AKG K450 £49.95

piper1st

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Yeah, great spot!! As the review says ...

"Originally the AKG K450 headphones cost £150, and even at that price they were a five-star buy and vying for class-leading status. The major price drop to just £100 (or less) makes these a clear winner."

Now where am i gonna find £50 from? LoL!! :cry:
 

Alantiggger

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So, given the price point that both were given stars... which is better.... the AKG450 or the Goldring NS 1000 ? (the Goldring can be bought for only £10 more)
smiley-undecided.gif
 

Juzzie Wuzzie

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Just purchased some AKG450s (impulse purchase at RS and must say that I'm enjoying them greatly. A little Pig Radio on the iPad and away I go. Great deal for £50 - as you get two cords, two adaptors, and a carry case included. The carry case for my Grado SR60s was £22 on its own! Will see if the sound changes over time (they are only two hours in).
 

psurquhart

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Juzzie Wuzzie said:
Just purchased some AKG450s (impulse purchase at RS and must say that I'm enjoying them greatly. A little Pig Radio on the iPad and away I go. Great deal for £50 - as you get two cords, two adaptors, and a carry case included. The carry case for my Grado SR60s was £22 on its own! Will see if the sound changes over time (they are only two hours in).

Hi,

I was asking about a comparison between the Grado SR60's and these on the headphone forum - was wondering if the AKG450's were better ? Can you let me know please.

Cheers
 

Juzzie Wuzzie

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Haven't done a side by side comparison yet of listening quality (can't say the "environment" I live in would be conducive to such experimentation) but will see if I get the chance in coming weeks. The driver for the AKG's was mainly for a) in-bed listening as the SR60s being open backed would disturb the little lady and b) interim, for travel - as again the SR60s are open backed; and both my sets of in-ears get uncomfortable after a while (although have just put Comply tips on the CX300IIs, so will see what that difference makes). I will eventually purchase some modern noise cancelling headphones (to replace my late-90s Sony NCs) as I travel long distances on planes too often.

For £50, I don't see how you can go wrong - that is 1/3rd of the price at which they got a five-star review. At the moment, I can't fault the AKG's, and the Grados have been boxed up in anticipation of a move to a bigger house, where I might be able to have the space for a headphone set up. One advantage the AKGs have over the Grados is the inclusion of two lengths of cord - as opposed to the fixed, and very long, cord of the Grados. As such, the AKGs plugged via short cord into the Fiio, and then into the iDevice is very managable. I doubt I will ever use the longer cord.

In retrospect, even though I only paid US$60 for the Grados, if I was currently having to choose, I'd probably take the AKGs as they are more functional and possibly "better bang for the buck" if you take sound quality to be about even.

Realise that isn't much of an A/B comparison, and I'm lucky that the £50 for the AKGs is an "affordable luxury". That said, if you push me to start again, I'd be buying the AKGs first. However, if you set me up with a dedicated study, and some personal time, I'm also going to buy a set of the Grados.

Hope that helps, and apologies for what is a bit of a ramble.
 

Big Aura

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I got some AKG's for christmas - moving from Shure SE110s.

First impressions is that they are good, but maybe a little warmer than I'd like. Also, (and perhaps I've been spoilt with proper in-ears), they let in a LOT of background noise. Good for walking around, but the rumble of the Tube this morning was a bit of a pain.
 

psurquhart

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Juzzie Wuzzie said:
Haven't done a side by side comparison yet of listening quality (can't say the "environment" I live in would be conducive to such experimentation) but will see if I get the chance in coming weeks. The driver for the AKG's was mainly for a) in-bed listening as the SR60s being open backed would disturb the little lady and b) interim, for travel - as again the SR60s are open backed; and both my sets of in-ears get uncomfortable after a while (although have just put Comply tips on the CX300IIs, so will see what that difference makes). I will eventually purchase some modern noise cancelling headphones (to replace my late-90s Sony NCs) as I travel long distances on planes too often.

For £50, I don't see how you can go wrong - that is 1/3rd of the price at which they got a five-star review. At the moment, I can't fault the AKG's, and the Grados have been boxed up in anticipation of a move to a bigger house, where I might be able to have the space for a headphone set up. One advantage the AKGs have over the Grados is the inclusion of two lengths of cord - as opposed to the fixed, and very long, cord of the Grados. As such, the AKGs plugged via short cord into the Fiio, and then into the iDevice is very managable. I doubt I will ever use the longer cord.

In retrospect, even though I only paid US$60 for the Grados, if I was currently having to choose, I'd probably take the AKGs as they are more functional and possibly "better bang for the buck" if you take sound quality to be about even.

Realise that isn't much of an A/B comparison, and I'm lucky that the £50 for the AKGs is an "affordable luxury". That said, if you push me to start again, I'd be buying the AKGs first. However, if you set me up with a dedicated study, and some personal time, I'm also going to buy a set of the Grados.

Hope that helps, and apologies for what is a bit of a ramble.

Thanks for this - really helpful and not a ramble at all.

It really is a bit of a no brainer now - for 50 squid - I cant really go wrong.

The Grados are my mates - on a loan, which I think he has forgotten about, hence the question. Plus they irrate my wife so these tick all the boxes.

I did also notice that Richer Sounds are also doing the noise cancelling http://www.richersounds.com/product/headphones/akg/k480-nc/akg-k480 480's for the best part of £90. Taking into account Big Aura's comments above - could these be the better option / bargain ? And does anyone know if they are essentially the same headphones as the 450's please ?
 
A

Anonymous

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AKG450 vs Goldring NS1000?

I have owned both. For what its worth Goldrings were not as well built at all. Fell to bits after a couple of weeks. So took em back to Superfi (which have been doing the AKG's for £50 for ages) and much prefer the AKG's. Nicely made, excellent carry case etc etc. Can't go wrong for £50. Have owned all sorts, Bose on ear etc and like the AKG's. Problem is wife has purloined them for the gym so I use Jays V Jays now. Great phones much not much fun if someone is sat next to you as they leak like a sieve. Also look like they've come out of a 50p lucky bag but believe me they sound seriously good
 
A

Anonymous

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Re: Goldring NS1000s vs AKG450. I've owned both and needless to say, I've kept the AKGs. Far superior sound, build and quality generally, echoing the other poster on here.
smiley-cool.gif
 

psurquhart

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psurquhart said:
Juzzie Wuzzie said:
Haven't done a side by side comparison yet of listening quality (can't say the "environment" I live in would be conducive to such experimentation) but will see if I get the chance in coming weeks. The driver for the AKG's was mainly for a) in-bed listening as the SR60s being open backed would disturb the little lady and b) interim, for travel - as again the SR60s are open backed; and both my sets of in-ears get uncomfortable after a while (although have just put Comply tips on the CX300IIs, so will see what that difference makes). I will eventually purchase some modern noise cancelling headphones (to replace my late-90s Sony NCs) as I travel long distances on planes too often.

For £50, I don't see how you can go wrong - that is 1/3rd of the price at which they got a five-star review. At the moment, I can't fault the AKG's, and the Grados have been boxed up in anticipation of a move to a bigger house, where I might be able to have the space for a headphone set up. One advantage the AKGs have over the Grados is the inclusion of two lengths of cord - as opposed to the fixed, and very long, cord of the Grados. As such, the AKGs plugged via short cord into the Fiio, and then into the iDevice is very managable. I doubt I will ever use the longer cord.

In retrospect, even though I only paid US$60 for the Grados, if I was currently having to choose, I'd probably take the AKGs as they are more functional and possibly "better bang for the buck" if you take sound quality to be about even.

Realise that isn't much of an A/B comparison, and I'm lucky that the £50 for the AKGs is an "affordable luxury". That said, if you push me to start again, I'd be buying the AKGs first. However, if you set me up with a dedicated study, and some personal time, I'm also going to buy a set of the Grados.

Hope that helps, and apologies for what is a bit of a ramble.

Thanks for this - really helpful and not a ramble at all.

It really is a bit of a no brainer now - for 50 squid - I cant really go wrong.

The Grados are my mates - on a loan, which I think he has forgotten about, hence the question. Plus they irrate my wife so these tick all the boxes.

I did also notice that Richer Sounds are also doing the noise cancelling http://www.richersounds.com/product/headphones/akg/k480-nc/akg-k480 480's for the best part of £90. Taking into account Big Aura's comments above - could these be the better option / bargain ? And does anyone know if they are essentially the same headphones as the 450's please ?

Anyone ?
 

psurquhart

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Juzzie Wuzzie said:
Is NC worth £40 to you? Is spending £40 "irrelevant" or a "bank breaker"? Do you need NC for your intended use?

Probably not if Im honest - I have got Richer Sounds Maidstone contacting me when the 450's are back in stock.

Tried buying them yesterday but they are out of stock - which was dissapointing but will hopefully be well worth the wait.

I am not a rail or tube traveller, so £40 seems to be an over the top luxury when £49.95 will do.

Cheers for all your help.
 
A

Anonymous

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I bought the 480's a while ago because I wanted NC. However, with no demo pair available in the local RS, I heard the 450s instead and quite liked them and then bought the 480s because I was told they were the same. That may well be, but they don't sound the same then! Although it is by no means unsalvageable by means of the ipod EQ if you need the active NC, the 450s sounded much better to me.

/U.
 

abookcase

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OUT OF STOCK ON RS,

However, just found another place doing them:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2870-akg-k450-headphones.aspx?gclid=CK-GtbbK0K0CFUwMtAodmggjmQ
 

psurquhart

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abookcase said:
OUT OF STOCK ON RS,

However, just found another place doing them:

http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2870-akg-k450-headphones.aspx?gclid=CK-GtbbK0K0CFUwMtAodmggjmQ

Also out of stock.

This is getting frustrating ...... grrrr ...... I have money - I want to buy.

Come on AKG sort it out - they all say they are waiting for you.
 

psurquhart

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Juzzie Wuzzie said:
Be careful what you wish for - you don't want certain other laws of supply and demand to come into force here!

You got me thinking today - so just to be sure - went down to Richer Sounds and paid a £10 deposit to secure the price !

Apparantly getting stock to their main warehouse for distribution in the next seven days. The guy at Maidstone even told me that Richer Sounds has ordered 1600 of them !!! And three have already been paid for in there store - now thats alot of information that you dont generally hear from most retailers.
 

psurquhart

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Phoned Richer Sounds yesterday for an update.

They are not expecting the 1600 they have on order till mid February.

Grrrrr - so frustrating, at least I still have my mates Grado's !
 

psurquhart

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piper1st said:
I see Richer Sounds are still "out of stock", but up to £59.95 now. :wall:

Funny enough - today I went into local RS chasing them up again (they told me mid Feb back in Jan) - they quoted that they had a guy dedicated to chasing AKG up on a daily basis (forget his name now) chasing stock. Like me, they are as frustrated with them too - still no news of when stock will be in. Its even more frustrating when you see plenty of the other stocked AKG models behind the counter bar the 450's.

Really glad I put that £10 deposit to secure the price at £49.95 now - a previous poster mentioned that this might happen - supply and demand etc. So nice one that person for sowing the seed!
 

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