I replaced the pads on my AKG Q701 headphones today for the 4th time. It made me realize that I’ve used these headphones for at least 40 hours a week for 14 years straight. I’ve had to repair the left side speaker solder joint a few times, but they’re designed to be easily torn down and repaired. Truly BIFL headphones.
I’ve heard that the newer AKG K702 headphones are identical but I can’t vouch for that. They go for around $250.
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Thanks for this. I bought a secondhand set of AKG K702 headphones. The difference is they have a unplug-able cable.
Impressive
I have a set of K553 PROs that don’t die. I’ve had to epoxy the audio cable back into the can and replace the foam twice, but they’re still going after 10 years. Love these things.
Those are basically a closed-back version of mine, right? They look badass.
Yours have that sweet leather strap and a different connection. I am not sure if the drivers are the same. Either way, I got these off of MassDrop before it was enshittified.
Holy shit I completely forgot about massdrop. Man. What a throwback.
They are still around as “drop”. massdrop.com redirects to their new site, but they aren’t what they used to me IMO.
Yeah sorry I completely understood what you meant, I remember when you could find the best stuff there and then it went to shit. Like around ten years ago it seems.
Damn, those look sick! Are they over the ear or on-ear? Hard to drive? I might pick up a pair to use at the office since open-back isn’t a great choice for that environment.
Btw the leather band on my Q701 isn’t stock. It’s just scrap leather that I cut to shape when my old headband wore out. Got the scrap for free on a recycling group.
These are over-the-ear monitors for studio recording. I use them in conjunction with standard desktop monitors and a few other things to mix audio. They’re not hard to drive, but they do have a lot of headroom and clarity. I have also used them with my cell phone occasionally without issue.
The band looks sweet. Good work.
Waow ! Only 4 times in 14 Yr life span ‽
With use and age membranes change and the sound changes with it. Unfortunately you’d still need to change the driver / membrane combo on a regular basis if you want to keep the sound quality of these cans.
This is true for any cans, and AKG are on the long-life side of headphones.
AKG K702, $600 Canadian. Too bad. 🤷♂️
I left consumer gamer headset world when the new steel series replacement wanted to use software to do what hardware did on a previous gen where no software was required. I got a pair of these for $250 years ago. Absolutely the best move.
Damn. Maybe snag a used set on Ebay?
I replaced the pads on my akg k371. I don’t listen much anymore but they’re still ok
Plot twist: they listen exclusively to Russian shortwave numbers stations.
Close. I originally got them exclusively for ASMR listening, when ASMR was a brand new concept.
Did you also burn your tongue because you ate pizza before it was cool?
Huh?
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Oh. :( That wasn’t very friendly.
I was just goofin’, friend :)
Aw ok, much love ❤️
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I recalled that joke from a teenage memory long ago. You’re 100% right
That was a lot longer before 10 years ago.
The term ASMR was coined in 2010. I think it didn’t really catch on until 2011.
I would have sworn you were wrong, but I guess I assumed that it was around long before I learned the “correct” term for it. Turns out I just learned it at the same time everybody else did, basically.
The first time I saw the term online was in 2006/2007, long before people started making videos to try to trigger it.
That’s impossible, the term didn’t exist until 2010 when Jennifer Allen created it because she wanted a “scientific sounding” term to describe the sensation.
I remember where I lived and what computer I owned when I first read about it. I definitely didn’t live there in 2010. I don’t know who Jennifer Allen is, but is it possible she read the same web page I did and borrowed the term?
I have a set of nearly-10 year old Q701s (same headphones, just lime green and branded Quincy Jones)
Other than the elastic suspenders weakening (looks like yours did the same; they all do!) and the plastic sliders cracking, they’ve been great. I replaced the elastics and the pads, but I wish the sliders were easy to do.
Do you happen to have a link to the replacement elastic? I had no idea that it could be replaced
TIL that you can replace the pads. My AKG headphones pads are worn out and I thought I must buy new ones. Where is the best place to do it?
I got these pads for under $10 on Amazon. You just rotate the pads counter-clockwise and they pop off, no tools needed.
It’s crazy how good headphones can be when you just buy a good set from a good audio brand. I am ashamed of how much money I spent on “gaming” headsets that wouldn’t even make it a year and had shit microphones and audio quality in general. About 10 years ago I bought a pair of AudioTechnica open air headphones and I love them so much, and they still work exactly like the day I got them. Comfortable to wear all day too.
I spent $15 on a cheap Chinese Bluetooth headset that has lasted longer than any other set. I don’t know why.
AKG 553 MKii checking in. I’ve had mine for years. Just replaced the pads and they’re good as new
I’ve got some Audio-Technica ATX-M50 headphones that are probably about that old. I’ve replaced the pads a couple times and the cable once but they’re still going strong.
I got my wife a pair of the newer ATX-M50x about a month ago because she got tired of her cheap sets dying all the time. We’ll see if the quality is still there on current models.
I recently treated myself to these Hifiman Arya Organic headphones along with a balanced cable and a proper audiophile DAC. Really hoping they last as long as yours, because I’m so extremely happy with them.
As a fan of Hifiman headphones… good luck. Their reputation is more or less the opposite of AKG and Beyerdynamic for this sort of thing. I baby my HE-6 because they are irreplaceable.
I have Beyerdynamic DT990 Pros because they’re so repairable. Changed the pads a few times and recently, after over a decade, I modded it to have a removable cable as the old cable’s connector started to misbehave.
I used to use steelseries headsets but they kept breaking in similar ways and just wanted some decent quality, repairable headphones.
Can definitely recommend. Sound is amazing.
When I was playing Counter-Strike a lot, I got into Steel Series because a lot of the players used it and EVERYTHING broke sooo fast… Like I would play around 30 hours a week so that was… a lot but still. My Steelseries mice would last me a couple of months, my headsets half a year. I would RMA them and the RMA would break super fast too… Only good thing about them nowadays are the XL Mouse Mats…
Nowadays, in terms of gaming stuff, I’m back to a mix of Corsair & Logitech.
