DisCHORDDubstep
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2014
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Just got a pair of akg k240 studios, and I'm going to do an in depth look at them. I will assess build, comfort, looks, sound, and features.
Build: Looking at them, I see no real build issues. High quality plastic, a ring of metal around the outside of the driver cover, and more high quality plastic outside of that. An auto adjusting fake leather headband makes it feel pretty good. Overall, not too bad for 80$.
Comfort: First off, the pads are a little shallow for people with big ears (me), but you get used to it with time. It has foam covering the driver, so it doesn't feel too uncomfortable. The pleather ear pads feel really comfortable, and are giant enough to fit any ears I've seen. The headband is unpadded, but I haven't had any comfort issues at all from it. The auto adjusting aspect of it is wonderful because you don't have to fiddle with the adjusters each time you go to wear them. Overall id say the comfort can be an issue if your ears stick out off your head a great amount, but other than that, these are very nice to wear.
Looks: They look like they were designed in the 70's... Which, they were. Of course, they added a few modern touches, like the clear plastic covering golden logos. They can gather attention quite well. It depends on your style. I myself find them to be pretty cool looking, but my sister thinks they are ugly.
Sound: Ah, the reason they are called headphones... The sound! Tracks I tested on: Black Magic Woman, by Santana: Very well designed soundstaging and placement on these. The guitar and chimes flip back and forth, and sound like they go from 20 feet away, right up to your face. The bass guitar seems to be coming from 10 feet away to your 5 O' clock position. The wind chimes... Ah, now they sound great. They add a mysticism to it, and sound very realistically portrayed. The keyboard sounds like it should, the two bongo strikes at 3:47 give out a wonderful echo off to your left. Vocals are a strong point, and give Carlos Santana's voice a jazzy, smooth appearance as it should have. Everything is well defined, separated, and has depth. Wonderful experience on these headphones.
Mysteries Of Night Town, by Omnitica: The mysterious beginning is well portrayed, with the footsteps of the person walking come from below you as they should. (they are your feet after all.) The bells in the beginning can easily become a mess if any notes are left to reverberate, but the open back design quickly disposes of them. The detail is wonderful. As soon as the bass line picks up, there is a barely audible wolf howl off to your right maybe 50 yards away, and quickly moves behind you, and disappears on your left. At 2:53 it does the same thing, but much more audible this time. The entire beginning actually gives you a feeling you are walking through creepy woods, from rustling leaves, footsteps, and eery chimes and synths to add to the suspense, right up until you open the gate to night town. The lock being removed and the door opening got me in a state of suspense, yet I've heard this song 20+ times. Love it.
Rage, by Moxix: The drum in the beginning is delivered perfectly, and the heavy breathing puts you in a state of fear. Then... Some stuff goes down. There is a heavy bass line that can easily cover up the sound of cymbals, but they were there, and audible. In the middle of the song, there is a downtime before the bass comes again. Right there is the sound of rain, and light synths playing, then dropping into a bass filled hysteria again. This was perfectly delivered. Again, good sounding.
Never Say Goodbye, by Bon Jovi: The emotion put into this song is so well portrayed, and these put that sound down correctly. Every instrument is detailed, and sounds so good. You can hear everything. The sound of an organ I had never noticed before... Wow. Every pluck on the guitars, every cymbal crash, every word... Wow...
Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffet: His voice is well suited to these headphones. The acoustic guitars are great sounding, the little details... Ah, so many of them! The bass is a little recessed sounding on this song, but its still noticeable. These headphones sound great for this song!
Lyin' Eyes, by The Eagles: Guitars are good, you can hear the guitarists sliding their fingers along the wires. The only thing is that vocals sounded more distant than they should be, but no matter. Souded very good still. The slight piano touches throughout the song are easy audible, the instrument separation, again, is fantastic.
Welcome To The Jungle, by Guns N' Roses: Head bangin' pure octane fueled fun. Everything is audible. Everything is good. Axl Roses voice is harder than a lot of other voices to have sound great. I've found it either sounds too smooth, or too scratchy. These portray his voice beautifully and give it that feel that no other vocalist I've heard has had. Every instrument is wonderfully done, nothing jumped out at me as being badly done. Again, another enjoyable track.
Rhiannon, by Fleetwood Mac: Stevie Nicks voice is so full sounding, the guitar solo is wonderfully done, and slight chimes in the background are able to be picked out... Another song that is well detailed.
Conclusion and Features: These cans are a wonderful all rounder, and are very detailed for the 80$ price point, deliver flat sound, are pretty comfortable, and are lovely to look at. Ratings out of 10: Durability 7, looks 8, sound 8.75, value 10. Will post pictures below.
Build: Looking at them, I see no real build issues. High quality plastic, a ring of metal around the outside of the driver cover, and more high quality plastic outside of that. An auto adjusting fake leather headband makes it feel pretty good. Overall, not too bad for 80$.
Comfort: First off, the pads are a little shallow for people with big ears (me), but you get used to it with time. It has foam covering the driver, so it doesn't feel too uncomfortable. The pleather ear pads feel really comfortable, and are giant enough to fit any ears I've seen. The headband is unpadded, but I haven't had any comfort issues at all from it. The auto adjusting aspect of it is wonderful because you don't have to fiddle with the adjusters each time you go to wear them. Overall id say the comfort can be an issue if your ears stick out off your head a great amount, but other than that, these are very nice to wear.
Looks: They look like they were designed in the 70's... Which, they were. Of course, they added a few modern touches, like the clear plastic covering golden logos. They can gather attention quite well. It depends on your style. I myself find them to be pretty cool looking, but my sister thinks they are ugly.
Sound: Ah, the reason they are called headphones... The sound! Tracks I tested on: Black Magic Woman, by Santana: Very well designed soundstaging and placement on these. The guitar and chimes flip back and forth, and sound like they go from 20 feet away, right up to your face. The bass guitar seems to be coming from 10 feet away to your 5 O' clock position. The wind chimes... Ah, now they sound great. They add a mysticism to it, and sound very realistically portrayed. The keyboard sounds like it should, the two bongo strikes at 3:47 give out a wonderful echo off to your left. Vocals are a strong point, and give Carlos Santana's voice a jazzy, smooth appearance as it should have. Everything is well defined, separated, and has depth. Wonderful experience on these headphones.
Mysteries Of Night Town, by Omnitica: The mysterious beginning is well portrayed, with the footsteps of the person walking come from below you as they should. (they are your feet after all.) The bells in the beginning can easily become a mess if any notes are left to reverberate, but the open back design quickly disposes of them. The detail is wonderful. As soon as the bass line picks up, there is a barely audible wolf howl off to your right maybe 50 yards away, and quickly moves behind you, and disappears on your left. At 2:53 it does the same thing, but much more audible this time. The entire beginning actually gives you a feeling you are walking through creepy woods, from rustling leaves, footsteps, and eery chimes and synths to add to the suspense, right up until you open the gate to night town. The lock being removed and the door opening got me in a state of suspense, yet I've heard this song 20+ times. Love it.
Rage, by Moxix: The drum in the beginning is delivered perfectly, and the heavy breathing puts you in a state of fear. Then... Some stuff goes down. There is a heavy bass line that can easily cover up the sound of cymbals, but they were there, and audible. In the middle of the song, there is a downtime before the bass comes again. Right there is the sound of rain, and light synths playing, then dropping into a bass filled hysteria again. This was perfectly delivered. Again, good sounding.
Never Say Goodbye, by Bon Jovi: The emotion put into this song is so well portrayed, and these put that sound down correctly. Every instrument is detailed, and sounds so good. You can hear everything. The sound of an organ I had never noticed before... Wow. Every pluck on the guitars, every cymbal crash, every word... Wow...
Margaritaville, by Jimmy Buffet: His voice is well suited to these headphones. The acoustic guitars are great sounding, the little details... Ah, so many of them! The bass is a little recessed sounding on this song, but its still noticeable. These headphones sound great for this song!
Lyin' Eyes, by The Eagles: Guitars are good, you can hear the guitarists sliding their fingers along the wires. The only thing is that vocals sounded more distant than they should be, but no matter. Souded very good still. The slight piano touches throughout the song are easy audible, the instrument separation, again, is fantastic.
Welcome To The Jungle, by Guns N' Roses: Head bangin' pure octane fueled fun. Everything is audible. Everything is good. Axl Roses voice is harder than a lot of other voices to have sound great. I've found it either sounds too smooth, or too scratchy. These portray his voice beautifully and give it that feel that no other vocalist I've heard has had. Every instrument is wonderfully done, nothing jumped out at me as being badly done. Again, another enjoyable track.
Rhiannon, by Fleetwood Mac: Stevie Nicks voice is so full sounding, the guitar solo is wonderfully done, and slight chimes in the background are able to be picked out... Another song that is well detailed.
Conclusion and Features: These cans are a wonderful all rounder, and are very detailed for the 80$ price point, deliver flat sound, are pretty comfortable, and are lovely to look at. Ratings out of 10: Durability 7, looks 8, sound 8.75, value 10. Will post pictures below.
