AKG K371 First-class Closed-back Headphones Reviews

I have mostly used rather cheap phones in the past. This set has better clarity and balance than those others I've used. And the wearable comfort seems superior during the few times I have used them.

I wear these headphones for 12-14 hours a day While i stream, they are comfortable enough to not need to take them off like my Corsair headphones did

Wow. These sound and feel great. Just looking at the specifications these are comparable to the higher end models. I keep 3 or 4 different sets of headphones in my home studio and these are my favorite by far. I've used CAD Audio, Sony, Behringer and two sets of AKG's. I've swapped between them on the same tracks and these by far sound the best and still reproduce well on my 15 in. JBL's or 5. in Yamaha's.

I have had the AKG K371 headphones for about a month now. I've been using them in my home studio for monitoring while recording drum/guitar/bass/key/vocal tracks, mixing, and for gaming and just listening to music.

I'm very happy with them overall, although I have one disclaimer - the only other set of headphones I've had at this level have been Sennheiser HD 280 Pros, so I don't have a lot of experience to lean on with other similar headphones and can't really provide much perspective there. I also have a few other pairs of relatively inexpensive headphones, but for the overall function, design, and quality, the Sennheisers are really the only ones that offer any comparison.

The Sennheisers have served their purpose and I have been very happy with them, but were getting so worn that it was time to buy a new pair. I've had them a long time - maybe 20+ years? Initially, I was going to just buy another pair of HD 280 Pros as I was satisfied with them. I wanted the closed back design and corresponding noise cancellation, they were comfortable, and I was used to their sound reproduction. My only gripe was that I had learned to not really like the coiled cable. It just doesn't seem to work well with my studio desk and chair setup.

Doing some research on the different models available at Sweetwater, I ended up settling on the AKG K371s because they seemed to be a step up overall, for a price that was still within my budget, and they had detachable cables, with 3 different cable options. I really, really like that feature, and that, by itself, makes me very happy with these. I am pretty sure I won't ever go back to headphones without a detachable cable. It's not only nice to have choices, but if the cable is damaged, it can be replaced without replacing the entire unit.

The AKG K371s are very comfortable, and I've been able to wear them for as long as 4 hours without taking them off or experiencing any discomfort. They fold up nicely and include a nice little bag for storage, which suits my needs.

Of course, the most important thing is the sound quality, and I am definitely very happy with these, with, of course, the disclaimer that I haven't experienced many other closed headphone options. The sounds does not seem to be colored in any noticeable way (to my aging ears, at least), and reproduction of sounds in the soundscape seem to be accurate. Most of what I create or listen to is rock/metal/alternative type of stuff, with an emphasis on darkness and doom. For reference, I tend to use 7-string guitars and 5-string basses a lot, so I gravitate towards the low frequency stuff. Getting clarity down in those lower frequencies can be somewhat challenging, and I feel these headphones contribute well to that process.

Overall, I'm very happy with these. I need to get another pair of headphones, while I will always research options that are available and within my budget, these are definitely going to be the standard by which any others are compared.

After much research, I chose the AKG 371 headphones. I especially liked that they come with 3 cables. Called Sweetwater and they were out of these but had a demo pair. I don't normally purchase demo items but took a chance since they still had the warranty. They arrived looking just like new. These headphones appear to be well made and they sound excellent.

If you are looking for the most flat response and ultra rich sound these are not in that tier, but they are an honest pair of cups with a solid response. Similar to the ATH M50's they have some color on them in the mids that you'll have to live with it's sound a bit if you are use to mixing on a different pair of headphones. But in general you'll be getting a solid reference from these.

Where I'd say the difference in these vs other headphones even $100 more than these is the build quality. These are PERFECT if you are a DJ, or engineer/producer that tends to take gear on the go. Especially if you often are working with one ear off the swivel design is perfect. Solid cables. The only downside is the proprietary nature of the cables ports and sizing means you'll need to make sure you don't lose these cables (and especially not the 1/4 adapter, as the threads on the 1/8" plugs does not seem to fit all the other adapters I have.

Great headphones! Very light weight and comfortable. Playback quality is very clear as well. You can even wear acoustic plugs in your ears underneath if you are concerned with further ear protection.

Keep your phone within eye sight because you might not hear it . Extremely quiet.

Great build quality, very light and comfortable, AMAZING sound!

They sound as good as some $ headphones if not BETTER than most!

Crisp clean sound on all frequencies, NONE of that muddy garbage mush that has become the norm on "high end" headphones...

Highly recommended from an audiophile!

These headphones are phenomenal. If you want accuracy and detail, this is what you want. This is a big step up from the competition like HD 280, DT770, and M50x. The dt770 and m50x are always recommended as the best closed back for under 200, but they are nowhere near being flat and accurate. This might make them more "fun" to listen to, but when accuracy matters, trust me, the k371 dominates the competition. The m50x is such a scooped, v-shaped tuning, same with the 770. These are full, rich, warm, accurate, but still have enough detail and bass response for any kind of music. I use these exclusively when I need a closed back listening and mixing solution. The sound stage is pretty impressive for a closed back as well. The sennheiser hd600 and hd660s are superior for mixing and imaging/resolution, but sometimes open back cans just aren't an option. At 155 bucks, you won't get a better pair of closed back cans until you reach about 500, almost triple the price of this one.

My ATH-50's were my go to headphones. I always got great flat response. However, they were very uncomfortable and I could only wear them for about a half hour at a time. The ATM-50s are a great value. However, if you find them to be very uncomfortable like I did, give these AKGs a shot. Build quality and response are very good.

Great. I'm a musician, do mixing, over-dubbing, and need to be able to 'dissect' a sound. I also facilitate multi-media Zoom meetings. These sound great, have good frequency response - not too boomy - and are the most comfortable pair I've tried. I had a 15-year-old pair of Bose which I loved, but one side broke after use. These seem sturdy and they're easy to take on and off, adjust, and collapse. I hope they last. Thanks Sweetwater!

I got these after a great deal of online research, including reviews here and other places, video reviews, and a deep dive of frequency response graphs and other specs/measurements on rtings and other sites that provide those details. I am a long-time musician with a small home studio and find these closed-back headphones have good isolation and are perfect for tracking. Very neutral and spacious, sounding even and transparent across the frequency spectrum, no hype or dropoff. Great for detailed listening while you're recording. They are also quite comfortable, but can make your head hot (typical of closed back headphones) in a warm environment. Highly recommended for the above application.

I bought these headphones to replace an old pair of Sennheisers that I accidentally broke when I tripped over the cable and bent the jack. The Sound on Sound review said that this was a good set of headphones for people with big heads like me. The headphones arrived a day earlier than I expected. The headphones came with a carrying bag and three different sets of detachable cables. I was pleasantly surprised by this, if I had a similar mishap with these headphones as had happened with my old Sennheisers, I could simply swap out the cable and not need to buy a new pair. The headphones are very comfortable, not prohibitively expensive, and the sound quality is very good.

What can I say. These are PERFECT! I can't believe they are at this price. I LOVE them. I am a Sound designer/composer and A1 and these will fit all of them. You don't want heavy bass in headphones. And with these you have bass that's there. But not over bearing. It's really incredible. All the frequencies sound really good and crisp. They are also superior quality. They feel and look so clean. I can't wait to mix with these! AKG you got a custom for life. Thank you!!

Comfortable. Good noise exclusion. Sound is smooth and true. I tried other, cheaper headphones - but these did made a noticeable difference to sound quality. I use these as studio headphones plugged into my desk.

I needed some new headphones and did extensive research. I decided on the "371"s I had been using some CAD $69 phones and the cord was shorting out. The "371" s are a step up . The sound is cleaner and I actually had to turn the volume down when comparing them to the old ones. I like that the drivers are bigger and I love the extra cords. Mostly, I use the long straight one but had a situation where the short one worked better. This is my first experience with Sweetwater and Austin was very helpful. He answered all my Questions and offered his input on future Questions. It is a great idea to have a professional follow up on even a small purchase. If I need more equipment in the future, I will certainly call Austin for advice and recommendation. It's very helpful and of course, good business. I am impressed. The little bag of candy was a nice touch. My compliments to you guys.

Thanks
Mike Kenyon

These headphones sound awesome! I got the version that has three different styles of cable included. Long, short, and curly like a pigs tail! LOL I was happily surprised with the build quality… Where lesser builds might have used plastic, these headphones use anodized aluminum. They feel very solid, and are comfortable for hours of use. They also sound great! I have them plugged into a Yamaha AG06 mixer to good effect.

tight bass but not overpowering.,clear highs . you wont find another headphones better in this price range.

I love them they may not have the over power good tech look but , hey its about the sound isn't? you wont be disappointed.

These are a perfect fit for what I needed. They are comfortable to wear for extended time and frequency response is spot on.

I play bass and use headphones to play along with backing tracks , sometimes for several hours. I have Bose noise attenuation headphones which are nice but require batteries.
They would wear down the batteries quickly with heavy bass and then become intermittent. I also have Sure 440's which are flat with not much bass and not very comfortable but they sound pretty good.

The AKG 371 headphones are overall real nice. They are built solid but not too heavy , comes with three cords. The ear pads and headband are comfortable. The 50mm drivers handle the bass and don't distort the backing track. The bass mids and highs are nicely balanced. Yes I am very pleased with this product.

Props to the Sweetwater rep ; Tyler Schultz .
He is very knowledgeable and recommended the AKG 371 after returning other headphones which I bought online and did not work for me.

Thanks Danny Wiggins.

These are my first set of professional-level headphones. I needed some headphones for tracking, mixing, etc., and these are superb! They sound great, they do a pretty good job at blocking out external noise, and are surprisingly comfortable. I had the chance to try them out at a local store, and I was blown away at the balance of sound quality and comfort they provide for a relatively low price. Overall, I totally recommend these for anyone looking for some good headphones!

Two words.... buy them! I mix music and DJ. I needed an inexpensive set of cans for live sets and traveling. I am blown away that AKG managed to pack so much sound for a 149 bucks. The build of the head phones are also top notch.

These headphones have excellent frequency separation and definition. Very even response, so if looking for bass-heavy sound, there may be other choices to consider.

Very happy with these headphones so far. They are really close to 'flat' straight out of the box and quite pleasurable to listen to as is.

One thing I feel is worth noting, however, is that the current SoundID correction for this make and model of headphone has pretty major flaw in the 5-6kHz area (I suspect during measurement a number may have been entered in incorrectly as positive when it should be negative).

I have reported this flaw to Sonarworks in the hopes that they will double check the data/measurements and issue a corrected correction.

That said, there is a simple enough temporary solution: use the Custom mode to turn off correction above 4.5kHz. This has worked well for me, although it does't work with the 'translation' mode of SoundID.

This is, of course, not at all a flaw in the headphones and if you are not using SoundID at all, this won't even be applicable. Just wanted to share my experience because if your first listening experience with these headphones is with SoundID engaged, you might come away very disappointed, in spite of the actual headphones being great.

Tldr; the AKG K371 is the best general-purpose headphone I've heard below $ but has some issues with build, particularly related to the included earpads and (removable) cables. If you can afford to upgrade the pads (+$), then these present a huge value at around $ all-in. They are still quite good in their stock configuration but may be uncomfortable for some. I recommend them for monitoring and casual listening; for mixing at this price point I'd go with the AKG K553 Mk II.

My previous everyday headphones were 2012-era AKG K550s. These headphones are renowned for having good detail and an "open" sound despite being closed-back, but they were too mid-centric for me in their stock configuration. A pad swap to Brainwavz XL Round Sheepskins brought it very close to what I would consider "flat" -- the K550 was fairly bass-lean and mid-forward when stock, and the new pads brought these into better alignment for me. I used these for general listening and mixing purposes for the last 10 years and found that mixes done on the K550s translated quite faithfully to studio monitors.

While the obvious replacement would be the AKG K553 Mk II, I wanted to give the K371 a shot since I was told it is something of a sequel to the K55X line and I don't do much mixing on headphones anymore. I also prefer oval earcups to the round variety on the K55X series. Early models of the K371 (circa 2020) had reported issues with build quality (e.g., the headphone folding mechanism would break, etc.), but word on the street is AKG has fixed those problems. Nothing on my pair has broken yet and they feel pretty nice. I don't honestly expect them to last for 10 years like the K550s but one can hope.

My initial impression was that the K371 has better bass extension than my K550s and slightly more bass presence overall -- this is nice for casual listening but probably not great for mixing purposes. I also noted what seemed like a peak in the 2-4k Hz range that sounded different from the K550s, which were slightly elevated over the entire midrange but not peaky. In terms of tuning, this peak is the only complaint I have. These seem slightly less detailed to me than the K550s in the treble, where they lack a bit of resolution comparatively. This meant that instrument separation was a bit worse for the K371's, and I also felt their stereo imaging was slightly inferior. These are very minor differences but add up to the K371 (stock) being worse for mixing than the K550. However, I find the tuning of the K371 is more pleasing for casual listening relative to the K550s, so overall I was quite satisfied with the sound.

I was less than satisfied with the 3 included cables. They provide a short (maybe 3-4 feet) straight cable, a coiled cable that is perhaps 5-6 feet long before stretching, and a long cable that I have not bothered to measure. All of them come kinked and generally don't feel very nice; I usually love coiled cables but this one came with a loop in the straight part near the headphone connector and ended up feeling very heavy on my head as a result.

I was also disappointed with the pads. They are very soft, which makes it easy for the headphones to seal properly (which is important for their bass delivery) but they are thin enough that my ears touched the drivers on the inside. I typically wear headphones 6-8 hours a day and this became uncomfortable within an hour. Luckily, the Brainwavz oval pads were listed as compatible with these which I have a set of on my Philips SHP9500 so I know I liked them. After swapping to their oval, angled, sheepskin pads ($ at time of review) I was so impressed by the sound that I decided to come share my experience. Those pads are thicker so that the drivers are further away from your ears -- this change really opened up these headphones. Treble resolution, stereo imaging, soundscape are all improved to rival or exceed the K550, while the overall sound signature is relatively unchanged with the exception of the treble being a bit more forward overall after the pad swap. This is particularly noticeable in the sibilant range; stock the K371 is not sibilant, with the pad swap it is occasionally sibilant but these occurrences are rare enough that it isn't an issue for me. They are also FAR more comfortable now. Dekoni also makes pads for the AKG K371 which are well-regarded (and sold on Sweetwater) but they are more expensive than the Brainwavz and I have no personal experience with Dekoni so I didn't go for those.

So the K371 matches the K550 technically in virtually every area after the pad swap. But the swap puts it in the same price bracket as the K553 Mk II, which is absolutely what I'd get if I was expecting to be mixing frequently on my headphones. I find the K371 to a much more pleasant signature for casual listening compared to the old-school K550, even without the pad-swap. For monitoring or casual listening I'd pick up the K371 and for mixing I'd get the K553 Mk II. Both present excellent value at the ~$ price point (including the pad swap for the K371s). I can't comment on the AKG K361s but I've heard they are closer to "flat" and may also be an option for mixing. Overall 4.5 / 5 with 0.5 deducted for the pad and cable annoyances.

I have not bought a decent pair of headphones in the past 10 years, always trying to find the best budget headphone. Well, finally broke down and decided to buy an entry level "decent" pair of headphones. I really wish I bought these sooner.

They are very comfy, they have great sound, Detail I have not heard, if you are on the fence, pick up a pair!

I've been using ATH-M40X for a few months for recording and editing and they're... fine. But longer editing sessions become pretty uncomfortable after a couple of hours.

I landed on these and I am 92% glad I did. They sound good, the ear pads are very comfortable. I saw some reviews that question the build and quality control but I don't see that. Treated well, there's no reason in my mind that these won't last a long time. Of course everyone's ears and head are different and comfort comes down to personal preference.

The one thing that is just... blargh... the mini xlr. The length, every time I turn my head to the left it hits my shoulder in a very annoying way. This is made much worse if I am wearing a hoodie.

To try to deal with it I have spent an inordinate amount of time searching for low profile or angle female mini xlr connectors. The few that seem to exist for mini xlr may or may not even alleviate the issue and they're all pretty expensive. Based on a Reddit post I have picked up a couple of cables that might make it better and at least might give me a shot at soldering something. As you can see in the photo it's a full two inches and the rigidity adds to it.

I don't know if it's just me and my short neck and bad posture but it's one of those things that once I notice it, I'll never not.

A great set of cans and given the choices in the price range I actually probably would buy them again.

The sound has been fantastic on these but the faux leather covering was peeling off within a year of ownership. I was not particularly hard on them at all. They generally lay on my computer desk or in their drawstring bag. Pretty disappointing for such an expensive product.

Light weight. Sounds good! Really like the 3 different cords it comes with.

As far as tracking headphones go, the AKG K371 headphones are fantastic! I have big ears and these have no trouble covering them completely. Better yet the pads are smooth and light. Even after an hour, I forgot I was wearing them. No sweaty head for this guy!

SOUND:
I was pleasantly surprised by the sound. They have less mid range boost than the Sony MDR-7506, but a bit more than the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x (for whatever that's worth). My ears are more sensitive to mid range so I typically like headphones with a SLIGHTLY more scooped sound. However, the low end response is very neutral and pleasant sounding. The highs are nice and clean without being harsh. The slight boost in the midrange make these great for tracking vocals and guitars.

ISOLATION:
These don't have the best isolation - which is the ONLY reason I gave these 4 stars. Even at moderate volume levels, you'll have to be careful of click bleed with vocalists. I would not recommend these for tracking drums. You have to gain these up pretty hot to overcome outside noise.

BUILD:
The design of these is pretty unique. I like the adjustment mechanism. Nice stiff notches that allow you to set to your head size but stay locked in place. Overall the phones are made of a hard plastic that feels sturdy enough to take a beating. The cable is a Detachable Mini-XLR which is interesting - don't think I'd ever seen that before.

COMFORT:
After 2 hours of continuous use… I forgot I was wearing headphones at all. The headphones are light and the pads really breathe. No sweaty head or ears when I was done! The pads are a SUPER soft cushion that make for an incredibly comfortable experience.

I've now owned two sets of these. The first of them I had to Warranty repair (Sweetwater is the best). With the second set, the proprietary cable connection is seized in place and I can no longer swap cables reliably. Maybe it's just bad luck.


They sound great. However, the proprietary cable connection is just unnecessary and they aren't the most comfortable to wear for long sessions. IMO there are better options on the market.

One day I was taking these headphones off of my head, applying no particular unusual force, when the headband just snapped.