AKGK553 MKII Closed-Back Studio Headphones

These were *very* bright for me, but the person I bought these for, as an upgrade from her Razor headset, loves them. She says they're one of the most comfortable headphones she's ever had, only beaten out by a early model of Razer headphones from 8+ years ago. She rates the sound quality as: superior to every other set of headphones she has owned.The removeable mini-xlr cable was a major selling point for me. Great job there, AKG! I just wish it came with a straight cable...To me, the soundstage is very flat, but to most people, that won't matter. The top-headband cushion however, is an odd choice for AKG... It's not particularly comfortable, but if you have your earcups adjusted correctly, (and have hair on top of your head to apply additional cushioning) it's not too bad.Be aware that the positioning of the ear cups, and the quality of the seal against you head, has a DRASTIC effect on sound quality/frequency response. The earcups are massive so take some time to try to find the right position for your head/ears.I use the Beyerdynamic DT-250 (250ohm), and Sennheiser HD600 as my preferred headphones, for reference.

However, I feel a few things need mentioning. It's early, I work in 30 minutes or so. Intentionally, I deviated from my usual early morning routine to spend a little more time with this headphone. Before getting to far in to describing the headphone itself I want to relate the Amazon experience regarding it. I bought a brand new headphone. What I received was something that had at least been opened. The detritus of having taken it out and removed the various plastic and wire tie that held the phones together was in the bottom of the box, additionally the phones had been hastily and unceremoniously crammed back in a box that had been opened without regard to possibly returning a product. Not ripped open exactly but torn here and there in process to get at whatever was inside. I can only guess the cans had been worn at least once. The really nice 3.5mm to 6.35 mm adapter was found rolling around on the cardboard underneath the cans. I connected them to my headphone amp and queued several tracks. Looked the cans over that were no worse the wear and put them on. The sound great, no obvious distortion or channel imbalances. Got a hold of an Amazon customer service rep (ironically enough named Alexa) who was great and issued a fair recompense since I didn't want to return them exactly, I just didn't feel like paying full price for something that had already been returned at least once. This while enduring what had to be the 10,000th comment on the irony that her name is Alexa and she works customer service for amazon.Initial impressions of the cans themselves are, they're well made, comfortable with a balanced neutral sound. Detailed. I'll enjoy using them and coming back to offer more opinion.

I bought these after having heard some recommendations from some very stute audiophile reviews. At first listen, I really fell in love with the amount of detail. It is true that at first it sounds very digital, almost like the music was passing through a photoshop filter for sound. But after some breakin, the sound actually got much better and I don't hear that nearly as much as I did initially, some songs do seem to still pass that off.But my main complaint and the only reason why I returned them was that the entire weight of the headphones would rest solely on the crown of your head. You see, there is zero clamping pressure which forces the headphones to focus somewhere to support its weight. The arc of the headphone band is actually more flat like a very flat upside-down "U" as opposed to a more "open "U" this creates all the pressure to be focused at one point. If they just made it more of a curved headband the pressure would be displaced throughout a greater surface area on your head instead of just one spot. The apex on your head. The last thing is that there is zero padding, it's the thinnest padding of any headphone next to the sony 7506, however it is super hard and not at all soft to the touch. Those 3 facts makes this the most uncomfortable headphone that I've ever used, but unfortunately I was torn in wanting to keep it because the mids were so pleasant and made listening a really joyous experience. These things are super detailed and very analytical. You can disect how something was mixed just on the detail from these cans, unfortunately the comfort is actually painful. And if you try to mod it by adding a comfort strip on the top, it really affects how the earpads come down on your hear and how the sound gets to your ears. It's really hard to find a good combo and not worth it to spend extra money just to mod it.AKG should be spending just a fraction more just to make it feel comfortable. I'm not the only one. There's people on forums who complain about this. Why make a product only to stop 98 Percent from completion to have the 2 percent tarnish it and make it unwearable for all the work you put into it? It really is a great set of cans otherwise.

Honestly I don't like these at all. They sound very midrangey to me, compared to my K702s or ER2SEs they are outright muddy. They also feel very in your face and claustrophobic. I was hoping to use these as a spare pair for mixing but I wouldn't dream of it. They also really suck with glasses.I still kept them cause they weren't that expensive (got em for $100) and it's good to have extra pairs to check mixes on. I wouldn't dream of paying more than that.

Great sound quality. Good value for price. Fit well. Item is as pictured and described. Recommend