By Lim Yee Hung

THE AKG K450 can be described in one word: loud.

I nearly busted my eardrums when I first put on the deceptively small device at an audio store where I was testing out a couple of headphones on my trusty Sony MP3 player with its volume set near the limit.

I had to reduce the volume of my music player by a wide margin for comfortable listening.

Design is another plus: the K450, winner of the 2009 Red Dot design award, features a sleek plastic and metal construction that can fold in on itself to create a flat, compact package for carrying around.

Unlike most other folding headphones, which feel fragile when you bend them, the K450 is robust and sturdy. I had no qualms about stuffing them into my backpack without placing them in the hard case they come in.

The gizmo also scores high on comfort: at just 120g, it did not sit heavy on the head and the muffs are generously padded. So there was no discomfort even after wearing it for two hours.

Unfortunately, there is a letdown in the most important thing: sound quality. The songs I chose to listen to for this review were across artistes and genres, such as Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, Jason Mraz and Wang Lee Hom.

Mid-range sounds were flat and the bass was a tad overbearing. The headphones are not noise-cancelling, so there was some interference from outside noise.

At over $200 a pop, you would expect AKG to throw in some other goodies and it does.

Apart from the carry case to house the headphones, you get a bunch of cables and modifiers that make the K450 more versatile, such as a 2.5mm adaptor for use with smartphones.

Final say

The K450's loud sound is a major plus for music junkies who like to blast their tunes.

Lim Yee Hung is a tech enthusiast studying in the UK, who hopes to earn enough moolah to buy all the gizmos he craves for.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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