on ear, no thanks, poor frequency response to cater to certain customers.

I'm not sure I listened to HD650, will next time I visit the listening shop, HD600 sure but the soundstage while better than HD599 was still disappointing to me to be called an open headphone, better and sounded to me less strained than HD599, more effortless to create the sounds. Still I'm no fan of the 100-200Hz boost on Sennheisers coupled with shouty 3-5kHz and 10kHz+ cut off. HD6 series is better at some of this than HD5.

The only I found boring at first were DT880 because I was so used to DT770/990 that are V shaped. Liked HD599 and MSR7 only to not like them later when listening again either at home or in the shop again with better selected music samples etc.

Frans? I don't know, I would guess the driver itself costs around 5-10USD/EUR to manufacture at most. Most electronics components are dirt cheap to make, although dynamic speakers are not as small always, still in headphones they are fairly small. The regular small crap probably costs "cents" 1-2USD/EUR to make that you find in toys and other appliances. Unless of course you hand make it in Europe LOL. With all this robotized manufacturing it's fairly low costs to make in the long run.

Checking mouser... Speakers & Transducers Waterproof Spkr 8Ohm Round, Flange 0.5-1W, freakin waterproof 40mm driver, 5 EUR for a single piece, almost 2.5 EUR for a bulk order and that's with profits of all the distributors. Guess I wasn't that far off with 5-10 EUR for 50mm headphone drivers.

Never heard of Superlux washing machines. I can barely see name similarity with Electrolux which to me reminds an electric vacuum cleaner, electro = electric, lux = vacuum cleaner. Where as with Superlux it's more of a super = super/extra/hip-modern-marketing-word and lux = luxury/luxurious LOL Or sure it could be a super vacuum cleaner.

Sennheiser moved from Ireland to China, not sure HD6 series but the HD5 are China. My old 2006 Senn. is Ireland made. Most HD6 parts are easy to get from China so I would guess HD6 is also made in China at least the parts are. Greedy indeed.
AKG moved from Slovakia to China as well but dropped prices instead eventually, with fairly steady downward wobbly trend it seems minus the 2015 peak. On the other hand K701 with older driver can cost more than the IMHO better K702. And Q701 is often overpriced and nothing more than a recolored K702 with foam rings under the outer grill and two straight cables. AKG did fair share of their milking. All made in China now if they even make the Q701 still since so many shops don't sell it.

I've read enough about K702 before purchase and sometimes there are unfavorable reviews that say this and that is worse than K701 and how even Q701 is better and so on, tons of confusion and unreliability. K701 being the first and popular with in a way fancier colors. But when one listens to as many as possible and digs out the differences in drivers, foams, pads, it's clear these are all the same shell K701 IMHO not worth bothering with, K702 and Q701 equal driver possibly also K7xx (all made in China), and K712 then having the newest revision driver with different more flat balance overall, sometimes the K7xx measurements look similar to K712 other time do not, sometimes K7xx appears to be same mold for the shell as K712 sometimes not, I suspect early K7xx were made in EU where they make K712 and then moved to China after the initial batch, so what you buy now is the later Chinese K7xx probably with K702/Q701 driver unless they make K712 driver in China too and only assembly K712 in EU.

I would not fork out so much money for TH900, those aren't planar magnetic right? Still dynamic. The cheap planars are interesting and starting to show up more over time. Yeah K712 is fairly similar to what HD650 sounds, different yet similar. I very much prefer the deep K702/Q701 pads for comfort and soundstage. I'm not having any pains anymore with K702 on my ears, either they got used to the little pressure or I learned how to put the headphones on consistently correctly. My K702 has the higher Hz bass boost K712 didn't seem to have and as such they are fine bass wise to me with the deeper pads it comes with where as K712 would have deeper bass with these deep pads but overall bass volume lower, flatter bass response from that driver but less loud. And treble is OK for me on K702 with the deep pads while K712 was a driver lottery to get good 8-10kHz that isn't sibilant or reduced too much, I don't know how they did that, one unit was sibilant 36k batch and then 42k batch was too reduced. Feel like I hit the jackpot almost with this K702 since it's fairly flat to me in mids and treble, bright sure but not too much and I like this brightness especially for Vangelis. Many headphones make Vangelis songs sound dull when they have too reduced treble and no soundstage, mostly the treble does it, soundstage differences I can tolerate coming from a no soundstage headphone but missing treble, missing 10kHz+ and dull sound not.

I've played a game I have a test sample from as well as I need 3.5kHz flat without a strong dip as DT770/990 have, no problem with K702 I was actually surprised it doesn't sound trebly/bright as many of the other car sounds in this game are fairly bass-light/bass-nonexistent even bright at times. And I need mids + treble the 1-7kHz especially to be fairly flat without dips so that I can hear all tyre skids, position opponents, engine sounds to sound "natural". The soundstage was nice as well, will get used to it easily and was good to hear opponents on a side then confirmed by a rear view mirror, not sure it was easier but the distance thanks to soundstage seemed bigger. Where as with low soundstage headphones it can be difficult at times to tell how far etc. the sound is as it all crushes together. In FPS games it's fine to me with narrow soundstage since one moves and rotates a lot but with car racing one does not have the ability to rotate for better sound location same way people and dogs do it to better locate sound source in reality.

Almost bought a used K712 at a reasonable but still quite high for 2nd hand around 165-175 EUR K712, the seller though last 24h changed the auction format, allowed instant buy at same starting auction price and someone got it instead instantly. But it was an option to get 2nd hand used then swap the pads to angled ones or make angled adapters, both of which aren't cheap to get/make. Got the K702 new and cheaper instead, could not be happier, curious what it sounds like compared to K712 (if it's even worth bothering with K712 anymore) and if the angled pads alone are indeed deep enough as they seemed on Q701. K702 has enough bass when the stock pads are properly mounted and all 4 notches locked, not a bass head headphone but nothing to complain about, similar to HD600 I would say, maybe not as deep but then how many songs one listens to that actually have sub 60Hz bass? There are not many and not all are well mastered either.

I have no use for a PortaPro, hell I don't even take phone with me when going outside such as running and if I want to listen while walking or running I have cheap SoundMAGIC ES18S, my phone plays like crap IMHO so similarly cheap and poor headphones I barely ever use are only fitting
When a friend was selecting a headphone long ago there wasn't much to choose from, Koss 3AA etc. ended up being happy with recommended HD555. Which to me looks better on frequency response measurements than HD599 even 598 sold today. Other than the PortaPro I would probably not recommend any Koss, I don't know any other decent Koss.
Isn't the PortaPro kind of V shaped? With bass boost and treble peak? That will usually do it to satisfy many listeners and make them say it's a "good/likeable" sound.

Sadly a listening shop I can rarely go to does not have PortaPro available to listen to at a location I go to. There are plenty fakes for many headphones but IMHO hard to find them in EU luckily, maybe eBay from China then sure beware of fakes. Most shops use official distributors in EU and even when not or may not it's still from other smaller distributor that resells what they got from official distributor say for a different market region. Especially here in EU there are different market regions with different distributors, some markets get some products other do not, at different prices etc. Of course smaller distributors and smaller retailers try to get an edge and offer better prices and availability than the behemoth retailers do that are stuck with their long standing partners/distributors and do not go around to find and get specific products cheaper/earlier/etc. from a different distributor.

Even AKG K702, locally cheapest is 157 EUR yet from Germany it was 132 EUR both including shipping. With K712 the situation is opposite but only by 10 EUR and using discount codes etc. Even though I know one of the shops I bought K712 is from Slovakia and sends products from Slovakia, K712 is made/assembled in Slovakia, they do not offer any better price than their competition, oligopoly, same prices across shops to a cent.

I don't like massdrop, a login walled mostly north america focused shop.
Similar with monoprice, "attractive price/performance" monolith planar headphones but a US shop = high cost to import to EU.

You should try swap pads between K712 and K702, see how you like the K712 then.

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I "liked" the AK380, but only for borrowing to listen to headphones from it, not for buying, hell no
They are also heavy with a clumsy user interface and sharp edges. I've had a copper and carbon black one to listen from borrowed in a shop, and some older A&K AK320 I think.

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Toyota - Lexus - Scion
Nissan - Infinity - Datsun
Honda - Acura
and the list goes on, almost every car maker has one sub brand like that which appears more "luxurious" or sporty, not only Japanese car makers.

Mercedes - Maybach

Many of once independent car manufacturers in EU are now all part of WV group. And I mean MANY. Be it ones focused on cars for everyone or luxury super cars for 0.001% of richest people.

I almost bought the K702, just to measure it.
Could always sell it second hand for E 100.- or so... new E132 incl shipping.

Decided not to as I know I would sell it anyway... the 2kHz peak would bother me.

The HD6xx series and HD58X are still manufactured in Ireland.
The HD58X is really good (with a small modification) and with $ 150.- certainly a steal. BUT ... massdrop.
Shipping costs are O.K. ($ 15.-) but import duties do remove the fun a bit.

Actually,there is a peak somewhere around there Frans. I was listening on them this morning and it started to bother me as well, so I switched over to the k712 which by comparison is smoother sounding up there.

Possibly closer to the HD600 sound with a slight lift up top with the k712.

That peak seems to come and go according to what you’re listening to. (At least depending on the recording) and if there is any edge in the recording, it shows a lot on the k702.

So I think you’re right.... it might set the tinnitus off!!!

Yeah ears differ between people and so do individual headphones unfortunately.

Massdrop is a no go outside north america. Shipping + customs + tax. HD580 for $150? I would guess that even if they slap "Made in Ireland" on HD580/600/... that it's more of a "Assembled in Ireland from parts made in China" or "Packaged in Ireland". A China made K7xx on MD costs same as a new fully warrantied 2 weeks free return K712 made in EU, add shipping + customs + tax to the K7xx for importing it and it's a very bad deal from MD.
HD580 is discontinued in EU as far as I see in shops, nowhere to be found. HD600 was around 250 EUR with tax not long ago, 2 weeks free return and warranty.

My AKG K702 with my ears and source:

Raises to 2.5-3.0kHz "peak" and holds that level fairly well so it's not a peak really as that level is held onward going up in frequency, then a more prominent peak is at 5.0-5.3kHz after which it starts to go a bit down and up some of which is always the headphones and some is my ears. Then at the "very top" 11kHz+ it does not cut off but it's all well heard all the way to 15-16kHz for my ears.

I haven't had an issue with any K712 or this one K702 when it comes to 2.5kHz. Always with K712 the issues when present were in much higher frequencies in treble.

Plus the new Sennheisers HD5 series even HD6 to some extent I've heard often had a peak around 3-6kHz that in case of HD5 was at times ripping my ears off, unlistenable how badly high the peak was, couple that with 100-200Hz Senneheiser "bass" boost (*puke*). With my K702 the peaks are far far from that, sure they can be heard on a frequency sweep and noticed in comparisons between different brand headphones on songs but listening only to K702 I don't notice sounds being off or odd otherwise I would have returned it just like I did with DT770pro80, HD599 and 4x K712 (2 arrived open box instead of new, issues: creaking, sibilant, reduced 8-10kHz treble, ... all over the place overall consistency wise).

So in the end the 2-6kHz on my K702 is reasonably flat and instruments do not sound odd, different than they should, off, etc. 6-16kHz has some downs and ups but not too large, some caused by headphone some by my ears and the end above 10kHz is not cut off unlike most new Sennheisers.

Certainly it is a lottery of what unit you get and what ears you have.

For 132EUR I'm a happy camper finally. The only mod I had to do cost me nothing, is completely nondestructive and reversible in seconds, a headband padding using a piece of open cell foam.

The only downside I found so far, the AKG K7 are not made for moving around such as dancing and jumping. Where as my old Sennheiser weighing 100g less and fitting around ears snugly does not move easily at all especially when shaking head side to side, dancing, jumping etc. That's about it.

I don't see any need for felt or to bother trying the bass port sticker removal. Sure if one wants to reduce treble overall a felt would work, I don't find mine too bright.

Where do people buy these felts to cut rings out of?

This is all it takes to remove the "highest" peak my K702 has to my ears:



That's all. The rest is +-1 dB 2 at most. Even this one is fine at -2 only to remove most of it. But this -3 at Q6 captures all of it.
No need to reduce 2.5kHz on mine. All the tiny peaks and dips are elsewhere.

I don't use EQ for listening, only for testing.

That I may find, there are enough sewing scraps around XD Don't remember seeing any felt though, must be hidden. There should be some thicker felt for sure as a filling but no idea about something nicer fabric thin like.

I've revised the 5kHz peak, it's only -2.5dB Q5 that's needed, -3 was a touch too much. Even -2dB removes sort of a "hiss"/music/"noise" and makes the sound less forward. That is after you find a song etc. that has sounds around 5kHz to even be able to hear a difference and the difference is sub 3dB to notice, it's small. I don't mind the 5-5.3kHz brighter/louder when it's this little. Other headphones the ups and downs were in 6-12dB ranges it was too much, sometimes even EQ would not fix the mess.

I use one of those suit cleaners. It’s a roller that picks up fluff. In the old days, they made them with tape around the roller for the cleaning of dust from LP’s but mine is this rubbery substance which tou can clean under a tap and go on using it.

It’s really nice and brings up pads like new. I can’t find anyone who sells thwm now though.