The K550/3 is still relevant, I would say. But I don’t really recommend it
would you mind elaborating why?
This is true. And it was a good choice when I bought, I think. It also has pros/cons though, like the other headphones imo. The biggest con is the frequency response imo, which has a few bumps and dips. This is compensated with Rtings new 5128 target response curve btw…
It is also not the most elegant-looking headphone. Though it is pretty comfortable for extended listening.
Another closed-back I have not heard yet btw is the newer Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X, which appears to have a somewhat more toned down response in the treble than the DT 770.
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Tried the 770 and the 700 pro X back to back. I liked the 770 more. Looking at the FR graphs for both, the 700 have one fewer valley to fix in EQ. Neither of them are ideal. Requires some higher Q filters to fix. Personally it wouldn’t bother me too much.
The 700 looks more modern.
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Imo, there are design, ergonomic, sealing, symmetry, QC, and other considerations that would make the AKG K553 a hard headphone for me to recommend.
For starters, it seems to be designed for very large heads. And getting the large plushy earpads to seal reliably is probably goin to be difficult if you don’t have a pretty sizable noggin, or add more padding to the headband to raise the height of the earcups.
If you have a big head, and enjoy tinkering with your headphone’s design, then it might perhaps be worth considering. The symmetry/driver matching also did not seem terribly good though to me on the K553.
On the plus side, it has a pretty warm, open sound for a closed-back. And should be fairly EQ-able, if you can find some decent graphs.
Ora has a GRAS plot of this headphone. The response in the (sub)bass is very seal-dependent though. I have used this headphone extensively btw.
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The Shure SRH840A is another headphone I have not heard, but have considered trying. And it is not as big as the K553. Here is Ora’s graph for comparison.
How open or spacey it would sound, I can’t really say, but it appears to have excellent extension in the bass and treble. And somewhat withdrawn mids. So a somewhat U-shaped response overall. So it might perhaps be especially good for lower volume listening, where that type of response can be more desirable.
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That’s a fantastic FR graph. Well worth a look at the lower mid price range. Can’t imagine it’d be anything special for spaciousness since it’s just any other small cup flat driver design.
Personally I’m not a fan of those little tiny wires sticking out near the cup by the hinge, the Sony 7506 had those too and once in a while a finger or something gets caught in the wire and I’m always afraid I’d break the wire.
I’d like to see a review and some raw 5128 measurements on the new Focal Lensys Pro as well. Even though this is probably out of reach of my budget. Looks like a nice piece of gear though, with slightly angled 40mm aluminum-magnesium “M” drivers.
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If you haven’t tried the Fiio FT1 I’d highly suggest it, I prefer it over the Hadenys and Azurys by a large margin, at less than half the price. I don’t know if it’s the cup design or what but those 2 and the Focal Bathys (same shell) have a peak in the upper mids or treble that can be harsh and grainy at times
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There are some noteworthy omissions in the comparisons, including the new Fiio FT1, Beyer DT 700 Pro X, Shure SRH-840A,Sony MDR-M1, etc. Always interesting to hear his takes though.
There’s also a bit of frank language in this btw. So that’s why I’ve switched the review to a link.
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I thought the hd620s sounded like crap. Actually shocking how bloomy and weird it was compared to the hd600.
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The unevenness in some spots in the FR gives me a little pause. The open backs I’ve been lookin at lately are just smoother across the bass and mids. I’m tryin to keep an open mind though on some of these new closed designs.
Any further thoughts on the K371 or other headphones you’ve been trying, Luke?
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AKG K371
My ears touches the driver mesh and it’s annoying after just 5 mins. The stock pads are too thin and there’s not enough space in the cups. Sound quality is good. On a scale of 1-10, 10 is the Bravura, 5 is the DT 1990 not EQed (so some pretty obvious flaws in the FR but feels spacious and dynamic anyway), then these K371 is like a 6. Good FR, doesn’t sound that closed in, unfocused center channel, some sound bleeding from left channel to the right, and a smaller amount from right to the left, grounding issue?
Great tuning right out of the box though. Very usable without EQ.
The on center vocals sound unfocused and it makes me miss the HD600. It’s easy to feel a lack of bass due to pads not sealing properly. Adjusted the headband a bit and now it sounds really good.
FR:
Subbass - 7, bass - 8, mids - 9, treble - 7, tonal balance - 8
Quality:
tactility - 4, sound stage - 7, center imaging - 3
With EQ
Still sounds unfocused in the middle. Not much immersiveness, lacking spatial effects… Bass is really good. Overall it sounds very 2D even though it’s not that closed in. Tonality is fine but it’s not that enjoyable or gripping. Like watching 2D videos with VR glasses on.
Sub bass - Plenty, bass - ear rattling if you want, mids - not that captivating, treble, passable
Quality:
Tactility - 8, sound stage - 4, center imaging - 3
AKG K371 Angled pads with EQ
Sub bass - 8.5
Bass - 9
Mids - 9
Treble - 9
Tactility - 9
Sound stage - 7
Center imaging - 7
Center imaging improved a lot. Sounds more realistic overall, more comfortable. Great bass response. Sound stage opened up slightly. Still not as roomy and grand as the GSP 600. But it’s enjoyable enough that I would keep it if I didn’t have other headphones. Sound stage is very 3 blob like. Just L/R/C. A/B against the E3 Eqed, immediately the soundstage is wider but in a bit of a strange 3 blob way. Otherwise tonality is about the same, both great. The K371 has better punch though.
Sold the k371 after testing it for a week with stock and angled pads. The biggest weakness is sound stage, depth, and build quality. But for everything else it was really great especially after EQ.
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Although I prefer the sound of an open back, I appreciate the convenience, isolation and privacy of a closed back.
Having had several while looking for a keeper, the one I have owned since 2021 and which I will be keeping, is the Audeze LCD-XC
Providing you don’t mind a heavy headphone and the price isn’t a problem, I recommend it, especially if you don’t mind using a bit of EQ.
I’d love to try a pair of ZMF Verite Closed but at about double the cost of the LCD-XC that’s not really on the cards atm.
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Thanks to a fellow member of the forum who shall remain anonymous (Thank you thank you @tmarshl !!!)
I’m getting to try a Verite Closed. @generic and I have both found closed backs annoying and/or weird sounding. I’ve had a few hours to try the Verite at work, going from streaming to a Schiit Modi Multibit and then into my Eufonika H7M tube amp (with some nicely upgraded tubes).
I can say from initial impressions that the Verite Closed is the least annoying closed back I’ve heard but it is still annoying and fatiguing after an hour or so. The sound is there. It’s pretty good. I do get that faint closed space feeling, and that feeling slowly builds.
I was going through my playlist, then doing casual listening as I was working, building a suggested portfolio for a client. I became more and more aware of what felt like pressure. Taking of the Verite and plugging in the Auteur Classic was just liberating. Never mind that I was going down $800-$1000 or so in price. The soundstage was no longer feeling cramped, the tiny internal reflections were gone.
I must say that sonically the Verite was really quite good. Nice sub-bass, smooth treble. I don’t think that there is that much more sound isolation from the room. If I were in a situation where I had to limit the audibility to others, well the Verite is OK. But I’d sooner just use Airpods Pro, or even the sonically much inferior Sennheiser Momentum 4 (headphones, not IEM). I’d lose weight and the wire, and I am already putting it on as a compromise. The Verite should stand on it’s own, not as a compromise.
I guess I just don’t care for closed backs, although I’ll keep an open mind.
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I’ve never found a solution to closed-cup air pressure. My many ZMF demos at Capital Audiofest matches your observations – cheaper open models beat expensive closed ones every time. I couldn’t stand the expensive Dan Clark E3 closed either.
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That’s awesome he sent you his VC to try out! I’d love to hear one at some point, and in comparison to the VO.
I think I get what you experience to a much lesser degree. I have an Eikon Classic which I love, it’s just a blast to listen to! But not for more than a couple of hours at a time, and not because it’s uncomfortable. My ears end up feeling cramped for lack of a better word after a while. Which I don’t experience with most open backs. So I’m definitely mostly in the open back camp.
Now you said you’ll keep an open mind for closed backs; I hope that doesn’t mean you’ll keep a closed mind for open backs! 
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ZMF Bokeh is the closed back for me, but I have limited experience with closed backs as I find them strictly inferior to open backs. It’s just that I want to listen to headphones outside now.
I will say that if I start listening with a more Harman-like tuned headphone first, the Bokeh sounds really flat. When I first got them I didn’t like them and thought about selling them. But if you give your brain a chance to adjust they sound really quite nice and open with deep bass. Tonally they never sound “correct” per se, but enjoyable nonetheless. Which jives with my experience with other ZMF headphones like the Atrium.
I got a Fiio FT1 recently and they are very good, for the money. Good Harman adherence with strong bass. I don’t feel the need to EQ them. But the timbre is a bit artificial and soundstage is typical for a closed back. Still I could listen to these for a long time without serious complaints about comfort or sound.
I’d love to try the Focal Azurys but I’m content with the Bokeh for now and maybe long term. It’s kind of nice to have an alternative tuning to change up the sound when I’m outside vs inside.
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I agree with you. There is a bias toward open-back headphones among the main reviewers. What is not really emphasized is the law of diminishing returns as prices increase steeply. You can get the Hifiman Edition XS on sale for a fair price, and the main reviewers do acknowledge the high quality of this headphone. Then you go up steeply in price, and not only might these luxury headphones not be head and shoulders better, they may even have a similar sound signature to the Edition XS or the Sennheiser 560S, for example. Also keep in mind that these experts have favorite EQ settings in mind when making judgements. This was demonstrated when they listened to the Hifiman Sundara closed-back headphone. They panned this headphone, but some of them made it sound pretty good when applying EQ settings. Such a headphone is made to scale upward when filtered through a solid dac/amp source. I use the Fiio KA17 and although not perfection, the headphone sounds pretty good with balanced 4.4mm output, filters and preset EQ settings. I apply these to all my headphones naturally. The main reviewers push the ultra expensive products. They liked the Arya Stealth, but the sale price starts at $700. Why when you can buy the Meze 99 Classics, save money, and enjoy music just as much? Drop also has the same Meze, but it is called the Noir and is often under $200. So you always have to balance the judgements of these main reviewers.
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I’m not a reviewer but I too have a bias against closed back hot fatiguing headphones. Many of which have weird internal acoustics.
If I have too much sound leakage from my open backs, everyone else can move further away, put on their own headphones, and stop their toddler from kicking the back of my seat.
Oops, did I just rant?
And thanks for posting and contributing to the forum. That last part is genuine.
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Welcome aboard, Peter. And thanks for giving your take on this.
I think you should give the folks here a chance though, and read and listen to more of the reviews, videos, and podcasts. Because they might just change some of your opinions above.
The one thing I agree with in your post is that it’s good to seek out other opinions. And to not rely on just one source… And I’ll also add that I’m a big believer in doing your own listening tests and comparisons.
A bias towards open backs would be understandable, given that most audiophiles and critical listeners seem to prefer them. I think the coverage of open and closed, and lower and higher cost headphones is pretty good though here. And fairly well balanced, especially recently.
I’d like to see a little more of this balance on the components side though.
I don’t agree with DMS’s take on the AKG K361, but here’s one example of the kinds of opinions you can find here, if you’re willing to give em a chance…
This probably needs to be updated btw. Several new headphones have come out recently that might have the potential to equal or supercede some of DMS’s recommendations here.