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| Photo by Patrick Young |
Harman had a large isolated area just outside of the Arena. All of
their brand's new products were on display - new closed-back headphones
from AKG, PA and stage monitor speakers from JBL, rackmoutable preamps,
EQ's, and compressors from dbx, and a few new guitar pedals from
DigiTech.
AKG
AKG added several new headphones to their line-up this year. The
K52, K72, K92 closed-back studio headphone line is meant for
live/session recording. They are also advertised as a mixing headphone,
but at an entry level only. The AKG rep explained that most of the cost
went into a high quality driver and that construction and parts costs
were minimized. Don't expect these to be as rugged as more expensive
models. These closed back models will be a better alternative to the
traditional K240's if you are concerned with noise bleed getting picked
up in your mics.
AKG also released the K182
which are designed for live applications like electronic drums and
keyboard where more isolation may be necessary. Additionally, the K182
are designed to travel with a larger driver, more durable construction,
fold-able ear cups, and a detachable cable.
Owning
a pair of K702's and doing a significance amount of my sound design
with them, I wanted to do some critical listening (well, as much as can
be done in a noisy environment) of AKG's new, and existing headphone
models. Below is a summary of my listening notes:
K812 - Deep sound stage, with a well balanced sound and more
'mature' bass. The cans themselves were fairly heavy and less stable on
my head than I would have liked.
K712 - 2-3kHz bump, claps
played nice and crisp on these. Certainly more bass than K702, but not
necessarily in a desired punchy way.
K553 - Clean sound and tighter on the head, LOUD! with a defined low end
K182
- First impression was that the ear cups were too small for my head,
but I grew to like these (in just 10 minutes). Good instrument
separation, clean highs, but feels like it's pushing a little too hard.
These would be a great set of headphone to pump up with - gym/sports,
regardless of recording or performing.
K167DJ - good presence, low end and snug on the head. Exactly what you'd need if you were in a noisy club.
K92 - muddy and missing that high end sparkle
K72 - good presence, clean snares and claps, overall my clear favorite out of K52, K72, K92
K52 - fairly tinny, some high end and bass.
[NOTE:
please remember on the new K52, K72, K92 that I had just gotten done
listening through headphones many times more expensive] |
| Photo by Patrick Young |
Bio: Electrical Engineer and sole proprietor of Speaker Feature Studios, Patrick Young spends much of his free time designing software synthesizer patches and plugins for other artists and content creators.
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