N5 Hybrid

AKG N5 HYBRID!!! They’re on MAJOR sale right now, MRSP $329, right now on Harman’s website they are $99, they have been knocking off an additional $20 once they’re in your cart - I just got them for 80 bucks and they have become my new sound quality top pick out of the 30+ pairs I own. Seriously, they are amazing…check out some reviews. They’re such a steal right now!!!

I’ve got a pair right in front of me, and a whole lot of others to compare it to. What would you like to know? EDIT: My subsequent comments aren’t showing up. Here’s this: Sound quality is bass-boosted Harman tuned out of the box. It’s pretty much standard AKG/ Samsung tuning, including the usual shortcomings like thin lower mids. The AKG app EQ is alright — it’s visual but provides a decent bit of control so you can tweak the sound pretty decently. I have an EQ I can share if anyone is interested. ANC is good, not great. I wouldn’t use them as my primary plane travel earbuds but I hate engine noise. Basically the same ANC as you’d get from modern galaxy buds. I haven’t used them for calls but a quick recording test shows the recording quality as mediocre — definitely worse than my AirPods Pro 2. No idea about reliability, sadly, as I haven’t had them a super long time.

The dongle does indeed provide good latency compared to Bluetooth. It’s not *quite* as zero-latency as my soundcore p10, but it’s still good.

This I do agree with. At $80 they’re a great value buy — I’d almost say unmatched. At $330 you’d be out of your mind to pick these over AirPods Pro 2 (especially when those go for like $180) and pocket the difference.

Thanks for sharing! Just picked them up for 85 bucks total from Harman Audio's website. I figure that's pretty good considering Bose and Sony are around 220; can't imagine those are 3x better. This'll be my first pair of earbuds; have a pair of Sony XM5 headphones where one of the sound drivers failed, which is pretty disappointing after only 1-2 years of use. We'll see how they perform!

Best I can find is $99 on the AKG website.

Thanks. Saved $20, I’ll grab them for when my Jabras finally give up. Do they have a decent app that lets you locate them if you lose them? I thought that was always nice to have.

I mean this seems like quite the steal for these. Already have APP2 but figured why not try these out. Seems people enjoy the sound quality quite a bit

AKG N5 are really good, probably among the best

For under $150, without hesitation, the AKG N5 hybrid (currently €137 in France) with native dongle or the HEAVYS Wireless EarBuds (maybe a little above your budget)

Tried all the above minus the Sennhesier and JBL, I have an S24 Ultra. My personal daily driver is the Samsung buds 3 pro, ANC is up there but a bit behind Sony and Bose, if you are on a newer Samsung you get their decent codec, a bunch of features for example I used mine to translate recently was great, they sound alright out of the box but EQ well if you search for some on here, there are some great EQ takes and I find them the most comfortable on that list which is Subjective. These I feel image as well as the AZ100, I honestly prefer them, but at the flagship level of buds the differences are so fine, I would accept general opinion the AZ100 sound better. Bose are king of ANC, but without a dongle you miss out on HD codecs as Samsung dont carry Aptx lossless/adaptive. They sound kinda ok, not the best, but no complaints either. Very comfy for me personally, sit in the ear even power walking down a hill. Great buds just not ones I reach for unless I need the best ANC (AuDHD so it does happen). Being on AAC codec isnt that big a deal, but if you are spending flagship money, losing a big feature doesnt make sense to me. Sony are top of the list from reviewers even this year. They are the absolute all around gods if you dont have an eco system to jump into like Samsung or say Apple. The foam tips are love or hate, I love, many hate, but what they do do, is help with the already decent ANC and make them up there with Bose. They are only comfy if you can deal with foam, if you dont like foam, do not buy them, they lose a lot of ANC with silicon tips. Waste of money in that case. Sound however, they sound great, highly recommend their "find my EQ" feature in the app, its quite interesting to see how you prefer sound, made me realise I quite like a bright sound when I thought I liked more dark or warm. These are the second choice for me regardless of order. Technics AZ100. Best bud I have heard personally up until the premium stuff like Gemini 2 etc. The 100 ANC far better than the 80, its up there now maybe above Samsung a hair, but just under the 2 top dogs Sony and Bose. They are comfy in the ear in fairness, look nice, LDAC supported by Samsung like the Sony buds, app is decent, they EQ well. This is the joint top pick for me as long as you are not sensitive to in ear pressure like me. So of those, my personal rec, Buds 3 pro if Samsung features and aesthetic appeal, AZ100 if not. WF1000XM5 if ANC takes priority more but a balance with good features ONLY if you can use the foam tips, ANC different is minimal at the top. Bose if ANC is the absolute most important to you. The JBL are reviwed really well, so as much as I cant comment, I also dont think you'd miss out on anything with them from the above. Seem to be very similar to the AKG N5 which I do have and adore. Worth also waiting for sales, I got my buds on a heavy discount. Also if you can get from a place you can definitely return, like Amazon, also do that just incase.

Yes, you can use just one AKG N5 earbud or both.

The sound volume is so low when I connect the dongle to my PS5 Pro. Even after I crank the PS5 volume levels to the max. What a bummer.

I contacted HK, and they sent me a replacement. I know very well there is nothing with my set. I can't believe their tech support is inefficient. But, this low volume issue using the dongle in my PS5 Pro is frustrating.

Oh, shit. It works!!! Thank you! You need to be patient while pressing once at a time. You're a Rockstar!