[akg fanboy]

As a k812 owner I can now call myself a true akg fanboy

 

[akg fanboy]

Better than T1? No doubt hands down, no contest. T1 with the wonky withdrawn mids and treble cannons was too much. K812 has better bass, soundstage, mids.
Better than hd800? nope
Still second best headphone I've ever used. Hd800 is just on another level, I'm not a detail freak but everything else sounds muffled in comparison and the soundstage beats k812

 

[Me x3]

Hd800 is just on another level (...)

Doesn't sound like an akg fanboy to me!
; )

 

[akg fanboy]

Doesn't sound like an akg fanboy to me!
; )

Oh you don't want to hear me tell you about how no headphone under $600 sounds better than q701. I am living propaganda of that headphone and will tell you q701 until you want to log off and quit headphones forever

 

[486892]

I would like to try HD800 with Sonarworks Reference 4 and compare to K812. Then i could make an objective analysis, which one is better if not.. When the headphones are differently tuned, their elements are not comparable.

Maybe i'll get HD800 soon.. : D

 

[glennkresge]

I have got the pleasure to listen to AKG’s new flagship headphone K812 Pro, it is a professional aimed headphone and frankly comes with little bell and whistles.

The headphone is constructed very solidly in metal. Gone are the hidden squeaky cup swivel system that are on the K701, the K812 comes with a metal, 2 way swivel for the same movement without any noise. The removable cable is a 3 pin metal spring loaded connector on the headphone side but a cheap rubber thread 3.5mm plug on the other end. The cable is also less than spectacular, similar to the rubbery, springy type on the K701 but seems to be even thinner; the thinner flexible cable does offer superior comfort to other heavier and stiffer cable on other high-end headphone, but surely feels less premium.

The comfort is excellent with a well-designed ear pad system and the familiar suspended headband. Unlike the K7XX, the headband doesn’t suspend on a spring as such. It is just like any other headphones and have stepped adjustment system.

System:
Headphone: AKG K812 Pro Impedance: 36 ohms Efficiency: 110dB/V
Amp: Lehmann Black Cube Linear
Smartphone: Sony Xperia Z1 with FLAC

Quick impression points:

Excellent frontal depth perception
Well separated but coherent sound
Texture is there but falls behind other flagship, especially the planar
Sounds surprising good out of a smartphone
Doesn’t sound piecing even on brighter tracks and a smartphone

With the same test track “Eagles – Hotel California (Live) from Hell Freeze Over” on both a smartphone and the full system, the differences are there but even out of a smartphone, it sounds excellent.
The noticeable differences are the poorer bass impact, decay and a narrower soundstage. The drums taken a hit on the presentation, but the vocal are still excellent with the guitar solos in the middle very well separated and textured nicely.

Listening with smartphone:
Song list:
LiSA - Crossing Field - Brightness test
Utada Hikeru - Beautiful World - Vocals
supercell - ODDS & ENDS - Brightness and bass impact

Hearing the performance out of a smartphone on well recorded piece, I was sceptical that it will continue to perform well with less well recorded music.
I even choose some brighter pieces just to make sure it is going to stab my eardrums with unbearable treble.


Well, guess what? It didn’t happen, the brightness is very well tamed even on bright songs and female vocal extends beautifully. Deeper bass does suffers with the lack of power and authority and faster hits sometimes becomes blurred.

That is a marked achievement for a pair of high-end headphones, as most flagships sound downright terrible on such devices.

Bad smartphone pictures:


Nice slight blue tint going through the grill because of the colour of the coating on the driver unit.


Manual adjustment system, lots of small increments but note that "rail" is made of plastic.


The very solid 2 axis cup swivel, one joint on the black outer frame, and another in the silver inner frame.


Close up on the metal spring loaded 3 pin plug.


Very basic, if not cheap feeling rubber 3.5mm threaded plug on the other end.

Summery:

A pair of easy to drive headphones, not picky with source or amp with a sound signature (or rather without a distinctive sound signature) that is hard to fault.
Thin flexable cable (good and bad), excellent comfort and very much a neutral sound out of even a smartphone.
Generic wood headphone stand that you will most likely seen it hundreds of times
Cheap rubber plug
The removable cable is only 3 pin and not balanced.



Of course, this is my personal impression, your thoughts might vary. And hope the efficiency figure could help out pairing for people that want to get their hands on it.

 

[MacedonianHero]

It is with a heavy heart I've just listed my K812 headphones. I love these cans, but honestly they don't get the attention that deserve as I'm trying to thin out the herd. If anyone is interested, please let me know.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/mint-condition-akg-k812-flagship-open-backed-headphones.906157/

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Interestingly I just picked up N90Q for $378, inclusive of fees and shipping (no case). 812 is a great headphone, no question. I'm sure I could be happy with just it and my schiit stack.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

And I wrote a review!
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/akg-n90q.21981/reviews

 

[SylvesterH]

I picked up a sennheiser HD 800S. I thought that it will the end of my journey with my old k812.... But surprisingly not. Except for classical music I do prefer my old akg for everything else.

 

[Quadfather]

I picked up a sennheiser HD 800S. I thought that it will the end of my journey with my old k812.... But surprisingly not. Except for classical music I do prefer my old akg for everything else.

Jazz is amazing on the K812s. I am doing a little Bob James Espresso before work today.

 

[FritzS]

Jazz is amazing on the K812s. I am doing a little Bob James Espresso before work today.

Yes!
Test this with the 3D Mesh from the K872 too!

 

[KyungMin]

Finally got to ordering these.. I'm wondering if I should get dedicated amp to run these..

The amps I have are the following.
Darkvoice 336SE (tons of tubes to roll)
Shiit Valhalla 2 (factory tubes)
Musical paradise MP-301 (tons of tubes for this as well)

DAC/AMPS
Audio-gd Sparrow
FiiO K5/E17 combo
FiiO E9/E7 combo

Anyone have any luck with making the K812 shine with any of these?
Thanks!

 

[Quadfather]

Finally got to ordering these.. I'm wondering if I should get dedicated amp to run these..

The amps I have are the following.
Darkvoice 336SE (tons of tubes to roll)
Shiit Valhalla 2 (factory tubes)
Musical paradise MP-301 (tons of tubes for this as well)

DAC/AMPS
Audio-gd Sparrow
FiiO K5/E17 combo
FiiO E9/E7 combo

Anyone have any luck with making the K812 shine with any of these?
Thanks!

The Questyle QP1R and the Lotoo Paw Gold 2017 do a beautiful job of running the K812 headphones.

 

[KyungMin]

The Questyle QP1R and the Lotoo Paw Gold 2017 do a beautiful job of running the K812 headphones.

Any decent desktop amps?