Headphone Reviews

Sound Quality
The $300 around-ear, sealed headphone category may be the toughest one around. Customers are paying good money and expect a serious return. Sealed headphones are very tough to design, good sound and good isolation are very hard to get simultaneously. And maybe most importantly, this is a really sweet spot for makers and competition is extremely vigorous.

The result of all this is a category of headphones filled with headphones much better than you would have found five years ago, but also a group of cans that have many compromises—so much so, that I had to have six different headphones in front of me as I evaluated where the K267 Tiesto fit into the mix. The Sennheiser Momentum is my favorite in terms of sound quality, but many folks disagree with my opinion. I have to admit the first few time I heard the Momentum I didn't like them. Worse, the fit of them on your head is quite problematic. The Sony MDR-1R has a great fit and look, but the sound quality is spotty, among the worst of the group. The AKG K550 is a surprisingly open sounding headphone and fairly comfortable, but problems with getting a good seal and a somewhat disturbing tizziness hampers it. The V-Moda M-100 is glorious to behold, but it's a basshead can and its frequency response is quite uneven. The UE6000 is $100 less than the above cans and competes sonically...but for a treble that rolls off too much. The best of the bunch I heard during this evaluation was the now discontinued Denon AH-D5000, which clearly bested all but the Momentum for me, but it's far from sealed making it quite a different animal.

Against this complement of headphones, the AKG K267 faired quite well. Though not as refined sounding as the Momentum or D5000, it was nearly as tonally neutral and provided substantially tighter bass response. The treble, though not very refined, was smoother and in better balance than the K550. Though not the bass monster the M-100 is, it delivered a nicely tight thump down low. I clearly preferred it sonically to the MDR-1R, but the ergos and styling fell far short of that gorgeous and extremely comfortable can.

In the end, I found its sound quality fairly competitive in the group. Fairly neutral, good tight bass response, no annoyances in the treble, but a little unrefined overall. It was the adjustable bass feature that really gave it pizzaz for me.

Adjustable Bass Controls
After hearing the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pros adjustable bass feature, I expected the AKG K267 Tiesto adjustable bass feature to be just another horrible sounding gimmick...boy was I wrong. Below you'll find a frequency response plot of the K267 in its three different bass control modes.

As you can see, the "Studio" setting is approximately flat—you can also see that they're a bit uneven. The "Club" setting raises the bass about 2dB; the "Stage" setting bumps it up about 7dB from the "Studio" setting. In listening I found these setting very useful. Well, measurements show the "Club" setting to increase low frequency distortion a bit, and I do think I heard it, so for the most part I listened to either the "Studio" or "Stage" settings. There was a clear increase in bass energy between the two, but it wasn't overwhelming, and, depending on the music I was listening to, I did find myself preferring one or the other. I think AKG and Tiesto (I assume he really did have some input on the settings) did a great job of being even-handed in their selection of the three profiles. People can easily go overboard when making decisions about this type of thing, and I applaud AKG for not leading themselves down a road of group think and over doing it. Nice job!

For DJs
Having seen a few breakage issues with these cans in forums, and because these cans don't have any feature that allows you to swivel one ear cup away from an ear, I'm doubtful the K267 really qualifies as a good DJ headphone. I suggest Pro DJs consider the Pioneer HDJ2000, V-Moda M-100, Sennheiser HD 25-1 II, or Sennheiser Amperior for your work. This short thread would be worth a read as well.

AKG K67 and K167 Tiesto
I do have both in the house and felt the K67 was a poor showing, and the K167 was pretty good, but didn't quite make the cut in its category. Both have been measured and plots can be found here: K67 and K167. One note to make: The K167 does sound like it has more bass than measured; position and seal on the head are very sensitive.

Summary
If AKG set out to make a good DJ headphone I think they've somewhat missed the mark—DJ cans need to be bullet proof, and need to be a little more flexible when listening with one ear. As a full-size, sealed headphone though, I find them to compete well with other cans in the category. The overall sound is nicely neutral, with good bass punch and a non-fatiguing treble. Only its somewhat uneven response stops it from making it to the top of the heap. The bass adjustment feature works very well, and gains it quite a few more points in my book, making it a headphone that I'm happy to recommend to those who find it attractive.

It's got a pretty big price tag though, and with somewhat sketchy reliability issues reported on forums, and a somewhat bland look, I think many will find other cans a more satisfying alternative. However, those of you who are Tiesto fans, and folks who want the chameleon-like bass control might find them just the ticket for listening in the home, office, or studio. Recommended with reservations.

Video

Resources
AKG Tiesto home page and K267 product page.
Head-Fi K267 thread here.