Akg K400 - Page 15

Will do...

Yo guys,

I have the K501, previously tdockweiler's, as well as a K400 which is still his. I was surprised by how the vintage K501 performed compared to today's models. It's quite musical and also rather neutral. I think it's right up there with the HD600 in terms of performance and sound quality.It's like a K702 but without the odd coloration. The soundstage is pretty massive and similar to the HD800's. Quite an enjoyable sounding headphone.

The K400 is something special. It's quite warm and very musical. Acoustic guitars sound exceptional on this headphone and voices also sound realistic. Quite wow'ed thus far. It really performs really good for it's age and still compares to the HD600 quite favorably. It has great dynamics, nice extension, and the soundstage is just plain great. I have been using these for the past few hours and I'm really liking the forward mids.

K400 driver:

K500 driver:

They look exactly the same to me.I took pictures since I wanted to try a mod to tame the brightness (upper mids) of the K500.

I simply cut out pieces of gaffer's tape and covered half of the openings (white) in the baffle . I don't think it made much difference with the openings along the rim as these are covered by the plastic disc of the pads anyway, but overall the effect was very evident.

The mids became smoother and less muddy, and detail resolution better. The bass might have become clerarer, but the change wasn't radical. Sound stage is now more delineated and less reverberant, I prefer it.

I advise any owner of the K400 and K500 to try this simple mod, you may find it an improvement. Of course this is just an adaption of the three different baffles of the K501series, discussed here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/227052/official-akg-k501-version-count

I also tried a "tape" version of the plastic dome cap supplied with some versions of the K500 (above and below), but did not find it to my liking (damping treble too much).

What i'm starting to take away from the K400 is that lets me hear the music more than my other headphones like the HD800 which make me hear more of little pieces but fails to present the big picture in a manner which is less audibly engaging than the K400.  Other factors like source and amp will of corse alter this perception, however there is a core truth in the DNA of this headphone which connects mentally to me in a special way.

But im sure others have the same experience as my own.

I think the technical term for that is "AKG Magic" 

I have a K240DF and K241 which I expect to arrive sometime next week.  I've been very interested in this can for some time and finally had the opportunity to snatch one from Deep Funk.  It will be interesting to see which of the two has more detail.  My K500 is having troubles with the right channel which goes dead from time to time, I was able to jump start it by cranking the volume to max.  Somehow that woke up the right channel but I probably have to reacable it avoid any further problems.

Enjoy them. "To snatch" is a bit of an exaggeration isn't it? Anyhow, you now have two DFs and the K241 and I am happy they have good home now...