AKGPro Audio K271 MKII Over-Ear, Closed-Back, Professional Studio Headphones

I picked up a pair of AKGs back in November on sale for $[...] to substitute my Paradigm Monitor speakers while I am not at home. After much scrutiny, I picked the AKG K271 MKII; while it is not the most recent model released by the company, it offers the same sound quality and more. To put it bluntly, I was extremely satisfied.To start, the most important aspect of headphones (aka cans) of this nature: sound quality. The general consensus is that AKG is very muddy in the bass while being very bright on the high end. While the stereotype may be true in some models, the headphones are fantastic at covering the entire spectrum from muddy to crisp. I will have to agree the highs are bright, but nothing that can't be fixed to your liking in an equalizer. When I first started listening to them, I experienced the "wow, I'v never noticed that cymbal hit before" symptom. I could (and have) lay on my bed listening to music for hours, completely enveloped in music; the downside is the drop in external perception leads to being very startled by visitors.While an impedance of 55 Ohms doesn't necessarily call for a headphone amp, I picked one up just to see the difference. The PA2V2 was recommended to me, so I emailed the gentleman over at Electric-Avenue.com and bought one. The K271 and PA2v2 pair nicely with each other: boosting the bass and bringing out the sound as a whole, without the amp I had most audio outputs turned very high up. The amp has also been nice to have for all my headphones, but more to come on that in the PA2v2 full review.The build of the headphones is solid and I don't feel like I'm going to break them. I quite enjoy the features that have been integrated into these headphones, from them turning off when you take them off, to a small slit allowing for easy earpad replacement. To begin, the auto adjusting headband: size fitting to everyone, the band being pushed up also enables the sound to come through the drivers. The K271 also comes with a detachable cable, so you can have the long studio cable, or the spiral stretch cable (and you don't have to worry about wrapping the cable around the cans). Lastly, the cans come with leatherette or velour eapads: I personally use the velour as they warm the bass and are very comfortable.After reading through hundreds of reviews for AKG, Grado, Sennheiser, and Beyerdynamic, I cut my final choice down to the AKG K271 and K272. The difference? A whole bunch of accessories, color, and price. The K272 retails at $329 on amazon, comes in black with a 1/4 inch adapter and Velour ear pads. The K271 MKII retails at $151 on amazon, comes in dark blue with a 1/4 inch adapter, Leatherette and Velour ear pads, detachable 3m cable and 5m coiled cable.After about 70 hours of listening these cans have burned in to sound even better than when I first got them, and I strongly recommend them if you're looking for this style. (Note: these headphones can't really be used for DJing)[...].

I was more than blown away by the completely flat, and accurate response to whatever I listented to. They've been breaking in rather nicely, but still have a ways to go before they truely open up in their "airiness". When you first hear them, you think that they aren't very bright sounding, or the midrange isn't as present as you'd expect; but further listening reveals that nothing could be further from the truth! The music you're listening to sounds just about exactly as it should, the highs are extended without being harsh or brash in any way, the mids are liquidy smooth, flat, yet warm. The lows are very accurate without being booming, and more importantly, without overtaking the rest of the sonics. The seperation of tracks, instruments, vocal layers, guitar layers, and most importantly, the holographic soundstaging that tells you where things are in 3 dimensions of sound. This is what has me blown away by these headphones! I can also hear the transients on top of the main sonics, the ambience is never taken away from by anything getting louder, such as a loud vocal, or a crack of a snare, or a smash of a cymbal. So many times I've been listening to headphones that compress the hell out of a song where the guitars in the background that are being used as textures and timbres to warm up the tones (think Rush 78-80) are either choppy under the drums or vocals, or almost non-existant to the main guitar when there's too much going on in any particular moment. That's always made me cringe when I heard it, but no more! I can actually listen to vinyl through the high-fi and not miss a thing! There certainly are better phones out there that have even better dynamic range, transients, even a bit of cross-talk to better emulate the effect of sitting in front of a pair of studio monitors, but if you're looking for entry level studio phones that won't break your bank, you won't be dissapointed!

I ordered my mkii's from #1 source (shipped by ONTRAC) and received them a day early :D. When I first listened to them I was somewhat disappointed, as they had recessed bass and painfully harsh highs. Although I am somewhat sensitive to high frequencies. After about 10 hours of burn in using a repeating track of pink noise, they sounded great. The bass is now more forward, and the highs have settled down somewhat. I expect they'll reach their full potential around 30-40 hours of burn in. Be aware, these headphones ARE NOT made for any particular genre of music. Because of their neutrality, they will give nearly equal representation of the entire (audible) sound spectrum, so dubsteb/trance/techno won't have the bass emphasis that some prefer on it. On the other hand, acoustic guitar/pianos/male & female vocals will benefit from the lack of coloration. Also, the velour pads will give you a brighter sound.-AndyEDIT: Iv'e been using these constantly for about 10 days now and have racked up about 50 hours of burn in. As expected the lows are much more pronounced though still very controlled and accurate. The highs have settled down a bit more, and the mids are pretty much perfect (not implying that the lows and highs are sub par, the mids are just flawless in these cans). Ive' found that the velour pads are MUCH more comfortable (I'm able to wear them for 6+hours at a time) and give the sound a more open sound. Also, wearing the cans just barely forward/dead center creates clearer sound and a better soundstage than any other position. These headphones are an overall steal at $137.