AKG/Massdrop Collaboration K7XX Headphones
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,569 words · ~7 min read
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the AKG k700 Series has been around for years at this point in its various k701
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k702 anniversary edition Etc flavors in
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fact I picked up a used pair of k702
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months ago and I think they're great I wait a second hold on there lonus you've
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had k702 for months and you never reviewed them why the heck not well I've
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had aoto 360 for weeks and still haven't reviewed that either although that one
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is coming soon so make sure you're subscribed but back on topic I haven't
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reviewed them because I really didn't feel like I had anything to contribute
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to the conversation their strengths and weaknesses have been well documented by
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the audio file Community pricing has stabilized and other than very minor
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cosmetic or sonic tweaks which aren't really enough to justify a review of an
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old product they haven't changed much but today is different we get minor
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cosmetic tweaks yes but we also get a little bit more Bas punch and more
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importantly we get a fantastic price move on what is the first ever Mass drop
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Edition headphone the
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k7xx The Cooler Master nepton 240m features an exclusive pump design and
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their new silencio fans to provide impressive near silent performance click
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now to learn more so we'll kick off with the package
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pretty run-of-the-mill except for the Mast drop first edition Badges and
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messaging on it so I'll be sure to cover the tweaks to the product that make it
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special as we go along inside the box you'll find the headphones themselves
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with a pre-attached 8 in to4 in adapter and that's about it no fancy carrying
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cases or anything like that so it's product T our time we'll start with the
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headband it uses an elastic based suspension system that allows it to sit
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exactly in place without any adjustment necessary for different head sizes and
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do so without the vice grip effect of many of sennheiser's most popular models
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great for long listening sessions my only issue with this system is its
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long-term resilience it's likely AKG is
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using a different elastic material than they did years ago when this one was
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manufactured but I think I'd still prefer something else outright since
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most elastics I've encountered whether they're on headphones or ginch will
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eventually crack and dry like this one
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the band itself is an improvement over the old pair though with the Derpy ribs
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along the inside of it I mean what were who obviously they made that for all the
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people whose heads are shaped like that I yes instead we get a smooth natural
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leather strap that can be angled a little bit for the broadest possible
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contact with your head now often I'll complain about thin unpadded headbands
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but this design actually works surprisingly well and basically floats
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without pressure points for me although one of our team members with a larger
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head said that as the elastics engage the pressure increases so there you go
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and I mean this is subjective I guess but while we're talking about the headband I think the black accents
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instead of gray ones look a lot better
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the only thing I didn't like about the headband was the little made in China
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sticker compared to the made in Austria printing on my older
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702 but that's the direction things are going and if they sound great and
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they're able to put the manufacturing cost savings towards improved materials
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in a lower price then I guess they'll sell the way that cheaper better hot
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cakes are bound to won't they because they are better in some ways on the ear
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cup we see more tasteful black accents in fact the whole headphone pretty much
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is done in a sexy blackout style we've
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got the same detachable three Pin cable system as before with a lock and the
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biggest Improvement of all the ear pads on my old k702 are super thick but
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appear to be made of the most rocklike foam that AKG could Source from phone
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Planet s in the granite Galaxy well the
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7xx M drop Edition has thinner pads but
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they're made of some of the most luxurious memory foam that I've ever
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encountered on a headphone these puppies are comfortable from day one with zero
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Breakin period required gold star AKG and mass drop speaking of break-in
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period I left them for 48 hours with random music playing at a reasonable
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volume and did all of my comparative listening on a geek out since I didn't
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have time to sit down and do it at home with my O2 and I got to say these sound
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great side by side at 80 DB plus or minus about 0.5 according to my rs2 232
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xtec sound level meter the most noticeable changes are obviously going
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to be the plus 3 D base boost it gives them a little bit more life than the
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predecessor but more importantly for me the reduction in brightness or Sparkle
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that made the k702 a little hard to listen to for long periods for me yes
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some folks who prefer a more analytical sound might lament the addition of a bit
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of a veil but for me the extra Rumble is something that the k702 sorely and a
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trade that I'll take every day compared to every high hat making me cringe a
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little bit at otherwise comfortable listening levels speaking of veils
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figuring out which I preferred between the k702 and the k7xx was the easy part
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where I really ran into trouble was comparing them to the Sennheiser
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hd600s these two headphones sound really
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really similar sometimes I'd swap them and feel like there was a little bit of
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extra Clarity in the mid on the hd600s and other times I'd be certain that the
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K7 xx's had a bit more of a pleasing Rumble to them only to swap them out
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again and not be able to figure out what I was hearing before then within seconds
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my ears had adapted to whatever I was wearing and I could no longer hear any
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significant difference at all but none of this is a problem with the K7 xx's if
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anything it's very high praise indeed since the hd600s are one of my favorite
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headphones overall and my favorite open design for sure with their great balance
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of Comfort weight and sound signature so if I was shopping today it would pretty
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much come down to how does it fit on your head and the price I mean
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Sennheiser typically clamps a little harder but in the long term I think I
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prefer a padded headband since there's nothing to fail on it um AKG has a
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detachable cable though which is nice if you ever have the need to replace it and
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I could probably go on like this for a while but for me between these two it's
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six of one half a dozen of the other which is a pretty strong statement
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speaking of strong statement Ting wants to make a strong impact on
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your phone statement yes ting.com is the
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reasonably priced pay for only what you use mobile provider they're on the
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Sprint network so you don't have to worry about that whole thing where it's
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like oh they're a small wireless provider they probably have like some
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janky network if you have good Sprint service in your area then you're going
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to be good to go they've got a savings calculator on their site which they
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claim you can enter your last three bills in no you can actually definitely
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do that you enter your last three bills and they claimed that 98% of Americans
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would save money by switching to Ting because they buy these monster Mega
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plans with all these text messages minutes and megabytes and then it turns
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out that if you don't actually use them all then you're not getting that great of a deal so all you have to do is head
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over to lin.com go ahead and try out the
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savings calculator if it ends up working out well for you you can actually get
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$25 in service credit or towards a new device by by using our link so the only
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thing I don't like about Ting is that we don't have them here in Canada so uh yay
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America you guys get wireless providers
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that we don't have speaking of things we don't have I
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don't have time to tell you guys about
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the link in the video description where you can support us you can give us monthly contribution buy a cool t-shirt
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like this one or change your Amazon bookmarked one with our affiliate code
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so we get a small Kickback whenever buy headphones not these headphones mind you
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CU they're on M drop but these ones or
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these ones pretty sure I have some in my
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pocket or these ones I think we're done here