AKG K340 ? Are they for me ?

[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markmaxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think the K340s are one of the great headphones out their (mine are the same as philodox's) . That being said they take some modding, and some care has to be taken, as far as amping. They take alot of power. Philodox is right in saying they take almost as much volume knob power on my amp as the K1000s. Not the best example but with my stepped volume attuenuator. HD 650s the 2nd or 3ed. (7:00 O Clock) step huge volume and soundstage. K 340s almost 11:00 O Clock. K 1000s 1:00 O Clock then open the K 1000s wings 2 or 3 O clock all this at a meet in NY 2 weeks ago not the best place but just an idea.

i listened to this rig with Mark at this meet thru his amazing and unique single pwr amp (supra extreme or some such). the source was a top tier seedie player (meridian g08, iirc). his phones have been fully headphiled and balanced and have an adaptor to run single ended. we listened to his phones run both single ended and balanced and to my stock k340s. i don't think the mods themselves do much when run single ended. when run balanced i was more impressed with the changes. i'm wondering if the new corda opera with it's balanced ground configuration (supposedly offers most of the benefits of balanced while running single ended) is a particularly good amp for this can. has anyone tried this combo yet? for the costs of a full blown mod you'd be able to pay for a significant portion of this amp (and even moreso if meier introduces a version of this sans dac - and hopefully with higher gain to be able to directly drive these and akg k1000s with greater ease).
folks report that the heed can amp can power either of these tough-to-drive akgs successfully, and it's a relatively affordable amp.
has anyone yet heard these cans (or any cans) through a woo audio 5? that amp looks awesome and can drive headphones, speakers, and even a k1000 from it's front panel (ala asl amp). see:
http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa5.html

 

[daveDerek]

this thread raises a question that ultimately can only be answered by the OP. there's been some discussion about the difficulty of properly driving them in order to be able to fairly answer the original question. perhaps folks addressing that issue would chime in on a current thread that specifically asks the question about proper amping of this can.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=232089

 

[swt61]

The Darkvoice 336 or 336i does a nice job driving the 340s with the right tubes. That being said I still thought they could benefit from a little more juice. I purchased two Darkvoice 336i's and am having them modded into balanced mono amps. This will give me 4 times the power of a stock Darkvoice 336i or 4 watts per channel, and a fully balanced system. It's not as if you can't get good volume from a lesser amp, it's that the headphones don't reach their potential without a heck of a lot of voltage and current. And I agree with Jay, they really like tubes. I can't give you impressions on my project yet, but I will say that if you want to own a top tier headphone that will handily compete with some of the high dollar units out there, you will be modding them and developing a serious system around them.

 

[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Darkvoice 336 or 336i does a nice job driving the 340s with the right tubes.

Steve, do they come with the wrong tubes? what tubes are the right ones, what do they cost, where do you get them from, and are they hard to find?

 

[SonicDawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swt61 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Darkvoice 336 or 336i does a nice job driving the 340s with the right tubes. That being said I still thought they could benefit from a little more juice. I purchased two Darkvoice 336i's and am having them modded into balanced mono amps. This will give me 4 times the power of a stock Darkvoice 336i or 4 watts per channel, and a fully balanced system. It's not as if you can't get good volume from a lesser amp, it's that the headphones don't reach their potential without a heck of a lot of voltage and current. And I agree with Jay, they really like tubes. I can't give you impressions on my project yet, but I will say that if you want to own a top tier headphone that will handily compete with some of the high dollar units out there, you will be modding them and developing a serious system around them.

Tell me how did that go

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tell me how did that go

There were a few snags and delays in the metalwork, but it's back on making progress now. Expect some info from Steve on the final product in say 3 weeks or so (factoring in time to test it thoroughly and then ship it out).

 

[SonicDawg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif There were a few snags and delays in the metalwork, but it's back on making progress now. Expect some info from Steve on the final product in say 3 weeks or so (factoring in time to test it thoroughly and then ship it out).

Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just get the 337

?

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just get the 337 ?

Except the 337 doesn't have balanced input/outputs either, and uses different tubes.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by craiglester /img/forum/go_quote.gif Glite and K340 is not the best combo, I have it and you need it cranked up really high to get much out of it. My GL can blow the lid off any other cans I have, but the k340.. it struggles

x2

 

[markmaxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif i listened to this rig with Mark at this meet thru his amazing and unique single pwr amp (supra extreme or some such). the source was a top tier seedie player (meridian g08, iirc). his phones have been fully headphiled and balanced and have an adaptor to run single ended. we listened to his phones run both single ended and balanced and to my stock k340s. i don't think the mods themselves do much when run single ended. when run balanced i was more impressed with the changes. i'm wondering if the new corda opera with it's balanced ground configuration (supposedly offers most of the benefits of balanced while running single ended) is a particularly good amp for this can. has anyone tried this combo yet? for the costs of a full blown mod you'd be able to pay for a significant portion of this amp (and even moreso if meier introduces a version of this sans dac - and hopefully with higher gain to be able to directly drive these and akg k1000s with greater ease). folks report that the heed can amp can power either of these tough-to-drive akgs successfully, and it's a relatively affordable amp. has anyone yet heard these cans (or any cans) through a woo audio 5? that amp looks awesome and can drive headphones, speakers, and even a k1000 from it's front panel (ala asl amp). see: http://www.wooaudio.com/products/wa5.html

We did do a test modded v unmodded and it was too close to call.

I totaly agree

I think if you had the 2 headphones at home in a quiet enviroment, there would be a much bigger differance. I say this because to me in the noisey enviroment of a meet my rig did not sound as good as it can. It is amazing at home

.

Philodox is the one to talk to on this. stock V. Modded question, as I have never listened much unmodded. I bought my headphones from Jeff modded already. I did like the tubes we had in the supra extreme at the meet, Mikhail took them back after the meet.

 

[kool bubba ice]

I know my BADA12 easily drives my 650. Infact, anything over the half way point on my volume knob is too loud.. I want them balanced though..

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek /img/forum/go_quote.gif Steve, do they come with the wrong tubes? what tubes are the right ones, what do they cost, where do you get them from, and are they hard to find?

Sorry for the late reply Dave. I was in the woodshop most of the day. Here's a link to the best thread about the Darkvoice 336. In the first post you'll find all the information on ordering one. The only thing that has changed is that the seller now has a PayPal account, so you don't have to send Western Union. He's a great guy and very trustworthy.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...=Darkvoice+336

The stock Chinese tubes are not very good. For the bass light version of the K340's I like a Kenrad Black glass 6SN7gt/vt231 up front and either the new Sovtek 6AS7g, or the Raytheon 6080 for the power tube. For my new mono DV's I bought a matched pair of NOS Kenrad Black glass 6SN7gt/vt231's, and a matched pair of NOS RCA 6AS7g's, but I can't comment on the RCA's yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif There were a few snags and delays in the metalwork, but it's back on making progress now. Expect some info from Steve on the final product in say 3 weeks or so (factoring in time to test it thoroughly and then ship it out).

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to just get the 337 ?

Actually the 337 does use the same tubes. The 332 uses different tubes.
As Fitz pointed out though the 337 is not a balanced amp, and would have been more difficult to mod to a balanced amp. I love the idea of seperate chassis anyway. There's no chance of any crosstalk and such, not to mention it will just look so freakin' serious, like giant mono blocks for speaker systems do.

 

[Fitz]

The 337 uses different preamp tubes in all the photos I've seen of it.

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 337 uses different preamp tubes in all the photos I've seen of it.

I humbly stand corrected. I should have known that Fitz knew what he was talking about, after all we are twins.