Hi, I'm wondering anyone might be able to offer some advice regarding the AKG K340. I recently bought a pair from the for-sale section here.
They are in overall good condition and have had some mods done: original cable replaced with a HD650 cable and the headphones rewired to be dual-entry; cross-over mod done; plastic grill completely removed; cotton removed; cable-mod that bypasses the circuit-board (I think); velour pads.
I do need to get an amp, and I have plans to get a Darkvoice 336i, but in the meantime I am running the phones from an older Technics receiver hooked up to a pretty nice Denon 970 cd player.The receiver powers the phones easily with the volume turned about 1/4 the way, though I know the sound quality will be much greater with the amp. Just for sound comparison sake...I tested this setup with my reliable Bang & Olufsen Form 2 phones to see if the receiver was screwing up the sound - it's not, the B&O phones sound full, detailed and dynamic as they do when I run them out of the cd player.
Anyway...my question is about how to reduce shrillness in the treble of the K340 without muffling the overall sound. I tried taping the back of the phones with black electrical tape which did reduce the sharpness/sibilance of the highs, but the overall sound appeared blocked or muted. What is interesting is that the highs without any tape sound a tad rolled-off or muted at the very top, but also sharp. Listening to Karen Carpenter for instance made me clench my jar sometimes, and there is just about no one who is less shrill then her. I also tried the phones with no tape but with cotton inside, and the sound seemed to change very little. I would like to get the sound to remain detailed and a little bright without fearing the whole brass family of instruments. Oh, and the electret has the green back.
Thanks for any ideas you can provide. I think I will love the K340 once I get these details sorted out. The only phones I have heard at Head-fi meets that even had my interest a little were the $1500+ Grado PS-1 and HP-1, so the K340 for the money seem fantastic in comparison.
Thanks! -Joe