[J.Pocalypse]

Hello all,
 
As the title says, I recently came across some K120s ( non vented cups ) and am wondering about a possible amp for them. The 600 ohm's leads me to believe that it's going to be a necessity for these cans to sound their best. So far, I'll I've been using them with is my Nuforce uDAC. They get to a reasonable loudness with the volume at 12 or 1 o'clock. On my M50s, this level would be way too loud for my liking.
 
Side questions, I've seen some posts about these headphones that say getting them re-cabled is a big improvement. Are we talking Silver Dragon? Cradas? How about connecting, if I still like the single sided entry? Surely going into each cup would be easier..
 
Any help would be great.

 

[James neutron]

The cheapest amps capable of driving the K140 properly loud are Schiit Magni or the O2.
In regards to the cable it might be a good idea to replace it. K140's have been out of production for decades and that cable (and especially the contacts) in all likelihood is not what it used to be.
As to cable choice, just grab a decently priced good quality cable and you'll be fine.
The K140 (like the vast majority of AKG headphones) are wired with a 3 core cable, so you can use even a decent quality headphone extension or stereo microphone cable.
 
I rewired my ancient K300 with a K601/701 replacement cable and they've been great ever since. The cable is high quality and was very cheap (10$ or something in that range).
 
*** Also worth noting: the cable contacts inside my 20 years old K300 were highly discolored/oxidized. As K140 precedes the K300 by at least a decade, it's likely the contacts will be in just as bad (or worse) a shape.
The rewiring did made a significant improvement in sound of the K300, but for less esoteric reasons.
They sounded better simply because I did a thorough cleaning of the headphone and the cable contacts. Impossible to describe the kind of "dinosaurs" these things pile up inside the cups after so many years.

 

[J.Pocalypse]

Thanks for all the info! I wasn't sure I was going to get such a response on something this old. Good stuff.