comfortable, sound great on CDs & LPs/Cassettes, and sound very clean, not too bass, or too much treble-just right.

None, love the sound!

I am writing a review about the K500 AKG headphones, which are basically the same headphone as the 501s, but they had grey ear pads, and were launched for the 1992 model year. I purchased the K500s back in 1992, and I am still using them. They sound excellent on all sources. I use them on a Nakamichi Receiver 1, with Nak CD-MB7 & Cassette deck-DR1, plus a Technics 1200 turntable with a Shure V15 cartridge. Along with sounding great, they are very durable headphones. I found in the past that the speaker cable going to the speaker always broke or would loosen causing the sound to be lost in one speaker. Not with the K-500s, they are built solid. I have had them repaired twice over the past 10 years. The drivers got a little rattle after about 4-5 years. I don''t look at this as a negative, 3 years was about the average I was getting from past headphones which could not be fixed. AKG''s service network fix them in a timely manner, and they sound just like new when repaired. Out of all the headphones I have owned over the years, my AKG headphones are A1 in my books and I recommend them highly if you want something with quality that is going to last.

Similar Products Used:

Koss SST7, Nakamichi SP-7s, Sennheiser light weights, can''t remember model #.

This is a follow up, having added a Creek OBH-11. Well, a great pair of cans just got better. The only word I have to describe the AKG501/OBH-11 duo is sublime.

Overall transparency

None

Got these cans 8 days after ordering from Headroom.
Very neutral and balanced sound, very comfortable.
More neutral than my 10 year old K240M's and Sony's.
AKG products seem be very durable and well made.
5 stars!!!!

Similar Products Used:

AKG K240M, Sony MDR-V600

Very comfortable and musical. Great fun factor!

lack of bass weight

Excellent phones for music lovers. Let you get "into" the music. For some reason, I assume it's due to the lack of interference from overly prominent mid-bass, you can really follow the musical lines much better with this phone than the other two mentioned above. It has the rythm and pace thing down! Great fun! Supremely comfortable and very well-built. AKG also spend some money on good industrial design. I prefer them for rock, pop and voice over the others. For classical, the Sennheisers are better, as they show you all the detail and instruments that are on the record. In comparison, the AKGs seem to lose some instruments and frequencies. The Sennheiser also throws a much bigger soundstage.

The Beyers have bloated bass, and are in comparison not as detailed as the AKG or the Sennheisers. They are very comfortable, though.

In summary, one could say that the AKG's are for music lovers and if you want to "rock out". The Sennheisers are more for audiophiles.

P.S.: I ran all phones off the headphone jack of the B&K Pro-10 MC preamp. The AKGs have a lowish sensitivity of 94 dB. The Sennheisers are more effcient and easier to drive.

Similar Products Used:

Beyer DT-990, Sennheiser HD-600

Clarity, soundstage, detail

Deep bass addicts should look elsewhere

That these cans beg direct comparison to my Senn 600s speaks volumes for their quality. Given that they sell for less than half the 600s, one has to conclude that's quite an engineering achievement!

I've been A-B'ing these with the 600s for a few months now, and have concluded that some days I prefer them, other days the Senns. I am largely a classical and jazz aficionado, and I have been doing extensive comparisons. The bass question is a tricky one: granted they don't seem to go as deep as the Senns, but that may be simply because they lack that hump in that region the Senn shows on its response curve. Don't know, don't care. Have to qualify this by explaining I'm using them both with a Corda Head Amp (something I doubt anybody on this forum has heard of but which I can tell you is a terrific piece of audio gear). That means I've not tested them through receivers, preamps and other devices commonly used. Ergo, YMMV. (The Corda is designed to drive headphones only.)

To my ears they do a better job than the Senns in reproducing the overtones of cymbals, something I'm not unacquainted with from an earlier life. The soundstage seems more "immediate" than the 600s. Neither is a fault - ya pays your money and ya takes your choice.

Jeff the engineer in an earlier post( and Daniel recently )
summarized my thoughts pretty well. A terrific value even were they to cost more. Overal rating of a strong 4+.

Anyone who wants info on the Corda should drop me an e-mail and I'll provide the URL.

Similar Products Used:

Senn 600s

Very comfortable for long listening, open and detailed sound.

Not for bass freaks

System:
Rotel RCD-971
Musical Fidelity X-Cans + X-PSU
QED QNect2

I purchased the K501s 7 months ago after comparing them with many different headphones from Sennheiser, Beyer, Grado, etc.

Though not the best in the bass department they compensate it with a very sweet, open and detailed sound, bettering all other models in the same price range I tried in imaging and spatiousness. I don't mean to say they don't have any bass, actually they go quite deep and have slam but not with the same weight as others.

This AKGs are very confortable to use to the point of completely forgeting about them after a few minutes of music. They can used for several hours without any listening fatigue or feeling your ears heating up.

Driven by the X-Cans they go more than loud enough (at least for my taste) but using some CD-Players HP's output voulume is a bit lowish.

Best value for the price (found them for $150), excellent sound and comfort. But if you would like a pair of subwoofers hanging form your head, look elsewhere.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser, Grado, Beyer, Sony,etc.

Overall balanced sound,looks,build-quality,price,made in Austria.

Will not satisfy lopsided bass-freaks like some other headphones will.

These cans deserve to be called a "classic",especially for classical music for which they were primarily and gladly designed,thank-you. Senn.600's are more extended at the extremes of the sound spectrum and Grado is more dynamic but the AKG is the most sweet,warm and balanced,with the highs and lows a little rolled off in a most "tubelike" way. The sound feels the most "out-of-head",spacious,and open overall. Senn.600's are more colored due to that company tuning the response to favor hookup to a normal headphone-jack,while the cans themselves are actually designed to need a headphone amp,as the reviewer in ONHIFI.com 10/01 has deftly noticed (click on eCoustics.com headphone-reviews). This is a fatal design flaw on Senn.'s part. AKG deserves the classical prize. Top-drawer sound at half the price of the Senn.600.

Similar Products Used:

Grado,Sennheiser.

Clear highs, well defined mids and a reasonable bottom end

Construction

I purchased these from Headroom on the strength of the reviews posted here. When they arrived, I removed them from the box and the ear cushions fell off, they we not attached at all. I saw that they snapped on, which I did. Even after I did that, they still felt loose and not very secure. I was not impressed with the rest of the construction. The leather headband is kept tensioned by two sets (one set on each side) of thin nylon cords that are retracted into the upper portion on the ear cups. If these nylon cords break, the headband loses tension and the headphones won't sit properly on you head.

On the plus side, the sound was quite nice. High were not fatiguing, mids well defined and a very respectable bottom end. My test CD was the Eagles "Hell Freezes Over" especially track #6, the live version of "Hotel California".

AKG is a reputable company. It seems they would take more care in their quality control and not let a defective product ship.

I returned them the following day and bought a pair of Sennheiser HD600's.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser HD570, 580

Neutral sound, comfortable, very good detail and midrange. Great headphone for the money, assuming you have a dedicated headphone amp.

NO low bass to speak of. Not only is it the bass not "boomy" -- it doesn't even exist. Need a LOT of power to show their potential.

First off, the pros: the K501 are very good headphones. They have excellent detail and midrange, along with a soundstage that is one of the biggest of any headphone I've heard (some claim it's TOO big). The sound they produce, from the upper bass to the treble, is very neutral, with no obvious peaks or valleys in frequency response. For the price ($150 or less), it's hard to find a better pair of headphones. The K501 are especially good with classical, jazz, and vocal work that doesn't have a lot of low bass -- on these types of music they can be quite stunning.


Now for the cons: First, the K501 require more power than any headphone I've ever seen except for AKG's own K1000 (which are really closer to loudspeakers than headphones). The K501 simply don't sound good when run directly out of a portable or out of the headphone jack of most home equipment. They really require a high-quality dedicated headphone amp that can really give them the current they need. Of my three headphone amps, only my HeadRoom Max (2001 model) can really make them shine. So the "bargain" price of the K501 is offset somewhat by the fact that you will need to buy a good headphone amp to run them. If you don't want to buy an amp, a headphone like the Beyer DT250 is probably a better deal.

Second, the K501 have *NO* low bass to speak of. Don't let the other reviews here confuse you -- it's not that people who criticize the K501 bass are "bass-heads" or want "boomy" bass -- personally, I just want accurate, extended bass so that I can hear the entire frequency range. Below 80Hz, the K501 roll off faster than any other headphone I've measured. By 50Hz, it's impossible to hear anything without jacking up the volume to damaging levels. This isn't a matter of opinion -- it is measurable. The K501 simply doesn't have good bass performance; people that say they do are actually talking about *upper* bass, which is completely different. If you like music that has low bass content (Organ, upright bass, low piano, electronica, etc.) these are definitely not for you. But, again, if your music doesn't have extended bass (pop, rock, country, some classical and jazz, etc.) then you'll never notice this rolloff.



Finally, and this is a very minor one that may be a "con" or a "pro" depending on your tastes, some people, including myself, find that the ultra-neutral sound of the K501, while enjoyable, can be a bit dry, or even boring. In their efforts to eliminate resonances and to keep from adding emphasis to any part(s) of the audio spectrum, AKG has taken a bit of life out of the K501. When you listen to live (unamplified) music, there will be peaks and valleys. Treble will be rolled off slightly, while the mids and lower mids will usually have a slight emphasis. The K501 eliminate most of these things, leaving you with a headphone that is extremely flat and neutral in the mids and treble, but at the expense of a bit of musicality. Again, this is a VERY minor point, but one that I felt should be made in the interests of full disclosure ;) If you're the kind of person who feels that headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 are too "warm," then you'll definitely like the sound of the K501 (although you'll lose the more accurate bass response of the HD600).

Similar Products Used:

Etymotic ER4S & ER4P. Sennheiser HD600 and HD580. Various Beyer models.

Very clear and lively sound.

Bass.

Pros:
These cans are very friendly to ears; you can wear them for hours without any pain or discomfort. The sound is very clear and lively; you will feel like you are "in the music". These cans helped me rediscover music. Mids and highs are very well presented.

Cons:
Bass is not presented quite so good, but if you can somehow add bass via EQ or some dynamic/superbass settings this will not be a problem. Power-hungry, not for portables.

Overall:
Very good cans for the price provided that you can get around the bass-situation (not listening to stuff that has bass or adding it somehow).

Similar Products Used:

Lower model AKGs.