AKG K612 PRO

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by ultrabike, Nov 11, 2016.

  1. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Thanks to @mrweirdude for loaning these!

    A little less efficient than the HD600s, and with a little less warm signature. Treble and mids seem more than decent to me. A little splashy, but not much. They are pretty good overall. Not bright or annoying to me. Like I said, just a little less warm than what I'm used to, not as much impact, but bass extension is there.

    Obligatory photo from somewhere's in the web...

    [​IMG]

    The cans are light and fairly comfortable.

    At $150 the price does not seem unreasonable to me. Impedance is rated at 120 ohms so I have a feeling these will play nice with most headphone amps, including high Z ones.

    Measurements:

    Frequency Response

    K612Pro_fr.png

    Distortion Right

    K612Pro_dist_right.png

    Distortion Left

    K612Pro_dist_left.png

    CSD Right

    K612Pro_csd_right.png

    CSD Left

    K612Pro_csd_left.png

    Impulse Right

    K612Pro_ir_right.png

    Impulse Left

    K612Pro_ir_left.png
     
  2. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    BTW, for these measurements I calibrated the mic using a gadget that @sorrodje provided. It was @sorrodje's wish to put these on loan and will do so through the appropriate channels.

    Distortion therefore is probably relatively accurate.

    I think I was like 1 or 2 dB off before.
     
  3. mrweirdude

    mrweirdude Asshole lowballer - acquaintance

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    @ultrabike would you be able to put the distortion measurements in % form? Thanks
     
  4. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    No problem. Remember. This is 90 dB SPL. IMO, that's quite high, but somewhat standard way of measuring to compare apples to apples.

    Distortion Right

    K612Pro_dist_per_right.png

    Distortion Left

    K612Pro_dist_per_left.png

    Same but using harmonic as reference:


    Distortion Right

    K612Pro_dist_per_h_right.png

    Distortion Left

    K612Pro_dist_per_h_left.png
     
  5. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    @ultrabike Do you think that wall at ~3.5khz in CSD Right is really a wall spike, or a null? Other than that these measurements look nice.
     
  6. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    It's a small sudden spike in the right driver IMO.

    K612Pro_fr.png
     
  7. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    ahh yeah, good eyes. i wonder if it's audible.
     
  8. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    To some it might. It didn't bother me while I was going through some tracks. I would have mentioned.
     
  9. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    Can you compare these to the HD598 (since similar price bracket)?
     
  10. Deep Funk

    Deep Funk Deep thoughts - Friend

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    These seem to be good headphones for specific purposes.

    Thanks for the measurements.
     
  11. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    No problem. I took the measurements on my HD558s again, because now I use a non-leaky baffle all the way.

    BTW a probable reason why I sometimes show less bass than other folks may be related to the width of my setup, which may result in less pressure against the baffle. Heads come in different shapes so who knows.

    Anyhow, here is a comparo with the HD558 using the same measurement setup:

    VS_HD558.png

    I would say though that the HD558 is a little more relaxed.

    However, let's take a look at distortion:

    K612Pro:

    K612Pro_dist.png

    HD558:

    HD558_dist.png

    Perhaps one gains some (assuming one likes the HD558 signature), and loose some.

    HD600s do improve on this and IMO are all around more refined:

    HD600_dist.png

    Here are all three:

    VS_558_600.png
     
  12. slowsound

    slowsound Acquaintance

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    Seems like a solid choice tonality wise, but resolution would be lacking.
     
  13. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    Probably the only open AKG I could use myself, though not sure if it's just your measurement rig damping it down or the specific pair that have the AKG honk tamed quite well.
     
  14. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I've been saying for a while now that people should ditch all their K701/702/712/Q701/K7xx's and get the K612pro instead. I find it a nicer overall tone, more amp friendly, and cheaper!
     
  15. lm4der

    lm4der A very good sport - Friend

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    Cool, thanks!
     
  16. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    My brief impressions and measurements of the K612:

    - Bright, bright, and bright. Someone stuck me in a cold room with blinding lights pointing at me from all directions. Thankfully they gave me a small throw blanket to warm me up slightly. That's how I would describe the K612 experience.

    - OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they are definitely bright. Take HD650, file down the mid-bass bump some, and then raise all of the upper-mids and lower-treble by about 5dB. That's the sort of tone you get on the K612. Not my thing.

    - Bass quality is pretty decent. Good level, not overly warm, but does have a slight warmth to it. Bass distortion is a bit lower than HD600/650, so that helps it sound a bit clearer and tighter along with less of an emphasis down there too (see Tyll's measurements at his site and ultrabike's above for distortion)

    - Mids and treble are not as smooth as a Sennheiser but not too bad in terms of smoothness. That is, no major peaks or valleys to make it sound more ragged. The main issue is the elevation. There is some additional glare and hardness on top of that.

    - Detail on a macro and micro level is pretty darn good for the price range but still not at the HD600/650 level.

    - I think clarity and speed are good? Hard to tell with the emphasized treble, both in telling what that contributes to a sense of speed and clarity vs. actual driver ability and because I couldn't listen for very long to tell.

    - On a technical level, I'd say these probably sit in between the HD598 and HD6X0, but tonally, the excessive brightness makes them hard to listen to for very long.

    - Probable mod potential. Stick stuff over the driver until brightness is to your tastes. I could see them being a good buy in that case but did not test for myself. Still, you risk dulling things too much to dial treble down to HD6X0 levels, so maybe it is best to save for that or get an HD598 if you want that sort of sound.

    Measurements:

    Channel matching probably more due to slight placement mismatch than anything else. See upper-bass through lower-mid warmth, which is less severe and less focused than the HD650 overall. However, this slight warmth does not make up for the really emphasized area in between 1KHz and 8KHz.

    AKG K612 Pro Frequency Response.png


    CSD results, -35dB and -45dB, for both left and right channel. Left channel looks good but has some 2KHz energy going on at -45dB, which is likely not too big of a problem. The right channel has a sharp ridge around 3.5KHz.

    AKG K612 Pro Left CSD -35dB.PNG

    AKG K612 Pro Left CSD -45dB.PNG

    AKG K612 Pro Right CSD -35dB.PNG

    AKG K612 Pro Right CSD -45dB.PNG


    Am not including distortion results because something was screwy with my bass results. See ultrabike's results above and Tyll's results at Innerfidelity.
     
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  17. RiddleyWalker

    RiddleyWalker Friend

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    I found myself oddly interested in these headphones. As far as AKG goes, I'd only briefly auditioned their cans in passing (from unfamiliar systems), so when I saw the K612 on Amazon for $113 I decided to give it a shot. Driving them from my ZDS.

    Initial impressions are being formed, but for now I will say: Not bad. Yes, this is a bright-ish headphone, especially when compared directly to the HD650, but there are some definite merits. I knew the thinness in the bass wasn't going to work for me, so I set out to do the "bass port" mod. One of the grill covers came off with relative ease, but the other one was really really stuck, and I ended up accidentally breaking off the tabs. Whoops...

    I'm also going to try sticking some dynamat on the plastic under the grill covers, as the enclosure seems to vibrate a lot when the bass comes in. Also going to consider putting some K702 pads on there, as some have reported it helps darken the tone a bit.

    There's a bit of a "swish" sound in the upper mids / lower treble that is annoying me sometimes. Hoping I can find a way to minimize this, but might just be driver limitations.

    Will update once I have some more time to spend with these.
     
  18. RiddleyWalker

    RiddleyWalker Friend

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    Hands was right about these having good modding potential. So far here's what I've done:

    - Removed driver grills (one of them broke during removal)
    - "bass port" mod
    - Put some dynamat on the plastic underneath the driver grill
    - Added HD650 front foam disks in front of the foam donut in front of the driver
    - And the most important part... ZMF Ori pads

    Compared to stock, the K612 now has lower, punchier bass, thicker tones, and toned down treble peaks. In many ways it seems like a cousin of 650 sound - still not quite as thick, detailed, or linear as the 650. The mids aren't as upfront, but they sound surprisingly linear now that the volume can be increased a little bit post-mod. Treble is still brighter than the 650 of course, but it's not the pupil-constricting white light of the stock variation.
     

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