[richard51]

I cannot wait for your impressions.... This Grado is considered a reference...

Here some remarks of a reviewer about the Grado :

«
The RS1 was not without a fair share of competitors, or otherwise known as “sidekicks” especially in most headphone collector’s dry boxes.


Sennheiser had its HD650, which was the ultimate in dark yet encompassing and intimate sound. It can be considered the RS1’s opposite. AKG had the K701, hailed as the most natural and thus accurate sounding headphone.


Compared to the RS1 though, the AKG was rendered boring, overly sibilant, and exceedingly detailed.»




https://headfonics.com/grado-reference-series-rs1/

I have a pair of vintage Grado RS1 (buttons) that are being repaired at the factory. They should be back next week. I'm curious if the guitar timbre can match the 340 or Sextett. TBD.

 

[richard51]

The K701 anyway is artificial and fatiguing...Unnatural.... completely out of competition and not worthy to touch the feet of the sextett... Then.... We will wait your review....

This is my opinion...

But if i want to be fair and objective, in audio and in psycho-acoustic science, the inner ears canals and the auricle and the Head related transfer function (HRTF) are so different in each of us that opinions about headphones are to a great extent dependant from our physical specificities yes but also from our own hearing learning personal history and our judgment is conditioned to a great extent too by the mechanical,electrical and acoustical embeddings of our audio system.... Then.... If someone like the K701 at the end it is only a reflection of all these factors not an objective truth....

And also all audio component are born of trade-off choices and reflect them, no audio component is perfect for all in all circonstances and for all uses and needs ...

But in audio there is some objectivity reflected in statistics analysis : If an headphone stay a cult object for 50 years, this reflect some objective truth too.... This is why before buying i have read for months, ALL reviews in the web about an headphone or an amplifier or about speakers.... Statistical analysis and reading under the line which is omitted by the reviewers... This is my experience... Before i did that, all my purchases were erroneous move and upgrade failures... After doing that, all my purchases were spot on....So much true that i dont need to buy anything else to have a relatively good audiophile experience....

Buying the sextett was fun and not a failure because of my studying and the good advices of more educated audio friends here....

 

[Max Choiral]

I have a pair of vintage Grado RS1 (buttons) that are being repaired at the factory. They should be back next week. I'm curious if the guitar timbre can match the 340 or Sextett. TBD.

Depends on what you prefer. RS1 is heavily colored pair of headphones.

 

[Davidzak64]

Depends on what you prefer. RS1 is heavily colored pair of headphones.

I prefer a Fender and a Gibson electric guitar with a Marshall stack to sound like a Fender and a Gibson electric guitar with a Marshall stack.

 

[Davidzak64]

@richard51 What condition are your elastic bands that adjust the headband in? I need to replace mine.

 

[richard51]

Very good.... I think that they were in a box for decades.... My sextett are like new.... It was not a bargain i paid for but i dont regret it, i like them....It will survive the K340 for sure.... And what can i listen too save the sextett if the K340 go down ?

The string on the K340 was not so good.... I fix it myself but the look is horrendous... I dont give a damn though....

Probably you could order this elastic band from AKG.... Have you tried to look ?

@richard51 What condition are your elastic bands that adjust the headband in? I need to replace mine.

 

[Davidzak64]

Very good.... I think that they were in a box for decades.... My sextett are like new.... It was not a bargain i paid for but i dont regret it, i like them....It will survive the K340 for sure.... And what can i listen too save the sextett if the K340 go down ?

The string on the K340 was not so good.... I fix it myself but the look is horrendous... I dont give a damn though....

Probably you could order this elastic band from AKG.... Have you tried to look ?

Yes, they are the same design as the K240 Studio that I own. I was just wondering if you had experienced taking them apart yet?

 

[Davidzak64]

Very good.... I think that they were in a box for decades.... My sextett are like new.... It was not a bargain i paid for but i dont regret it, i like them....It will survive the K340 for sure.... And what can i listen too save the sextett if the K340 go down ?

The string on the K340 was not so good.... I fix it myself but the look is horrendous... I dont give a damn though....

Probably you could order this elastic band from AKG.... Have you tried to look ?

I replaced the elastics on my K340 with small hair ties. It was very easy and they work great.

 

[richard51]

I did not take off the plastic grid as i did for the K340, because the resonators are near the ear and i did not want to take a risk.... But i think that the plastic grid on the sextett did not impede S.Q. to the same level as the K340 with his more complex dual acoustic chamber needs...

I did not need to open it because i can assess the status of the sextett by immediate visual inspection and the resonators are color "cream" with an orange border... And the logo inside the black box on the side, and the holes series in the head band are the signs that my sextett are a MP.... i am glad because i wanted a MP version...

I takes off the "old" earpads , but which were in a state as new in fact , coming with this purchase and i tried others pads.... The "fabric cloth" pads makes the high frequencies too forward and the "protein skin" pads makes them too boomy in the bass.... I was very pleased by the "leather" pads.... I think the "vent holes" pads of the K340 would have been less interesting here because the sextett need a slight boost in the bass without compromising the highs.... My impression of the leather pads was then the more positive....

I did not need to open them because i put under the pads paper thin Fo.Q t-32 tape against vibrations on only one side of the plastic grid, and outside i put 4 pieces on each cup of the sorbothane duro 70 damping materials 1/ 8 of inches....Most people ignore that shell cups vibrate too...

I was lucky, i get the original box, the model i wanted, and no signs of hard use, they really shine as new....They will live longer than me at 72 years old...And as i said their S.Q. is better more natural, more holographic than all my other headphones which i did not use save for the documentaries and news on the internet...

 

[richard51]

i want now to buy a DF.... After that my AKG collection would be done.... and i will know for sure if the K340 is AKG king or not ....

I discount the K1000 from my list because of price and because even if i am not a basshead, i want an headphone with deep bass...The K1000 cannot compete with the K340 for bass... I never had one with better bass before the K340... I did not say that the K340 bass are the best of all headphones, certainly not, but my other headphones were not good on this count, and the bass register must be balanced and extended without being boomy.... The K340 are satisfying and listening any music with bass show its importance...

And more than that the mids frequencies perception are colored by their grounding in deep bass perception... It is very evident if we compare the sextett S.Q. with the K340, even the sextett mids so beautifully done they are, lacks body compared to the K340....The mids of the K340 are the best i ever heard by a long margin... Realistic, and natural; when we hear a known voice of someone speaking to us in a room , we dont say that the voice had good mids frequencies, we say that the voice is natural in this room and sound as our friend voice must sound... the mids of the K340 are not so much "beautiful" or ethereal than incarnated in a body and realistic completely...

 

[Davidzak64]

Frampton Comes Alive's presentation is flawless on the Sextett.

 

[richard51]

I will never now.... I dont own Frampton.....

 

[Davidzak64]

I will never now.... I dont own Frampton.....

Yes. But you must have internet. YouTube?

 

[richard51]

My audio system is disconnected completely from internet... I cannot listen to Frampton on my audio system.... I can just now listen to it from my computer and from the not so good but very sturdy and very hard to destruct beyerdynamic T150....I use this headphone on my computer because it an indestructible which look like a german tank...His sound is a bit too dark and any sound in the background of the file is dark and muddle.... My dac on the computer is a chinese not costly dac, which is better anyway than the computer dac for sure.... I dont listen music seriously on my computer...

All my music is on hard disks, i sold all my cds, and throw out all my copies selling my house.... I keep only transfered files.... lossless one only... I had thousands of files.... Perhaps near 10,000 albums... Classic, jazz and persian and Indian music and some few from other countries.... Almost no vocals in popular music or in jazz save a few like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez ( my generation) .... I like sacred classical vocals or lieders.... For the guitar i am in love with classical and jazz guitar ( these days i am a fan of the late Pat Martino and Peter Bernstein) .... And i like a lot all the pluck strings family , i enjoy tar, tanbur, setar, lute, oud, vichitra veena, sitar, surbahar, rudra veena, simple veena, spanish guitar, portuguese guitar in the fado genre etc ...



I disconnected my audio system from the computer by buying a small battery dac/files bank/ equalizer all in one ... Then i did not bother with the high noise level of the computer anymore which noise it was very necessary to limit for my sensitive K340 needs ... I did this when i lost my speakers/ dedicated room and decided to build a system for and around the K340...


I only own one album alas! from this master.... On the K340 the bass chords are to die for....

 

[richard51]

an introduction to Pat Martino my favorite guitarist... listen this short stunning 11 minutes video where the musician Rick Beato recall the genius and his hard fate in life....One of the greatest guitarist i heard....The other one being Joe Pass and Ostad Elahi the supreme improvising tanbur master...