AKG K 171 Headphones

AKG  K171  MKII  PROFESSIONAL  HEADPHONES

            If you are in the market for a set of headphones than can be used for recording purposes or broadcast situations, you owe it to yourself to checkout the AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones.  These headphones have a retail price tag of $269.00, but they can be readily found selling at a discount for about $128.00 from some of the better Internet electronics dealers.  Read on and see if the AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones have some of the qualities that you have been looking for in a set of headphones for semi-pro or professional use.

            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones are closed back, dynamic headphones.  Dynamic headphones work on the same principles of sound reproduction that audio speakers do.  They convert electrical energy into an acoustic energy, or sound.  Closed back headphones are also known as circumaural headphones.  These headphones have ear cups that fully enclose your ears.  They provide good acoustic isolation, and do a very good job at keeping out unwanted noise from the environment, and also keeping in the sound of the music that you are listening to from escaping outside of the headphones.  This makes the AKG K171 MKII headphones a very good choice for studio recording purposes or broadcast situations, as little to no noise escapes from the headphones, and as such, none bleeds into any open microphones that might be being used at the time.  Closed back circumaural headphones also provide an excellent bass response, without being artificially sweetened. 

            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones are considered to be full-size headphones, and as such they are not as portable as smaller lighter models.  However that does not mean that they are not comfortable.  These headphones come with leatherette and velvet ear pads.  Leatherette ear pads can at times get warm, but these felt quite comfortable to wear.  Velvet ear pads are really comfortable as well, and personally I can't actually say which I prefer, as they were both quite comfortable.  Although the AKG K171 MKII Headphones are considered to be full size headphones, they weigh only 7.1 ounces, and that is actually a very comfortable weight.  The headband is also self-adjusting, and felt quite comfortable as well.

            A feature that I really liked was that the AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones came with a both a single sided 3 meter cable, and a coiled 5 meter cable.  Personally I have always preferred a single sided cable, as there is less likelihood of experiencing tangles.  But what is really great is that if the cable that you are using happens to somehow get damaged, all you have to do is to simply unplug the broken cable and replace it with a new one, and there is no need to replace the whole set of headphones.

            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones have a frequency response of 18 Hz. to 26,000 Hz.  Now some of you who are reading this may feel that this is overkill, since the normal range of human hearing is 20 Hz. to 20,000 Hz.  However, in regard to headphones, the frequency response refers to the frequency range of sounds that the headphones can produce without a danger of distorting.  Clearly, having a set of headphones that distorts is not a good thing in a studio situation, and these headphones clearly have a great frequency range.  The Sensitivity of the AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones is 94dB/mW.  In general, headphone sensitivity is measured by applying 1 milliwatt of power, which is one/one thousandth of a watt of power (1/1000), and then measuring the sound pressure level (SPL) at the earpiece in dB.  This is a reasonable level of efficiency for a set of headphones.  I am sure you have seen headphones with a much higher sensitivity rating, but keep in mind that headphones with lower sensitivity levels, such as these headphones have, are harder to damage with prolonged use over time.
           
            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones have an Impedance of 55 Ohms.  This means that these headphones have relatively low impedance for a pair of professional headphones.  Generally speaking, the lower the Impedance, the louder a pair of headphones will sound.  That is because lower impedance headphones are more efficient at converting electrical energy into sound.  Therefore, all things being equal, a pair of low impedance headphones may, in most cases, prolong the life of batteries in a portable listening device. Thus, these headphones could potentially even be used with a portable music device, and still provide adequate volume for the listener. 

            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones are not artificially sweetened.  Most headphones made for general consumer use are sweetened in some way.  That means that certain sonic frequencies are boosted or emphasized to make the music sound better.  Some headphones have the highs and bass frequencies boosted.  However for critical listening purposes, such as studio recording, monitoring, or mixing situations, one does not want the sound to be artificially sweetened at all.  A set of headphones with a flat frequency response is desired, as this permits the listener to make accurate adjustments in audio levels between and among the different instruments and the vocals.  The AKG K171 MKII Headphones have a flat frequency response, with no discernable sweetening.

            The AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones come equipped with a gold platted stereo mini-plug, and a quarter inch screw-on adaptor.  Thus, these headphones can be plugged into just about any audio device one can think off that would be commonly used today.

            Well who are the AKG K171 MKII Professional Headphones best suited for.  These headphones would be a good choice for anyone who needs a set of headphones that are going to be used in a broadcast situation, a recording situation, or to fine check balances and levels of recorded audio tracks during studio mix down time.  These headphones are light in weight, and comfortable to wear, and should not present any problem for a user to wear even for prolonged time periods.

            Well I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my review.  But now if you will excuse me, I must get back to practicing my guitar.