Review: AKG K92 Studio Monitor Headphones

Sound Quality

These headphones have some pretty good sound considering their price range. They aren’t going to give you incredible clarity for mixing or mastering, but they sound pretty good for casual listening and can also be used for studio purposes such as tracking.

The frequency analysis looks pretty similar to my experience with these headphones.

The highs have a good presence and clarity. When brand new, these can sound kind of dead in the high range, so give them some time to burn in if you aren’t a fan of the highs at first.

The mids aren’t as pronounced as other AKG headphones. It almost makes it feel like the mids can be subdued in the mix depending on what you might be listening to. Vocals can feel less present and other instruments that sit in the mid range can sound subdued. The clarity in the mid range is also lacking as a result.

The lows are present and balanced, but not overly powerful. You can hear sub bass but you don’t really feel it. The clarity is good enough in the low end for mixing.

The spaciousness is sufficient. For closed back headphones they have a pretty good sound stage and don’t sound overly claustrophobic. It’s easy to hear what’s going on from left to right which is good if you are using these for mixing.

Clarity is decent but not great. Once again the mid range is where these struggle. The subdued nature of the mids makes these feel a little muddy in the mid range depending on what you’re listening to.

Overall the sound is decent considering the price of these headphones. I prefer more mid range presence so I wasn’t a huge fan of the sound on these, but I could see some people liking the sound depending on preference. Personally, I wouldn’t use these for mixing but I wouldn’t have any problem having them around the studio to use for tracking headphones.

Closed Back Design

The closed back design of these headphones provides some noise attenuation but it’s not the greatest. While they are only passive in regards to noise cancelling, they can do a decent job of cutting out room noise and other people talking depending on if you can get a good seal with the ear cups.

Comfort

Comfort is another one of the strong points of these headphones. They are the type of headphones that you can wear for longer sessions. They are lightweight and comfortable in the right spots.

They have a self-adjusting headband that is mounted independently of the metal band, which makes the headband extremely comfortable.

The ear cups are large and soft, and they can work well for people who wear glasses. The ear cups aren’t super deep, so if you have wide ears they may put a little pressure on your ears.

The ear cups can get a little warm over longer sessions, since they are closed and don’t allow much airflow.

Build Quality

The quality is decent for the price but these headphones use a lot of plastic in their construction. The headband is the only major metal part, and there’s a lot of plastic for the rest. The plastic has a really nice finish to it though, and it doesn’t look like a cheap plastic build. Once you hold them in hand you realize how light they are. These feel like if you sat on them the thin headband would be destroyed, so it’s probably best to avoid crushing these.

The Cable

These headphones come with a 3 meter straight cable. The cable has a 3.5mm plug and a 1/4″ adapter. The cable is non-removable.

I noticed that you can hear bumps and scraping on the cable pretty easily when you have these on your head. It’s not overly annoying but if that kind of stuff bothers you it’s good to be aware.

Are These Headphones Good For Electronic Drumming?

These can be a decent pick for electronic drummers if you like their sound. I spent some time jamming on my kit with them and got used to the sound pretty quick.

The subdued mids weren’t as noticeable when hooked up directly to my drum module but it did take a little edge off of the snare sounds, for example. Hi-hats sounded great on these. They were plenty comfortable. Noise isolation struggled since the ear cups are large and didn’t form a good seal around my ears. The long cable was welcome. The cable transfers some noise when bumped, so that can be a little annoying but it wasn’t very noticable while playing.

Technical Specifications

The Verdict

The AKG K92 headphones are pretty nice considering their price range, but they’re also not clearly better or worse than other headphones in this price range.

The mid range response is weak and that could be an issue if you don’t like subdued mids. These offer good comfort and a solid sound for tracking, gaming and electronic drumming. The closed-back design does a decent job of providing passive noise isolation. They are a good pick for budget users who want good sounding headphones that are comfortable.