I got this little Denim colored AKG K420 as a gift for myself back in 2015. Back then, it costed me 600.000VND (about 30USD then) for a new, fullbox headphone. It also came along with a small bag to put the headphone in, which I lost after a month. This headphone stayed with me through years and years, and I consider it one of my most valuable possession.

The trusty AKG-K420
The trusty AKG-K420

The sound 🔗

The AKG K420 is an semi-openback headphone. The back of the headphone is not fully enclosed, which allows the drivers 💭 💭 The sound playing part to move more freely without being hindered by air pressure inside the headphone enclosure. This give a more natural, dynamic, airy sound. The minus is that the audio leaks a little bit to the surrounding, so if you play the music loud enough, people around you will hear it. But in practice I had never received a complain about this, mostly because I listen at a rather adequate volume level. Also another effect of this design is that you won’t be isolated from outside noise as well, so it wouldn’t function as a headphone for commute.

I love listening to music on the K420 at home, when everything around me is quiet. The music played on it feels easy going, smooth, flowy.

Virtually immortal 🔗

The little thing weathered through almost 10 years, working pretty much the same as when I got it. Whatever abuse I put it through, when I plug it in my phone/computer, press play, music came out. Dead simple.

It’s not indestructible however. I have to buy new ear-pad every 1 – 2 years, because after a while they thinned down & got torn. I also had replaced the cable 3 times. And the rubber band on the top of my head is deteriorating day by day, and this I do not know how to fix. All the paint & marking faded after 10 years of shuffling around in a backpack.

Yet, the core parts of the headphone remain flawless. The metal skeleton holds it shape. The drivers sound pretty much the same as it did 10 years ago 1 1 Even if the driver fails I’ll try to replace it as well. I think the only way for this headphone to fail is for the metal frame to break.  . Even all the joins fold perfectly well.

Hackable 🔗

The headphone is actually pretty hackable. There are two mods you can do on it: Cable Mod & Pad Mod

Cable Mod 🔗

The current cable I am using right now is a mod, because the stock cable didn’t have an inline microphone, and for a long while this was my main headphone for conferencing. Still, swapping a cable on this headphone is a great way to try changing it sounds a bit subtly. I would recommend using copper cable, as this headphone is already pretty bright sounding, so putting silver cable wouldn’t be very beneficial, but you do you.

Another way we can take cable modding even further on this headset is installing a MMCX connector on it. Which was what I did 3 years ago. Done tastefully, it looks really awesome; the fully detached headphone fold neatly without any cable tangled around. Sadly, my soldering skill didn’t permit the mod to live long enough, so after a while I switched back to normal cable. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep any photo of the modded headphone, so I will instead put in here a picture online of a guy in Thailand who specializes in doing this type of mod.

Picture not mine, copied for illustration purpose.
Picture not mine, copied for illustration purpose.

Pad Mod 🔗

Now this is less common. It has the same form factor as the closed-backed sibling K430, and the pad can be interchanged. The AKG K430 pad is thicker, more fluffy, and distance the driver from your ear a little bit more. This will change the sound of the headphone, for better or worse, subjectively. I didn’t like it, but your mileage may vary. It’s good to have the option though.

Bluetooth Mod 🔗

If you are adventurous, it might be a fun little project to splice up a bluetooth headset & put it in the K420 housing. This guy already made it, which, to be fair, looks pretty good. I wouldn’t risk my beloved K420 for this experiment though.

The antithesis of planned obsolescence 🔗

The K420 delivered every single penny spent on it. Even when costing less than 30 USD, nothing about the construction of the headphone feels cheap. Everything is solid after 10 year of tireless delivery. The headphone is truly Built to Lastâ„¢. There was no plan for the headphone to fail when the next generation came out 2 2 I’m bit of a hypocrite on this though, because I still do own an AirPod.  .

A toast for the 10th birthday of my AKG K420 🥂.