I forgot I was supposed to review my AKG k7XX's Ruby Red's when I got them (
@BumbleBee ordered me too
). Well, get ready for a review I suppose. These are a full 3 months broken in (at least) and just underwent their first hand washing, which I will cover in my review as an interesting aside:
Product Link:
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-akg-k7xx-red-edition
I bought into the first drop, the first 1500. I got shipped number 1787 though as the second drop got launched shortly thereafter and aparently if you weren't guaranteed a number, they shipped you whatever they had made at the time. Oh well, it's pretty aparent these aren't quite so "limited" as one would hope for, but no biggie. I bought for the sound first and foremost:
About sound, we really should cover what kind of sound I like before doing a proper review. After all, I assume what sounds good to my ears might sound horrible to yours. I'm a solid state guy mostly, and like sound that many people would describe as "overly analytical." I like things to bring out every detail in the game I'm playing, for example. I don't listen to much music so this may bias me, as I'm sure bringing out every minute detail (even bad ones) doesn't always benefit a recording, especially something like an MP3.
I will now list headphones I have tried, in order of least favorite to favorite (with a brief list of pros and cons). They are all open backs, I like that.
1.)
Sennheiser HD598 (Sound felt like it was missing some detail... don't know how else to describe it (I'm new at this game), but was "acceptable." Insanely comfortable though, best of the bunch)
2.)
Philips SHP9500 (Second best sound, still the best bang for the buck as these can be had VERY CHEAPLY. My only complaint is the bass is a bit... blurred? Muddy? Something. Vocals and treble is excellent however. Their earpads are a bit scratchy: comfort is not perfect but is ok for the money)
3.)
AKG K7XX Ruby Red Edition This review will cover these. (In short for this table, spoiler alert, best overall satisfaction yet, best sound quality, second best comfort losing only to the insanely comfortable Sennheisers above)
Based on the above, you can guess what I have to say of these headphones. I like them, a lot. They fit my sound signature I like to a tee. I can say that these headphones (the AKG's) are very analytical. Almost too much so, as what little music I do listen to is all MP3's, and now I can't stand it.
You may/may not like this, so judge accordingly. I love it.
Speaking of the sound, these really do benefit from a decent amp (the other two headphones I tried honestly didn't care much). I initially used these with my
SMSL SD793-II DAC/amp combo unit and thought them to be quite good, but not beating my Phillips Treble response. I found the Treble and vocal section oddly weak and lacking in detail and could not find this in any other reviews. It turned out to be a fluke with my cheapo amps ability to drive these AKGs. Although they weigh in 62 Ohms on the spec sheet, some enterprising people online told me that certain ranges sometimes require far more power. The ones that get hit by this the most are the bass, and the high end treble. Sensing this may be my problem (I'm not a bass head so I didn't really notice the first part), I switched my amp for a American made (and actually fairly affordable!)
Schiit Magni 2. I find Schiit to be an awesome company for someone looking for a decent headphone amp on a budget, and can fully reccomend the Schiit Magni 2. (They also have tube amps if that's your thing, but I prefer solid state as you probably already guessed). I hooked the Magni 2 to my SMSL's unamped RCA outputs and immediately, the SMSL DAC and Schiit amp combo brought these to life, firmly beating the cheapo (but still a great value!) Phillips SHP9500s in even it's strong spot: Vocals. It was like a night and day difference. Inspired, I later bought a
Schiit Modi 2 Uber to function as my DAC. While I can also reccomend that unit totally for the money, it was not the night and day difference the amp was. I guess the SMSL was just underpowered for the job, and it showed.
The sound itself is what I would describe as mostly neutral (some people call the bass weak, I don't think it is really) and true to life sound. As I said, "analytical." I like that.
Off the topic of the neccestiy of amps and my shilling for Schiit audio, I will cover some things I don't like so much about these headphones, as the sound signature basically fits me to a tee and I can't say a bad thing about it there.
Cleaning: These "memory foam" pads are comfortable, but whatever "velour" they use is both insanely comfortable, and insanely able to suck all the dandruf off my poor head given about 3 months. I just went through my first cleaning of these, as a replacement kit by the way, will set you back about $120 after shipping from europe... yep, I got quoted that. $50 per earpad plus SH. Not wanting to pay for a new pair of headphones just to get a replacement ear pad, I went to hand washing as per the instructions. This is effective, but time consuming. The memory foam is like a sponge and will absorb an insane amount of water just to irritate you. If I had not resorted to a blow dryer, I imagine these would've taken well over 24 hours to dry out. Fortunately, they responded to the blow dryer well and showed no signs of damage to the pads by doing so. Your milage may vary depending on the intensity of your blow dryer, use common sense.
Cord: The cord that comes with these headphones is way, way too long and coils itself up like a snake on speed if you try to organize it. I don't know why, but it's the most self-twisting cord I have ever encountered. Could be a fluke of mine I suppose, but regardless, I reccomend you order this and make your life easier if you are near your amp. It is quality, doesn't twist up easily, is braided, and I couldn't be happier:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KALQQJI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
So, tl;dr time: I like anaylytical sound, do mostly gaming. Love the AKG K7xx's as they fit that perfectly, present a mostly neutral sound in a analytical fashion (My kind of sound being a gamer largely), They do need a decent amp despite the low average ohm rating, and they do need occasionally, slightly harder than normal cleaning. Other than that, they are wonderful sounding headphones, and insanely comfortable.
Now if AKG could just figure out how to sell their replacement earpads to less than half the headphones value, and I'd be throwing them some more money.
Thanks for reading. Here's my ghetto-audiophile (hey, I ain't rich, this is all I can afford!) setup, with and without my headphones. The table looks like shit but it's an antique that cats have attacked for years (not with pee thankfully) and is now being lovingly protected in my room, be nice to it.
Also, yes, that is a VHS VCR. Super-VHS mind you. I convert VHS tapes in my spare time to supplement my income, lol.
