AKG K712 Pro vs Shure SRH940 Comparison Review

I bought the SRH940 as a closed-back monitoring headphone suitable for my new work environment. Open-back headphones do not block out ambient noise, and the noise from the headphones is also exposed to the outside. Therefore, closed-back headphones are needed.

Generally, open-back headphones are used in mixing and mastering environments, but closed-back headphones cannot produce the same performance as open-back headphones due to their characteristics. In this regard, SRH940 is known as a headphone that produces the highest quality close to open-back.

Of course, the quality here refers to the degree of suitability for the music work environment. It is a flatness that is not biased and a delicacy that does not miss.

K712 Pro, which overcomes the weakness (bass) of AKG K701, which is evaluated as the pinnacle of mixing and mastering headphones, is the best monitoring headphone I have ever used.

However, the bass part was still difficult to handle due to the weak bass that is unique to AKG.

SRH940 has a more solid bass than K712 Pro. However, it is not so much that the bass is too biased towards the HD600-800 series, but it feels like it is firmly held. The amount of bass is almost the same as K712 Pro, but the texture of the ultra-low bass that was not heard in K712 is clearly caught.

The mid-bass to mid-high frequency range is very flat for both products. However, the characteristics of the two headphones are divided in the high frequency range. K712 Pro has a soft high frequency with a transparent and fluffy texture, while SRH940 has a more solid and sparkling high frequency. It does not sound like the high frequency is too much and the hiss is emphasized in some reviews. On the contrary, the overall amount of high frequency is restrained compared to K712, so the ear fatigue is less.

Excluding these characteristics, the sound of both products is almost the same as the best reference headphones. In fact, I bought SRH940 with the feeling of upgrading from K712 Pro, but the sound was so similar that I was a little disappointed.

However, in terms of spatial sense, which is the limit of closed-back, it could not keep up with the open-back K712 Pro. Is it because of the open-back headphones’ unique sense of openness? It felt like listening to music in a large concert hall in a small church. This does not mean that the spatial sense is weak. It faithfully reproduces the spatial sense that the producer intended in the mixing stage.

On the other hand, SRH940 has a better sense of position. The fact that the sense of space and the sense of position are inconsistent is a surprising and controversial opinion, but this is my feeling. If K712 Pro is the feeling of watching from a VIP seat in a large hall, SRH940 is the feeling of getting closer and seeing the position of each instrument as if it were in the palm of your hand. It can be said that it is a headphone that is more biased towards analysis than appreciation.

As a result, K712 Pro is suitable for classical and acoustic genres that need to be detailed in a large room, and SRH940 is suitable for pop and EDM that need to be detailed in bass and high frequency.

The wearing comfort is definitely better with the light K712 Pro. SRH940 is firmly fixed to the ears and forehead, which gives a sense of pressure. If speakers or open-back headphones give up some details and liven up the sense of space, closed-back headphones block the space and pour all the sounds into the ears without missing a single sound.

In summary,