AKG - N5 Hybrid
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Feb 24, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
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2
"Mic quality improves significantly when using the dongle. ... When connected to the dongle though it changes. They say it sounds like I'm using an actual headset. It's closer to a 9/10. Edit: this is all based on using discord."
"speaking of dongle it's one of the best I've used. ... It's the type of bud I'm into these days since I am on my computer and Steamdeck a lot more often. ... It is case friendly ... cool feature with the dongle button is one press mutes the mic, and two clicks of the button switches between Bluetooth and USB mode. ... most settings can be changed using the mobile app and they are applied to the buds when using them with the dongle. ... I'd say the dongle with the different commands for its button is nice as well as it's led light that changes for different actions, red for mute, white for connected, flashes for Bluetooth. ... You get a cooler dongle that's smaller with more features."
2
0
"This is a great price on flagship earbuds. ... Reviews put them in the same tier as other 220-250 dollar earbuds. At 80 bucks these are a no brainer."
"At $80 they’re a great value buy — I’d almost say unmatched."
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"The sound on these are awesome! They are definitely an S tier. ... Previously the best sounding earbuds I've heard are the AKG N400NC which I still have but plan to sell since I no longer need them. ... They get even better once you tweak the EQ and play with the settings, and add your own Personi-Fi setting. ... they are very detailed I would say with some great sub bass. ... Probably the best sounding earbuds I've heard, almost make me want to cry during some songs. ... In some situations, sound is even better with the dongle connected. ... Awesome detail. Awesome highs, you can hear them but they're not piercing. ... Pretty wide soundstage. Like snare drums sound amazing. And bass guitars. ... Vocals are perfect. ... There's a lot of customization in the app for the sound. ... All instruments sound separated. ... I have liberty 4NC, it destroys them even after the sound id is applied. ... With these AKG's set up, the bass feels perfect on them. ... there's more presence in the AKG N5 and more depth in the bass and treble. ... I'm listening and enjoying music I normally don't like."
"There is a whisper mode where you can pick a side during a call, and it'll amplify that Mic so you can hold it up to your mouth and whisper in it. ... A Silent Now feature that helps you sleep, it will turn on the ANC after a certain time and keep it turned on for up to 8 hours. Then it will wake you up with a quiet notification sound sent through the earbuds. ... Personi-Fi is a hearing test that will customize your EQ for both left and right sides. This works pretty well, and you can even go back and fine-tune it a little bit if it sounds off. ... Low dynamic EQ option will boost lows and high at quieter listening volumes which is kind of cool. ... Last one I can think of is the mic settings. You can change how you sound during calls, and you can also change how the person sounds during calls that you're calling, kind of like having an EQ for your mic. So there's different settings like normal, bright, natural and powerful. ... Voice Aware is a setting that bumps up the ambient sound and I love that, it works great."
"they have become my new sound quality top pick out of the 30+ pairs I own. ... Seriously, they are amazing"
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0
"speaking of dongle it's one of the best I've used. ... It's the type of bud I'm into these days since I am on my computer and Steamdeck a lot more often. ... It is case friendly ... cool feature with the dongle button is one press mutes the mic, and two clicks of the button switches between Bluetooth and USB mode. ... most settings can be changed using the mobile app and they are applied to the buds when using them with the dongle. ... I'd say the dongle with the different commands for its button is nice as well as it's led light that changes for different actions, red for mute, white for connected, flashes for Bluetooth. ... You get a cooler dongle that's smaller with more features."
"Mic quality improves significantly when using the dongle. ... When connected to the dongle though it changes. They say it sounds like I'm using an actual headset. It's closer to a 9/10. Edit: this is all based on using discord."
"have a usbc dongle for low latency when gaming"
2
1
"ANC is pretty great. It's not going to be the best of the best but it's no slouch either. ... Ambient mode is good, it's better than most. Not S tier or anything, maybe A tier. ... the transparency is better on AKG."
"ANC is good, not great. ... Basically the same ANC as you’d get from modern galaxy buds."
Disliked most:
0
2
"the mic sounds muffled."
"On Bluetooth, friends have told me that they sound like regular earbuds, there's a little hollow sound to it, a little tinny like a 7/10 where most airpods are closer to a 8.5/10. When connected to the dongle though it changes. They say it sounds like I'm using an actual headset. It's closer to a 9/10. Edit: this is all based on using discord."
0
1
"switching between BT and USB is very inconsistent ... it's more practical to only plug in the USB when you want to use it and unplug it when you don't, obv trading off convenience"
0
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"“Out of the box” these sound terrible. ... Very thin sound overall. ... They get loud, but there’s hardly any depth."
"thin lower mids"
0
1
"I heard a loud pop in my left ear and it's been hurting ever since..."
0
1
"I wish playback control could be customized a little more. Right now it's defaulted to either play controls, sound controls, or volume controls that can be set for each side. What I mean by I wish I could customize it, is if I'm using one earbud with play controls, I can't have sound controls. Would be nice to make one tap pause/play/answer, two taps skip, three taps mute mic, and long press for ambient sound controls, but this isn't possible. Maybe with a future software update these could do that, but they're probably done updating these. ... One of the problems with the AKG is you can't fully customize the touch controls on them. Makes them difficult to use with one bud. So if you want to use them for work or maybe you can have one bud, the controls either have to be play and pause and skip. Or switch between ANC, transparency or off. They don't seem to remember which mode you're on. So if you want them with transparency, but like to be able to pause your music like I do, with one earbud you have to go into the app each time and turn on transparency. Unless I missing something that's what I have to do."
Accomplished-Word382 1.0AKG 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!!!
AlterGuido 1.0I’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.
anarmyofants 1.0Thanks 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!
Apparently_Coherent 1.0Best 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.
ArtVandelayInd 1.0I 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
atomicnv 1.0AKG N5 are really good, probably among the best
audio_raph_63 1.0For 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)
Bishiebish 1.0Tried 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.
Yeah thats the weakness of them sadly, even humming, they have/had a sensitivity feature that was next to useless as any lower sensitivity it just didnt activate for me, high and if I start humming or singing it stops the music, highly annoying! So if you are a hummer or a singer might be worth skipping and just going for physical touch to mute. Only buds out of say a dozen I have tried that beter Sonys talk to listen is Samsungs Buds 3 pro, but I highly do not recommend them on anything but a Samsung device. I tried some others like AKG N5, but they even activated off other people talking or a TV playing. The Sony at least only react to your voice. Even if that voice is sometimes a cough even.
ChicShopper 1.0Yes, you can use just one AKG N5 earbud or both.
cm2881 1.0The 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!
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