catscratch
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2004
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You say you don't have a headphone amp... how are you then running the K340? That headphone is far more demanding than most things out there. The RA1 is a CMOY in a wooden box and will choke on a K340. You really do need a powerful standalone amp, though I'm hardly an expert on dynamic headphone amps to recommend one. Also synergy will depend on what kind of version you have; a bass-light version will do well with OTL tube amps while a bass-heavy version will probably do better on a solid-state amp.
I actually prefer the stock sound over the modded sound at least as far as bass-light K340s go; all the modded pairs I've had or heard sounded muffled in the highs and relatively dull, though they also did tame the echoey resonance that really plagues bass-light pairs. I had some Headphile'd pairs which I didn't like sonically at all, they sounded very dark and muffled no matter how they were driven. Bass-heavy pairs I don't like very much either, they have the tonal balance of an underdriven HD650 though they are far faster.
The bigger issue here is the chassis design, which I think is pretty terrible. There isn't enough clamping force by miles, and this is a headphone that pretty much relies on a good seal with the ear for its bass presence and extension. So, replacing elastics and earpads is essential, but to improve it beyond that I would try and swap out the whole headband mechanism to something that would provide much more clamping force - HD280 Pro levels or so. The metal arcs actually do carry the signal from one earcup to the other so the headphones will have to be reterminated to dual-entry before you can swap the headband out.
I do miss my old K340 and out of an old $200 OTL tube amp it outperformed the SR-404 out of the 007t. But I've moved on and it's found a home where it gets more use and appreciation.
I actually prefer the stock sound over the modded sound at least as far as bass-light K340s go; all the modded pairs I've had or heard sounded muffled in the highs and relatively dull, though they also did tame the echoey resonance that really plagues bass-light pairs. I had some Headphile'd pairs which I didn't like sonically at all, they sounded very dark and muffled no matter how they were driven. Bass-heavy pairs I don't like very much either, they have the tonal balance of an underdriven HD650 though they are far faster.
The bigger issue here is the chassis design, which I think is pretty terrible. There isn't enough clamping force by miles, and this is a headphone that pretty much relies on a good seal with the ear for its bass presence and extension. So, replacing elastics and earpads is essential, but to improve it beyond that I would try and swap out the whole headband mechanism to something that would provide much more clamping force - HD280 Pro levels or so. The metal arcs actually do carry the signal from one earcup to the other so the headphones will have to be reterminated to dual-entry before you can swap the headband out.
I do miss my old K340 and out of an old $200 OTL tube amp it outperformed the SR-404 out of the 007t. But I've moved on and it's found a home where it gets more use and appreciation.