AKG K271 MKII
I picked up a pair of AKGs back in November on sale for $151.07 to substitute my Paradigm Monitor speakers while I am not at home. After much scrutiny, I picked the AKG K271 MKII; while it is not the most recent model released by the company, it offers the same sound quality and more. To put it bluntly, I was extremely satisfied.
To start, the most important aspect of headphones (aka cans) of this nature: sound quality. The general consensus is that AKG is very muddy in the bass while being very bright on the high end. While the stereotype may be true in some models, the headphones are fantastic at covering the entire spectrum from muddy to crisp. I will have to agree the highs are bright, but nothing that can’t be fixed to your liking in an equalizer. When I first started listening to them, I experienced the “wow, I’v never noticed that cymbal hit before” symptom. I could (and have) lay on my bed listening to music for hours, completely enveloped in music; the downside is the drop in external perception leads to being very startled by visitors.
While an impedance of 55 Ohms doesn’t necessarily call for a headphone amp, I picked one up just to see the difference. The PA2V2 was recommended to me, so I emailed the gentleman over at Electric-Avenue.com and bought one. The K271 and PA2v2 pair nicely with each other: boosting the bass and bringing out the sound as a whole, without the amp I had most audio outputs turned very high up. The amp has also been nice to have for all my headphones, but more to come on that in the PA2v2 full review.
The build of the headphones is solid and I don’t feel like I’m going to break them. I quite enjoy the features that have been integrated into these headphones, from them turning off when you take them off, to a small slit allowing for easy earpad replacement. To begin, the auto adjusting headband: size fitting to everyone, the band being pushed up also enables the sound to come through the drivers. The K271 also comes with a detachable cable, so you can have the long studio cable, or the spiral stretch cable (and you don’t have to worry about wrapping the cable around the cans). Lastly, the cans come with leatherette or velour eapads: I personally use the velour as they warm the bass and are very comfortable.
After reading through hundreds of reviews for AKG, Grado, Sennheiser, and Beyerdynamic, I cut my final choice down to the AKG K271 and K272. The difference? A whole bunch of accessories, color, and price. The K272 retails at $329 on amazon, comes in black with a 1/4 inch adapter and Velour ear pads. The K271 MKII retails at $151 on amazon, comes in dark blue with a 1/4 inch adapter, Leatherette and Velour ear pads, detachable 3m cable and 5m coiled cable.
After about 70 hours of listening these cans have burned in to sound even better than when I first got them, and I strongly recommend them if you’re looking for this style. (Note: these headphones can’t really be used for DJing)
Design: Circumaural, closed-back
Audio bandwidth (Hz): 16-28k
Rated Impedance (ohms): 55
Weight: 8.5 oz
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