Reviews by cs098 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

To be honest I’m usually a bit iffy about mainstream headphone. Not because they are inherently worse than their audiophile counterparts or are overpriced (case in point, the headphone I’m reviewing today) , but I generally don’t like the styling and typical sound signatures of such headphones. But with the aviators at 31 cad, I just couldn’t resist picking one up.

Unboxing
Pros:Carrying case with cloth, nicely designed box
Cons: Sleeves hard to take off

The packaging is pretty nice reminding me of beats packaging (say what you will about the sound quality of beats, but the presentation is pretty good). Taking out the outer cover/sleeve does take some effort, but then you’ll be greeted with the double door like cover, with the skullcandy logo cutout in the middle. Open that up, and unzip the carrying pouch that contained inside, you’ll get your aviators and a cloth to clean them.
Burn in
Cons: Utter muffled garbage initially
Pros: Gets way better after that
If you’re the type to not believe in burn in, you’ll probably not give the aviators a chance. On first listen, the sound was to put it bluntly horrible. Muffled, slow and congested are the initial impressions I would give to them. But after even a few hours, the sound clears up considerably. Enough that I thought, hey they actually sound good!

Design and portability
Pros: Trendy looks, small and portable, folds, removable cable
Cons: None

Most mainstream headphone usually gets this part right, and so does the Skullcandy. Nice design with the ear cup design referencing aviator sunglasses (hence the name). The brown/brass colour scheme is pretty classy. Throw in the small foldable design and removable cable, and these are ideal for on the go listening.
Build
Pros: Decently sturdy, reinforced with metal
Cons: Plastic parts are cheap, flimsy and slimy, doesn't stand too well against drops, meh cable

The build quality is a mix bag, on one head the metal reinforcements makes the headphones quite sturdy with minimal flexing and no creaking. But the plastic cup and rims are cheap slimy fingerprint magnets with one drop scratched the brass rims and opened a gap between the seam and the cup. I'd be careful with these.
Isolation and leakage
The aviators aren't great at this front. It’s far more isolating and leaks far less than your average open backed headphone, but it’s below average for a closed back. It only manages to muffle outside sounds and at loud volumes it leaks more than it should. However even at a crowded bus or subway you can still find a good volume level that block outside sounds but isn't loud enough for others to hear.
Comfort
Pros: Very comfy with soft pads
Cons: It’s more on ear than over ear

These are very comfy and are easy to put on however, despite it supposedly being a over ear headphone, the wear more like an on ear, with most of the apd sitting on my earlobe. Not a big deal as the pads are very soft.
Wired unamped sound quality (no fi)

Pros: Mids!!, surprisingly wide soundstage
Cons: A bit flat sounding, quiet bass and treble, no depth whatsoever.
Plugged into my z ultra, my first thought was this could tuned any further form the typical mainstream sound. Where as most of these types of headphone has big bass sometime to the poit of muddying the sound. These are very mid forward. Vocals are a particular treat, smooth sweet forward.. The entire middle spectrum is particularly detailed, surprisingly so. The mis are at least in the $200 territory. The bass and treble however are IMO almost nonexistent. If the bass lines are already pretty quiet in a song, you’ll likely not hear them at all with the aviators. The high hats and cymbals fare a bit better, but are still pretty back in the mix. Moreover the relative lack of bass and treble leads to a sound without much body or air. Umamped it’s a decent choice for mid heads, but is not particularly well rounded.
The soundstage is not actually very wide in open standard, but for a small closed portable, it’s pretty impressive. And the imaging while a bit left/rightish still utilizes the width quite well. Just htat there’s no depth whatsoever.
With E07k dac/amp (low fi)

Pros: Same pros as unamped, with a more dynamic sound, engaging bass, cleanish treble
Cons: lacks air, blurry bass, dull and splashy treble
Honestly without an amp, I didn’t really like the headphone much at all. But amped via the e07k with full bass boost and level 6 treble boost fixed alot of the problems. The treble louder without being harsh. And bass got a lot more engaging. It hits decently hard and can rumble a bit when called for. It also remians pretty undistorted even at loud volumes. The sound now has a lot more weighty, dynamic and textured. However the treble is bit dull and splashy, and the bass are bit blurry or “one note” The soundstage is still pretty much the same, and is still pretty closed sounding.
With a Fostex HP-A4 dac/amp (mid fi)
Improvements :increased overall clarity, more forward mids, nice vocals, spacious sound,
Cons: less bass quantity

With a smoother mid forward amp and better dac the increase in overall clarity is noticeable. The mids get even more forward while the bass quantity is decreased but can still slam/rumble at loud enough volumes. The vocals while already good before is now something special. The treble remains the same but the overall soundstage has gotten lot more spacious, making the e07k a bit congested sounding. It’s not warm sounding either unlike the eo7k,
With WA6 amp and HP-A4 dac (high fi)
Improvements: More detailed, warmer punchier sound, slightly more bass quantity while keeping the same clarity
Con: Mids are less forward

Honestly my favourite right here (but it should be, considering how much the wa6 costs), it now warmer, bassier while being clearer and more detailed, offering the most dynamic sound yet. The mids are more inline with the rest of the sound which can be good or bad depending on your taste.

Conclusion
The conclusion is quite simple. Even at it’s typical street price of 50-100, it a good great headphone. Me buying it for 31 cad is just a bonus. If you like a mid forward presentation with a portable form factor at a low price, these should be on your radar. If you have an amp with bass boost, these can be great all rounders. But even with a high end amp and dac, don’t expect extended sparkly treble, detailed bass, big soundstage and an open sound.

Nice review. I was in a Target recently and FTHOI decided to try some of their headphones on display. There were some Beats, some Sony's and two pair of Skullcandy. Out of all of them, the only one that sounded the least bit musical was the Aviator - everything else was muddy as hell. Plus they looked okay. You never know - if I find a pair at some freaky low price, I might end up with two skulls sitting on my shoulders.

I'm more of IEM guy but admitedly that looks pretty cool!

Some say the t90 is 95% of a t1. And while the t1 is easily the better can and the t90 does fall short of being a totl headphone. It’s pretty close, and definitely has the potential to be your end game headphone.

Unboxing
Pros: Simple minimal packaging, comes with a carry case, no annoying plastic to throw out
Cons: Lack of accessories, said case isn’t portable

While it lacks a lot of accessories, the fact it comes with a useful carrying case is a plus that many other headphones don't even have. Other than that easy to unbox and no fussy plastic to throw out.
4/5

Burn in
I bought a year old demo with 10 hours of burn in, so I don’t think I can give my impression for this category.

N/a

Design
Pros: Classic beyer looks with more premium materials
Cons: none
It’s a beyer, so the t90 has that base look from any beyer you can get. Just with nice metals and cloth.

10/10

Build
Pros: Tough steel, inspires rigidity
Cons: Hinges don’t inspire confidence, non removable cable, dust and scratch magnet

It’s quite the tank, despite its refined looks. However the hinges do feel a bit wobbly. And even worse the grills are scratch magnets with a scratch and a few scuffs appearing on both sides with prolonged usage. Still said scratches very light and needs close attention to see. But it’s still there. It also collects dust and dandruff like there’s no tomorrow. Not good for those who like visual perfection. But despite my worries of the hinges, even rough use of the headphones did nothing to damage them significantly. Hence why I think it’s quite a tank.

7.5/10

Comfort
Pro: Classic beyer comfort
Cons: Moves a bit when moving around

(Again) It’s a beyer, and like all beyers, comfort is near perfection. Though the headphone does move a bit when I turn my head. Which is a tad annoying. No big deal though.
9.5/10

Sound

Pros: Plenty of sub bass and bass impact, clean highs without any sibilance, solid imaging and detail. Engaging detailed bass.
Cons: Mids a tad thin and lacks a bit of engagement. Bass boost and poor amping can cause rattling at loud volumes, soundstage while decently sized and encompassing is a bit compressed to the top.

First of all this is a U shaped can. This means while the mids are not recessed whatsoever, it’s also not enhanced in any way unlike the bass and highs. And the bass and highs are great.

Bass
While bass boosting and poor amping can cause rattling a loud volumes, even at decent volume you will get great bass impact and subbass. Plus it’s still pretty tight and detailed when it needs to be. Great for bass heavy songs, movies and games.

Highs
The highs sparkles and is quite clean, and unlike many others reviewers, I didn't get the much feared sibilance. Lucky me ^.^
Mids
The mids to me are the worst part of the sound. Though by worst I just mean it’s just good, quite good in fact. Just not as good as the bass and highs. Nicely detailed, but to me it’s a bit too thin and a tad distant for my tastes. But otherwise done very well.
Soundstage/imaging
The soundstage is decently wide and deep, but it isn’t huge. A good part of the sound is still “inside my head”, and I also feel the soundstage is a bit compressed to the top. But imaging is great. It was the first headphone that made me realize that in one of my favorite jazz songs, the piano moves from left to right and back to left. Never noticed that on my older headphones.

Forwardness
Mids are a tad distant, but the highs are right between forward and distant, and the bass is quite forward and engaging.
Speed
Short of TOTL status, but it’s not slow either.
9/10

Conclusion
If you skipped everything and just went to the conclusion, let me tell that this is probably the best u shaped can under 1K. I hadn't tried any other u shaped at at below the price point that did the sound sig as much justice as the t90s. But the mids didn’t sound as enjoyable as some mid heavy and neutral headphones I tried and there was a rattling issue with bass boost at loud volumes. Nor will it beat flagship 1k+ headphones in any way. Still the aspects that fall short of totl headphones are still stellar even at it's mrsp price point. If you take the t90s for what it is, a pre summit fi u shaped headphone, you’ll be treated to engaging visceral bass with clean detailed highs.

40/45

Going to echo Koolpep. Great review and matches my findings as well. Couldn't have worded it better myself.
Had them paired with a Darkvoice 336se with a pair of mid-centrics tubes. Definitely loved my time with them.

Indeed sad :wink:

I only sold my T90 to fund my T90 Jubilee purchase, LOL I still have a E07K but once you heard the T90 on a Crack there is no way going back... While I must say if you need portability the C5D is also quite capable... But if you enjoyed the T90 with the E07K that's fab! It's a nifty little device for sure.

"...you’ll be treated to engaging visceral bass..." O lordt I hope I get that from them too, they would be perfect. These will be my first higher end cans coming from the Q40s and the 990s for a little while.

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The Sennheiser HD 650, quite possibly most popular can in head fi. While IMO it doesn't live up to the hype, at it’s price point it’s the easy listening headphone to beat. Though the older HD600 is possibly the better option as it's cheaper and more balanced.

Unboxing
Pros: comes with a box, and a ¼ to ⅛ inch adapter
Cons: box too huge, lack accessories

Nothing much to say except taking off the gray textured wrapper is a tad annoying, but I do appreciate the adapter. Often you have to buy that separately.

3.5/5

Burn in (modding?)
Pros: cons all go away in a few days, removing the foam takes out the veil.
Cons: veil highs, trident soundstage

On first listen, while the headphones gave me great bass and mids. I wasn’t too satisfied with the highs, and the soundstage felt too three point to me. Meaning the the sound is clustered either to the extreme left, right and in the middle. But over time the soundstage gaps are filled in, and removing the inner foam improved the highs a bit. No big deal
4/5

Design
Pros: clean gray design, metal grill and the driver behind it looks quite futuristic,
Cons: looks a bit cheap
It’s function over form, but I do like the look of the grills and the drivers behind it. And at worse it’s just plain looking. Not ugly in any way whatsoever.
7.5/10

Build
Pros: sturdy, nice metal grills, nice flat cable, easy to remove cables and ear pads.
Cons: made of cheap slimy plastic

If you can get past the cheap plastic part, its build is quite nice really. It’s very sturdy, and honestly feels like it could take a beating. And the easy to remove cables and pads are still very rigid and reassuring. The cable itself is substantial and doesn't tangle either. Definitely function over form.
8/10

Comfort
Pros: Perfectly snug, very light.
Cons: might be too snug for some, but I like the reassurance.
Hands down the most comfortable headphone I tried extensively. It’s snug enough so that it doesn't move around when I turn my head, but it’s not too snug to hurt said head. Still with others talking about it’s death grip, YMMW.
Outside of the snugness, you barely feel it on your head due the it’s thick band padding, soft velour pads and light weight. Utter perfection for me.
10/10

Sound
Pros: Warm euphonic mids and bass, Stellar mid/bass detail, Good soundstage and imaging at it’s price point, Laid back dark sound signature is very inoffensive.
Cons: A tad rolled off at sub bass and highs. Highs lack a bit detail and sparkle. Very polite leading to distant sound presentation.
It’s really a mixed bag for me. On one hand it has one of the most pleasing mids and bass presentation I even heard. It’s warm sound and offers that tube like euphony that is quite pleasing to the ears. And it’s dark signature means I never have to deal with harshness or sibilance. But you do miss a lot of the highs and while the bass is has good punch and detail, the lack of bass extension means it loses a bit of the sub bass rumble. And adding the fact that it’s a polite sounding headphone, it won't even get fatiguing to listen to, but it does sound boring. If there’s one word to describe the sound, is that it’s comfortable. Throw in the fact that it’s actually very comfortable to wear, and this is the type of headphone that you can listen for eternity and will never cause you discomfort. But that strength is also its main weakness. It’s too polite and recessed sounding, everything just sounds boring with all the engagement sucked out.

On the other hand the Sennys do have good soundstage and decent imaging. Pretty good in its mid fi price range. But it doesn't excel compared to higher end headphones as the speed it a tad slow (though nothing particularly bad). The mid and bass detail however is quite excellent.

8/10

Conclusion

You know listening to the sennheiser hd 650s is kinda like listening to a live performance under three thick warm blankets in a cold day. Sometimes you just want to pull those sheets over your head and have the sound lull you to sleep, But other times you just want to throw away those blankets away and be engaged to the music potential harshness be damned.

As it is, it’s a niche headphone for the kind of person that’s sensitive to harshness and wants a warm, euphonic and detailed (minus the highs) passive listening experience.

And provided you don’t mind a polite sound, it’s quite good with most genres. But like the akg 271s I had before (though to a lesser extent) it’s just a bit too polite for me to enjoy in most situations.

41/50

Agree with you totally, despite undoubted furore from their fans!

Actually, I too was a big fan...until I upgraded my tube amp and got the Beyer T1s. Now I know what the 'veil' reference means! I never realised just how much information was being cloaked under that comfortable blanket.
And your comments re the sometimes slight harshness trade-off are spot on - especially with these T1s! But the sparkle, energy and excitement this brings is worth every bit of 'sss'. I could never go back to the 650s, alas.
I do wish the T1s were as comfortable though!

Glad someone sees what I see as well, upgraded to the t90s then to the he 560s.

Think your description is pretty accurate. I love my 650's, but sometimes I do wish they had more treble sparkle. And defoaming them does help, but still.....

*note this is actually a rs2e review* Shame head fi doesn't have a product page for it*

Don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure this is the cheapest wood headphone you can buy (well maybe the OG rs2). And it's beautiful. But does it sound as good as it looks? TLDR: Yes it does, but not for all genres and not at high volumes.

Unboxing
Pros: Simple packaging, easy to unbox
Cons: Pizza box!!!, not many accessories

Ah the classic grado pizza box. Maybe it’s ridiculous, but it’s easy to unbox and that’s pretty much what you should expect for all grados.

1/3

Burn in
Pros: 95% of the burned in sound
Cons: none
You pretty much get 95% potential of the sound out of the box, a 50 hour burn in only netted marginally deeper and tighter bass with maybe the sound being slightly more refined.
10/10

Design
Pros: Thick strong cable, handcrafted design, charming imperfections, looks, feels and smells good
Cons: Non removable cable

Smell, take a sniff, the leather smells nice and the wood is a bit spicy. You can tell these were handcrafted, and even though it was a bit imperfect (asymmetrical, a bit of extra string in the leather stitching and a small cut in the wood), it just adds to the handmade charm that I just adore. While I’m a bit annoyed with the non removable cables, at least it looks like it won’t break down for a 100 years. Nice, thick and strong.
10/10

Build
Pros: Strong build with nice materials
Cons: Some cheap plastic
While the plastic is annoying and not glued straight and disappointing for the price point, it’s far better than some all plastic cans at the price and it’s still a sturdy flexible phone full of premium materials
10/10

Portability
Pros: Small and light, relatively short cable
Cons: chucky cable

It’s not really meant to be portable, but it’s surprisingly small, and it might work as a portable. The cable while chunky is a relatively short. So if you want to use these on the go, despite such a thing not being recommended for open back cans, it’s actually not that bad. When I went out with the rs2e and many other open back headphones, managed to get a decent enough volume to negate outside noise without the leakage reaching other people’s ears.

4/5

Isolation/leakage
It’s open, so don't expect isolation. It’s not really the point of these cans anyways. But for an open headphone it leaks less than I thought it would be.

.5/2

Comfort
Pros: Inoffensive for half an hour
Cons: Goes downhill after that.

It’s a grado, so you don’t really expect comfort when going for these. Still, it hurts a lot with prolong usage, and at best it’s inoffensive but not particularly comfortable.

3/10

Wired unamped sound quality

Pros: Transparent mids, intimate vocals, sparkly airy highs with detailed and deep bass, consistent sound across different sources, intimate soundstage, solid separation. Decent imaging and detail.
Cons: A bit flat sounding, no bass impact

Grados are pretty easy to drive, and sound consistently good between my android, ipod touch, windows phone and even laptop. There is a bit of noise via my laptop but it’s not a big deal. There are problems with the sound, but it’s more a problem with the source rather than the can. I don’t expect much without a good amp or dac, and you shouldn't either.

9/10

Wired amp and dac via e07k

Pros: Same pros as unamped, with a exciting, louder sound
Cons: Grattles and becomes more sibilant with wobbly vocals at loud volumes, bass impact only slightly improved

You’re not really going to get that classic grado sound straight from a phone, but even a modest amp/dac like the E07k will bring out the excitement. As far as the mids and highs are concerned, it’s pretty much glorious. The soundstage while not big, is made use of very well, with solid imaging and separation. The thing that stands out the most however is the intimate aggressive sound. For all the sounds you get from mids and highs, they feel realistic, transparent and hits you in the face. The tops hats and cymbals are sizzlely and forward yet not fatiguing or overbearing. The mids while not as sweet or smooth like a akg or a sennheiser, is intimate, aggressive and exciting. Anything acoustic and live sounds brilliant with the rs2es. However the bass impact is still a bit lacking even with bass boost. You can hear the clean detailed bass but is by and large unexciting. And because of the louder attainable volume and the bass boost, rattling becomes easy to acquire even at (while high) still normal volumes. And even at a volume level without grattling (unless it’s quite low) some recordings sounds a bit bright and some vocals sound a bit wobbly. The sad thing is that at said high volumes the bass does impact sufficiently. And while at a lower volume the grattle, sibilance and wobbly vocals disappear, but you’re left with recessed boring bass. I tried a replacement and while the grattling is a bit lessened, it’s still there. This leaves me to conclusion that the rs2e just can’t handle amplified bass. To be fair, for anything that doesn't need thumping bass, I haven't heard anything that sounds as engaging as the rs2e. Well maybe the lcd 2 but you can buy 2 rs2es for such a headphone.

8/10

Conclusion

If you looking for a general purpose headphones, and a comfortable one at that, look somewhere else. There are a very few types of cans that can match a grado on acoustic or rock, and they're pretty good at classical and jazz. but if you even briefly listen to EDM, modern pop and other types of electronica, the low end will leave a lot to be desired. However if you already have a reference and a bass head can, adding these to your collection for rock or acoustic is highly recommended.

56/70

Nice review and matches my experience with the RS2i version. I can go longer than 30 minutes with mine, but YMMV. One point, IMO: for classical (at least strings or chamber), jazz and acoustic, I love these, but for rock (i.e. classic guitar rock, not metal) the Grado RS2 really falls down compared to a Sennheiser HD 650.

I have the hd 650 now, and its polite nature makes it good for relaxing music. I do wish it was more aggressive sometimes but atleast unlike the grado, it's very good at everything I throw at it IMO.

Quote from your review:
Comfort
Pros: Inoffensive for half an hour
Cons: Goes downhill after that.

It’s a grado, so you don’t really expect comfort when going for these. Still, it hurts a lot with prolong usage, and at best it’s inoffensive but not particularly comfortable.

Honestly, are you still saying Grado are uncomfortable. I bought the SR225i with e drivers. I put them on first time thinking keep the cups at the top of the legs and try it. I figured work it out from there where is comfortable. They were perfect. ....Later I slid them down the legs. They got uncomfy. I slid them down further, and still painful. I nearly stopped wearing them.......Luckily I remembered they were comfy at first. I slid the cups back up the legs and, 'hey presto', comfort again. I can literally wear them almost all day and not know they are there.

Plus - I am shocked by your complaint of low bass level. The RS2 have always been said to have good bass. There is a graphs of the RS2/maybe RS2i and they show more bass that 225/325 etc. Iterations since the earlier models have not taken out bass. They have just refined the sound.

Take the well received Akg K545, and add 50 dollars for a mic, amp, nfc, battery and Bluetooth capability. Is it worth it? TLDR, if you don’t have an amp and/or want bluetooth, put this in your top three to consider at the 200 - 300 dollar price point. So in short, yes.

Unboxing
Pros: Simple minimal packaging, easy to unbox
Cons: Lack of accessories

Yeah it’s nothing to write home about, easy to unpack but all you get is the can itself, a micro usb to usb adapter and a headphone cable plus some pamphlets. No carry bag, no wall wart. There isn’t even an akg sticker. It gets the job done though.

8/10

Burn in
Straight out of the box you will find most of the positive qualities I will mention about the sound. However the upper mids will be a bit hot (so female vocals may get shouty). In around 50 hours of usage though, said upper mids tame down considerably, the soundstage opens up bit and I think the bass got a bit tighter. All in all a small but noticeable improvement that comes quite quickly and still sounds great out of the box.

10/10

Design
Pros: Gorgeous minimal looks, removable ear pads and cable
Cons: None

What can I say? It's just beautiful, clean and minimal and quite futuristic looking as well. Matte plastic cups with glossy acrylic sides, textured metal swivels, and a stainless steel head band, with protein leather ear and head pads. A great looking aesthetic. Plus it’s functional too with removable pads and cables. Has a black and white version, got the white one.

10/10

Build
Pros: Strong build with nice materials
Cons: Minor assembly problems (YMMW)

With the aforementioned metal plus quality matte plastic, this can is going to last a while, and will gracefully hide rough usage due to the matte finishes. However out of the box there are some concerns with with the assembly with gaps in the plastic that moves a bit when pressed. However, not all models will have it and has never negatively affected the construction during my rough time of throwing it in bags, and using it through bad weather.
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10/10

Portability
Pros: Small for an over ear design, swiveling ear cups
Cons: Can’t fully compact like many portables

While a lot smaller than it’s brother the K550 , it’s not smaller than many other portables like the solo 2s, nor can it fully compact like a solo. Still the swiveling circumaural ear cups allows for easier storage, and it’s small enough to throw it in your backpack with no troubles. And still sounds a tonne better than those one ear portables and is far more portable than many over ear headphones in it's price and sq range.

10/10

Isolation

It leaks very little and isolates most sounds, but that’s par for the course for most closed phones. Far better than any open headphone obviously. Great but it’s nothing spectacular.

9/10

Comfort
Pro: Quite comfortable
Cons: Requires a bit of fiddling at first

It’s not the most comfortable can in the world but once you find that sweet spot, the soft protein leather ear pads will caress your ears. Very comfy. otherwise the clamp can hurt your head, and will force you to take the headphones off and adjust the clicky headband. Unlike most other headphones you can’t really do that while it’s on your head. Kinda annoying really.

Even when you get the sweet spot, your ears touch the drivers, and the headband is not the most plush material in the world either. Still more than adequate. Also heard the Hm5 pads and the hd280 head pad can fix these problems for the K545. I’ll assume it will work on the K845s.

8/10

Bluetooth functionality
Pros: Great range and battery life
cons: Controls to skip tracks could be useful

Nfc or not, it was quite easy to pair it with my ios, android or windows phone. And after the first pairing all you need to do is click the power button on the akg then turn Bluetooth on on your smartphone.

Range is great, I can go three four rooms away and downstairs from my smartphone and it will still blast music loudly. Not that it’s recommended though, since it lacks the ability to skip tracks. Still on the right side you get a power button, play pause button, and volume controls (which controls the built in amp, not the phone itself so you can’t configure a press & hold to skip track function). And while I’m on the same topic, there’s also a led indicator, a jack to plug in your wire, and on the other side there’s micro usb port to charge the thing.
It charges pretty quickly. Tops up from 0% to 100% in about 2 hours. And those 2 hours goes a long way. The estimated 8 hrs battery life seems to be correct. For me two days of heavy usage with hours spent out and about didn’t even kill the thing. It doesn't have the best battery life for a bt can, but should last you more than enough for a day or even 2 and a bit. As long as you don’t mind using your phone to control your music, the K845 should offer you more than enough bt capability
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9/10

Oh yeah there's a mic on the right side as well for bt calls. Quality is mediocre, but I doubt anyone will care.

Bluetooth sound quality

Pros: Consistently transparent sound, great soundstage and imaging
Cons: A bit flat sounding at low volumes and should sound a bit more even, no aptx, slight treble roll off

And let me get this out of the way, to me aptx and standard bt is like flac vs 320 kbps mp3. Will you notice a difference in quality? Sure, but how good the headphones sound matters way more than how much data the can can transfer or whether it’s lossless or not. Just my 2 cents.

Via itouch 5

And these headphones sound good. Nice deep detailed bass with decent impact, classic transparent akgs mids, and crisp clear highs. And these things are surprising transparent, even on Bluetooth. And while it is a little crowded, considering its form factor, its soundstage is superb and the imaging and separation makes good use of it. It gives of an intimate yet uncongested sound. It’s decently wide and surprisingly tall, but the depth can use some work. Did I mention it sounds pretty open of a closed can?
I also do wish for the sound to be more even and the attack and impact to be stronger but those problems are fixed when you amp this baby or put it through a good dac.

Via xperia z ultra with Viper4Android

Viper managed to improve everything, soundstage got a bit bigger, volume got a bit louder and I can make the bass thump harder at the expense of detail and balance. Playing games and watching movies are great via bt although with a ds emulator called drastic there’s constant clipping with the sound. But it’s probably the app that’s causing the problem.

Overall great sound, probably one of the best if not the best you can get on a bt headphone.

10/10

Wired unamped sound quality

Pros: Same pros as bt
Cons: Same cons as bt, picky with sources, volume is lower than bt mode

Via itouch 5

Same as before, but volume is a bit lower

Via xperia z ultra

I don’t know if it’s something wrong with the custom rom or the dac on the phone, but it sounds thin, cold and a bit congested. Not very loud either. I’ve heard the akg 545 is a bit picky with sources and the same is true here. Viper didn’t help here.

4 to 8/10 depending on the source

Wired amp and dac via e07k

Pros: Same pros as bt plus a even bigger soundstage, even more detail, more bass impact and attack, and a more balanced sound
Cons: Still quite picky with amp (but obviously not a problem when using the e07k’s dac), a bigger soundstage (but not really a con considering its form factor)

Now this is where the sound gets really good, and I’m sure it can get even better with a better dac/amp setup.

It handles the 307k’s bass boost brilliantly (although there is a bit of distortion when the volume get unreasonably loud and the bass boost is all the way up, not a problem though), giving it a nice punch without losing detail or tightness and offers a surprising amount of sub bass. The treble boost does fix the roll off somewhat, but can make the sound sibilant when overdone.

Otherwise the warm and fun e07k makes the mids even fuller without losing detail. And the mids and highs sound even more transparent and airy. When the music makes full use of the soundstage certain sounds makes me want to turn my head, and when I close my eyes it feels like the people are talking right in front of me when I’m watching a movie. Great separation too, with classical and jazz music I pick out where 90% of the instruments are and can focus on each one without too much effort. On other genres it can get a little crowded and the soundstage for classical doesn't sound too realistic. Still like I said its achieves intimacy without much congestion, though I do wish for a bigger soundstage so all genres don’t sound crowded. But I can’t really expect that for a closed semi portable headphone right?

This is via the dac for my pc and z ultra btw

When amped with my itouch, it sounds a bit warmer at the loss of some detail. And amped with a z ultra it sounds similar to the itouch but there’s a really higher noise floor that makes it unlistenable. However lowering the gain fixes this at the cost of volume. Interestingly via some apps the noise goes away for the most part, like drastic or asphalt 8 (which btw sounds great the the rumbling sub bass). Speaking of drastic there's not clipping at all when wired in. The can is still as picky as ever. But since I use the dac on the 307k for everything it’s not a problem at all.
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10/10

Conclusion

Well what else is there to say really, transparent (for the price) relatively neutral sound with a slight a mid and bass emphasis, above average soundstage plus superb imaging. Similarly amazing sound via bluetooth, with great range and battery life. Sturdy build with a trendy minimal design. And due to the fact it’s picky when wired but consistent when connected via bt, if you have sound problems with the k545 (as the 545 sounds the same as the k845 when wired) but like the sound signature, paying the extra 50 bucks for bt can be really worth it when you don’t have/want an amp/dac. Paid 300 CAD.

92/100
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Nice review, I got a decent sense of the headphone and your in-depth source comparisons were interesting. Have you tried several BT headphones? I kinda wish there was an open (or just standout comfortable) Bluetooth headphone.

Does this come in the neato teal and Orange earcups too?

I demoed a few bt headphones, but nothing extensive enough to write a full comparison about. But for a quick audition these do sound better than the ziks and the sony mdr-10rbt.

*note the one I have are the new perceptions not the old ones, not sure if there's a difference other than a logo change*
These cans are pretty under the radar, but if you can get them for a cheap price (I paid 50 bucks CAD for these) and you have an amp or a good dac, then they may surprise you.
They are semi open, but leaks like a open can without the soundstage those types of headphones have. Still pretty good for the price however. And don't let the loudness fool you, without an amp, they sound thin, muffled and lacks bass, not pleasing at all. If you don't have an amp then don't bother with these. Otherwise, they're pretty good, kinda exciting actually.

This level of AKG gets no love here at Head-Fi. I don't know why as they are built better than most at this price point? They have great sound detail, scale with source and amping and are genuinely fine headphones. Let's not even get into the perfect soundstage.

I wanted to love these, and I kinda did, but only for classical and jazz. Everything else though was boring to listen to and can sometimes get a bit bright. Also still has that closed sound, but then again it's a closed can. I know I know, it's more for tracking rather than for entertainment. But there are still some stuff to love about the sound. If you only listen to jazz and classical and need isolation, these are pretty good and do deserve the praise some people give it. But if you want something more well rounded, then you should look elsewhere, like I have.

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