K702 Reference Studio Headphones - Over Ear, Black with Wired Connection

This is my first akg product, I'm blown away by the sound quality of these headphones, truly hifi audiophile grade headphones for sure. Having owned the hd598,hd599,hd6xx,dt770/880/990,t1-1stgen, amiron home and many other headphones but I can safely recommend these and I will admit that these are my favourite all rounder for various genres of music. But remember, you will need a dedicated hifi headphone amplifier with a good DAC to run this at their full potential. My setup is still average but it somehow does the job but somehow I believe the sound will scale up with more better equipment. These have low impedance only 62ohms written on the box but don't get misleaded by that. You cannot get even 50% sound quality(not loudness) out out these by using cheap amp/dac or portable amps so kindly forget about using these with smarphones(not even iphones) and laptops. Build wise the headphone feels a bit fragile compared to my sennheisers and beyers(coz it does not have a solid headband structure) but its not too bad either. You have to take good care of it and it will last for a long time. Believe me guys, people nowadays are hating too much on made in China stuff whereas most all around products that are widely used are made in China and guess what they all work fine and so is this one. Don't read believe everything you believe online or at least go for someone who has in hand product experience like I have. These are overall flat sounding headphones - natural and neutral but is still very musical headphone. The timbre quality is very realistic and life like. Unlike some headphones this headphone is not screaming music into your ears and doesn't demand your attention, rather the music is being played all around you so u just sit in the centre and enjoy the music and relax. I feel the bass is slightly boosted and has very good extension with a good body and a slight thump. It is not at all overpowering and never bleeds into the mids or interferes with other frequencies and destroy the musicality of the audio track unlike some headphones. People have been complaining about the lack of bass from these headphones which is not true at least with my hearing experience on my particular pair with my setup. These have proper audiophile quality bass which I instantly appreciated out of the box but it is not a bassy headphone so bass lovers stay away from it, u might consider the beyerdynamic dt990 if u want bass. These definitely have more airy sound presentation than the senns hd600/hd650/hd6xx and beyer dt880 and slightly more than the beyer dt990. But soundstage is not ultra wide and lost like some ppl described online. Vocals still feel imtimate and full bodied but not as foroward and initmate as the sennheisers but not very distant or far away as some reviews have stated. Very few headphones can beat the senns in the vocal department so if u want really lush nd smooth and initmate vocal presentation then go for the hd600/650/hd6xx. The K702 has just the right amount of vocal presentation which is neither recessed nor too close or shouty like other headpones(especially with the senns hd/600/650/6xx the vocals can sound a bit shouty on some tracks) but is very balanced and neutral. The timbre quality is very realistic and life like their is no doubt about that. Vocals still feel slightly warm and not dry and the extremely analytical like the beyers except for the amiron home which a different type of beast. The dt880/990/t1 are not dry sounding or bad its just in comparison the akg I think the k702 does better. Treble extension is not bad but is not exceptional like the beyerdynamic t1. Treble is present but its neutral and definitely not at all a brighter headphone at all as mentioned in some reviews on hradfi/reddit. Beyers are definitely brighter(except for amiron home) than the k702. But in comparison to the hd650/6xx yes it might feel brighter cause the later is a very darker sounding headphone. Although the treble can be a bit sibilant and over pronounced with some tracks. idk if this headphone is having a treble spike on a particular freq but its mostly the fault of the track which is badly mixed/mastered or u r listening to bad quality mp3. Unless you have flaq, spotify,itunes or other loseless audio or really good quality mp3 its useless to get these because u will never realize their full potential. Detail wise these are on par with senn hd600/650 and beyer dt880/dt990 lineups but I do find the beyers to be slightly more detailed which maybe due to their extended treble response. Soundstage is quite big and airy but lacks the pinpoint precision imaging of the beyerdynamic dt 880/t1. In terms of imaging the beyers and senns are slightly better by a slight margin but in no way the akg is bad. You can distinguish instruments playing left right front center of you basically as if you like you are sitting in a concert hall. Now lets come to a absolute deal breaker thing of this headphone which is the current pricing as of late 2024(when I bought these). If you do a bit of research online then you will know that these are compared to the senns hd6 and beyer dt line ups and all of them are having a minimum price of 15k and upwards till 22k and above for the senns which makes the akg and incredible value for the price at which I bought which is only 9k ! Both sennheiser and beyerdynamic counterparts cost at least 9k-10k more than the akg so it is an incredible value at the current retail which is 10k or slightly below that. Just make sure you have a proper headphone amplifier before u get these. If you dont have an amp or a small dac/amp setup, better get the hd599 or hd560s. They will run fine out of small/portable setups. If u r listening to classical, jazz,acoustic, live perfomances and some rock then these do pretty good. I may update this review furthur on as I experience and compare it with other headphones.

Very transparent headphones with a nice soundstage, better than most other headphones. I'm using these with Schitt Modi 3 DAC and JDS Atom amplifier. Pros: Very very transparent - I don't understand the treble heavy comments by others. Very good bass response - I think people's hearing has been corrupted by bass heavy systems hence the lack of low end comments. Cons: Will reveal every imperfection with your recording which is a pro if you think about it. It does however make me hate certain badly recorded tracks (making me love the well recorded ones). They are a bit delicate. I always equalize by reducing frequencies instead of increasing the needed ones (keeping the max at 0db) to eliminate square waves (distortion) which works well with this headphone only when you're using an amp powerful enough to compensate for the reduced amplitude. Summary: If you have good recordings/tracks, this is probably the best headphone at this price point. Go for it blindly. Recommended for everyone except bassheads.

Very good

Connect it with a good quality amplifier. You will feel you are listening very very high end audiophile headphones. I am using now with dragonfly cobalt.

Nice crispy sound. Bass is a bit lower, mide base and tereble is good. Build quality is good. Good vale for money.

Dont expact too much from this , its tough to make mixing and Mastering decisions with this pair but they are flat sounding so use Full for critical listening

Excellent headphones. Very pretty as well. But one must be aware that these are reference headphones, and as such, are designed to be 'flat'. These are primarily meant for studio environment for mixing and monitoring. However, they are great for music as well. But definitely not for bass-heads or treble junkies. Some people do state that these are bright, but I did not find it unpleasant. These are very comfortable and are not fatiguing during long sessions. They should be long lasting if taken proper care. And they are without doubt a bargain (at least when I bought it) against the mostly similar AKG K712s. Overall, I loved it.

Very low volume. Even with an headphone amp. Almost no base , muddled sound i have seen cheap roadside headbhones that sound way better . I have owned a made in austria pair that were amazing. This made in china pair is worthmess i even had a replace ment and cant return as amazon clised the return window