For a while now I’ve been looking for a good office headphone – something that I could take with me easily, not disturb others, but be able to hear what’s going on around me when needed. Oh, and it had to sound good, be easy to drive from a laptop or portable player and not be too expensive. It was quite a list to fill.
Ladies and gentlemen…. introducing the AKG K420 – perhaps the greatest budget, portable, open headphone around.
Overview
- Frequency response: 13Hz – 27kHz
- Input impedance: 32 ohms
- Sensitivity: 125dB (SPL/V)
- Cable length: 1m
The K420 is an open or semi-open style, folding, portable on-ear headphone. They come with a simple carry pouch and not much else, but that’s really all you need and it keeps them highly portable and light.
The simplicity of accessories and design also keeps the K420s at a great price point. At around AUD $70, they are a fairly low-price headphone in the scheme of things, but don’t let their price point fool you – they punch well above their weight.
Similar Options
When I went to buy the K420s, I had a few options on my shortlist:
- AKG K420
- Koss Portapro
- Sennheiser PX100-II
- Jays V-Jays
- AIAIAI Tracks
All of these options are priced similarly and all have some good attributes going for them, but for me the K420s covered everything I needed without dropping the ball in any category and sounding the best overall (in my opinion)
Versatility
The AKG K420s sound great driven directly from a wide range of devices including:
- Laptop
- USB DAC (Audioquest Dragonfly)
- iPod (5.5G runnin ROCKbox)
- Tralucent T1 portable headphone amp
- Cowon X7
- Sony Xperia TX (android smartphone)
As you can see from this list – the K420s are happy with pretty much any source. This is partly due to their moderate impedance and their high sensitivity, but also due to the fact that they aren’t super-revealing audiophile headphones – they’re good quality, everyday listening headphones.
Design & Comfort
The K420s are designed with portability in mind and the 1m cord is proof. The lightweight folding design makes them easy to take anywhere, but not at the expense of a quality, robust feel. I never get the sense that a wrong move could damage or break the K420s. They aren’t built like a tank, but they will stand up to normal portable use and treatment.
The headband has a nice, rubbery insert where it makes contact with your head and I’ve found no discomfort during extended listening. Once again, they don’t quite compare to my AD900s or HD650s in terms of comfort, but for a lightweight portable, they are perfectly comfortable.
The earpads are covered in soft foam and are large enough to cover the ear making them comfortable and easy to place on your ear – no problems here.
Now for the one design flaw which is a minor one, but potentially worth noting. When you fold the earpieces in for storage / transport, the strain reliefs (extra rubber sheathing over the cable) where the cables exit each earpiece can easily be bent and put under pressure. That might be exactly why the strain reliefs are as long as they are (for extra protection of the cable), but I always feel like I have to be very careful when folding and worry that this could be a long-term weakness of the K420s. Unfortunately, only time will tell…
The last point in the design section is the cable length which will be a plus for some and a minus for others. At 1m it’s quite short and AKG don’t provide an extension with the K420 so there’s no flexibility here. I find the 1m cable length to be ideal for working at my laptop and sitting with my phone / iPod, but some may yearn for just a touch more length – it’s a very personal thing based on where and how you use your headphones.
Sound
Overall, the sound from the K420s is engaging and fun, but keeps everything under control so there’s no fatigue from a bright top end or bloat from enhanced bass. All-in-all, the signature is slightly V-shaped meaning that the bass and treble are probably ever-so-slightly forward compared to the mid-range, but the mids don’t get lost which is great because the quality of the mids is fantastic.
Bass: Strong and impactful, but never bloated. Compared to the PX100-II, the bass was less prominent and switching between the two made the K420s seem a little light on bass at first, but further listening on their own showed a nice full bass with good depth and body.
The bass won’t blow you away and may not suit some hip-hop and electronic fans the way something like the PX100-II might, but the K420’s bass is very versatile and has surprising extension and impact when thrown some hip-hop or electronic. It has a nice warmth, quite good texture and sounds good with everything I’ve thrown at it. It has significantly more presence and body than something like the HiFiMAN Re-272, but keeps it clean and controlled.
Mids: I love good mids and the K420s manage to satisfy. Every now and then a track will make me stop and really listen to the smooth and liquid delivery of the K420’s midrange. The super-sweet mids seem dependent on the track being played, but they are always solid. Overall, the mids are solid around 85% of the time and hit a sweet spot on around 15% of the tracks I’ve tried – mostly when there’s a little less high frequency activity in the track.
Highs: The K420 has peaky highs. Without looking at a chart of the frequency response it’s hard to pick exactly what’s going on, but they can seem bright in one moment and smooth in another. Overall, the highs are always fine, but they are a little bit variable and err towards the brighter side. Thankfully the K420s don’t get fatiguing or harsh – probably because of the nice warmth provided at the bottom end to balance out the top end.
Although not super-resolving and transparent, the K420s have nice high end detail and keep things clean and clear enough to sound good with every style of music I’ve tried.
Presentation: The K420s create an adequate soundstage, but nothing exceptional. Instruments are well placed in the soundstage, but the size of that stage is quite limited and tight to the head. There is little to no forward projection of the sound which means that everything is crammed within the space between your ears, but it doesn’t sound too cluttered – just not spacious and holographic like some much higher priced headphones. Once again, for the price, the K420’s performance is at least up to expectations. In terms of staging it doesn’t outdo its price tag, but it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of these relatively budget headphones.
Summary
For a sub-$100 portable all-rounder I really don’t think you can beat the AKG K420. When viewed in perspective with their price, they are far ahead of most similarly priced options and will actually outperform some more expensive options too. Are they the last pair of headphones you’ll ever own? No. Are they a pair of headphones worth owning? Yes.
