[Davidzak64]

The K340 is Flirtin with Disaster.

 

[Monsterzero]

You seem to be in a southern rock mood.
Try Green Grass and High Tides - The Outlaws
And
Fire on the Mountain - Marshall Tucker Band
And
One Horse Town, Pretty Little Lie - Blackberry Smoke

 

[Davidzak64]

I have a feeling that @richard51 will be spending the rest of his life trying to figure out whether the k340 or Sextett is the better HP. He will certainly die a happy man. But there is no better. They're just different, but still have the same DNA which makes them both very special. Anticipation his review should be very entertaining and informative.

Ps: I stole the DNA phrase from @JAnonymous5150 . I thought he worded it perfect.

 

[richard51]

----- Why did my K340 sound so good and more good than most other K340 and why the sextett i wait for will do the same ?


When i owned my speakers/room i decided to investigate acoustic.... To make the story short, i discovered that there exist three main embeddings for any audio system, and i discovered that the three embeddings are very important for the final S.Q. experience... electrical embeddings, mechanical embeddings and acoustical embeddings....

Mechanical embeddings is related to vibrations control mainly.... Isolation and damping and coupling and decoupling materials....

Acoustical embeddings is related to acoustic passive treatment with various materials relating to absorbing, reflective and diffusing ratio .... But also and it is very important it is related to the active mechanical modification of the pressure zones distribution in the room... I used Helmholtz resonators of different size at precise locations in the room and around the speakers to do so... I also use foldable screen as lenses to focus the waves toward my ears.... Etc...

Electrical embeddings is related to the electrical grid of the house and of the room.... For the room i used 14 cheap chinese Schumann resonators at 10 bucks each in each of the 8 double wall plugs in my room... Some resonators are distributed along the room...

In one word my K340, which i modified with vibration controls materials inside and on the cups , and wich already included acoustic control, thanks to Dr. Goerike 5 passive resonators, is also driven with a very low noise amplifier but importantly my headphone are connected to an electrical room grid where the Schumann resonators act as a kind of dithering mechanism in my electrical room field....

These add an airy atmosphere to the sound of the K340 and more livingness.... I was using the same set for my speakers/room with the same results....

Without them the K340 is good for sure but not so magical as they sound now .... This is one of my secret....

Changes of pad, amplification clean and powerful, and clean and low noise and very lean, more cold than warm with a battery dac source , equalization and tone controls , vibration control, electrical control, good cables, removal of the plastic grid ....

 

[Davidzak64]

----- Why did my K340 sound so good and more good than most other K340 and why the sextett i wait for will do the same ?


When i owned my speakers/room i decided to investigate acoustic.... To make the story short, i discovered that there exist three main embeddings for any audio system, and i discovered that the three embeddings are very important for the final S.Q. experience... electrical embeddings, mechanical embeddings and acoustical embeddings....

Mechanical embeddings is related to vibrations control mainly.... Isolation and damping and coupling and decoupling materials....

Acoustical embeddings is related to acoustic passive treatment with various mate4rials relating to absorbing, reflective and diffusing ratio .... But also and it is very important to the active mechanical modification of the pressure zones distribution in the room... I used Helmholtz resonators of different size to do so... I also use foldable screen as lenses to focus the waves toward my ears.... Etc...

Electrical embeddings is related to the electrical grid of the house and of the room.... For the room i used 14 cheap chinese Schumann resonators at 10 bucks each in each of the 8 double wall plug in my room... Some are distributed along the room...

In one word my K340, which i modify with vibration controls materials inside and on the cups , and wich already included acoustic control, thanks to Dr. Goerike 5 passive resonators, is also driven with a very low noise amplifier but importantly my headphone are connected to an electrical room grid where the Schumann resonators act as a kind of dithering mechanism in my electrical room field....

These add an airy atmosphere to the sound of the K340 and more livingness.... I was using the same set for my speakers/room with the same results....

Without them the K340 are good for sure but not so magical .... This is one of my secret....

Changes of pad, amplification clean and powerful, and clean and low noise and very lean, more cold than warm with a battery dac source , equalization, vibration control, electrical control, good cables, removal of the plastic grid ...

. To make the story short

 

[richard51]

I have a feeling that @richard51 will be spending the rest of his life trying to figure out whether the k340 or Sextett is the better HP. He will certainly die a happy man. But there is no better. They're just different, but still have the same DNA which makes them both very special. Anticipation his review should be very entertaining and informative.

Ps: I stole the DNA phrase from @JAnonymous5150 . I thought he worded it perfect.

Thanks for your kind appreciation....

But i will take my time before writing about them.... I have no idea how to modify them , i will surely add anti vibrations materials inside.... I am afraid to take off the plastic grid and will not do it now....When i take off the plastic grid of the K340, 4 years ago, i did so without being in love with them at this time then without fear to loose them by accident.... I will try the original pads they seems almost untouched....For source, cables, amplification and for the room electrical grid, all is ready for the sextett ....

 

[richard51]

Then remember that all my passion for the K340 is for a MODIFIED K340....I did not recommend the K340 to most people, only to some dedicated and nuts audiophile....

Someone using 14 Schumann resonators in a room is nuts for sure.... I prefer to be nuts anyway with an optimal S.Q. than sane without it .... This is the definition of an audiophile.... I am certainly one....

 

[richard51]

Now a good and a bad news.....

How to put the K340 in the galaxy ?

This is the solution and this is the good news.. :

https://www.theoretica.us/bacch-dsp/

This dude is a top physicist at Harvard... :

https://mae.princeton.edu/people/faculty/choueiri

Now the bad news is the price, which will be forever, alas! out of my purse possibility....27,000 US dollars ...

Read this article:

https://www.theoretica.us/press-docs/TAS_BACCH-SP_Dec_2022.pdf

I regret for the first time not being more rich....

 

[richard51]

My sextett will be here tomorrow.... I am a bit excited....

 

[richard51]

The sextett are here....

I had put the right pads ( leather one, who sound good and let space for my ears because i will not put off the plastic grid with them because of the necessary protection for the passive resonators.) I already put inside and outside 2 different anti vibrations materials with success....

My listening opinion is already determined completely.... It was easy.....

 

[xeizo]

My listening opinion is already determined completely.... It was easy.....

And ...

 

[richard51]

In few words :

The good news: i dont regret buying them... They are good headphone.... The sound quality is similar completely to the K340....But .....

The bad news: I was suspecting that because after all the two drivers of the K340 CANNOT be replaced by a single driver without consequence and acoustic repercussion on the general S.Q. scale ...

The instrument timbre resemble the K340.... But one that is said.... All the rest is inferior.... Dynamic, transients, bass and highs... The highs are not so refined.... The bass is in the upper part ( a litle boomy if not the right pads) present and it is a good thing, they dont lack bass, but no comparison with the deep bass and bass extension of the K340 which i could fell with my body bones sometimes , neither with his refined highs, but the highs and bass of the sextett MP are there with enough presence to be enjoyed, especially the highs ) ....

Some have said the mids of the K340 are, if not better, on par with the K340.... Sorry, they are not, but so good they are,if we listen in comparison, the K340 being more transparent , his mids are more luminous.... The K340 is more neutral and not mid centric this is the reason why his mids frequencies are better for me .... The sextett are relatively neutral perhaps compared to other headphones but they are not neutral compared to the K340 double drivers, they are mids centric....

I am pleased to have bought them , they are the MP version with cream color and orange border.... They were sold with the original box and for me seems pretty pristine and not used much at all....The sextett is to my taste so good , compared to other headphones , i am happy to own them.... But owning the K340 , i think i will keep the sextett as a spare in case if i loose the K340 and BEFORE buying another K340 pair for sure...Thats all.... I cannot imagine listening the K340 and giving time to the sextett, why doing that ?

Now i think that all those who compared the sextett and the K340 WITHOUT perceiving the differences, own a K340 which had not been optimized in a rightful way or their K340 is fatigued, i dont know....... Because so similar are the imaging, timbre and soundstage and they are, the holography is there too but less clear and transparent, the mids so natural they are on the sextett dont rival the transparent more neutral and more natural mids of the K340.... The K340 is superior on all counts.... The sextett is the K340 for the poor...

I like the sextett, which is a feat in itself, because i dislike most headphones, but it is not surprizing, because these shells resemble one another and the resonators are the same as in the K340....But i would have been more enthusiast for the sextett if i did not own an optimized K340 to begin with .... I am not sure if i will live with the sextett for a long time if my K340 break if it occur one day.... But it is better the sextett than my other left choices, for example compared to the K701, they are more neutral and more natural and way more relaxing to listen.....

The K340 rival probably higher TOTL, the sextett are good but could not rival TOTL headphone.... Lack of deep bass, lack of refined highs even if they are good for sure ...Lack of neutrality, lack of dynamic.....Read me right, the sextett are very good, in a way flawless, but compared to the K340 they are no more flawless....

The two headphones are like two twins, same faces, but one is normal, the other athletic, higher, and better on all physical counts....Same mother, two different fathers....

I was lucky my sextett are like new....No signs of use really....Nothing to replace, even the pads are like new but i prefer my leather one.... By the way differences of S.Q. with pads are not small differences... I did not use equalization really with the sextett, and i dont feel the need to as with the K340 sensitive reaction ....I only add a bit of bass under 100 hertz and a bit of highs ....

 

[xeizo]

Another Sextett clone.

Thanks! That was my first headphone, and my only headphone for many years, as I mentioned before it disintegrated so I threw it away. Bad decision.

 

[xeizo]

What do you folks drive your High impedance headphones with?

S.M.S.L SH-6 drives everything I have just fine and sounds pristine.

My Presonus HP-4 does so too, but it is a little less refined. Also, my Yamaha RX-A2050 drives most cans without effort.

If I would get into serious trouble I have an old Technics Class AA and a Sony MOS-FET integrated amps in the closet.

 

[xeizo]

I am too proud of it , i apologize for another image of my treasury.... This Sansui has 2 names but it is the same tech and design : Sansui Au-Alpha 607i or Sansui AU X701... 100 watts....

It give volt and raw power at the headphone out....Only a resistor tame the power amplifier for the headphone out...The reason why my bass is so good, deep and extended is linked to this powerful clean amplification in particular....

Here i will report a good description by an owner i pick on another forum: «
«I have Sansui AU-X701 for about 3 years now and love it. Had all sorts of amps before that. After about 2 years it started developing a problem where it took loong time to turn on and in the end it didn't even. In first months after a professional made a full recap (63 Elna Silmic II caps) it sounded a bit too smooth, unnatural in the hights. Since then it's the best amp I've heard till this day.
Clean but not analytical sound, I think low distortion is what contributes to this. Imaging is great. Phantom center is pinpoint and doesn't move an inch. About musicality - it has this character that I'm not shure I can explain, I could say it's warm sounding but it's not in a real sense. It's the sound that makes you exhale and relax as soon as you turn it on. It has this ease of presenting music - quite fast, smooth and dynamic. Bass is very well controlled. I've read somewhere Sansui was striving to get a tube sound with transistor amps since they've started making them and that this alpha series is where they came very close to that sound. Like others had said, EQ and loudness functions work great, I also use it's phono stage and I can say It's miles better than ART DJ Phono Pre that I used before that. Effect loop is also very handy If you want to use dedicated EQ or a cheap chinese tube preamp like I do and bypass it with just a click of a button. Recapped or not, sub $450 price is a great investment in an amp that possibly sounds better than most new amps in $1000 price range. »



In Sansui own words : «
AU-X701 Photo Gallery

This model is equivalent to AU-Alpha607 that is the third best model of the eighth generation of the 07 Series. The front panel has the incredible piano black finish. The sound of this unit is very natural and clear in high to middle range with powerful Sansui low frequency. The sound trend being started at AU-G99X was further polished on this model. ​

I had the AU-G99X and AU-D901 and all the models in between counting from AU-D9. Loved the Sansui sound, however they where way better for speakers most of them had quite mediocre headphone outs.