Headphones

With any insert earphone it is essential to achieve a good seal to the ear canal otherwise bass response and isolation of external sounds will both be compromised. To ensure this AKG provides seven pairs of tips in four different sizes but power users will probably opt to use a Snugs or other ear mould for the ultimate in comfort and sealing. A cleaning tool and flight adapter complete the supplied accessories.

Fun With Filters
Listening was conducted with a TEAC HA-501 headphone amp [HFN Apr ’14] and Chord Electronics QuteHD, with a second-generation Mac mini running Windows XP and JRiver Media Center v19 delivering the music. I used AKG’s supplied cables but if you were intending to use the N5005 with a regular hi-fi system you would almost certainly want to buy a longer lead: 1.3m is not generally sufficient.

Having run the N5005 in on pink noise for a few days I began by deciding which of the four filters to use. I began with the factory-fit Reference Sound and quickly decided that the result was too bright with violins sounding scratchy and vocals with wispy, overemphasised sibilants. I substituted the Bass Boost filters and, rather than experiencing an excess of bass, was rewarded with a much more neutral tonal balance. Given that the other two filter options take the low treble in the opposite direction, I stuck with the Bass Boost filters for the remainder of my listening. Changing the filters is easy enough, by the way, but fiddly so I was careful to choose a place where a dropped filter could easily be found.

With its Bass Boost filters, the N5005 had a near-neutral tonal balance without a heavy, plodding bass or the thickened lower-mid characteristic of so many modern headphones (my personal bêtes noires). There was something a little amiss with the treble still – heard, for example, as a coloration on intakes of breath – but not something I couldn’t live with. Imaging wasn’t as spacious as with the best over-ear headphones but that’s a characteristic of insert earphones, perhaps because they lack interaction with the pinna. Overall the sound was clean, clear and without undue emphasis anywhere in the spectrum.

Kicking Butt
Headphone bass is often criticised for lacking the visceral impact of loudspeaker bass, although adding a ButtKicker or other bass shaker to your chair or sofa can address this if it’s a big enough issue. Headphone bass and earphone bass are different again, which perhaps has something to do with an earphone’s occlusion of the ear canal.

Whatever the cause, the symptom is that earphone bass seems less weighty again, even when – as with the N5005 – there’s no question that there is ample low frequency extension. I played a variety of my favourite bass test tracks – ‘Way Down Deep’ from Jennifer Warnes’ The Hunter [Private Music 01005-82089-2], ‘Doin’ It Right’ from Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories [HDtracks hi-res download], ‘Limit To Your Love’ from the eponymous James Blake album [Atlas Records ATLAS05CD] – and AKG’s finest proved itself adept at reproducing the lowest fundamentals while at the same time remaining agile on fast bass runs like those in Chris Jones’ ‘Fender Bender’ [Stockfisch CD Roadhouses & Automobiles; SFR 357.6027.2].

Still, there’s something missing, an absence I felt most strongly on the bowed double-bass introduction to The Oscar Peterson Trio’s ‘You Look Good To Me’ [We Get Requests; Analogue Productions/Verve SACD]. But in noting that the deliciously rich, rosiny sound of Ray Brown’s bass wasn’t fully developed, I have to say that’s a criticism of insert earphones in general and not the N5005 in particular.

Strutting Its Stuff
I doubt many buyers will use the N5005 to listen to chamber music but it did a good job on Tony Faulkner’s peerless recording of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A, played with great elan by The Allegri String Quartet, my only caveats being the reduced sense of spaciousness and slight coloration on breath noises alluded to earlier. It also turned the rare trick of retaining the Presto’s shocking vigour in Haydn’s String Quartet, Op.76 without letting the recording’s incipient harshness spoil things.

Back in more natural insert earphone territory, the N5005 felt more conspicuously at home on pop and rock. Like all Grace Jones recordings the classic ‘Walking In The Rain’ from Nightclubbing [96kHz/24-bit download] has its share of dynamic range compression but good hi-fi accentuates the positive by, most importantly, retaining the rhythmic drive without which the sense of Jones strutting the streets is lost. The N5005 passed this test in the accepted way: I didn’t merely tap my foot to it, my legs moved involuntarily.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
If you want superior sound on the move, without having to schlep a bulky over-ear headphone, the N5005 is a fine choice and a great improvement over the K3003i. Its adaptable frequency response will suit it to a wide range of listeners, and it looks understatedly chic. For ultimate sound quality at home, though, one of the few really good over-ear headphones will offer more in the way of spacious imaging.