My Thoughts on The AKG K371: Really Disappointed

Submitted by D3athCAP t3_126c5it in headphones

I went to a music store a couple days back and got myself the AKG K371. At the store they had it for demo and it does sounds pretty nice on their demo but I wasn't really doing any critical listening and it probably had a very EQ-ed song, smart selling technique I guess. Anyway, I thought it'd be a great pairs to add to my collection to rotate around and as a cans for me to use to practice my bass guitar.

For reference I currently own 4 pairs of cans. DT 770 Pro 250 ohms, AKG K701, Sony 1000XM3, HyperX Cloud II, and Jabra Evolve 20 UC, my favorite.

Okay, let's get down to the business. First of all it’s VERY boomy. Might be as boomy as the Sony 1000XM3 even. It's really bad, the bass is so muddy and I hear nothing but BASS. At the music store, the demo unit, the treble was actually incredible, again it's probably EQ-ed. I tested it through my Focusrite Scarlett Solo, a Schiit Stack, and a phone. It gets nothing but overwhelming amount of bass. Not in a good way, not like the 770 Pro or even 1000XM3, hell, even the HyperX Cloud II deliver bass so much better. Although, the K371 have great frequency range, from 5Hz-40kHz and I can certainly hear that wide range that it can offer. That does not translate to soundstage however.

The soundstage is horrible. It's almost like IEMs. It is a closed-back with leather cups, but my 3 other closed-back does better than it in this department, so there's no excuse. It managed to be the same level as the 1000XM3, maybe even worse can't say for sure, which if you just think about it you'd understand how bad this is. One is a noise canceling wireless 'fun headphones', and the other 'studio professional reference headphones'. Part of it is the boomy bass, it's so bad that it just muddy out everything making the soundstage feels very narrow, because it's just bass...

Now it does come with 3 cables and a cheap carry bag, for $170. If we talk value, the HyperX Cloud II blew it out of the water. For $99 or as low as $49 on sale, the clone of a clone of the 770 Pro is a budget audiophile grade phones disguised as a gaming headphones. Comes with 2 types of pads, detachable mic, a very high quality carry breathable bag, optional USB interface, very comfortable, and sounds amazing. The downside is its frequency range, it's very narrow and you can easily tell. The soundstage is okay, though, nothing fancy.

I'm not gonna bring up the 770 Pro because you can probably guess how it compares. To summarize it up, I am really disappointed in the K371. Having own the K701 and love it very much, I had hoped AKG could still offer.

On the ending note, I would like to bring up the good thing on the K371. I listen to all kinds of genre of music. The two genre that really stands out with the K371 are the old vintage 40s, 50s and 60s songs. Like 'It's Been a Long, Long Time' by Kitty Kallen, or 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder' by Paul Anka. Another one that I really enjoy on the K371 are the songs by Hokago Tea Time from K-On. Their songs can easily be described as the mid 2000s pop rock. The boomy bass of the K371 makes the songs sounds like it's coming out of a concert amp of that era. Very fun and interesting experience I must say.

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blargh4 t1_je8mu19 wrote

>I went to a music store a couple days back and got myself the AKG K371. At the store they had it for demo and it does sounds pretty nice on their demo but I wasn't really doing any critical listening and it's probably had a very EQ-ed song

I'm wondering if they silently changed the pad design or something, to address the complaints about the seal

While it's got that Harman bass shelf, boomy is not how I'd describe it (on the rare occasion I can get a good enough seal to not leak out all the subbass), certainly nowhere near the XM3's. I got my pair at Guitar Center and they sound like the demo units I listened to.

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D3athCAP OP t1_je8n9ct wrote

That's exactly where I tried them and got them, Guitar Center. They had Uptown Funk on it and it sounds incredible. In term of seals, I didn't notice anything off from a 3 hours practice session I was having with my bass guitar. It got a bit hot but it's not bad at all. I did had to adjust a lot of my stuff on the bass VS the settings I had using other cans to practice.

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rhalf t1_je8vikz wrote

I'm not sure, but it looks like this headphone uses the same or at least similar driver to K518 DJ, which would make sense because it's not precise with bass. That headphone sounds warmer than you'd assume from the graph.

That said Sonys should be quite a bit bassier. K361s only bloat in the subbass (if your pair is normal). They famously lack clarity and detail, but bass should not be terrible. Maybe EQ the subbass out and see if that helps.

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D3athCAP OP t1_je8vze9 wrote

Certainly helped but still not what I would considered good. I messed around with the Loki EQ on my stack, didn’t have any EQ software installed due to my fragile state audio drivers (it’s messy and don’t wanna break it, please help). The 1000XM3 paired to my iPhone is a bass hell. It’s like a pair of Beats all of sudden, sounds fine paired to my Samsung, still bassy but man, iPhone did some crazy stuff to it. In the Sony app I had to do some ridiculous EQ to get it under controlled.

I originally got the K371 for my tiny portable practice amp and EQ wouldn’t be an option on it. On a regular amp it’s possible to work around but that’s a hassle.

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D3athCAP OP t1_jedq1q5 wrote

This setting seems to 'fixed' the headphone for me, it's closer to the demo unit I tried out now. its much better, but still, if it needs EQ then I don't think I can let it pass, it's a studio headphones, it isn't supposed to need EQ to begin with. I can't imagine mixing with this and have to compensate for this much bass.

EQ

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Different_Seaweed850 t1_jead24t wrote

Thank you for the review, I was contemplating picking a pair of these up, so this gives me something to think about

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GZoST t1_jeapomw wrote

Not sure what went wrong with the pair OP has, or where the incompatibility lies. I'm listening to my pair right now and they are simply very good headphones.

Bass is very it should be for my taste and is not boomy - that would show with the dub techno playing at the moment. Soundstage is not particularly wide, sure, but instrument placement is quite precise. I recently even listened to a full symphony with them, and that is normally where I switch to the HD800. Not the same experience, but very enjoyable nonetheless.

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D3athCAP OP t1_jedq5lu wrote

if you want something better I can easily point to the 770 Pro 80 ohm. Other than that maybe DT 700 Pro x if you don't mind spending more.

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Cyberspace242 t1_jebccv6 wrote

Not sure what happened to the pair that you were listening to but the AKG K371 is beautifully tuned with a good bass shelf to boot. I feel the pair you listened to was altered in some way as typically it's such a pleasant headphone for all genres and it makes no sense what happened to you. The only real complaint from most people is that the band is very fragile. I listen to mine often and I just can't believe how much I like them for what you pay especially because I do have a more expensive critical listening headphone. I keep coming back to my K371.

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D3athCAP OP t1_jebdxha wrote

I will give it a few more days, but for now it’s not feeling well. Right now Im looking at Sundara closed back.

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Few_Apple_1259 t1_jedmlcf wrote

Rights now i am testing various closed and open backs. I tested 6 so far. I had the unpleasure to listen to K371 and had the same impressions. I used it with ifi hip dac 2 and after 10 minutes i decided to return them asap. Maybe i got a bad pair but i will not give them a second try.

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D3athCAP OP t1_jedo033 wrote

Have you tried 700 Pro X or Sundara closed-back? If so let me know how you think. I’m looking at those.

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Few_Apple_1259 t1_jedun7n wrote

No, from closed back i tried demon d5200 and today i will try shure 1540. I listened also to hd660s, hd650, sundara open and i must say that d5200=hd650<hd660s<sundara open<<k371. Because sundara open was great but hasn't blow my mind, I didnt tried closed back version. I will reply to you in the weekend about impressions on shure If you want to. If you get your hands on 700 Pro X then tell me what you think about them, i am also curious

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D3athCAP OP t1_jedv9xo wrote

I have seen the Shure a lot but never really paid any attention to it. You should try K701 or K702 they are fun, massive Soundstage.

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