While watching the pre-match show for the France VS All Blacks test the other night, I was slightly amused to see the majority of players from both teams wearing the latest big-name headphones while they were warming up. Not sure what they were listening to - perhaps nothing at all, but you've got to look as cool as the other guys, right?
I don't care about that stuff. I just want headphones that sound good and don't break.
This is even more true when dealing with earbuds...
The AKG N5005 earbuds (sorry, "In-Ear Headphones") are without doubt the most expensive things I've ever worn in or on my ears. How could anyone possibly justify spending $1629.95 on something you could easily leave in your pants pocket and accidentally put through the wash?
The design ethic would have to be first rate, sound quality unrivaled and you'd expect plenty of extras in the box.
Let's start with what's in the box; 3 different cables, hard carry case, cleaning tool, airplane adapter, charging cable, seven ear-tip options, four pairs of physical EQ filters and of course, the earbuds themselves, available in any colour you want, as long as it's black.
In fact, the ceramic casing is "piano black" - which basically means shiny and attracts fingerprints just like a real piano.
Certainly, first impressions when you open the box are all class. The braided hard-wired cables (2.5mm and 3.5mm options) are an antiquey dark bronze colour and the box itself has molded compartments for every component.
There are certainly enough ear-tip options to ensure a comfortable, secure fit, especially combined with the looped-over-the-ear design of the cables. You can change out the cables easily enough by snapping the earbuds off and on (each side is colour coded so you don't mix up your left and right) This isn't too fiddly for a fumble thumbs like me and after a few goes I was able to change cables pretty quickly.
Comfort-wise, I'd have to rate the N5005's right up there with some of the best earbuds I've ever tried (and I've tried plenty) While I'm not usually a fan of the behind-the-neck connecting cable, especially when it comes to bluetooth options, AKG have done a good job of balancing their cable with a dummy unit on the right-hand side to mirror the control/power unit on the left. They're probably the first earbuds I've ever worn running I didn't have to adjust once for the whole seven k's. I must say, it felt very strange wearing something more expensive than my TV around my neck only to sweat all over it, but they were so comfy, by the end of the run I'd almost forgotten they were there.
In terms of battery life using the bluetooth cable, the AKG website claims around 8 hours and I certainly gave that a good nudge between charges, making these some of the longer lasting bluetooth buds on the market.
I found you don't want to get too active wearing the N5005's though. I've been using them to monitor my radio show at work for a few weeks, and while the fixed cable is just as comfortable, I've had several disconnections due to fast movements, bending down etc... That's to say the earbud has literally unclipped itself from the cable and either left me silent (if using the bluetooth cable, one disconnected earbud turns both off) or even worse, resulted in the disconnected earbud tumbling across the desk or floor.
This is a major design flaw and I expected a far more secure connection.
While clipping and unclipping the earbuds from the cables isn't too complicated, dealing with the sound filters is quite a different story. Amazingly, these are tiny caps that screw onto the speakers themselves. You can choose between Bass Boost, Reference Sound, Mid High or High Boost, depending on your preference. They all come screwed into their own metal mounting plate, so to change them, you need to unscrew the new ones from that plate, remove the ear-tips, unscrew the filters you're currently using, replace them with the new ones, then replace the ear-tip.
Remember, these things are small enough to fit inside the things that fit inside the things that fit inside your ears. They're tiny. I dropped at least one of the four involved every time I changed them over. So much for my fine motor skills. Oh, and don't get them mixed up, for god's sake. They're supposed to be colour coded, but on my set the Mid High and High Boost options are both grey, so it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly.
Does it make a difference? Well, yes - although I really think the Bass Boost and High Boost options are slightly mislabeled, as of course they can't really boost anything - they're just blocking out other frequencies. I guess High Block and Bass Block doesn't quite have the same ring.
Physical filters aside, the most important question for any headphones is simply, how do they sound? If you're shelling out more than $1600 for the N5005's, they'd better sound pretty damn good.
They do...
...and yet...
Don't get me wrong, everything's there. Clear highs without being sibilant. Warm mids without muddiness. Powerful bass tones that defy the small size of these speakers. When listening to music, you can pick out every element and get the most of every effect. If you're a podcast listener like me, you're transported into the room or studio it was recorded in - you can almost imagine the dimensions of the space around the performers.
Trouble is, it's not loud enough.
I used the N5005's with a large list of different devices, from phones, to sound desks to TV's. I know it sounds crazy, but even with the volume turned to maximum on many of these (especially the phones) I simply couldn't get the sound loud enough.
Now I know we're not supposed to listen to things too loudly because it's bad for our hearing - but what if we want to? There's no point in blasting out Shihad on medium. I want Jon Toogood yelling at me at just below my pain threshold! When I'm listening to the Dollop podcast while running, I still need to be able to hear it if the wind gets up at the top of the hill, or a truck passes by.
It didn't matter if I was using the fixed or bluetooth cable options, there were too many times I reached for the volume-up button only to discover it was already all the way up.
Maybe I'm just a deaf old geezer, but I own other earbuds that pack the audio punch I'm looking for.
I understand there's a market for premium products like these, but given I'm not the type of guy who goes around telling people how much I paid for my earwear, I'm just not convinced the N5005's justify their high-end price tag.
They certainly look amazing, and the design ideas are innovative and unique.
I just need AKG to turn it up a bit.
Click here for more information and pricing on the AKG N5005 In-Ear Headphones
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