AKG or Ultrasone Headphones

Well i took the plunge and opted for the AKG K271 MkII as these have had some very good reviews and have been recommended to me as a good choice in the past. Initial impressions are good, although Inwill give them 48hrs before I try and make any critical comments.

However they do seem to be a lot better than the Denon's for stopping sound leakage and this was my main gripe with the Denon's. I also like the neat gadget they have put in the headband, that cuts music to the cups when you remove the headphones

Hopefully when they have had 24 - 48 hours to settle down they should be just the job.

Bet you want the Ultrasone HFi 780 still just to compare!

Yeah probably

But I will wait and see what the review in next months WHF says first.

One thing I have noticed about the AKG's is that the do need proper independent amplification.

I had a short listen yesterday via my iPad headphone socket, and whilst they worked.....they Definately lacked any dynamics and sounded very flat and boring. Vocals sounded veiled and bass was just none existent. However when listening to the same pice of music via my netbook / Caspian Pre Amp / Xcan it was a totally different story....the sound was dynamic, airy and detailed.

I assume this has something to do with the 55 Ohm impedance the AKG's are rated at.

Hi Jason

How are you getting on with the K271's a few weeks in?  How are they for bass and for listening to rock music?  I have heard them described as bright?  How would you compare to the SR80i's?

Sorry for all the questions - just been dying to try a set of AKG's for a while but am concerned they may be a tad too bright for rock music.

Cheers

Paul

I wouldn't call them bright at all, they have good detail and an airy sound to say they are closed back. I listen to a variety of music including a fair bit of rock....I would say that the 271's are not Bass heavy, but they have bass when it is in the recording. I always use The James Blake song Limit to Your Love to test Bass response......the AKG's are good. I always found my Denon AHD2000's bloated and woolly but the AKG's handle it well.

As a whole I would say that compared to the SR80i the AKG's are a more laid back listen, detailed but not in your face and fatiguing like the Grado's can be. That's why I modded my Grado's to try and counter this a bit.

I'm also waiting for a pair of Beyerdynamic T70p's to be delivered....these are also a closed back 32Ohm headphone and are supposed to be a very neutral headphone.

hope the aboe helps....any other questions give me a shout and I will try to help

Thanks for that I may just give them a try as they are priced pretty reasonably.  I am torn between those and the K272 HD's which are 'supposed' to be a bit more forward in the bass department.

I have pretty much sorted my open back solution with the DT990's which sound awesome through the Graham Slee Novo, whereas the SR80i's sounded terrible (never thought I would say that).  I'm after a pair of reasonably priced closed backs but they mustn't be bass anaemic because of the music I listen to.