I just got the K361 and i was impressed how it seems to cover all the basses fairly well for a 80$ headphone. IMO it beats everything at its price point. Is the K371 a big improvement over the K371? Zeos didnt seem to like it that much
Thanks for checking out the review! I haven’t tried the K361 yet, so I can’t really comment on how they compare 
Well done, Chrono. That was very well written review and pretty much echos my experience with the K371, which I use as my chillin’ in bed after 10:00 pm headphone. 
Your’re a great addition to the Headphones.com YouTube channel!
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Thanks for checking it out, and I appreciate the kind words! 
My review of the K371 is now live on The Headphone Show!
Check it out here:
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Funny enough I just got those in yesterday my self,
I still prefer E-MU Purpleheart with OG Cal pads to K371 but reaslitcally K371 is a much more functional first headphone. Kinda of dry yes but mostly linear-ish, that little carrying bag AND TWO detachable cables is hands down fan tastic at this price point
I’ll also encourage you to hear the KRK KNS 6400, honestly I think it is THE most detailed and natural sounding closed back from like 100hrz up, it’s just a little [well a lot] bass shy so I’m often reluctant to mention it
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You’re right, it is a little dry. I think its due to the more forward upper mids but leaner lower mids. I found adding between 1 & 1.5 dB with a Q of 1.41 at 200Hz adds some needed fullness. I also added a high shelf at 10KHz to bring back the “airiness” it was lacking. It’s quite the enjoyable closed-back, especially considering the price!
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I didn’t mind these for monitoring my electric guitar and the bass response made them really enjoyable for listening to music as well, I would still be using them if mine hadn’t become imbalanced, speaking of which has anyone else had the driver imbalance issue here?
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k371 has QC issues including channel imbalance. It had more issues in the early days, which have been improving over time. I had my first unit had an issue with the slider. Returned and received the second unit which has been fine since then for 3 months. Is your return window over? It may be that you are just with an unlucky unit. I saw a number of people saying either had a problem right away or never had a problem.
I like the tonal balance a lot. Made me realize that I don’t mind just living with the Harman target.
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I am way outside the return lol, i also had the slider issue but I was just living with it, tempted to buy another set and test my luck again :X
For fun i eq’d the subbass way down and the mid bass up a bit, and ask of a sudden these sound much more detailed and enjoyable to me. While the giant subbass doesn’t sound muddy, getting rid of it adds clarity anyway.
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This EQ seems to work pretty well. Keeps low end rumble, adds some punch, smoothes out the treble a bit and sounds nice and clear. With the right EQ, these headphones show themselves to have some good technical ability. I do wish they weren’t so sensitive to position and seal though.
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As per usual, if you are someone who “habla español”, you can find the Spanish version of this review on my blog (link in my profile) and also on YouTube here: Ep.42 - AKG K371
(I apologize for the quality of images in this review, I accidentally wiped the photos I took of the K371, therefore I will post a couple of screenshots from the YouTube version of the review)
Intro…
The AKG K371 are a set of headphones that are marketed as folding studio headphones with accurate, neutral sound and extended frequency response. They have been around for a couple of years now and have become a common recommendation for budget orientated closed back headphones, along with their smaller (ie: cheaper) alternative, the K361. The K371 are currently available on Amazon for just over 100€.
To be honest, I haven’t had any time to do any music production lately and it has been a long time since I was in a studio (before Covid), so my review of these headphones is based solely on using them for music reproduction, for enjoyment, not as a tool which is what their main marketing purpose is.
Presentation…
The K371 arrives in a typical cardboard box with an image of the headphones on the lid and various specs and other information around the exterior.
Upon opening the box, we find the headphones sitting in a folded cardboard shape. There is a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter also in a cardboard cut out (well, really it’s just a hole) on the top level.
Below the top cardboard layer we find the usual user manual along with a fabric drawstring bag that contains 3 cables. The three included cables are one short straight cable, one long straight cable and one coiled type cable, all of which terminate in a 3 pin mini xlr at the headphone end and a 3.5mm TRS at the other.
The presentation is not anything special but including three different cables is a nice touch and while the drawstring bag will not protect the headphones from bumps and drops, it does protect them from dust when not in use and can also be used for transport, as long as you don’t let it bang around too much.
Build and aesthetics…
Let’s start with the aesthetics. These are plain looking headphones that really don’t stand out from so many other budget offerings, except maybe for the folding mechanism. They aren’t something that I would be attracted to but they are not really offensive in any way either, so I can’t really complain.
As far as build quality, here is where I have heard complaints from other people but in the week or so I have had these headphones, they have not had any issues (yet).
The folding mechanism is a different approach to many other folding headphones. In the case of the K371, they use a pivot to swing around on themselves and fold into the headband area. The same pivoting point is where the headphones slide up and down to adjust the length of the headband. The headband seems to be made of plastic (it is covered in a faux leather material so I can’t really tell) and the bottom extension arms are made of metal, which gives the headphones a bit of extra weight. As I said, I haven’t had any issues but I can totally see the pivot being the weakest link here.
The cups don’t have a huge amount of swivel or adjustment but it is enough, at least for me personally. The pair I have also do not exhibit any creaking noises that I have heard about from others. Again, this may appear with time, I can’t say.
As far as comfort, I don’t find them extremely comfortable. Of course this is personal but the padding on the headband is insufficient in my opinion and creates a hot spot on the top of my head.
The pads aren’t very thick either and with the current clamp force (remember these are still new) they compress enough to allow my ears to touch the drivers which are covered with a thin transparent material.
However, the weight is nice, they are not heavy headphones but they aren’t so light that they feel like they are fake.
One nice thing about the pivoting system is that you can fold one cup backwards and still have the headphones securely on your head. This is very useful for people like DJs, or just monitoring when you want to follow the track but keep one ear free.
Sound…
Let me start off by saying that these headphones are very easy to drive. With an impedance of 32 Ohms and a sensitivity of 114dB, they will run off anything. I have powered them from my phone, dongles, an M0 and also from the usual Atom and Heresy, all of which powered them with ease and did not seem to affect the overall quality at all (well, except maybe my phone which doesn’t sound great but that is not the headphones fault.
In comparison to the other budget closed back headphones that I have on hand, the AudioTechnica M40X and the Beyerdynamic Custom Studio, these (the K371) are much easier to drive in comparison.
The sub bass extension on the K371 is rather well extended, although it is not very smooth. It seems to have a step up as the frequencies get lower, sort of like having two bass shelves. It is not something that is too bad but can be noticeable in tracks that have a lot of movement around the sub bass area. The sub bass on the M40x is almost nonexistent in comparison and it isn’t really fair to compare the Custom Studio due to the different bass tuning options.
In general, the bass frequencies are boosted but they are not too exaggerated. I find them quite pleasing for a lot of music that depends upon bass, such as EDM etc. However, if the recording has a lot of bass, I do find that they can become a little overpowering for my tastes, but remember that I am not much of a bass head myself.
The quality of the bass is not amazing but is more than acceptable for a headphone in this price bracket. Things are not exactly highly defined but the smoothness can work well for many tracks that have simple bass hits, however, when talking about music that has a lot of movement in the bass areas, such as drop tuned metal etc. then I find them to become a little blurry as they struggle to keep up with fast bass lines. Listening to regular bass lines, such as those on “No Ordinary Love” by Sade, they don’t come across as very boosted but are again not as defined as I would like.
The transition into the mids is not at all bad, especially in this price bracket and the mids of these headphones are very pleasurable in my opinion. While the mids are slightly rolled off, they don’t lack presence at all and vocals sound very natural. I listened to the album “Graceland” on these and found that they do a very good job of portraying both Paul Simon’s voice and the backing vocals. In general the mids sound very clean and I would say they are my favourite part of the K371.
In the higher mids, the K371 rolls off smoothly to a dip around 4kHz without actually boosting the 3kHz mark. In comparison to the M40x, this sounds much more natural. They keep voices present without seeming harsh.
The higher regions of the K371 are maybe a little darker than I would prefer but they are again not bad at all for a headphone of this type and in this price bracket. I did miss some of the shine and a bit more air on a great number of tracks but this is my personal preference and would probably not be something that the majority would look for.
As far as sibilance, I listened to the usual test track songs such as “Code Cool” and “Hope Is a Dangerous Thing”, both of which were presented without sibilance or harshness. I again found them to be a little darker than I would prefer but it is not a deal breaker.
Speed and definition is not the strongest point of these headphones and there are parts of busy songs where I feel that the 50mm driver struggles to keep up the pace but to be fair, in those tracks the M40x does not do any better (in fact it does worse) and the Custom Studio is only slightly better.
As far as soundstage, these are not very wide but are not overly intimate either. For a closed back headphone I would say that they are acceptable and for 100€, I would say the are pretty good. The placing of images inside this width is not amazing either but it is very smooth. While they don’t pinpoint a sound to the mm, the transition of the pencil from left to right in “Letter” is very smooth and doesn’t give the impression of any jumps.
Conclusion…
The AKG K371 is a headphone that is supposed to follow the Harman curve pretty closely, which is to be expected as AKG are owned by Harman (Samsung). The Harman curve is a tuning that is aimed to be pleasing to the majority of listeners, which I can understand the K371 being just that.
For my personal tastes, I would prefer to drop the bass a little and add a little more in the higher regions, making them sound a little brighter but I get tired of dark sounding headphones pretty quickly. I am not saying that these are very dark sounding headphones but they are just not quite bright enough for me personally.
In comparison to the M40x, I would certainly recommend these over the Audio Technica version. The K371 just seems to be better overall, everything is polished a bit better. In comparison to the Custom Studio, I would probably still pick the Beyerdynamics if I could only have one, but the possibility to change bass response is a large factor in that decision.
As the K361 supposedly has a lighter bass response, I think that I will give those a try and see what I feel about them in comparison to the K371, they may fit my overall tastes a little more.
At the end of the day, I feel like the K371 are a good option for anyone looking for a portable closed back headphone for general listening and doesn’t want to spend a fortune. They are a good set of headphones that will be liked by a large percentage of the general public that buys them. They would be a great choice for those looking to buy for someone who is not heavily into the headphone world.
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Thank you kind sir!!
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I have the K361. I like it a lot, especially for sources with no fancy amp available.
Lord, how I hated those pads when I first tried them! So squishy-soft and shallow. I literally ripped them off in anger and replaced them with a pair of ZMF cowhides. Those wrap nicely around the cups, and all I had to do was cut a tiny hole for the cable to fit through.
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I have the K361 currently, although I haven’t really spent much time with them yet.
How did the pads affect the sound?
(Not that I plan on doing it as a set of ZMF pads plus shipping and import is probably twice the cost of the headphones )
For me they improved the sound no less than 100%, since I couldn’t be bothered to listening to them at all with those stock pads. I went from Zero to a hundred in nothing flat!
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I see some find the sub-bass a bit excessive, but that’s honestly what I like the most about these headphones. I actually like that the bass region has very good texture and extension without sounding too warm.
I’ve been searching for a potential upgrade but I still haven’t found something that completely convinces me. I also have the Sundaras, and pairing them with the bass boost from iFi’s zen dac is really enjoyable, but the sensation is not quite the same as it is with the K371s. I got the Denon AH-D7200 recently and I find it good with EQ, but a tad too warm, and not the most comfortable. Tried the Sivga Phoenix but didn’t like them, bass sounded too dirty to me.
I think I’d prefer something closed to get more of that rumble/reverb that is more felt than heard, although I’m not sure. I think I should try a closed planar, but from what I’ve read so far, I’m not sure anything fits the bill. Right now I was concentrating on the Aeon models from Dan Clark Audio, but @Resolve mentioned in his review of the Noire that, even though its bass extension measures well, it seems to roll off when worn.
Would anyone have other suggestions for me? I’m located in Germany in case that’s important.
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Perhaps check out the ZMF closed backs, subject to availability in your locale.