Customer Reviews

AKG K301XTRA Semi-Open Varimotion Headphones

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Excellent, just beware as to on what you play them..

At first, when I jacked these into my Media PC and listed to my test music collection, I was upset - finding significant lower mid-range & bass distortion with sound breaking up with strong vocals or clear bass tones. My sound on my custom media PC has always been clear - so initially I was really upset.

But then I tested them on my good stereo system and my MP3 player - and then these headphones really shined.. Tight bass, clear mid-range, present but not tinny treble - and with solid imaging.

So overall I'm going to recommend - just beware of what you might be playing these on.. if it sounds like crap, try another audio source because chases are its not the headphones.

Songs tested include:
- Delirium; Nuages du Monde, Extollere & Self-Saboteur - good
- Loreena McKennitt; The Mask & Mirror - good
- Don Ross; Passions Session, Klimbim - good
- Eric Johnson; Ah Via Musicom, My Desert Rose - good
- Rush; Snakes & Arrows, Armor & Sword - good
- Bozzio, Levins, Stephens; Situation Dangerous, Crash - good

I've owned these headphones for about 6 months. I liked them so much I bought a second pair and I keep one at work and one at home. I primarily use them to listen to classical piano and orchestral music, but occasionally listen to rock and jazz.
They are well made, although made in China. Construction quality appears to be top notch. They are very comfortable for extended wearing. They have a 55 ohm impedance, so they should have fewer problems than Grados for amps that have coupling problems with low impedance phones.

They are large, and not suitable for extreme portability, and as another reviewer noted, semi-open, so not the best where noise isolation is desired, such as on an airplane. At home and in the office, however, these are my first choice. I've seen them priced between $40 and $200, so it pays to shop around.

They also appear to have been discontinued.

I've owned the AKG-301-XTRA headphones for 6 months now. I also own the Grado SR-60, Sennheiser HD-280 PRO and Ultimate Ears super.fi 3. For the iPod, the AKGs are my favorite. As the "XTRA" label indicates, they have extra bass response. I'm not a hip-hop fan, I listen to predominately jazz music. The extra bass response compliments the iPods weakness in bass nicely, as the CNET review on these headphones concurs. They are big, and don't fold well for travel. They are also open backed, so they aren't the best for use in a airplane. Otherwise, I don't think they can be faulted. When I want to listen to the iPod around the house, these are my first choice.

A serious set of phones for the sound engineer that needs solid flat sound coupled with wearabiliy for those long marathon sessions. I had thought that my old reliable AKG K240 was the top of the heap until I bought these phones. The moment I put them on, I knew that I might have stumbled on to something good, they are by far the most comfortable set I have ever used in my three decades of sound reenforcement, recording and performance. And they sound good and flat(thats a good thing )and for the money, well worth a try.

I've gone through a lot of head phones, but I've had these for over two years now and they're still blasting strong and clear. Not only do they have the best sound quality of any headphones i've tried (besides wicked expensive studio ones) they are extremely comfortable and durable. They are worth every penny.