AKG K371BT Bluetooth Wireless Over Ear Headphones with Mic (Metallic)

The sound is FLAT initially, it responds well to EQ tweaks if you have your own preferences. I bought it primarily as a reference headphone for sound mixing/editing but I’ve ended up using it daily during my 9 to 5 job hours.

It’s relatively comfortable even when you’re wearing spectacles. The pads don’t breathe so it will help if you’re not somewhere super hot because it will make your ears sweat.

The Bluetooth connection speed is super fast and battery life is pretty incredible. You’ll need to charge it maximum once or twice a week. The wired connection options are also great with different length cables provided within the box

There is an inherent design flaw where the leatherette finish slightly peels off at the edges where the band meets the ear cup pivot. It is hardly noticable but I saw it in multiple examples of the same product. Apart from that the headphone is really good looking and can be a good travel companion.

For the uninitiated the sound might seem underwhelming but the sound does open up after usage and with some EQ tweaks you’re really good to go. The hardware is capable of handling every frequency from super low bass to the high hats with maturity and volume. There is really good sound separation and it can push out some serious volumes. There is good sound isolation for a non ANC headphone and minimum sound leakage so you won’t be disturbing anyone in a quiet enviroment unless you’re absolutely blasting on full volume (which is too loud for comfort.

Call quality is okay. You can hear everything clearly and so will the other person provided you’re not in a really noisy environment.

Two cons:

AKG can work on the material around the neckband edge where it meets the ear can pivot.

USB C is expected for a premium product. Not a real issue as it barely needs charging, but still.

So I am writing this review after over 1 year of owning them and using them. First I will address all the Quality Control issues as I feel that is important, after which I will talk about the other aspects of the product.
The journey starts with the K371 non BT edition I bought initially, it came with unbalnced drivers and I mean severely unbalanced tuning. The left driver sounded like crap while the right one sounded amazing. Got them returned and purchased this pair.

So when I got my pair, within 5 days of usage the handband snapped, I took it to my nearest service centre and I got a brand new pair within 2 weeks. This victory was short lived though as after that I started having issues with the right driver popping out, like I could literally hear the thing rattle.
Once again I took it to the centre and in another 2 weeks I got a repaired pair, this pair was perfect apart from the fact that the bluetooth touch controls don’t work. I don’t mind that but it is very obvious why you should care about that. I can easily go ahead and get it replaced again but I would rather not deal with that.

Now the sound quality; I split it into tuning, soundstage/imaging and resolution. (and for some context I quite like bright tunings)

>AMP/DAC being used was the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter, an amazing DAC and powerful enough for this pair.
>Genres listened: Rock, Metal, Punk, Prog Rock/ Metal, Jazz, Lo-fi, Classical, some pop and some specific indie hip-hop
>Pad swapped with Brainwavz Oval Angled PU leather pads
>Video Games played: RPGs, so I won’t be commenting on any kind of competitive gaming

Tuning:
The tuning on the pair is Harman, which is too be expected. Its a nice warm tuning laid back enough for it to be not abrasive and is pretty non-fatiguing Its also not muddy at all in my opinion and I quite like this pair when I just want to sit back and relax to listen to some music. It shines in metal and jazz and Lo-Fi particularly amazingly in my opinion, but don’t take this to mean that other genres don’t sound good, they sound very good as well, its just that those genres stood out a little more to me.

Soundstage/Imaging:
Being closed back headphones they obviously lack the soundstage you get from an open-back pair of headphones. But also open-back isn’t a choice for many due to obvious reasons of sound leakage.
For closed back headphones the soundstage is quite excellent all things considered and is certainly better than what the competition offers.
Imaging on the other hand while quite good isn’t quite what you can get with similarly priced IEMs, this really shouldn’t be a surprise though considering these are over-ears. Imaging is good enough to differentiate between multiple instruments or parts of the music quite easily but there aren’t clear “boundries” set. A very abstract concept but its the best way I can describe what I am hearing.

Details/Resolution:
If this is your first “audiophile” pai you are going to be impressed no matter what. But if you are coming from something like a more expensive pair or IEMs, the detail isn’t gonna be amazing. Infact the detail is the only reason I keep reaching for my Moondrop Aria Snow Edition over this pair. The tuning obviously plays a part as well; with a warmer tuning like this you aren’t gonna get as much resolution within the music as you will with something like IEMs. Now once again keep in mind that it isn’t bad, I’d even say its quite good. Its just not mind blowingly good.

And to those of you who have no idea what I am saying, its like watching a video in 720p vs 4k, you could discern most details in 720p as well but 4k is just better; and your current equipment is in 240p or 360p (probably)

Next is the comforts/connectivity:

Comfort:
So I have asymmetric ears (one of the reasons I hate the traditional AirPods) and also wear glasses, for me the comfort on stock pair was fine. Not amazing though, since my ears touched the driver of the headphone.
After a pad swap with the brainwavz angled oval pads (an additional Rs1250), things were quite a bit more comfortable and after a break in period of about 7 months they are super duper comfortable now.

Battery life:
Just amazing, I am actually surprised how they accomplished this I get like 40-50Hrs of usage out of these, they haven’t lied on their site one bit.

Bluetooth:
…moving on bluetooth is again absolutely amazing and mind-boggling, the range on these is so damn long. None of my other Bluetooth 5.0 equipment has come close. The only problem I can thing of is that the best codec supported is AAC.
Touch controls were decent back when I could use them, nothing beats buttons though so I didn’t bother too much with this anyway

Build Quality:
Now this going to be contradictory; but the build quality isn’t THAT bad. Its not like its made of metal and is the best thing I have ever held. But its far from bad. Nothing feels cheap, the construction is solid and the materials feel premium. I also have taken this pair on multiple trips since I got my newest pair and haven’t had any issues with them in the past 12ish months of heavy usage.
But still do keep in mind that my headband did break in the first week and I am not the only one…

Overall rating would have been 5/5 but I just can’t with all the issues I faced in the first month, month and a half that I got them. If wrote this review a few months ago I probably would have done a 3/5 but as it stands, 4 seems like about what the pair deserves.

PS: To the people saying th claims of 5Hz-40KHz are fake, you are wrong. Most people loose their ability to listen to the highs by the time they turn 20 especially if you listen to loud music and are male(yes this is true) and this is assuming you could even hear upto 20KHz, which is a feat in and of itself.

Comprei há pouco mais de dez dias, mas até o momento só tenho elogios. A qualidade do fone (material e acabamento) são excelentes. A espuma é confortável, tornando o uso agradável por longos períodos tanto nos ouvidos quanto no apoio sobre a cabeça.
A qualidade do som é ótima e a resposta de graves é excelente. Sou baixista e comprei principalmente para estudar usando um amplificador pequeno e a qualidade do som é ótima. Funciona bem para ouvir apenas o instrumento, como também conjuntamente com músicas/backing tracks.
Apensar da descrição não ressaltar, a versão K371-BT possui sim um microfone embutido, o que permite fazer também chamadas telefônicas/vídeo. Entretanto em função do bom isolamento acústico do fone, não se escuta bem a própria voz, caso não haja retorno diretamente pelo aplicativo de chamada. Não considero isso um problema em função das características e proposta de um fone fechado.
Em resumo, excelente fone, ótima qualidade sonora e de fabricação.

Ótimo Custo Benefício, com 3 cabos hiper resistêntes, ótimo Bluetooth, ótimo Headset, para quem está querendo um phone profissional têm um ótimo preço, o fone, há o fone, maravilhoso