AKG K374

Actually at first I was against buying these earphones… But I just couldn’t resist the shape. They look really good. And I was also very curious — no wait, curious (why the hell does that keep autocorrecting…). Plenty of forum kids absolutely trashed this earphone, going on about “boomy,” “hard to drive,” “bottom-heavy,” “nothing but bass.” In my experience, whatever audio mystics on forums say, you should read it backwards. I also checked a review by 盖子 on Reddit and, with a clear head, went ahead and bought them. I’m a low-key guy. The K374’s brushed metal is flashy, but to stay true to my low-key nature I steered clear of the showy silver and bought the wine red.

Then I bought it on JD for 499 with a -50 coupon, and the very night it arrived the price dropped to 399… I agonized over it for a while. I don’t care about that little bit of money and I didn’t want to bother returning and re-buying, but no matter how I looked at it, it felt like JD had screwed me.

“Fuck you, Liu Qiangdong!” I raised my middle finger once again, venting my anger helplessly.

When the earphones arrived the box was crushed… fine, the contents were still normal. The fit is decent, but I still dug out a TF10 Comply tip to try.

A lot of people say this earphone is hard to drive, so I went straight to the PHA-1 amp. From the first note it felt pretty powerful — maybe because I’d been listening to the KOSS Spark Plug nonstop lately, and my ears had long since gotten used to that boomy low end, so the K374 actually sounded wide to me. Put plainly, the bass and vocals separate nicely instead of mushing together like the KOSS Spark Plug.

I started with fripside’s hesitation snow, which I’ve been playing a lot lately. Yoshino Nanjo’s voice comes through with real punch on the K374, and the bass is plenty full. Then I tried some quieter tracks I know well — not as detailed as a balanced-armature earphone, but the listening experience is passable.

Later I plugged them into the ZX1. The soundstage is a bit smaller than on the PHA-1, but still acceptable. All in all this earphone is somewhat similar to the CKM55 I’ve mentioned many times, except the highs don’t float as much as the CKM55’s. The bass hits hard and decays fast, without the Spark Plug’s over-the-top boom. Mids are clear, highs are average — a typical pop tuning, though it handles other stuff passably too, unless you’re listening to symphonies for hours…

Some people say the K374 has surprises in store after long burn-in, but I can’t be bothered. It already satisfies me — you could say it’s the sound I’d been looking for, that slightly more restrained version of the CKM55. That’s the feeling.

If you like a bit of everything ACG, I think the AKG K374 is well worth considering. It’s a good pop earphone and a good ACG earphone. As for how much power it needs, I only have the ZX1 and don’t know about other devices — maybe an IPC drives it fine too.

Recently I switched the K374 to Comply tips and put on ear hooks, and there were plenty of pleasant surprises. Not only does it fit well for running, but clipping on a small clip also fixes the stiff cable. Inserting the Comply tips is still a bit of a hassle, though. A while back I put Columbia tips on the Creative IE3, and that thing sitting between Comply and regular silicone tips felt like a good compromise — I’ll try it on the K374 later and see if there’s a surprise waiting.