[Sasaki]

I recently purchased K340 mods from headphile.
Here is a brief impression and pics.



The K340 was modified by Larry and I also requested him to change connection plug to K1000 type 4pin XLR so I can use K340 with SAC K1000 amp.
I plugged it to my SAC K1k and the result is spectacular. Thanks to the balanced XLR connection, the notes are clearly separated with each other. I have never heard this wider soundstage other than K1000.



Speaking of K340, first few hours I forget the fact that the K340 has two way drivers. It sound so natural.
From following several hours of serious listening, I felt the upper register is something different from other "normal" dynamic cans.
At first, I felt the vocal(mid) is recessed and I thought the upper register is exaggerated or emphasized. But after A/B-ing with other dynamic cans, I found the K340 high is not exaggerated, it is more like articulate or well resolved.
The electrostatic "tweeter" surely works for the upper register, I think.

 

[kartik]

some questions:
1. I'm not sure if the improvement you're hearing is from the amplifier or from the "balanced" XLR connector. Were you using the amplifier previously?
2. By "balanced" do you mean separate XLR connections for each channel?
3. Did you recable? Larry's Blacksilver is notorious for improving the upper registers.
4. What cans did you compare these to?

 

[aerius]

Since I have a K340 that's wired up the same way I can shed a bit of light on it.

1. Separating the grounds by using a 4-pin plug gives minor improvements in imaging given that the same amp is used, going fully balanced results in all-round improvements. Note: my amp could run in normal & balanced mode at one point.

2. It's possible to run a fully balanced connection using a 4-pin XLR, which is what he's using. Commercial amps use 2 3-pin XLR plugs, but only 4 of the pins are used for the signal, the others are for grounding the shield.

3 & 4 I can't answer since I'm not Sasaki and don't have his gear or headphones.

 

[philodox]

Sasaki, Nice K340's buddy!

I am glad you are enjoying the sound. I can't wait to hear mine on a balanced amp.

kartik, I can answer a couple of those questions...

2. He is using a 4 pin XLR, which is another way of achieving balanced.
3. Looks like he recabled with BlackGold by the colouring of the cable where it plugs into the amp. This is what I went with on my new pair as well and is what Larry recommends if you can afford it.

EDIT: Damn it, Eaphan beat me to it... oh well, he answered #1 and I answered #3 so it is all good.

 

[creyc]

so the headphone itself (not amp) has electronics in it for muxing the balanced audio signal back together and sending it to each driver then?

Also how would balance audio help headphones? A relatively short cable running from amp to your ears wont pick up much if any common mode noise which is all balanced cables help with. If anything i would imagine the adio to be slightly degraded through the use of more processing on the signal. At least, thats from an engineering perspective. Perhaps the laws of electrons are different in the audiophile world.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[steinba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by creyc so the headphone itself (not amp) has electronics in it for muxing the balanced audio signal back together and sending it to each driver then?

Why would the signal need to be "mixed back together"?

 

[kartik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by creyc so the headphone itself (not amp) has electronics in it for muxing the balanced audio signal back together and sending it to each driver then? Also how would balance audio help headphones? A relatively short cable running from amp to your ears wont pick up much if any common mode noise which is all balanced cables help with. If anything i would imagine the adio to be slightly degraded through the use of more processing on the signal. At least, thats from an engineering perspective. Perhaps the laws of electrons are different in the audiophile world. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Balancing (AFAIK) means channel separation from source to driver. Less crosstalk and separate grounds.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by creyc Can anyone shed some light on this?

Balanced drive means that both sides of the transducer are being driven, one in phase and one out of phase. There are no electronics needed in a headphone to allow them to be driven balanced, you just need to upgrade the connector to allow it to take a balanced input from your balanced amplifier. Some headphones wire the ground of both sides through the same cable and need to be rewired completely for this to work. Most headphones have a seperate signal and ground for each earpiece which can then be used for the + and - of the balanced connection. The ground of the balanced connection is connected to the shield of the cable.

Hope that helps.

 

[creyc]

ah but of course! The driver will be fine with one side reversed phase from the other, and will result in a true "balanced" system.

Could you identify the balanced from an unbalanced cable purely by sound alone in a blind side-by-side setup?

 

[Sasaki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kartik some questions: 1. I'm not sure if the improvement you're hearing is from the amplifier or from the "balanced" XLR connector. Were you using the amplifier previously? 2. By "balanced" do you mean separate XLR connections for each channel? 3. Did you recable? Larry's Blacksilver is notorious for improving the upper registers. 4. What cans did you compare these to?

1. I have been using the amp mainly for K1000.
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=149083

2. I mean "balance" is separate ground with four pin connection.

3. Yes. but I have Larry's black-silver(this is actually a black-max) before for HD25. so I knew the character of the cable itself.
This upper register character is different from re-cable effect, I think.

4. Grado HP-2, ATH L-3000, Edition-7 and so on..
I forget to mention, that I have 4 pin to 1/4 connector too. so I A/Bing on the same headphone amp with these phones.

*BTW, the picture is temporarily unavailable for my website maintenance, it would be available later in the day.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sasaki 1. I have been using the amp mainly for K1000. http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=149083 2. I mean "balance" is separate ground with four pin connection. 3. Yes. but I have Larry's black-silver(this is actually a black-max) before for HD25. so I knew the character of the cable itself. This upper register character is different from re-cable effect, I think. 4. Grado HP-2, ATH L-3000, Edition-7 and so on.. I forget to mention, that I have 4 pin to 1/4 connector too. so I A/Bing on the same headphone amp with these phones. *BTW, the picture is temporarily unavailable for my website maintenance, it would be available later in the day.

Hate to burst your bubble, but even though the SAC K1000 amp has balanced inputs, it's output is single ended. The volume control is a 2 channel pot, and the two grounds are tied together in the SAC K1000 amp, so it does not have independant grounds.

This doesn't mean you can't use your K340 with other Balanced Output amps. You'll just need an adapter cable to two 3 pin XLR's which is usually the norm. (I like the four pin K1000 style XLR termination much much better)

-Ed
-Ed

 

[Sasaki]

I may mis-used the word "balance" as audiophiles often use "balance" for mere XLR connection. I know this is not exactly true.
but Ithink the K1000 type four pin connection surely take effect to expand the sound stage and sound separation clearly.
This is obvious when compared with other headphone amps. However, this is purely based on my hearing experience, I have no enough knowledge on inside of the SAC K1k to seriously talk about...