Bose, beware! AKG makes a splash at IFA 2024 with two pairs of premium wireless headphones

It feels as though it has been quiet on the AKG front for some time now – it’s almost eight years since Samsung acquired the once prolific headphones brand as part of the Harman International acquisition of 2016 .

Product news has been particularly thin on the ground in recent years, though, but at last, we have a double whammy of new products to report on from IFA 2024 .

Say hello to the AKG N5 Hybrid wireless earbuds and N9 Hybrid wireless headphones .

AKG's press release is off to a bold start, claiming the N9 boast “industry-leading hybrid adaptive noise cancellation”. Auto Compensation uses six built-in microphones to monitor external noise and make adjustments to the ANC in real time. Alternatively, you can stick to one level of ANC via the AKG Headphones app.

• Read our hands-on review of the AKG N9 Hybrid wireless headphones

Inside each earcup is a 40mm dynamic driver made from Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP). On each earcup, you will find two beamforming mics to handle call quality, with AI machine learning keeping ambient noise at bay. The AKG’s “hydrodynamic windproof design” claims to reduce distortion caused by wind and improve the clarity of your calls.

The N9 hybrid supports Bluetooth 5.2 and comes with a 2.4GHz USB-C dongle which can be stowed in the left earcup when not in use. Battery life with ANC and Bluetooth turned on is a claimed 55 hours.

Additional features include Bluetooth Multipoint and support for AKG Spatial Audio, which can turn any stereo content into virtual surround sound. There is also LDAC support for higher-quality Bluetooth audio from compatible sources.

The AKG N5 Hybrid wireless earbuds also come with a USB-C dongle (stored in the case) and claim to offer “best-in-class” adaptive noise-cancelling which, as on the N9 Hybrid, can also be tweaked through the AKG Headphones app.

These buds use a 10mm Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) coated dynamic driver, and offer similar spatial audio tech to the over-ears. Battery life should be good for eight hours of playback per charge (with ANC on), while the supplied carry case adds approximately three extra charges. The buds are IP54 rated which means they are  resistant to dust particles and water sprays from multiple directions which should make them handy for exercise.

To aid call quality, there are multiple customisation options available through the AKG Headphones app, including the ability to fine-tune your voice for meetings or add more bass or treble to others on the call. The Voice Aware feature can even fine-tune the amount of your voice that you hear when you speak so you don’t end up shouting in public.

With the AKG N5 Hybrid priced at £250/€269 and the AKG N9 Hybrid coming in at £329/€349, it will be interesting to see what AKG can bring to the party. This is a super-competitive space and they will compete with some exceptional rivals, such as the Sony WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones . We will let you know how they get on as soon as we have samples in for review.

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