CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 09:23:36 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2] 3

Author Topic: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing  (Read 11567 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Rabbit

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Powder Monkey
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +32/-8
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 69
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2013, 10:09:34 AM »
I compared mine with a new one directly today. There ARE subtle differences, but it could be the pads. The new pads are slightly more full.

The result is the NEW one has a slightly less rounded sound. My old one is more mellow.

I'm not over fussed about the question of burn in (although I have heard things with some headphones, not all) but it could be down to pad thickness perhaps?

The new one seems to lack bass and is edgy. If I turn up, the bass appears, but the sound is too edgy but the old one goes up more comfortably so you feel that there is a better bass.

So, I'll whack the new one with sound for a day or two in order to see whether the treble calms (allowing me to develop more bass) or whether the bass actually forms better after a while......

It's not a massive difference and I'm not able to exactly pinpoint what's different, but there is a difference.
Logged

donunus

  • Cheapus Sexus
  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +52/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 875
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2013, 10:54:04 AM »
You were probably one of the lucky ones that got a good one in the first place Rabbit
Logged
Team Delicious and Juicy Sound

Rabbit

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Powder Monkey
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +32/-8
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 69
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2013, 03:14:54 PM »
Quote from: donunus on July 16, 2013, 10:54:04 AM
You were probably one of the lucky ones that got a good one in the first place Rabbit

Yes, could be. One difference is the pad thickness though. The older ones are slightly thinner and that could affect the bottom end.

Or ..... they do actually vary!!
Logged

jupitreas

  • Powder Monkey
  • *
  • Brownie Points: +4/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 34
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2013, 03:59:41 PM »
It is such a shame that there are these production variances with the K550 as I still consider them to be the most comfortable and best looking headphones I've had... The pair I had was probably one of the better ones as I did not experience ear-piercing ringing and the bass was very good, although the sound was a little 'zazzy', to use Tyll's vocabulary. I eventually got rid of them because they are just too big and delicate to be used as portables and I bought a HD600 at a bargain price at the time (making the closed circumarual AKG redundant for listening at home).

As most of you probably know, the K550 is the first headphone by AKG that was not manufactured in Austria and they instead chose to outsource it to a Chinese OEM. I'm guessing this must be the reason for the poor quality control and I'd buy a "made in Austria" K550 in a heartbeat if AKG decided to move production there (perhaps K552?). I think I'd even sell the HD600 to pay for it.
Logged

DaveBSC

  • Best Korean Sympathizer
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +222/-50
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2092
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #14 on: July 17, 2013, 01:03:09 AM »
FWIW, Tyll seems to significantly prefer the K267 to the 550.
Logged

Maxvla

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +211/-12
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1251
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #15 on: July 17, 2013, 06:58:16 AM »
The pair I heard at Austin 2013 sounded very good. Reminded me of a cheap HD800. Refined and smooth, detailed but not that detailed. Good soundstage but not as good center imaging. A can I could honestly settle for if I had to cut back. I heard it through my X-Sabre and unbalanced out from BHA-1.
Logged

Solderdude

  • Grab the dScope Kowalski!
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +206/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 907
  • No can do skipper, the dScope was terminated
    • DIY-Audio-Heaven
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2013, 07:34:14 AM »
Quote from: Rabbit on July 16, 2013, 03:14:54 PM

Yes, could be. One difference is the pad thickness though. The older ones are slightly thinner and that could affect the bottom end.

Or ..... they do actually vary!!

Did you..

A: swap pads between the 2 and see (hear actually) if the sonic signature swaps along with the pads.
B: apply more 'clamping force' on the bass-light version to see if it is a 'seal' problem.
Logged
Use your ears to enjoy music, not as an analyser.

Rabbit

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Powder Monkey
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +32/-8
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 69
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #17 on: July 17, 2013, 10:43:14 AM »
I didn't swap the pads but I did the 'pressure' test. Fact is they both warm up slightly with pressure. So the new ones sounded more like the first with pressure and the first got even warmer with pressure.

My gut feeling is that it was a pad thing.
Logged

funkmeister

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +15/-1
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 286
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #18 on: July 18, 2013, 04:48:13 AM »
Quote from: jupitreas on July 16, 2013, 03:59:41 PM
As most of you probably know, the K550 is the first headphone by AKG that was not manufactured in Austria and they instead chose to outsource it to a Chinese OEM. I'm guessing this must be the reason for the poor quality control and I'd buy a "made in Austria" K550 in a heartbeat if AKG decided to move production there (perhaps K552?). I think I'd even sell the HD600 to pay for it.

The K272HD was being made in China before the K550 was even announced. I know because I bought one a couple of years ago. The label said "Made in P.R.C." My K171 Mk II was made in Austria and I love it for voice work but the K142HD I have for casual listening was made in China as well.
Logged

roBernd

  • Powder Monkey
  • *
  • Brownie Points: +6/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 24
Re: AKG K550 Revisited - A WTF moment which may finally stop the arguing
« Reply #19 on: July 18, 2013, 09:30:23 AM »
actually, several other headphones were manufactured in China before the release of the K550. Several low-fi AKGs as well as the K601 (later production)
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3
« previous next »