K340 KT88 mod guide :)

[wdiabc]

i had the same k340 like yours, green driver, grey passive radiator. Just tried the half-cotton mod. Man,what a difference. I though my pair was bass-light but now I no long think it is bass light. with half cotton removed, it sounds open, flat and coherent. 
Now I start to understand what an amazing pair of headphone K340 is. Glad I got one almost new pair from ebay. Paid a lot but its worth it. 

 

[wppk]

Hello !
Thank you for your writing on all this pleasing pages
to introduce myself, I am Luc, owner of a professional recording studio in France. here is my website, if ome of you want to know more: 
http://www.dringacademy.com/htm/fern.htm
I have different cans, among which those : stax SRX mark III, akg 701, sony sa 5000, sennheiser Hd 800, and I am using a personnal lamp heaphone, that I have asked a professionnal electronics artist to handmake for me. there are only two amp like this in the world, and it sounds really great. I also use it sometimes as a preamp for my Leesh Aura II, which are the best loudspeakers I have ever heard, and as a professional of sound, I have tried a lot of loudspeakers. among others, I also have a pair of tannoy arden, a very rare pair of tandberg TL 5020. both of which, however very good sounding, as connaisseurs know, are far from reaching the Leedh's quality. The result is what I found as close to my idea of perfection in sound as possible.
after having read this post, I was very curious of listening to that famous k340. I bought one on the net, received it and, hard to believe, it was like brand new. never moded. and no elastic problem, no issue. no scratch. really brand new. Listened to it without changing anything, and was quite surprised, if I compared to what was written on this post. it was said to be lacking bass, but, bass is smashy, sometimes even too strong. the point is that the quality of the restitution completely changes, depending on the song. I have read here that they were not good on electronic music, but it is wrong. tried it on technotronic, "get up", and it was really great. The kind of bass that you can rarely find in heaphones. And I think mine are not the heavy bass model, the driver is green, and if I remember weel, in means bass light ? ( not sure I am not mistaking on this point).
The only more detailed bass I can find in my equipment are those coming from the hd 800. And, of course, from the Leedh, which sound way better than all the cans I have.  Then, troggling thru verut different songs and musics, I went on testing the K340. So suprising, the way it gives an amazing result on some songs, and pale and sad ones, on other songs. Not even talking about the quality of the recording. Because the k340 is not moved by that. In fact, I am puzzled to have to say that I don’t know why it changes  quality so much, when all the other cans also show differences, but not at all that wide. And sometimes, these other cans don’t show a noticeable difference, that the AKG shows.
After that, I decided to mod the heaphones as explained in the head fi thread.
Read the message that explains that there is no use in modding the wire connections, and felt easy with it because when I first read this very modding, I didn’t feel comfortable with ot, meaning I couldn’t see the point.
So, because I was not sure of the efficiency of cutting the center grid, I just removed it, and could mount back the whole parts except the round grid, the holes for the screws are deep enough to re-screw this part without need to make a deeper hole. I could go back to original, if it was necessary.  Then, if you make this mod this way, you will very  probably notice the same thing as I heard : removing the grid in front od the driver removes also a lot of bass. Try it, again, on technotronic, (just because it became my reference song for this bass question on this text) and you will hear it distinctively. Removing the cotton did not change anything, in my short test about that.
So I mounted it back, as original, and found back what is so pleasant in it. Its very personal way to play music. Sometimes making listeners re discover songs or musics, sometimes seeming to say “I don’t like this song, so I will trash it.” And it does.
Now, I am listening to Rachmaninov, classical music I am very fond of. It sounds perfect. And then I am happy to be able to notice that the k340 likes Rachmaninov.
So, to me, this moddings didn’t bring anything good. Even if I know that sometimes, modding is good. (For instance, I wrote something about the strange modding of my stax, that gave more bass ( the stax need more bass than the k340)).
Not willing to say that wanting to mod is bad, but just wishing to share an experience that you can try too. If you keep honest all along this test, I am quite sure you will have the same result.
I once was mixing a song. Better say it was the final equalizing, though. After months of work on this song. Spent a long time on it. Making changes on the faders of the equalizer. Little changes, bigger ones, listening hard.
At the end of the day, I found it correct. Thought it was a good balance. And I went to sleep.
On the following day, I played the final song. And was very disappointed ! it was flat, and nothing comparable to what I had left in my computer, the day before. Exactly as if I had dreamed I had work, and In fact done nothing  !
It took me a few minutes, to realize, at last, that yes, I had moves the faders of the equalizer the day before. But the know to activate the equalizer was not, and had never been put to on !
Astonished, I saw that my mind/brain had made the whole work of the equalization, as I moved the faders, my mind did the job ! but certainly not the machine. Can you believe that ? try it, and you’ll see.
That is probably why, when we make mods on cans on whatever, on the following day, we keep on being unsatisfied. Because when we wake up and listen again, all what we had built inside our minds has gone…
That is also probably why those people who sell very expensive cables make their money out of our mind’s work. Because if you ask your ears to be perfectly honest, and not influenced by the amount of money you may have paid, you will notice that a very expensive cable doesn’t add anything to the quality of the sound, compared to a good quality one, and reasonably expensive. Except in our personal ears and brain.

 

[CrystalT]

why does headphile charge so much for a simple recable? It should not cost me $240.

 

[shiner128]

I realize I am responding to an old thread andI'm hoping that you are still involved with the AKG K 340's. I recently decided to get back into audio in a small way so I dusted off my old Apt Holman preamp,and Bryston 4B amp etc and purchasd a set of AKG K340 headphones, so I have a few questions for you. Although my Apt headphone circuit runs the phones I was wondering if a tube headphone amp (ie LDiii ) would improve things considerably or would a direct connection to my Bryston amp speaker terminals be a better way to go? Do you still have access to replacement pads? If so how do I go about buying a set? Would you still agree the mods you have completed improve the overall sound?
Thanks for your help.
Shane from Canada

 

[SonicDawg]

A tale of breathing life back into the K340

Wow, I couldn't believe I am now digging up this fossil of thread!!! Almost 9 years ago, my relationship with the K340 started with this thread. After a long time away from hi-fi, I came back to it this year, trying to build a system around the K340 again.

At first, I organized a local meet, where I tried to drive the K340 directly from the Geek Out V2 + balanced output, the sound is... thin as a piece of paper I knew there's no way a portable amp could handle this beast.

Later, I got around, bought a vintage Yamaha CA 800 II integrated amp with 15W of sweet class a power, and the new Matrix Mini-I Pro DAC to try to bring the beasts back to life after being shelved in a closet for so many years. At first, I wasn't happy with the result: too bright trebles, and very thin bass. I knew something drastic has to be done Then I looked back into this thread for more inspirations to mod them. My final mods are as follow, but keep in mind that my pair is the bass-light version, so my goal was mainly to build up its bass:

1. I got some foam tapes (for water pipes, I think. I just found them under the sink at my house), and I taped them in the headphones' plastic housing. Basically, I was under the conclusion that the back-waves are what's killing the bass. After taping up nearly all areas of the housing (just about one layer, not thick at all), I left the openings alone. Even though I read that taping them up could bring up the bass, I do not want to lose the open sounds of the K340.

2. I reduced the cotton amount by half, and basically create a ring around the dynamic drivers, making sure to not block them from the openings.

The above two mods already gave it more bass, but still not quite as much as I wanted. But then my friend has a pair of Sony MDR Z7 stock pads that he no longer uses, because of too much bass. I thought, hey, may be that's exactly what the K340 need. But the problem is that they can't stretch over the headphones, so, I just used some double-sided tapes, and taped them on directly, and OMG:basshead: The bass is ALIVE! Wow, I didn't know the bass-light version is capable of such bass! Warm, detailed, deep, and punchy all at the same time! Of course, the treble got muffled a little too much, so to compensate, I turned on the fast filter setting on the Mini-i Pro, and all is goodD

Right now, every day when I listen to them, I smile from ears to ears. They are now detailed, airy, warm, and deep at the same time! I think the biggest difference really comes from the Sony's pads! I wonder if you guys can find them on ebay or something, because it really did the trick for my bass light version. So, here are some pics:

 

[nangryo]

A tale of breathing life back into the K340

Wow, I couldn't believe I am now digging up this fossil of thread!!! Almost 9 years ago, my relationship with the K340 started with this thread. After a long time away from hi-fi, I came back to it this year, trying to build a system around the K340 again.

At first, I organized a local meet, where I tried to drive the K340 directly from the Geek Out V2 + balanced output, the sound is... thin as a piece of paper I knew there's no way a portable amp could handle this beast.

Later, I got around, bought a vintage Yamaha CA 800 II integrated amp with 15W of sweet class a power, and the new Matrix Mini-I Pro DAC to try to bring the beasts back to life after being shelved in a closet for so many years. At first, I wasn't happy with the result: too bright trebles, and very thin bass. I knew something drastic has to be done Then I looked back into this thread for more inspirations to mod them. My final mods are as follow, but keep in mind that my pair is the bass-light version, so my goal was mainly to build up its bass:

1. I got some foam tapes (for water pipes, I think. I just found them under the sink at my house), and I taped them in the headphones' plastic housing. Basically, I was under the conclusion that the back-waves are what's killing the bass. After taping up nearly all areas of the housing (just about one layer, not thick at all), I left the openings alone. Even though I read that taping them up could bring up the bass, I do not want to lose the open sounds of the K340.

2. I reduced the cotton amount by half, and basically create a ring around the dynamic drivers, making sure to not block them from the openings.

The above two mods already gave it more bass, but still not quite as much as I wanted. But then my friend has a pair of Sony MDR Z7 stock pads that he no longer uses, because of too much bass. I thought, hey, may be that's exactly what the K340 need. But the problem is that they can't stretch over the headphones, so, I just used some double-sided tapes, and taped them on directly, and OMG:basshead: The bass is ALIVE! Wow, I didn't know the bass-light version is capable of such bass! Warm, detailed, deep, and punchy all at the same time! Of course, the treble got muffled a little too much, so to compensate, I turned on the fast filter setting on the Mini-i Pro, and all is goodD

Right now, every day when I listen to them, I smile from ears to ears. They are now detailed, airy, warm, and deep at the same time! I think the biggest difference really comes from the Sony's pads! I wonder if you guys can find them on ebay or something, because it really did the trick for my bass light version. So, here are some pics:

 
Hi. Could you give me the picture of the isolation tape and the postition of the reduced cotton? I'm unsure of the mod is. You could do drawing if you like. Thx

 

[Fearless1]

Just got done modding a pair myself, they sound incredible!

Took ot all of the cotton and replaced it with a layer of Sorbathane in the cups, screen mod in front of the driver and Audeze Vegan pads . The are stellar sounding now. In my top 10 definitely !

 

[SonicDawg]

   
Hi. Could you give me the picture of the isolation tape and the postition of the reduced cotton? I'm unsure of the mod is. You could do drawing if you like. Thx

 
 
There's nothing specially, really. I used these to tape up basically all the available surfaces in the cup. As for cotton, I fluffed them up a bit, and basically took half of its original contents out.

 

[SonicDawg]

Just got done modding a pair myself, they sound incredible!

Took ot all of the cotton and replaced it with a layer of Sorbathane in the cups, screen mod in front of the driver and Audeze Vegan pads . The are stellar sounding now. In my top 10 definitely !

 
You can always try the X-Over mod

 

[Fearless1]

I have two pairs, one beat up the other in good shape. On the beat up one I eliminated the resistors and it significantly improved the clarity, on my nicer pair I did the mod and it actually detracted, so I returned to stock, go figure....they both sound so much different to each other in stock form. Must be the version/year made.

 

[richard51]

After many days of modding the Akg K 340 i must say, for the future owners of this absolute TOTL headphone, that the difference between a ****ty sound and a TOTL one with these cans is 2 things : a speakers amplifier with a good headphone out like my Sansui Au 7700 but MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT : like Fearless1 has already said damping them at the interior of the cups with sorbothane duro 70 1/10 inches with self-adhesive, and also around the cups some 4 or 6 patches of sorb. compressed with some elastic band , i know that many will mock that but i add some stones(agate+shungite) on them and sorbothane around the end of the cable, also put off the wool, and cut the plastic grid and replace it by a nylon of a woman underwear glued on the residual plastic ring, for example ....

Modulo all that this headphone is unbelievably superior to my 2 Stax and hifiman he 400 and also to the beyerdynamic dt-150 ,not by a thin margin but by many notch, this can are TOTL for less than 200 bucks,if you are lucky....Dont dream anymore to many thousand dollars headphones if you are not loaded with money, buy them and modded them like i described, you will be in heaven, they crush, even my audiophile Mission Cyrus 781 top of the line of Mission speakers already modded by me, with their superior musicality.... I ask to myself what would be the price of a can that are better than them with jazz voices for example? Many thousands bucks and i have no doubts about that.... All reviews of these cans that are not superlative are only testimonies of bad synergy, bad sources, bad amplifiers, with no modding.... Trust me after 7 years i have the ONE, 3 weeks ago i was thinking that perhaps the modded beyerdynamic dt-150 or my Stax Sr-5 were the best i have ever have, now not anymore by an incredible difference in all aspects of the sound....All reviewers that speaks badly of them truly had never listen to them at their optimal level...

Note:
Some recommand a tube amplifier, the last i own was the Ember and my Sansui headphone out is better than it with my he 400 and the Akg K 340 with the sansui sound warm organic, tubelike, without any trace of harshness, or analytical dust, only total fluidity with very good bass and my version is the bass light one (for sure they will be very bad for some bass heads)....I am certain that a good tube amplifier is better than many ss speakers amplifier with them, but the Sansui AU-7700 is so good that any other top of the line Sansui will also be an exception to this consensus about tube amplifier ...I cannot pinpoint any too big and too evident defect about the modded AKG-K 340 now that some reviewers complaint of, except before i modded them they sound with the many evident defects some described.... Rightly modded and rightly driven you forget any residual slight defects they can manifest...Be it the discrepancies of the crossover in them, or the slower bass sound compared to the highs(Tylls review)...Their equilibrium at last with the right amplifier and mods are their redemption to the BEST buy quality/ price ratio in the TOTL realm of superior headphones....

After all they crush all my cans and my speakers in musicality because of their mastership of the mid-frequencies where almost all the music and voices are most of the time and this said without speaking of their spatial imaging power that make them more like a pair of speakers than a pair of headphone.... By the way the soundstage is not small and can be big but not artificially big , the soundstage has always detailed depth and can be wide also if the music ask for it....I think that any classical lover or musician, any jazz lover or musician, would be in love with them like i am already....