AKG N5005 Review – Engaging Detailed Desires
AKG n5005
$999
Pros
- Cables, tips and accessories included are fantastic
- Elegant non invasive design with an easy fit
- One of the best in the sub $1000 bracket. Versatile signature, deep engaging bass, strong staging
Cons
- Global availability a little limited
Sound Signature
My experience with AKG product goes back to the days of AKG 702. It was my main real high-end headphone which I bought before anything else. The K702 slowly made me to venture into the ‘voodoo world’ of dac/amp and learn about the concept of synergy. Albeit no longer a complete voodoo for me, however at the start I was very skeptical of the things I was reading. Especially aftermarket cabling and all the other fun stuff that came with it.
My second experience with AKG was the infamous K3003 which I kept to this day. Sure the treble wasn’t great and sure it had coherency issues at the time but boy did it have a wide soundstage. K3003 showed it is possible to have a headphone size “sound” from a body smaller than the size of an average adult thumb.
I then purchase the K812 which I still own but that too I had an issue with treble.
The three gears beside their logo had nothing else in common sonically. It made me think compared to Sennheiser early design AKG did not aim to focus on a particular sound, that is AKG wasn’t focus to be known for a particular style of tuning, a so called ‘house sound’.
So, to be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect with N5005.
What attracts me towards N5005 was using the latest sound science research carried by Harmon labs. Harmon lab upon extensive came up with a frequency curve know as “Harmon target response curve”.
You might wonder what that is, Innerfidelity has a great dialogue exchange that goes in deep regarding what it is, please check the link-section for more detail reading.
To summarise it informally: Harmon-curve resulted from a research carried out by Dr Sean Oliver. The research asked a set of a test audience, ranging from novice listeners to more self proclaim pro-listener/audiophile to listen to music. The individuals were given the ability to make adjustment to the sound until the sound become suitable for them. The finding was then recorded, average and tabulated. Using those finding combined with acoustical research of human hearing, Dr Sean Olive and team came to a common sonic curve suitable for headphones usage which should fit a large sample size of the population.
Harmon curve shows that it is possible to use Science to come to a sound pleasant to a large sample of people. Prior to is there was no common ground. The product design was basically what the manufacturer assume is the right tuning for their audience. It was more Art than Science. Sadly, it is in large still is.
Excluding the Obravo flagships I have tried all the other major flagship IEM in the market and honestly out of so many, only a few made me to stop and listen to the music.
The current focus is on producing a better looking specs than sound. It is about jamming more drivers in as a confined space as possible before anyone else. The so-called driver war is real people!
When I listen to a product like Fitear TG334 or the good old ER4S I get why they are still so relevant nowadays.
I’m happy to say I believe N5005 will remain for a long as it sounds darn good.
The reason so many other manufactures get it wrong is designing IEM with multiple drivers isn’t easy. The concept of coherency which is making sure the entire design works as if the sound is produced from one single driver, isn’t easy. There has to be no disjoint in sound. Such sounds are mostly due to badly designed crossovers.
Now the issue seems to be more problematic with hybrid IEM as it involves mixing two different driver technology, moving iron vs moving coil. For those of you who don’t know Hybrid IEM are called that because they combined the traditional dynamic driver and use the Balance armature (BA) driver to produce the sound. The two drivers work differently to achieve the same target.
I’m happy to report that N5005 is one of the three hybrid IEM I have tried which doesn’t have an abvious coherency issue. Infact it sounds more coherent than most other multiple BA I have tried, the likes of SE846.
N5005 makes Ultrasone IQ and K3003 in large extend sound incoherent. Compared to PSB M4U4, N5005 might sound a little less coherent in the higher frequencies region. But that is because N5005 has a lot going on internally. And it far outshines m4u4 in its technical merit, however, I slightly prefer the bass on M4U4.
Compared to something like Empire Ears Legend X, which is not a badly built product by all means, I much prefer the tonality of N5005. Legend X is a bass monster. If I was to go to a shop and compare the two side by side, I would pick N5005 because of its less aggressive tonality.
Compared to 64 Audio Tia Fourte, if the price wasn’t an issue I would pick Tia. Tia makes all the other hybrid IEM mention sound less coherent. What amazed me about Tia is how extended its treble was. It makes my N5005 treble sound unnatural and rolled off however than again what would one expect from an IEM costing almost 5 times the price of N5005.
In summary N5005 is a product that has a deep bass, which is engaging and combined with an excellent imaging and soundstage it should suit many genera of music. They price it to be the same as K3003 when it came out, while offering a lot more than what K3003 initially offered. Rarely do we such a product release without a significant price bump.
Final thoughts
AKG produced a product they should be proud of. If the market was in their right mind, if people paid attention to tonality, not on the number of drivers, housing and cables include in IEM I can’t think of any other IEM in the market that comes as complete and ready for users’ enjoyment whether they want to use it wired or wireless.
My main issue with N5005 is the availability and lack of global support. Locally N5005 release is delayed indefinitely due to “stock shortage”. As much as I wanted to support the local economy I reluctantly ordered from overseas due to indefinite out of stock status of the product. And what makes it worst is the local customer service that AKG has got zero ideas about the product they sell. I hope with time AKG pays a closure focus on this.
Links
Harmon Headphone curve explained: https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/acoustic-basis-harman-listener-target-curve
AKG N5005 product page: https://www.akg.com/Headphones/Earbuds/AKG+N5005.html
