AKG K92 review – AKG on a budget

What can you expect from this quite affordable AKG model such as K92? Well, let’s dig into it and find out.

BUILD AND COMFORT

To start with the build quality, it’s nothing to write home about. Except for metal rails – it’s mostly plastic, but it’s finished decently enough so it doesn’t look and feel overly cheap. Nothing to brag about but also nothing to complain at this price point. Earpads are made of some synthetic material that is soft and nice to the touch, they go completely around your ears and sit on the had. One thing to be aware of is that ear pads are actually very shallow, so if you’re anything like me – the inner part will press your ears which can be uncomfortable after some time. 

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SOUND

If you connect them to a subpar source like a laptop or a smartphone, you can get them to reasonably loud levels but quality-wise you will not hear the best of them. Switching to some small dongle DACs without a headphone amp like SMSL Idea and Sabaj Da3 – the sound gets better. There are more details and power, but nothing to write home about. The real surprise came when I hooked them to anything with a dedicated amplifier – for example, Dragonfly Black, Topping NX4, FX-Audio X6, or my integrated amp headphone out. Now I’m talking about really nice and meaningful improvement. The whole sound simply grew in scale and every note had more space around it creating bigger sound-stage. Bass started digging deeper so I could actually feel it thumping on my head. Vocals and mids got fuller and highs became cleaner.

COMPARISON

Compared to some more expensive cans like Beyerdynamics DT990 for example, or even with similarly priced Takstar Pro 82, these are not that analytical and revealing. Voices can sound a bit like coming from the tube. However, K92s have a lot of energy and rhythm. That slightly warm signature works nicely with a wide variety of music without tiring your ears, but you still get enough of clear edges and details, and small atmospheric details in high frequencies.

CONCLUSION

AKG K92 is quite a nice choice for the budget. They’re built well enough and sound well balanced. Just beware of possible comfort issues and pair them with a decent DAC/AMP combo so they can show their best.