dakanao
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2012
- Posts
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I own the AKG K540, and I have listened to the Shure SRH-840 a few months back, and I can remember pretty well how they sound like.
The 840's are fuller sounding overall, but with clearly less bass than the K540's. Both headphones sound VERY natural when the track is recorded well, but I would say the K540 does slightly better in this regard, only because it's a bit thinner sounding overall and slightly brighter than the 840's. Imaging and soundstage is about the same from both headphones.
But the K540's can get a bit sibilant if a track is OVERLY bright mastered. But otherwise, it's very clear and with a quite hard hitting, tight bass when the track asks for it.
The 840's have clearly less bass than the K540's, in both sub and mid-bass.
So if you like a fuller midrange with very natural tones and great clarity, and little bass, you should choose the 840's.
If you like top notch clarity and natural sounding tones (really, it destroys the 440's and Philips Uptowns, and it's even better than the 840's in this regard), with deep, quite hard hitting bass and good subbass aswell, plus you don't mind a slightly bright headphone, than you should choose the K540's.
This is all without an amp though.
I've tested out the K540's unamped aswell against the: Philips Fidelio L1, Philips Cityscape Uptown, and the Shure SRH-440's.
And to be quite honest, the K540's just DEMOLISH them when it comes to clarity and naturalness and bass response on good recorded tracks.
I must note though: The K540's takes a WHILE to get burned in. They sound like crap at first, but after 500+ hours of burn in, they're on the same level as the Shure 840's (unamped both).
The 840's are fuller sounding overall, but with clearly less bass than the K540's. Both headphones sound VERY natural when the track is recorded well, but I would say the K540 does slightly better in this regard, only because it's a bit thinner sounding overall and slightly brighter than the 840's. Imaging and soundstage is about the same from both headphones.
But the K540's can get a bit sibilant if a track is OVERLY bright mastered. But otherwise, it's very clear and with a quite hard hitting, tight bass when the track asks for it.
The 840's have clearly less bass than the K540's, in both sub and mid-bass.
So if you like a fuller midrange with very natural tones and great clarity, and little bass, you should choose the 840's.
If you like top notch clarity and natural sounding tones (really, it destroys the 440's and Philips Uptowns, and it's even better than the 840's in this regard), with deep, quite hard hitting bass and good subbass aswell, plus you don't mind a slightly bright headphone, than you should choose the K540's.
This is all without an amp though.
I've tested out the K540's unamped aswell against the: Philips Fidelio L1, Philips Cityscape Uptown, and the Shure SRH-440's.
And to be quite honest, the K540's just DEMOLISH them when it comes to clarity and naturalness and bass response on good recorded tracks.
I must note though: The K540's takes a WHILE to get burned in. They sound like crap at first, but after 500+ hours of burn in, they're on the same level as the Shure 840's (unamped both).
