Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphones › Over-Ear › AKG K340 Electrostatic-Dynamic Headphones › AKG K340 Electrostatic-Dynamic Headphones Reviews

Member Reviews: AKG K340 Electrostatic-Dynamic Headphones

joelpearce

Unlike anything else you'll put on your head.

Posted
By joelpearce

Pros: musical, fun, stunning treble, no fatigue, forgiving

Cons: Requires monster amp, not especially detailed, a bit slow, slightly muddy bass, each pair is a bit different.

  It's time for another review that I've been sitting on for a while. Writing a review of a vintage headphone is difficult at the best of times, and there are some strange features of the AKG K340 that are even more difficult to deal with. Nobody is sure whether there are several different runs of the headphones with different sonic signatures. They are notoriously difficult to drive properly, and many of them have now been modded to various extent. All of that in mind, I suppose this will have to be a review of MY K340s. Others will probably be at least somewhat different.   I know precious little about the history of my pair. I know someone has been under the hood, because the...
(read more)
Comments (1)
Was This Helpful? 1 
oddioengin

AKG K340, 4200hrs studio-3900 hrs live....and still going

Posted
By oddioengin

Pros: Long life, used in both studio, live sound, and for fun

Cons: after buying them new in 1987, the foam is a little worn, wire tension on the pods is a little loose

When I first began my career, I was looking for some inexpensive but good quality headphones for my personal reference. The K340`s were less expensive than the cream of the crop at that time, the Staxx system with the discrete amp, etc. Over the years I have had no problems with the jack shorting, cord fraying, plastic breaking, etc. They have always been reliable and within the factory specs.  At the time the k340 came about, most of the less expensive headphones had the standard 3 strand wire design that was not well shielded and little separation of the left-right-gnd wires inside the mono outer casement. My K340`s have the molded 4 wire flat cable that provides about .080"...
(read more)
Comments (2)
Was This Helpful? 
homeros8000

K340 Unique Cans

Posted
By homeros8000

Pros: Detail, Deep Soundstage, Smooth Highs, Clarity, Transparency, Excellent Instrument Seperation

Cons: Heavy, Difficult to Drive, Bass Not Very Detailed, Several Version Don't Sound the Same

I bought the AKG K340 Electrostat-Dynamic System twice. The first pair was very worn out and sounded weird so I sold them after a while. I bought the second pair from Ebay, and this one sounded very different. I used the first pair with the Beta 22 amp which really struggled to drive it properly. The second pair I'm using with Headroom Ultra Micro Amp with Astrodyne PSU, and surprisingly it drives this pair with no problem, I hardly pass 10 o'clock of volume!   I suspect that the second pair is the bass heavy version. There is a lot of bass here with deep impact, although not very detailed but not loose bass like that of D2000/D5000. It's well integrated into the spectrum of...
(read more)
Comments (2)
Was This Helpful? 
che15

Great old can

Posted
By che15

Pros: very articulate can with great mids

Cons: good but not great detail

This a great cans , but very hard to drive. Vocals never sounded so clear and articulate, bass is good , but not great.
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 
daltonlanny

Exceptional NOS Bass Light Headphones with one simple mod! Wow...

Posted
By daltonlanny

Pros: [With screen mod]: Exceptional detail, open soundstage, excellent instrument separation, excellent dynamics, speaker-like sound, a pleasure to hear!

Cons: Sort of uncomfortable, bass weaker than I like, hard to drive properly, mids/bass slightly slower than the treble., slight incoherence of mids/highs.

I normally don't write long or extensive reviews, but this product has really exceeded my expectations! I recently bought a pair of NOS AKG K340 headphones from a Headfi member in Austria. Thanks JeckyllAndHyde! I have been using a borrowed HeadAmp GS-1 amp, until mine arrives from HeadAmp next month, a Harman/Kardon HK3490 receiver, and Marantz CD5003 and CD5001 cd player with them. I have been listening to a WIDE VARIETY of music, including live, acoustic, classic country, classic rock, pop, r&b, etc., on them. They are definitely the bass light version. At first they were thin, bright, with a somewhat constricted headstage, and had almost no bass. I was rather...
(read more)
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 
Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphones › Over-Ear › AKG K340 Electrostatic-Dynamic Headphones › AKG K340 Electrostatic-Dynamic Headphones Reviews