[johnmatrix]

I recently saw a pair of k340's on ebay for under 200 and decided to pick them up. I figured it has been over a year since I joined and I have not bought into a FOTM yet so why not.

I have to say coming from the jack on my reciever and it is have no trouble driving them. These sound as good as my Sr-X Mk III's. They have a much wider, cohesive soundstage than the Sr-X and more bass impact. Nothing is really missing from the sound that I can hear. The cans are great for classical; I am enjoying Mahler's 9th right now. They do suffer a bit with the instument placement compared to the stax as well as speed in the more complex passages. The phones sound best to me when they are placed where the back cup almost meets the back of your ear. I believe I got the bass light, detail oriented ones as the bass is not overwhelming at all. It definately deserves its status especially for its price.

 

[digitalD]

Welcome to the club! Glad you like them so far. You can reference your version in this thread and please feel free to post your own version as this investigation furthers. There are tons of mods that have been pretty well documented on this site so if you feel something is lacking, there's plenty of directions to go in with this particular 'phone. Anyway, hope you enjoy them as I hope I will.

P.S. I believe I was watching that auction and if we're talking about the same one, nice last minute bid-out. I was thinking about bidding for another set, but it got too steep for me.

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnmatrix I recently saw a pair of k340's on ebay for under 200 and decided to pick them up. I figured it has been over a year since I joined and I have not bought into a FOTM yet so why not. I have to say coming from the jack on my reciever and it is have no trouble driving them. These sound as good as my Sr-X Mk III's. They have a much wider, cohesive soundstage than the Sr-X and more bass impact. Nothing is really missing from the sound that I can hear. The cans are great for classical; I am enjoying Mahler's 9th right now. They do suffer a bit with the instument placement compared to the stax as well as speed in the more complex passages. The phones sound best to me when they are placed where the back cup almost meets the back of your ear. I believe I got the bass light, detail oriented ones as the bass is not overwhelming at all. It definately deserves its status especially for its price.

Instrument placement and speed can certainly be improved with modds, especially the right cable. I doubt that they'll measure up to the Stax in this reguard however, but you can get close. A powerful high quality amp will give you huge gains as well.

 

[johnmatrix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by digitalD Welcome to the club! Glad you like them so far. You can reference your version in this thread and please feel free to post your own version as this investigation furthers. There are tons of mods that have been pretty well documented on this site so if you feel something is lacking, there's plenty of directions to go in with this particular 'phone. Anyway, hope you enjoy them as I hope I will. P.S. I believe I was watching that auction and if we're talking about the same one, nice last minute bid-out. I was thinking about bidding for another set, but it got too steep for me.

I was thinking of recabling these and I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for good cable as I think a good high quality cable would be an improvement over the steel cable.

 

[philodox]

Wait until you hear them properly amped.

 

[johnmatrix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox Wait until you hear them properly amped.

I am actually getting thinking about getting into DIY over the summer. I will have to take a hard circuits lab for my Analytical Chem PhD, so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and get a jump start. I was thinking of building a KGSS for my stax and a dynahi for my K340s.

 

[dhp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox Wait until you hear them properly amped.

im curious about the bypassing... want to confirm that this pic is correct?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53...ire/bypass.jpg

 

[philodox]

if by driver you mean the dynamic driver, that is what you want

Dynahi is great with the K340's... tube amps are better, but a powerfull enough tube amp isnt cheap. Balanced K340's sound amazing.

Sorry about your wallet.

 

[swt61]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox if by driver you mean the dynamic drive, that is what you want Dynahi is great with the K340's... tube amps are better, but a powerfull enough tube amp isnt cheap. Balanced K340's sound amazing. Sorry about your wallet.

Arrrg! Philodox is going to have me in the poorhouse! LOL!

 

[philodox]

hehehe... I'm on my way already. Building a new balanced tube amp [though I am not positive it will be balanced, worried about even order harmonics] and it should be done around a month after the national. My old one was a flop.

 

[iSleipnir]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox if by driver you mean the dynamic driver, that is what you want Dynahi is great with the K340's... tube amps are better, but a powerfull enough tube amp isnt cheap. Balanced K340's sound amazing. Sorry about your wallet.

Lies!

The DIY Bottlehead S.E.X. amp sounds fantastic with them. It goes great with the K-340's smooth presentation and its around 360 or 370, not sure. It's a great overall amp and more than worth the money. No, its true I don't own one but a friend on campus does, and lets just say I vist him a lot

 

[aznsensazian]

tube amps does wonders to this phone

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iSleipnir Lies! The DIY Bottlehead S.E.X. amp sounds fantastic with them. It goes great with the K-340's smooth presentation and its around 360 or 370, not sure. It's a great overall amp and more than worth the money. No, its true I don't own one but a friend on campus does, and lets just say I vist him a lot

Cool, nice tip.

Though our listening levels may differ slightly... I don't remember the SEX amp that was at the Chicago meet having enough gain. Then again, it is DIY, so who knows what the differences between the two were.

 

[johnmatrix]

Does anyone have any cable suggestions for these phones, either copper or silver suggestions are welcome?

 

[mulveling]

Congrats! They are a really, really nice set of cans for that kind of money.