AKG K361BT Bluetooth Wireless Over Ear Headphones with Mic (Black)

I bought this pair to replace my pair of dying Jabra Move Bluetooth headphones which I used for a good 6 years. I got these cheaper than the far inferior Jabra Move. Since these had seen a price drop, they fitted very well into my budget. In Bluetooth mode, the gestures on left hand side are intuitive and work well. The voice on the line does not sound like a typical voice on a phone line, but rather sound as if the person is speaking to you accross a table. Amazing. Bluetooth connection is stable. Only a single device can be connected at a time which is disappointing. With Android phones built on Qualcomm SOC, the headphone supports AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs but not the newer and better AptxHD and Aptx codecs, which is a little disappointing. Plug in one of the included proprietary cables, and the Headphones transform into a different beast. These are tuned to a flat acoustic curve (Harman curve). Those addicted to heavy bass may be disappointed. But those who revel in hearing all those instruments playing in the middle frequencies will be delighted. These headphones reveal a lot of details and additional instruments that you have probably never heard before on your other bassy headphones that produce a lot of muddy bass and obscure the rest of the music. The sound stage is quite wide. Various percussion instruments can be localised within different parts of the brain. The sound stage is a little narrower than my legendary Beyerdynamic DT 770Pro which are also a little warmer and has a mild V-Shaped Acoustic curve and slightly more lively. The AKG however has more instrument detail for the audiophile. When connected to the Astell & Kern XB10 or Blitwolf BR-BW (DAC-Amps) the sound was better than from its internal Bluetooth circuit. This 32ohms K361BT headphone drives easily from a standard phone at 90% volume without issue. The DT770 (32 ohm version) has the phone gasping at full volume to barely drive it at enjoyable levels. The included soft pouch is much better made than that included with the more expensive DT770. The removable cables are a plus. The foldable joint makes it a little portable in comparison to the DT770 which would be used strictly indoors. There is no ANC. This is a circum-aural set that provides a high level of noise isolation. So much that I am oblivious to the activity going on around me. The clamping force is just right for long term usage. Ear cups are extremely comfortable. Replacement cups are easy to find since those for the AudioTechnica M50X are said to fit these well. My wife hates circum-aural headphones beacause it shuts out her voice almost completely. She needs to tap me on my shoulder to draw my attention. How sad, too bad. Acoustically this is an all-rounder that should not be missed at this price. Apparently this sounds better than the K371 that succeeds this model as per numerous reviews. Buy it till the deal lasts. Very Highly Recommended.

Update: 17th June 2020 (I am returning these disappointments) I received a defective unit in replacement and was told to communicate with the Harman Customer Support for replacement and repair. They totally ignored the loose hinge issue (video attached and mind you, it's within a week of use of the headphones) and termed the disconnection of headphones as a feature (I mean don't become a Software Engineer here). I will start with the cons, as there's no pros. 0. The most important thing, the sound. From the brief period of me owning them I had following things noticed: The frequency response as advertised from 5Hz to 22KHz+ is deceptive. They sound pretty avg from 20Hz to 30Hz, the bass from 30Hz - 70Hz is very heavy, but still good for casual listening. The most common range of around 8kHz is where the things start to get pretty messy. Some amount of Shrill is heard at this range and can become harsh sounding in extended use case. The Highs on these headphones are painfully spiked and might cause fatigue in prolonged use. But yeah, for some songs, they sound excellent, eg being most of the songs of 20syl's new album 36 (give it a listen, nice set of music there). Again, as I said in title, it's a hit or miss. Conclusion: They are NOT Studio Headphones and should not be used for referencing or mixing. They are just good for vocals and some casual listening. Some people who bought won't even notice the difference, but for audiophiles, they are a big let down. Now some more shortcomings of these headphones. I may sound like I am nitpicking them, but once you start to face issues and start getting technically bad explanation for them, yes, they need to be considered: 1. The device will disconnect if it is paired and kept idle for more than 10 minutes. You have to switch OFF and ON again to pair the device again (this is what I received as a communication from the company's senior technical person). Bluetooth 5+, this was the major upgrade to the BT devices, as it switched from legacy Bluetooth Radio to Bluetooth Low Energy even for the audio devices. Explained in layman terms: it is far more efficient in terms of battery for the continuously paired device. To be honest, I have not seen any device, even using the BT4.2 BLE turn off when not played for a certain interval of time. Some devices handle it by making the device go into standby mode, by keeping it paired and awakening the device with some gesture or invoke if the sounds start playing. Being price originally at Rs. 23,999/- at the time of writing this (though selling it for 10,500/-) is just a gimmick for this sole reason as many other brands offer much better at Rs. 23,000/- and more (Sony WH1000XM3, Bose QC 3.0 to name a few which obviously offer the above bluetooth behavior). 2. One more major caveat of this device is: it is marketed as "Professional Studio Headphones/ Monitors" and still uses the bluetooth codec "AAC" and "SBC", when a more advanced and efficient "APT-X" and "APTX-HD" exist and are even more prominent for the people who use "Hi-Fi" or Lossless Audios. Though AAC gets the job done, it is not available for all the devices in the market and can be useless on such devices for HiFi listening. 3. You cannot pair these device to 2 devices at once. Bluetooth 4.1 BLE and above (including 5.0 and 5.1) support being connected to 2 devices simultaneously and can switch the audio source according to the priority, like incoming or outgoing call will redirect the sound through headphones, while simultaneously being connected to the other device (native feature). Also, most devices don't go on standby/ or get disconnected even if it is inactive because of the sound being played on the other device. 4. The Bluetooth headphone comes with the mic, which works only when the device is connected in wireless mode, not wired mode. Reason: funny enough, though the device has 4-Pin Mini XLR port, all the 3 cables provided in the box are having "3.5mm TRS" instead of "3.5mm TRRS", rendering the mic useless on most of the mobile devices including Cellphones and Laptops. Please let me know if there are any cables to solve this, though I don't see any point in buying the cable after investing a substantial amount of budget in headphones. 5. Coming to the build, from my initial impression of these headphones, which was limited to less than 5 days in total due to defective pieces, the cushion on these pairs is really shallow, such that the ear touches the driver's plastic, making it unbearable to wear after an hour long use. 6. The clamping force for the headphones is more on the top, making the seal loose from the bottom side of the ear-cups. You can literally feel the difference in the sound if you press a bit on the bottom while using them. Changing of pads is recommended if you are still willing to and live with these headphones (Brainwavz has perforated Ear Pads for AudioTechnica Ovals, these will be a good replacement). 7. Also, it is way too backward to be still using MicroUSB when the world is moving towards USB Type C & wireless. The headphone doesn't have NFC Pairing and nor any app to manage the equalizer on this headphones. Also, you cannot use these headphones in wired mode while charging them. Well, to be honest, I knew only a couple of issues - MicroUSB and inability to Pair to 2 devices at a same time, before buying because these were the only ones which are available easily on the product listing and Spec Sheet available on AKG International website. And these were fine for me, because I had some other priorities to look for, and no product is perfect for any given price range. But to be honest, I was not satisfied with any of the claims made by the brand and chose to return them for good as the price I paid not even justifies half of the things. The customer service is also very orthodox and feel disrespected when raised concerns with the product. Better options are available for headphones within this range, go for Sony or AT as they are much better in terms of quality. Bluetooth is just an added thing, not worth the money to be spent on if you are an audiophile. For general and casual listening, they might suit you.Not at all worth the Studio Monitors, nor do use them for Studio Monitoring. Review (10 June 2020, post replacement, again faulty, contacted the Harman for resolution) To my utter disappointment, these pairs also had Quality Issue: 1. The left hinge is pretty loose and doesn't stay stiff enough to be even held on head. 2. The bluetooth connectivity is terrible: the headphones keep disconnecting automatically, the mic doesn't capture the sound and needs restart of the headphones to make it work (sometimes, not always), and the side gesture control is not responsive at times. Being a mid-high range headphones, being marketed as Studio Quality Headphones, I didn't expect this from AKG. At first I though that it must be a batch issue, but seems like even the predecessor non Bluetooth K371 had these issues and were addressed 4 months after the release. I actually think that they are not worth the money to be spent on just due to the terrible quality control issues. The comfort is okay, though the pads feel bit shallow and my ears can feel the touch of the plastic panel at the back of earcups. They sound good for mid ranges, but the sound goes muddy for lower frequencies and some terrible peaks in the high frequency ranges (not that noticeable, unless you listen to some flac audios) I have written to the AKG Harman India for the issue and will write a followup review once I get my resolution. Review (6th June 2020, replacing them as they are faulty units) To my disappointment, the pair I received had couple of major issue: 1. The right ear had rattling noise while listening to any kind of music,especially in the range of 25Hz to 65Hz. 2. The hinge mechanism looked damaged and was quite shaky.

I have the AKG K361BT Model . Before the actual review I would like to mention I tried the headphones as a Casual User for playing games ,movies ,video editing and I'm no professional soundguy. This headphones is made up of good quality plastic ,so little to no creaking sounds .As you can see the band adjustment has very little support its doing fine but I do worry a little bit The wired mode is 2x times better than the Bluetooth mode in terms of sound , Bluetooth sounds little better than Bluetooth headphones which cost 4k , But I'm totally impressed with the wired sound . Bluetooth doesn't have the latest aptex codec but AAC does the job and there is little to no lag in watching videos and playing games . The ear cushions are comfortable you can use them for 3 hours full sessions and then a 2-3 min brake will again get you the same comfort.The cushions provide good passive noise cancellation. In Bluetooth mode ,after 10-15 min of inactivity the headphones turn off which is a little bummer but not a deal breaker for most of us . Speaking of sound quality it don't have heavy bass as it's an studio headphones,but everything is balanced ! I was able to hear some sounds which I was unable to hear in my old cheaper headphones. Mic is decent,but you can use it only in Bluetooth mode,when wired you can't use your mic ! Overall the product is nice ,it'll definitely be a upgrade if you come from cheaper headphones or new to headphones! I absolutely love it , but some of you might be experiencing that your left ear is touching the driver of headphones (if you have big ears ) so in that case I suggest you to change the stock pads to something more thicker like brainwavez ear pads ! I give it only 4 stars cause at first I got an refurbished product and was little sad ,then I asked for a replacement and got a new product in 2 days and absolutely loving it ! I'm speaking all these with one week of daily use for atleast 6-10 hours everyday ,will post an update later a full month of use !

Unlike AKG K52 the K371 gives more accurate listening experience of high quality sound in movies & music. My prime requirement was clear dialogues/whisper reproduction even during action scenes etc when other sounds at bass are predominant and found K52 lacking in it. All the notes are clear in K371 (even mids/upper mids) as compared to K52. Apart from my Senhiesser HD 599, the K371 & the K361 are really good at clear reproduction of sounds at all audible frequencies especially with slight tweaking of equaliser in Dolby Atmos as per your taste. HD 599 is little warm and open back giving better sound stage but is unusable if ambient noise is present. I was expecting lesser sound stage in K371 but it is quite acceptable with the slight passive noise cancellation it provides. Mind you the sound clarity drops significantly when using Bluetooth on the K371 bt. I use it with wires for high quality sound & BT only for songs on mobile & calls. Mic is also good enough on BT for calls. BT range is also good. It can play decently from mobile or laptop without any DAC due to low impedance. BT connection is slightly troublesome with multiple devices as it always tries to connect to its earlier connected device & needs intervention. Earlier, quality control was a big issue in K371 but I took a risk due to good discount offered and luckily got a good piece. But I am still doubtful of its durability, especially the delicate hinge mechanisms. I got both HD 599 se & K371 bt at a very good discount (Rs 7k & Rs 6k) thanks to Amazon. My search for perfect headphones as per my requirements is now finally over.

So I am writing this review after over 1 year of owning them and using them. First I will address all the Quality Control issues as I feel that is important, after which I will talk about the other aspects of the product. The journey starts with the K371 non BT edition I bought initially, it came with unbalnced drivers and I mean severely unbalanced tuning. The left driver sounded like crap while the right one sounded amazing. Got them returned and purchased this pair. So when I got my pair, within 5 days of usage the handband snapped, I took it to my nearest service centre and I got a brand new pair within 2 weeks. This victory was short lived though as after that I started having issues with the right driver popping out, like I could literally hear the thing rattle. Once again I took it to the centre and in another 2 weeks I got a repaired pair, this pair was perfect apart from the fact that the bluetooth touch controls don't work. I don't mind that but it is very obvious why you should care about that. I can easily go ahead and get it replaced again but I would rather not deal with that. Now the sound quality; I split it into tuning, soundstage/imaging and resolution. (and for some context I quite like bright tunings) >AMP/DAC being used was the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter, an amazing DAC and powerful enough for this pair. >Genres listened: Rock, Metal, Punk, Prog Rock/ Metal, Jazz, Lo-fi, Classical, some pop and some specific indie hip-hop >Pad swapped with Brainwavz Oval Angled PU leather pads >Video Games played: RPGs, so I won't be commenting on any kind of competitive gaming Tuning: The tuning on the pair is Harman, which is too be expected. Its a nice warm tuning laid back enough for it to be not abrasive and is pretty non-fatiguing Its also not muddy at all in my opinion and I quite like this pair when I just want to sit back and relax to listen to some music. It shines in metal and jazz and Lo-Fi particularly amazingly in my opinion, but don't take this to mean that other genres don't sound good, they sound very good as well, its just that those genres stood out a little more to me. Soundstage/Imaging: Being closed back headphones they obviously lack the soundstage you get from an open-back pair of headphones. But also open-back isn't a choice for many due to obvious reasons of sound leakage. For closed back headphones the soundstage is quite excellent all things considered and is certainly better than what the competition offers. Imaging on the other hand while quite good isn't quite what you can get with similarly priced IEMs, this really shouldn't be a surprise though considering these are over-ears. Imaging is good enough to differentiate between multiple instruments or parts of the music quite easily but there aren't clear "boundries" set. A very abstract concept but its the best way I can describe what I am hearing. Details/Resolution: If this is your first "audiophile" pai you are going to be impressed no matter what. But if you are coming from something like a more expensive pair or IEMs, the detail isn't gonna be amazing. Infact the detail is the only reason I keep reaching for my Moondrop Aria Snow Edition over this pair. The tuning obviously plays a part as well; with a warmer tuning like this you aren't gonna get as much resolution within the music as you will with something like IEMs. Now once again keep in mind that it isn't bad, I'd even say its quite good. Its just not mind blowingly good. And to those of you who have no idea what I am saying, its like watching a video in 720p vs 4k, you could discern most details in 720p as well but 4k is just better; and your current equipment is in 240p or 360p (probably) Next is the comforts/connectivity: Comfort: So I have asymmetric ears (one of the reasons I hate the traditional AirPods) and also wear glasses, for me the comfort on stock pair was fine. Not amazing though, since my ears touched the driver of the headphone. After a pad swap with the brainwavz angled oval pads (an additional Rs1250), things were quite a bit more comfortable and after a break in period of about 7 months they are super duper comfortable now. Battery life: Just amazing, I am actually surprised how they accomplished this I get like 40-50Hrs of usage out of these, they haven't lied on their site one bit. Bluetooth: ...moving on bluetooth is again absolutely amazing and mind-boggling, the range on these is so damn long. None of my other Bluetooth 5.0 equipment has come close. The only problem I can thing of is that the best codec supported is AAC. Touch controls were decent back when I could use them, nothing beats buttons though so I didn't bother too much with this anyway Build Quality: Now this going to be contradictory; but the build quality isn't THAT bad. Its not like its made of metal and is the best thing I have ever held. But its far from bad. Nothing feels cheap, the construction is solid and the materials feel premium. I also have taken this pair on multiple trips since I got my newest pair and haven't had any issues with them in the past 12ish months of heavy usage. But still do keep in mind that my headband did break in the first week and I am not the only one... Overall rating would have been 5/5 but I just can't with all the issues I faced in the first month, month and a half that I got them. If wrote this review a few months ago I probably would have done a 3/5 but as it stands, 4 seems like about what the pair deserves. PS: To the people saying th claims of 5Hz-40KHz are fake, you are wrong. Most people loose their ability to listen to the highs by the time they turn 20 especially if you listen to loud music and are male(yes this is true) and this is assuming you could even hear upto 20KHz, which is a feat in and of itself.

Okay so I have used this product for 1 month now, so let me share my experience in brief. Actually I was searching for headphones which sound good but also at the same time is comfortable. I purchased this product after a lot of research. Let me be honest, the ear cups and top cushioning is so awesome and comfortable, full points over there. The built quality is also sturdy. The feel of the product is premium. It gets folded and consume less space in your bags. Don't worry about the hinge system it is good too. Now talking about the sound quality, it is a studio headphones and it works as expected. Great balance between high tones, mid tones, vocals and bass. In starting it sounded a bit pale, but slowly after listening a lot in it the drivers got burned and this sound so good that I can't describe. The bluetooth connectivity is good too. I have taken calls in this in wfh and never got any complaints from the other side. The battery life is also very good, it last long really long, it has micro usb charging, no complaints over there. You will also get aux cable to use it if battery gets discharged. I have played games in this and you can easily identify footsteps approaching and from which direction. Surprisingly it is better gaming headphones too. So it is an overall feature packed really performing headphones. I will definitely prescribe this to all the people out there. Kudos. (Will update this review time to time accordingly)

The product does not match the product description. This is a complete fraud. The cushions or the earpads of the headphones started tearing off and the stitching came out within a month, when the product description explicitly mentioned that the earpads would be of high quality and build would be strong. This manufacturing defect has caused me so much problem as a musician. I've contacted Amazon customer service 4 times, one time on chat and 3 times on call on a gap of 6 days each, and they refused to provide any sort of refund or replacement. One time they told me they're informing the seller of this issue and to wait for 5 days, then 5 days later there's no response whatsoever. Then I call the customer service of Amazon and they tell me no such complaint has been raised, and to raise the complaint again, and to email the manufacturer about it as only they can give me the refund, and if they won't help me, Amazon would. I do just that, and wait for 7 days. Still there's no response from Amazon. I email the manufacturer and they tell me that Amazon has lied to me that manufacturer would provide me with a refund, and to contact Amazon to get a refund. I inform this to Amazon customer person, and he tells me to hold the call as he transfers this to his senior, and then that jerk cuts the call after putting me on hold for 5 straight minutes. This is a horrible experience, even for a professional musician who produces music everyday. I never expected this of Amazon for such expensive products. First lying to customers on product description, then refusing a refund or any sort of help. I am considering approaching the customer court for this issue, as I do not wish my fellow musicians to spend their hard earned money on such lying companies that leave the customer out to suffer. I am extremely dissatisfied of Amazon and the manufacturer to steal my money like this.

Was seeking a comfortable, good quality set of headphones primarily for VOIP conference calls via Microsoft Teams with overseas clients during the lockdown from home. Budget was about INR 11-12k. Bose was most suited but the price was prohibitive. Sony WH-1000XM3 @ 19k looked good but was again, over budget. Ones over INR 15k on Amazon India were more tuned for a superior music listening experience. Professional grade, noise cancelling ones for calls were either on the Amazon US store or on the Microsoft US store. Importing them to India would have equaled the cost of a good laptop. The good - Going by the description and a few reviews, went in for the AKG K361BT (this product) at about INR 9.5k. Been using since mid June 2020. Absolutely great for client calls using MS Teams. I use the provided audio cable to connect to my laptop. Clients have never complained about any background noise since I started using this. The built-in mic is powerful enough to capture one's voice clearly. The cable can be detached for pairing via bluetooth, to a laptop or phone. Audio, when paired to a phone via bluetooth sounds amazing. Additionally, the over ear cups are comfortable for long use. The battery life is just amazing. Easily lasts a week. And this comes with a cloth carrybag for storage, in the box. And fInally, it has gesture control, which I don't use much. The bad - Quality of the over ear cups is flimsy, The headband also feels very light. The headphones need to be handled with proper care. Also, I need to manually pair with my iphone every time I turn my phone bluetooth on and off. Can be a pain sometimes. Also, I don't consider this set of headphones to be 'noise canceling'. The verdict - These headphones are also touted to be of studio recording / mixing quality but that is something I cannot validate. But if you are looking to buy a pair of over-ear ones for MS Teams calls using your laptop, this will fit the bill clearly. The fact that it sounds brilliant when paired via bluetooth to an iphone, is something that should appeal to audiophiles. A flimsy headset notwithstanding, this should last long if handled with care (kept out of the reach of toddlers, that is). Does it's job well and is a value-for-money product when compared to the likes of Bose or Sony. Just go for it.