[section_title title=”Introduction”]Introduction
Manufacturer: AKG
Model: K323 XS
RRP: £35
AKG are a respected name long associated with quality personal and home audio and have only gone from strength to strength since the company’s birth in Vienna, 1947. The boom in portable audio has seen the likes of AKG’s K450 on ear offerings be an extremely popular choice for headphones but today we’ll be looking at a smaller offering from the company at least in physicality, not quality.
The AKG K323 XS in this review (here on K323) are a set of ‘ultra small’ earphones from the Austrian company; the XS accurately describing the extra small size of the earphones. For comparison, the driver in the K323 is 30% smaller than the one that powered the  House of Marley Uplift earphones, and they were already stealth like earphones that weren’t intrusive at all. Not only is the earphone section of the K323 incredibly small, so is the cable at a meagre 1m, again, compared to the House of Marley cable at 132cm.
Specifications
| Driver | 5.8 mm |
| Frequency Response | 20 – 20 kHz |
| Maximum Input Power | 10 mW |
| Input Impedance | 16 ohms |
| Sensitivity | 98 dB SPL/V |
| Cable | 1 m cable without remote |
| Colour | Yellow |
What AKG say about the K323 XS:
The AKG K323 XS is not, however, your typical AKG headphone. They’re tiny. Real tiny. Yet, they take full advantage of AKG engineering excellence through their function and design. Which means that, despite their miniature size, they adhere to AKG standards for sound quality, comfort and versatility. Despite their ultra-small, in-ear size – the smallest available with the greatest sound their ultra-lightweight design makes them perfect for busy, connective-dependent lifestyles.
The compact nature of the K323 is obviously the main draw of the earphones and although there are inline models available which are slightly longer, our review sample is the earphone only model. Traditionally speaking, the bigger the driver present the better sound you can expect from your equipment – it plays a more significant role than often over emphasised frequency response figures and gold plating, so it will be interesting how the AKG K323 stacks up against the slightly larger House of Marley Uplift.
