[obobskivich]

defective:
I agree with your reasoning here, old doesn't have to be bad, but old doesn't have to mean good

I'm glad someone has actually tested them to tell us (as I was honestly taking a shot in the dark, kind of surprised that I got close)

 

[DefectiveAudioComponent]

Here is a review including the K4 (if you were considering them):
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/1748962-post1.html
( I also read elsewhere that they have less bass than the 340)

Also, some impressions of them:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/1558640-post1.html

They must be quite rare, since there are so few posts about them.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viktor /img/forum/go_quote.gif They are very old portable headphones made by AKG back to 1980s, so that mostly they can't compete with the other series headphones. Don't be fooled by the word 'Electrostatic' in the name.

They are small but nowhere near portable. No PCDP exists that can drive them. Few portable amps either.

And there's no fooling about "Electrostatic" - they have an electret driver which is 100% electrostatic in nature. And a dynamic driver right behind it, like a K340.

The objective was not to make them portable but simply to make them small.

I have the K145, which is a close relative and has a very similar driver configuration. I like them for some stuff, but, most people don't like them at all.

 

[obobskivich]

eric:
would it be fair to say they're like the K340, high impedance AND low sensitivity, making them a nightmare to drive, and a candidate for straight wiring to a speaker amp?

what about transportable amplifiers? (like some of the smaller HeadRoom stuff)

 

[ericj]

Yeah, they're both high impedance and insensitive.

If the K145 is any indication - and it should be - they need plenty of gain and plenty of voltage swing. An old SOHA 1 - even without the jisbos - drives my K145 fine. They don't need a lot of current.

I don't know much about commercial transportable amps. I haven't tried my K145 with my mini3 but i bet i wouldn't like it.

One thing i can say for sure about the K145 is that they can sound completely different depending on what you plug them into. They sound bleeding awful out of some otherwise competent jacks.

One thing is for sure about the K4: The value is more that they are rare and unusual and might, with some difficulty, be interesting and good for a narrow selection of music, when paired with some particular amp.

 

[JeckyllAndHyde]

Lucky! Just got the K4's 2 days ago at the local flea market
 
Initial impressions: they don't sound bad at all! I like them more than K340 that i used to have (definetely more comfortable) - but this might be because I'm a sucker for hq (and rare) portable headphones  
 
I'll post some pics and moar impressions later on.