HeadphoneOverreview

AKG K271 MKII

The closed-back studio fixture that reviewers hear as neutral and every measurement rig reads as lean, scooped and peaky — and the unit you get may differ from the one they tested.

31 sourcesUpdated
$299Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

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AKG K271 MKII

The short version

What to know.

A light, closed-back studio headphone whose measured response isn't neutral: on four rigs the bass falls away below 100 Hz, with a dip at 150–200 Hz that is deep on two of them, the 3–5 kHz region sits 4–9 dB below an HD 600, and narrow peaks follow at 7–10 kHz. What listeners make of that divides almost evenly. Magazines, studio users and most owners hear a balanced, detailed, un-hyped tool, and some recommend it for mixing; ASR's second sample, DIY-Audio-Heaven and a persistent group of owners hear it thin, boxy and bright, and DIY-Audio-Heaven rules out both mixing and music listening. Nearly everyone agrees the deep bass is short and that it is comfortable, light and good at keeping sound in for tracking, though the shallow pads bother some. Reviewers rate the build as plain but tough, while Amazon owners who mention it run strongly negative, and cable noise, failed drivers and the mute switch recur in owner reports. Value turns on price: a bargain at the £99 or $150 it can sell for, hard to justify at AKG's $299.

About this product

The current closed-back K271 MKII: 55 Ω, 30 mm transducer, 240 g, auto-mute switch in the headband, leatherette and velour pads. Not the older K271 Studio or K271S it replaced, whose older, flat-plate measurements show more bass, not the semi-open K240 MKII or K240 Studio that share its driver and frame, and not the K272 HD. Early MKII units are printed “Made in Austria”; current ones are made in China, and the measurements don't show a clear line between them.

AKG's K271 has sat on singers' and drummers' heads since the early 2000s: the K240's wire-frame, self-adjusting headband on a pair of sealed cups, with a switch in the band that mutes the signal when you take it off. The MKII adds a set of velour pads and a second, coiled cable to the box, and it has been on sale since around 2008.

Its reputation splits along a clear line. Studio magazines and most owners call it balanced, light and honest, a workhorse for tracking and even for mixing. The people with measurement rigs call it bass-shy, uneven and distorted at the low end, fit for monitoring and not much else. Production moved from Austria to China along the way, parts changed without notice, and one of the best-known headphone measurers says samples vary a lot.

A good fit for

  • Tracking vocals and drums, where isolation, low bleed, a forward voice range and an auto-mute switch matter more than bass extension
  • Long studio sessions on a light headphone with swappable pads and a detachable, replaceable cable
  • Listeners who dislike the bass emphasis of closed rivals like the DT 770 Pro
  • EQ users buying at a low street price — ASR's first test found the response responds very well to correction

Think twice if

  • You mix bass-heavy music or need to hear the sub-bass without EQ
  • You want a measurably neutral reference — no rig shows one
  • You're sensitive to treble peaks, or prefer music listening over monitoring
  • You'd have to pay anywhere near AKG's $299 list price
  • You move around a lot — cable thumps carry into the left cup and the cups don't swivel
  • You have large ears or want deep pads — they're among the shallowest measured on any over-ear

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

6 / 12topics divide opinion
soundstageimagingdetaildynamicscomfortisolationtonalitybassmidstreblebuildvalue
6 Mostly agree6 Divided opinions

Common ground6

  • The deep bass is short — every rig shows it falling below 100 Hz, and even fans warn against judging low end on it without checking elsewhere.
  • All four rigs agree on the shape: a drop of 4–9 dB from 3 to 5 kHz against an HD 600, then narrow peaks at 7–10 kHz.
  • Light and generally comfortable, with low clamp and a self-adjusting band; velour pads tend to be preferred.

Points of contention7

  • Tonality: 'balanced enough to mix on' vs 'coloured — absolutely not for mixing' — an almost even split, largely reviewers against measurers.
  • Bass: 'lean but tight and honest' vs 'anemic' — the same shortfall valued differently, with seal and possibly unit moving it.
  • Mids: 'clear, natural voices' vs 'boxy and hollow'.

A closer listen.

12 topics · 6 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Tonality

No overall leanDivided opinions
Reviewer sentiment26 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

Sources split almost exactly in half. Studio magazines and most owners hear a balanced, even near-flat voicing that doesn't flatter a mix; all four rigs and the measurement-led reviewers show a curve that is anything but flat, and hear it as thin and coloured. ASR's own two samples fell on either side: the Austrian one 'mostly fine' out of the box, the Chinese one dull. The split tracks who works with the headphone daily and who graphs it, and possibly which unit they got.

Measured

Against an HD 600 on the same rig (normalised at 500 Hz), oratory1990, InnerFidelity, Headphone.com and boizoff's clone-ear rig agree on the shape: down below 100 Hz, level around 1–2 kHz, 4–9 dB down from 3 to 5 kHz and +4 to +8 dB in narrow peaks between 7 and 10 kHz. Against the Harman over-ear target, oratory1990's unit sits −20.7 dB at 20 Hz, −7.4 dB at 100 Hz and −7.6 dB at 4 kHz. DIY-Audio-Heaven calls 100 Hz–2 kHz 'anything but flat' and finds a 1.7 kHz emphasis that gives voices 'an artificial clarity'.

vs. listeners — No rig shows the flat line several reviews describe. The likeliest reading is that the absence of bass hype and a forward voice range read as neutral next to bass-heavy closed rivals, which DT 770 comparisons in the reviews bear out. Oratory1990 also reports large unit variation, so not every listener heard the same curve.

Where it splits
Balanced and honest — un-hyped enough to work on, and to some good enough to mix on.51%

“For mixing we found the sound to be balanced and accurate enough so that mixes are presented in an even way”

MusicRadar (Andy Jones)
Coloured and uneven — thin in the bass, hollow in the voice range; a monitoring tool, not a reference.49%

“Absolutely not suited for mixing either.”

DIY-Audio-Heaven (Solderdude)
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Design

Type
Closed-back over-ear
Drivers
1 × 30 mm dynamic (XXL transducer, Varimotion diaphragm)
Tuning
Pads · 2 options

Electrical

Impedance
55 Ω
Sensitivity
104 dB/V≈ 91.4 dB/mW
Frequency response
16 Hz – 28 kHz

Connection

Cable
Detachable, single-entry, 3 m
Connector
3-pin mini-XLR
Plugs supplied
3.5 mm, 6.35 mm

Physical

Weight
240 g

Also includes a 5 m coiled cable and velour pads; the headband has an auto-mute switch. Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from akg.com, akg.com, thomann.co.uk.

Follow the evidence

Sources 31

1–6 of 31 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 6

  1. This is a read of where opinion and measurements land as of November 2026. The MKII has been on sale for well over a decade, so some of the reviews behind it are old; the more recent ones tell a similar story.

  2. Samples seem to vary. AKG moved production from Austria to China over the MKII's life, and a well-known measurer says units of this series differ a good deal, so your pair may not match any one graph or review here.

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