Okay I have sold my HD650 cuz AKG K612 equalized is my endgame for now

Submitted by klogg4 t3_10ljk2p in headphones

Really, it's pretty much the title. I have had K612 for a long time and didn't find it a good idea to sell them, because I have bought them cheap, they have great channel balance, great fit and the sound feels spacious because of the fit. But I haven't used them actively because the sound was too bright and fatiguing, and I was too lazy to equalize them - HD650 felt better for my ears.

But after EQ (slightly modified oratory one) I have got a marvelous experience out of K612. I have never heard anything like this in any TOTL (haven't tried Dan Clark though). They do everything so right I just can't listen to anything else, including equalized HD650. Having fun with my setup for a month already, afraid to test anything else. EQ is the way to go guys.

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guesswhochickenpoo t1_j5xhzhr wrote

EQ is highly underrated IMO and I think honestly one of the first things people should consider with their existing headphones before buying another pair, unless there's a fit / comfort issue.

I had a similar experience with my HD 6XX. Night and day difference between stock and EQ'd and I wonder why / if I really need anything else.

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SirMotherfuckerHenry t1_j6304uz wrote

EQ is certainly not highly underrated on r/headphones. This is the home of Oratory1990. You won't hear much talk though about EQ on head-fi and SBAF, but people over there truly belief that cables make a difference in sound signature.

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BobbyFlaaay t1_j6bzll3 wrote

What’s your EQ for the 6xx? I’ve tried oratory and crinacle’s harman tunings and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference for me so I’m wondering if I’m missing something.

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guesswhochickenpoo t1_j6c2yji wrote

I started with the Oratory EQ and heard quite a notable improvement and for me it took a lot of the “veil” away but it’s been a while since I listened to the stock sound. I just remembered being really impressed with the difference at the time.

Often going back to the original sound (or the original version of other things after upgrading) is a much starker difference than the initial improvement. Try out one of the EQs for a while, like a week or more, with songs you know the best and then try going back to stock with the same songs.

After I grew accustom to the sound and started using the 560s for gaming and other things I adjusted the 6XX EQ more to taste and increased the highs a bit more (by reducing the negative DB adjustments from Oratory in the upper mids and highs) and added a touch more bass. Probably has a mild V shape now and makes even more crisp and exiting.

It could really depend on the type of music you listened to as well.

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guesswhochickenpoo t1_j6fn65x wrote

Just did a bit of back and forth between the stock sound and Oratory's EQ. It's pretty song (and even part of song) dependant and I think the "night and day difference" comment I made comes a lot more from the enjoyment / impact of the changes for me than the actual objective changes.

If I were to try and give a % difference in the sound I would say it's maybe 10-20% different depending on the part of the FR you're talking about but the increase in enjoyment and "fun" and other subjective aspects for me is pretty substantial. Things feel less thin and have more body and impact to them and I find it noticeably more fun to listen to even though the measured difference may be small, if that makes sense. To me the sound stage even sounds a bit wider but that could be the type of music I listen to and the dominant frequencies in them or even just a trick of the brain / ears, I'm not sure.

There are also sonic differences from person to person because of their ear canals and such never mind the mental subjectivity. So just like this hobby as a whole is highly subjective EQ adjustments are also highly subjective depending on a lot of factors.

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The_D0lph1n t1_j5xgp75 wrote

EQ is the one thing that I've found makes truly "night and day" differences on a single headphone. I'm also glad you tweaked the EQ preset to your liking.

I once compared my EQed KSC75 to my EQed SR-L700mk2, and the Koss was really good. I did not expect it to be that good vs the Stax, because the stock KSC75 is difficult for me to listen to thanks to some sort of ringing at around 5K (ringing as in I hear something similar to microphone feedback at the trailing ends of some tones in that region). That went away with EQ and resulted in a very open and capable sound from a $15 pair of earphones.

That knowledge and experience did not prevent me from buying an even more expensive headphone later, so there's probably no hope for me anyways. But yeah, EQ is great!

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No-Context5479 t1_j5xak2s wrote

Well the K612 Pro is already near end game in terms of stock tonality so yes a little polish here and there for subjective enjoyment really makes them take a step further

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RB181 t1_j5xt7ib wrote

I like the K612 better than the HD 650 (or any other HD 6x0) even without EQ.

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omarccx t1_j5xiuwp wrote

I also loved the K702 EQed. Unfortunately my TWO doesn't EQ as well, but luckily it only needs a few dbs boost at 100 and 2700.

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phillycl t1_j60wl3a wrote

How do the AKG K702’s compare to the K612’s?

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[deleted] t1_j6104k7 wrote

K612 has zero center image tho

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klogg4 OP t1_j61johc wrote

My K612 have perfect center image, because, you know, I have said about channel balance.

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[deleted] t1_j62r41m wrote

😂

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klogg4 OP t1_j62r7x6 wrote

What's wrong? You lose good center when drivers are imbalanced.

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[deleted] t1_j62rg5g wrote

It's more the fact they push everything to the side to create an illusion of a bugger soundstage

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klogg4 OP t1_j62vm3e wrote

They do that with side signals, not with mid. If you get bad center, it's different frequency response between two drivers, aka driver imbalance.

That's the beauty of my K612 - they sound spacious and they have great imaging because of epic center - all at the same time. I can name my Shure SRH840 as being the opposite - less spacious and very bad center (bad batch - channel imbalance is too high).

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[deleted] t1_j62zjmw wrote

I've tried multiple

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klogg4 OP t1_j62zlyp wrote

I may have won a lottery. That's possible.

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[deleted] t1_j630wq7 wrote

Also you compared a closed back to an open back 😂

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