AKG K553 Pro Studio Headphones Discussions | Drop

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AKG K553 Pro Studio Headphones

May 23, 2016

I got mine today (actually Saturday, but I routed it to the office and so didn't actually receive it until today). Very nice build quality and style, even the plastic parts didn't feel cheap and there are plenty of metal and rubbery material that it feels premium. I didn't have any issues whatsoever with the headband padding and it feels very comfortable. While thin, it felt adequate and definitely sufficient to keep your head from being pushed by the metal band. Then again, I had comfort issues with the headband of my HD 598 which I felt had excessive padding and caused extra unnecessary pressure on my head. Like others have said, the pads do get a little warm, but not a big problem. The pads themselves are very soft, much softer pleather material than I'm used to on some of my other pleather pairs and comfortable enough that I feel no need to change it anytime soon. The headphone is fairly light on the head and there is practically no clamping force. Fitting the headphone around your head is kind of a problem because the hinges between the cups and the band is much tighter than on typical cans, so you have to actually put it on and then adjust the cups manually to make sure it has a good seal around your ear. Once it's on though, you're good to go. One design issue I've found is that the headphone turns flat one way and its the wrong way as far as I'm concerned. If you are the type that likes to hang your headphones around your neck, the cups fold flat outwards rather than inwards or both ways so the cups won't rest on your chest. As I'm using this in the office, I tend to move it to my neck often if I need to take it off for a few minutes to talk to co-workers or pick up the phone so definitely a minus for me but maybe negligible for some of you.
I haven't had much time with the pair yet, but so far, I'm very impressed with the sound. It doesn't feel too stuffy/muddy at any spectrum and the stereo imaging is impressive for a closed back, definitely a bigger soundstage than any of the other closed back set that I have, which is my main reason for getting this as I wanted a more open set for the office where open back sets isn't an option. Sound signature wise, it feels more airy than some of my other sets and I'm enjoying my classical tracks on them. The details are also present and clear. Make sure you are getting a proper seal around your ear though as that may change your impressions with the sound.
Overall, I'm happy with the performance so far, enough that I've braided the cables to tame that excessive length already (which I don't usually do unless I know I'm keeping it because doing/undoing it is a pain).