[oggdude]

Hey people, i would love to do a comparison myself but my budget won't allow it yet.
 
I own the KRK's at the moment and i must say they really do sound nice, especially for metal and punk. I believe them to be really quite neutral and so far proven themselves against my Rockit RP6 G2's so their good for tracking, mixing (when speakers aren't an option or open backs) and i really enjoy them for general music listening when i can't use my 650's or for when i'm out and about.
 
What i really want to know is how do the Shure SRH 840's compare and are they a better headphone for what i use them for. I don't like the non folding flat aspect, or the weight that people describe on here, but SQ wise would they be more fit for purpose for my intentions?
 
I like flat, neutral headphones so i can hear music thats as close to how the master is intended to sound as possible, i really don't enjoy over emphasised bass or slow headphones as they don't seem to keep up with the genres of music i listen too.
 
Sorry to start a new thread but the 840's only seem to be compared to ATH-M50's and the like with the KRK's not being mentioned so often.

 

[oggdude]

nobody owns both? or possibly A/B'd them?

 

[zardak]

The KRK 8400 blitzes all other headphones, detachable cord and everything, comfortable to wear and lush accurate sound, reference class; makes Sennheiser and Grado look like child's play. The Shure 840 doesn't even come close. You're onto it now, the guys in here are not aware that Sennheiser can't really make headphones, i've never heard a headphone from Sennheiser that cuts the mustard.

 

[john53]

I own the srh840,and I've tried the krk8400 once,with my own player and music.(ipod nano 5g which I also use with the shures)
 
To be honest,I didn't like the sound of the krk's 8400 that much,because at the lower mids to bass the tonality was weird,and it sounded unatural and colored there.That's how I heard them anyway...I blame their plush earpads fit and isolation for this.I believe that if I had the chance to use the (lesser quality) 6400 pads,I would like the sound more.
I also own the krk 6400,which I bought after extensive testing at a store,and I prefer them to the 8400,at least to the pair of 8400 I've tried.
 
So,the 8400 was one of those closed,easy to drive headphones that I didn't like with the one audition I did,and I clearly prefer the shure 840 to those.The shures sound more natural to me,although they are not so neutral/flat either,they have an upper bass emphasis and an emphasis somewhere in the highs,but fortunatelly these don't make them sound too fat or piercing,and the mids sound quite natural for it's price point.
 
Comfort and fit is better though with the krk models (shure 840 is decent for me),and I believe that build quality is also better with hte krk's.Maybe they feel a little plasticky,but I'm sure the can take rough use better than the shures.My shures are 4 years old with regular use and are fine,but they give me a feeling that they will not be ok if they fall down,or sit on them accidentally etc.You need to be careful with the shures,and then they are fine too.

 

[zardak]

I came to the same conclusion, the lower priced 6400's sound better than the 8400's, as is the case many times, the lower cost headphone in the line-up can quite frequently be the better performing one. People don't seem to realize that it's ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, these companies are taking us all for a ride, why? I say again... BECAUSE IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY! CAPICHE?

I have a sub $100 headphone that performs on-par with the Abyss AB-1266, every step of the way, every nuance of the way... So you tell me?

Do people know what a misnomer is, well i'll dare to call it an old wife's tale... 'you get what you pay for'... ummm, maybe not, what a misnomer that is. And another one... there is no such thing as a free lunch, well hey, i've had many free lunches... no wonder this world is gonna go up in smaoke, it's full of fallacies and misnomers and non-truths and brainwashing.

 

[oggdude]

I also currently own the 6400's and i don't enjoy them as much as the 8400's. To me their more fatiguing to my ear and can be a little bright at times. Both models that i own are the newer versions with the inside of the box being a clear plastic. Their seems to be more bass with the 8400's but only as much bass as say the K702's.

 

[gelocks]

Quote:

I also currently own the 6400's and i don't enjoy them as much as the 8400's. To me their more fatiguing to my ear and can be a little bright at times. Both models that i own are the newer versions with the inside of the box being a clear plastic. Their seems to be more bass with the 8400's but only as much bass as say the K702's.

 
BOTH are fatiguing to me when used for music listening.
 
I've had the Shure 440s (with 840 pads), the SRH840s had them for a few weeks, the SRH940s and the SRH1840s. I also auditioned both KRKs and recorded a few snippets with the KRKs. At the time my main headphones for recording and music listening was the SRH940s, a bit cold, very engaging on the high spectrum, very detailed and of course, lacking visceral bass. BUT I found them better in all aspects than the KRK units!
 
SRH840s are not that far off, they have a bit of a mid-bass bump and upper-mids/highs are not as consistent as the 940s but for STRAIGHT MUSIC LISTENING, I would still prefer them.
 
Now, for little monitoring/mixing, the KRK8400s actually shined (as long as you don't go crazy on the low-end! lol but this goes for most of these "clinical-sounding" headphones...).
 
So, if you are comfortable with the KRKs for recording and music listening, then by all mean stick with them. If you think they lack a bit of energy up-top, SRH940s I consider to be better. If you feel you'd like a bit of mid-bass with Ok mids/highs, the SRH840s would do a good job. I guess the best way for you would be to try them if you can.
 
If you don't mind buying "used" gear, I've seen a couple of SRH840s cheap HERE on the boards. I think I also saw an SRH940 (by dweaver I think?!) for $150! (a steal!)
 
 
Good luck.

 

[oggdude]

they aren't bad prices, i've seen the 840's for £55 so i'm just waiting for them to come around again but would you say the 940's give a more neutral or flat sound? I'm basically looking for a pair of headphones that i can use to monitor with, use for critical listening on the go and also use on the bus for music enjoyment. 
 
The other big factor is isolation, the KRK's seem to loose their bass on the bus or train. They seem to struggle at keeping lower frequencies out from background noise.
 
I do genuinely enjoy the sound signature of the KRK's as i think they work really well for metal as they give good instrument separation.
 
In the UK especially since the demise of HMV it is pretty Impossible to demo headphones especially if your away from Manchester or London.
 
Im really just trying to ascertain peoples opinions on the differences, see which of the two people prefer. I don't see much KRK love on head-fi.
 
I may also add the m50's and the 940's to the list too.
 
Off topic but how do you compare the 1840's to HD 650's?

 

[gelocks]

I believe that the Shure 940s are excellent, definitively one of my faves.

I haven't heard Senns HD650 BUT had the HD600 and the sound was fairly similar actually.. Check my sig for the review...

 

[busssy2333]

I voted KNS 8400, you can easily search my other posts and find more info why I chose them over the shure 440s if you're deciding between these two (or these 4 if you count the shure 840 and kns 6400). Actualy, sorry I thought this poll was shure 440 (not 840) vs krk 8400, but I couldn't currently find the shure 840 for around $110 like the krk 8400 and shure 440, and the shure 840s being about ~$199 possibly puts them in another league (although the knk 8400s were mostly aroudn $150 but I searched a while and found them on jet.com (love jet) for $107~ shipped with coupon %10 off I had included with a previous Jet order.
 
I was worried the KRK 8400s weren't as neutral as the shure 440s. I really wanted flat sound. Suprisingly, the box and manual ensures the buyer much more than the online descriptions KRK gives for these that these are "designed to be as flat as possible" says the user manual in numerous different ways, and says it all over the box how clear and neutral they are designed to be.
 
People on forums say the krk 8400 has more bass than the krk 6400 and the 8400 overall sounds 'better'. I was worried they'd have too much bass and actually wanted the 6400 becuase I simply wanted "completely neutral". The krk 6400s have pretty much alwasy been around $100 but I opted for the 8400 since I found them basically $50 off (and possibly ~$90 off from the original price when they came out).  I was very worried about how the 440 shures would feel with that purposly disrespectfully unpadded headband that almost forces people to spend almost double for the shure 840s which have more padding. The krks are very comfortable. I tried monoprice 8232s and returned them because they were like a vice on your head even after I bent the shjt outa them - the headband basicalyl does nothing and they stayed on with just clamping force, not comphy. I was used to sennheizer hd428s which were very compfy. The krks are as comphy if not better than the sennheizers and they don't hinge upward like the shures for storage which I think is just a neusance for %90 of users. They don't fully swivel either either which is great so you don't have to "fix" them every time you put them on, they only swivel about a quarter turn one way.
 
I can't judge how they sound , I think that's a lot of opinion on forums, but if it matters, I do think they sound nice, nothing amazing but the sennheiser hd428s I was used to are a half decent pair of phones also. But with these and I just "know" they're neutral which I wanted (and sennheisers wire broke and had problems resoldering it..). 
 
Back to the bass how people say the krk 8400 has more than the 6400 (and might be said that the 6400 is
thus more neutral), is I think wrong to say that the krk 6400 is more neutral than the krk 8400 becuase if I'm not mistaken, they are both designed to be as neutral as possible but just that the 8400 broadcasts "more" of the bass. In other words, it's not "more bass", it's "hearing the bass better". I emailed krk to make sure:
"For mixing purposes, "the low end is more accurately represented" on the 8400. However, personal preference is still the major determining factor.
If you love hearing accurate low end that translates well over all audio systems, the 8400’s would be for you.
Thanks again for contacting Gibson Pro Audio Customer Service, and best regards always."
 
 
 
the krk 8400 box says the Memory foam pads (8400 has but not 6400) deliver improved low end response", so possibly the only difference between the 8400 and 6400 and the whole thing about the "bass" is just the memory foam pads. Either way I am very happy with these. the cord could be a tad thicker, and a foot or two longer but not a deal breaker. I despise that they make these cords a monopoly that you cant just replace them with a standard 1/8 cord. eBay has replacements for about $15 shipped but should be a ~$4 shipped cord.