Background

The nature of music reproduction is changing. Many old-school audiophiles lament the slow decline of companies who produce primarily large, impressive living room stereo systems. They wax about days when a decent hi-fi system was a necessary ticket to enter society. They spill ink and tears over the death of an industry. The audiophile industry, if the growing number of national trade shows and high-end dealerships are any indication, seems to being doing just fine. Somewhere these music lovers have missed the boat.

Americans, on the whole, are listening to more music than ever. Music has become a part of people’s lives – in the car, in the office, on the train, etc. Music is no longer an event to many people; it’s just something that accompanies them from place to place and task to task. Music, to many, has lost the majesty it once enjoyed as the focal point of a living room, or an evening. Many of these people just don’t know what they’re missing.

Believe it or not, the solution to both of these problems lies in the same product: high quality portable headphones. Surprise! That’s just what I have here:

Pedigree

The AKG K518dj’s are a reissue of a popular previous model, the K81dj’s. There are no real sonic differences, but one major cosmetic change: The gloss black portion on the earcups of the above headphones are silver on the K81dj. If you prefer one or the other, many retailers still have the now-discontinued silver K81dj in stock.

This product is situated squarely in the middle of AKG’s personal audio headphone line, and it’s in good company. The Austrian headphone giant has been well known in the audio production industry for years for their K240 model, which can be found in the studios of producers around the world. They’re also fairly well known for their flagship K701 model, which is widely considered to be one of the finest dynamic headphones available today.

Those are big boots to fill, so it helps the little K518dj that it is geared at a slightly different market than the above-mentioned ‘phones. As their name implies, these are designed for DJ use. To hear my German friends tell it, being a DJ in Europe is akin to being a knight 400 years ago: the equipment is expensive, but everyone else respects and fears you … but I jest.

Technology

Being designed for “DJ use” really means three things:

1) Exaggerated bass response,
2) A design that’s capable of being worn on only one ear, and
3) The capability to block out some ambient noise

For the portable user, one of these is a benefit, one a liability, and one is basically pointless. Most non-dj users won’t find a need to sport these cans on just one ear, so scratch that as a selling point. Most users will, however, greatly appreciate the noise-blocking capabilities these headphones provide.

The K518dj’s are what is considered a “closed” headphone. This means that there is little blocking the airflow between the driver and your ear, but there is solid material blocking the driver from the rest of the world. That means your neighbor on the train or in the cube next to you won’t be able to hear what you hear, and you won’t be able to hear them. There is a limit to this noise reduction, of course, but it is rather impressive. I could readily hear large vehicles passing by my bus, but smaller ones were inaudible. I couldn’t hear my wife speaking to me from the next room, but I could hear when she yelled. It’s basically a functional level of noise canceling, and it serves its purpose well.

Sound

The possible liability of these headphones, the bass response, brings us to the real purpose of this review: what do they sound like? In getting to the bottom of that, I tried to use a wide variety of gear, but I took into account gear that a consumer of a $70 headphone might likely already own. My primary systems were:

1) Directly out of an 80gb iPod video’s headphone out.
2) USB DAC to dedicated headphone amplifier

I used a number of musical selections to make my decisions, with some tried and true references and some new favorites. After all, gear is for enjoying new music too, isn’t it?
All files were, naturally, ripped directly off of the CD using Apple Lossless encoding. Nothing but the best for my ears. I’m sure you feel the same way.

Common wisdom on these headphones is that they need to be “broken in” (have sound played through them) for around 100 hours to loosen up the moving parts and sound proper. I’m glad I knew this, because out of the box these headphones sounded rough. Their high end was shrill, and the bass was all over the place. Sometimes it felt totally absent, other times it felt like a 60-dollar subwoofer in a ’93 civic. In a word: sloppy. This symptom went away very quickly, and after about ten hours of burning them in with pink noise, the bass was under control and the high end had gotten much more listenable. Now we were talking.

The first thing I should point out about the sound of the K518dj is that it is not terribly accurate. According to the sonic circle, it is dead-on-center Vivid. The bass isn’t flat, but rather it’s wonderfully accentuated. If you can’t accept that, it’s best to look elsewhere. Even after 100 hours, the impression the listener gets is not one of standing in the audience; it’s one of standing on the stage…next to the bassist.

With that out of the way, I should point out that the bass is really very dependent on amplification. It is powerful and controlled out of an iPod, but not overpowering. Out of my desktop system with a beefy Millett Hybrid amplifier, the bass was otherworldly. Listening to excellent track “Massive Nights” by The Hold Steady, one couldn’t help but feel like they had never heard it before. The bass part is so crucial, and so well highlighted, that it makes me wonder how I ever listened to this song before I had the K81dj’s. During the louder passages, where the choir joins in, the bass unfortunately gets drowned out somewhat. I guess you can’t expect perfect instrument definition out of portable headphones, but what is there is very impressive.

This illustrated a larger trend with these headphones. They separate instruments very well, but their performance degrades with the complexity of the music they’re playing, both out of an iPod and out of better gear. These are a wonderful choice for most electronic music, naturally, but also for combo jazz, bluegrass, and most every other small group music I threw at them. I played Nickel Creek’s “The Fox” through both the iPod and the computer rig, and the only difference was in the impact of the bass. The mandolin and voices rang out beautifully, with stunning definition.
Their liveliness is infectious, and it’s hard to go back to more neutral-sounding reproduction after a few minutes with these. Their wonderful clarity on the high end really accentuated close-miked string instruments like Spanish guitar or Mandolin, and the bass weight really complimented super-deep trance synthesizers and standup basses alike. Though powerful, I found the K518’s bass to be tasteful, and just lively enough to be fun without being overwhelming. The midrange naturally suffered somewhat from the emphasis on bass and treble, but what was there was warm and accurate, and I never felt myself missing any midrange detail or tonality from most instruments. Only when I listened to full-scale choir music like the boys choir of Riga, Latvia’s beautiful version of “I Saw Three Ships” did the AKG’s truly miss the mark, and that is far from my standard portable listening fare.

Are They For You?

For a street price of $70 USD, there is nothing else like the K518dj. They sound much more lively than the Sennheiser PX100, and have superior bass to the legendary Grado SR-60s. Plus, unlike both of those headphones, these seal noise around you and don’t burden your neighbors with your music. They’re also attractive, and aside from the flimsy 10-foot cord they feel extremely durable.

Over a period of hours, the lively character of these cans might prove to be overwhelming. If you’re looking for a pair of headphones to listen to for hours on end, you might look elsewhere. If, however, you’re looking for a good pair of portable headphones that can take a beating, deliver good isolation and excellent bass, and benefit from occasionally being plugged into a proper stereo or computer-based system, these would fit the bill very well. For $70, what else is there to consider?

I must, at this stage, provide a cautionary note. The K518dj is smaller than it looks. The earcups fit over your ears, not around them. I have a comically large head, and my pair took some judicious stretching and bending to make them comfortable. For some people, especially those who wear glasses, the K518’s put too much pressure on the ears. This can be easily rectified by stretching them over a stack of books for a few nights while they burn in, but patience is important here. My problem was that they pushed on the top of my giant noggin too hard, and that requires you to actually bend the top metal band of the headphones into some that more closely approximates a circle. That fixed my problem, and my comfort issues have disappeared. If there are any questions about stretching your pair, just shoot them over to me at and I can advise you.

Source: Apple iPod Video 5th generation, Apple iPod shuffle 1st generation, Firestone Audio Fubar II Digital/Analog Converter
Amp: DIY Millett Hybrid Tubed headphone Amplifier
Headphones: AKG K518dj, AKG K81dj, Sennheiser HD580, Grado SR125
Cables: Nordost Black Knight stereo interconnect
Sundry Accessories: AKG 1/8” to _” adapter
Review Component Retail: $99