Most of the positives in the reviews here are correct. The sound quality of these cans is fine. The problem comes from the noisy construction elements of the phones themselves. Any little move and these phones sound like bare skin rubbing on sticky Naugahyde. That said, be still and enjoy.

Frequency Response: 16-20,000 Hz

There are two things I personally look for in a headphone set. These are sound quality and comfort. The K-55 headphones are up to par at both and are versatile in the fact that you can use them for listening to music but you can also use them for mixing in the studio. I have read reviews of these headphones that claim there is not enough bass response but this is untrue. There is plenty of bass depending on the quality of the sound source. Studio headphones are required to give a true signal response, not bombard you with bass frequencies. If you want thunder-bass all you have to do is set your EQ and you will have it. Since I mainly use these headphones for studio work, I have found that they give an honest signal response for mixing purposes.


The AKG K-55 Stereo Headphones

The headphones are fairly light and are easy to wear for long periods of time with minimal pressure on your ears. The design of the headphones allows pressure to be taken up by the plastic arc between the earphones with a padded elastic strap that straddles the top of your head. This keeps the pressure on the plastic arc and not on your ears or head.

The earphones are cupped with foam rubber and are extremely comfortable to wear. The cord is long enough that you don’t have to sit on top of your mixer, computer or stereo so you can work with other equipment, monitors or sound gear without feeling like your leashed to the mixer.

These headphones are not intended to be used with small portable MP3 players since they are a rather large design, but they sound great through my stereo and computer as well as my MP3/CD player when I have used them with those devices. As I said, I mainly use these headphones for mixing in my studio and they really shine for that purpose.
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AKG K 55 Headphones Specifications:
Type: dynamic, sealed
Frequency Response: 16-20,000 Hz
Sensitivity: 96 dB
Max Input Power: 200 mW
Rated Impedance: 32 Ohm
Distortion: < 1 %
Cable: Single cord, app. 3m (10 ft.) long
Stereo Adapter: 1/8" to 1/4"
Weight: 210g (7.4 oz.)


Sound quality

The headphones have excellent sound quality and are adequate for all purpose use. I have used them for listening to music from my home stereo, MP3/CD player and on the computer with no complaints about the quality of sound. Bass is rich but not overbearing, the high end is crisp and clear but not piercing and the mids are thick without sounding like mud. Of course all of these characteristics are determined by my taste and EQ settings but I think these headphones would suffice for most peoples’ listening tastes. The reviews I have read claiming that there is not enough bass leads me to believe that some people have a hard time distinguishing bass notes from bass rumble or bass distortion. I am not trying to brag here, but I do have a really good ear and I can tell distortion from true bass and these headphones can give you a good bass tone without distortion, but if you overload the headphones the high end will distort before the bass which would lead some people to think that the bass is not powerful enough.

Fantastic quality/price Very detailed sound Good in bass frequencies Comfortable Clever construction

nothing critical.

Just a fantastic quality/price product. I used them for 5 months, then i gave them as present to a friend and re-bought them the next day. The construction is well done, although leather ear pads may need some extra glue. They fit very very comfortable as the ear goes completely inside the earpads and it doesn't push your head. Sometimes you feel like they're cooking your head but that's common to all closed cand i think. I carried them in a not very audiophile way during this period (quite often they were squeezed by books in my sack...) but as they are quite elastic and well built they resisted heroically. The sound is completely satisfying in relation with the prce, it is surprisingly detailed, much more than any other can in this range. The bass is meaty, warm and well defined, and besides the quantity of details you hear this is probably the best quality of this cans. Maybe the bass has more definition than slam, these are more an audiophile-oriented cans than DJ oriented. Voices are very present and highs are sparkling but not fatiguing. Sometimes you miss a bit of space around instruments or a bit less of stereo-effect, but these flaws are not very important in a such economic product.

Neutral sound despite full bass, very comfortable over long periods. Low "sound contamination" to others in the vicinity

I still seem to be able to get dodgy contacts in the cable after 18 months. But it gets run over by my office chair on an almost daily basis, and has lasted longer than most of my other headphones

I can't rate these highly enough. The easiest way to sum up these headphones is they are the nearest you will get to listening through speakers without strapping heavy wooden boxes to your head. I listen to music at work, for entertainment - I don't work in the music industry. I needed some cheap, closed-back (so I don't disturb my colleagues) headphones that were comfortable to wear all day, both physically and audibly. I tried the equivalent Sennheisers, but found they were uncomfortable after only half-an-hour. I hardly notice that I'm wearing the AKGs. But the main difference is in the bass response - the AKGs provide the fullest bass I've heard of any sub £100 ($150) headphone I've tried. But they're not bass-heavy - they give a neutral sound, with a slightly "concert hall" bias that might not provide the best detail, but reduces listener fatigue to a minimum. I'm on my 3rd set now - they seem to go "dodgy contact" where the cable enters the 'phone. But all my headphones do that. There's a version with a heavy duty cable, apparently.

Similar Products Used:

Similar priced closed-back Sennheisers, similar priced open-back Sennheisers, AKG-K44 (nearly as good)

AKG reputation for audio quality self adjusting headband that seems to 'float' on your head -> no stress to listen with on extended periods these cans also serve as earmuffs when i dont want noise 32ohm impedance -> can be driven by headphone outputs of the laptop,desktop,discman/walkman

the clasps holding the self adjusting band is not fixed/glued to the 'ideal' position and can be moved when the unit is dropped.

Since auditioning these pair of budget cans from AKG, there is simply no turning back to the 'hifi' cans of pioneer,JVC and sony .. i can imagine the kind of quality AKG gives its high-end headphones considering that their cheap cans beat the high end models of more popular brands here in manila. Price paid is in Philippine Peso. at the time of this writing its about 54 pesos to a dollar which when translated is roughly 15 dollars for these cans of mine. cheap for something that sounds great as far as im concerned. can be driven by my laptop computer,discman and desktop computer output. im very satisfied with my purchase

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDRs, Pioneer, JVC

Comfortable (self-adjusting headstrap). Great value. Tone good all the way up until about 8va above middle C, when it becomes too fragile--bright and a little thin. Listen to some trumpet recordings and they sound shallow. OTOH, Star Wars (London Symphony) sounds great with this timbre.

All my 256Kbps LAME-encoded MP3's aren't good enough any more :( Bass-heavy. Unable to be driven by the computer (SB AWE32) at full volume without introducing some analog hiss.

For the price, they're tough to beat. I have heard things that I never could hear in recordings before, even on very nice stereo systems.

Similar Products Used:

Various concert halls (both as an auditor and as a performer).

1. The AKG K55''s let me hear parts of songs and music I''d never heard before - they pick out all parts of a song, including ''audio anomalies'' (clicks and pops). 2. They are very comfortable to wear, even for extended periods of time 3. They are VERY cheap - £20 for a pair.

1. The bass response on them is FAR too high - I''d love to be able to turn this down. It''s very good at reproducing bass, just a bit too good... 2. Where''s the mid range?!?!? I can hear plenty of top and have already mentioned the bass, I maybe wrong, but I think the midrange suffers. 3. They are HUGE headphones. Definitely not a style item.

SUMMARY: + Great price + Very comfortable + Clarity of sound - Bass response too high - No good for *mastering* of audio - Not good for enjoying music - too large to be portable and lacking in mid-range INTRO: I was looking for a pair of cans that I could use for audio editing. I was pretty new to the field (and still am!), but knew I wanted a closed pair of ''studio'' cans. The K55''s were described as ''studio'' cans in many a product listing, but I don''t think this is a fair classification. As far as editing audio goes, they do the job, although mastering is not advisable with them. I''m still not sure whether they''re a fanstastic buy (check out the price!) or simply a budget alternative, but read on and judge for yourselves...

Similar Products Used:

None