richard51
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2013
- Posts
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I had received it 3 weeks ago, the AKG K 340, and now my unique headphone must be, and will be forever the AKG K 340, for only 3 reasons : money, i paid them under 200 hundred bucks, perfect state, green driver one, supposed to be bass-light version, that is ridiculous because the bass is there and detailed , then now the question is how will be the cost to upgrade them ?...
The other reason is linked with a simple audio fact, speakers are in general less profuse in inner details than the best headphones, and headphones are in general less able than speakers to give a depth imaging dimension ... Guess what ? The 340 produce a depth imaging on par with my actual speakers with also way more detailed mid range than my speakers, hence the organic realist presence of voices to die for.... This AKG K 340 to my ears is without evident, absolute, defect, i want to say defects that will kill the pleasure, all is relative for sure, for example the bass is so good, better than my he-400 and sound more, way more, nuanced and musical on all counts and in the bass department particularly, except the he-400 have sub-bass the 340 dont possess, but who need sub-bass in classical and jazz ?Oh! yes i forget the canon will be too smooth in The 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky and some last notes in organ music for sure ...
I experience also in the first listening, when they had not been damped rightly and mods. by me an incoherency between the bass and highs yes.... But now rightly mods, and damped,no more evident incoherencies;my 2 stax, a lambda nova one , and the Stax sr-5, sound now more artificial by comparison....And the natural realism of the 340 trounce the AKG K 701for me...They dont have the soundstage of the 701 but they have an headstage that is essentially a natural depth imaging so natural that listening to the 701 is difficult after that...
But the last reason is in the end absolutely no fatigue at all even for 12 hours listenings, compared to he-400, the highs are a bath of butterflies wings!.....They sound simply like speakers taped to your head pure and simple, and compared to any of the headphones i know of, they sound less like headphones than like speakers..Indeed they are some headphones, very costlier one, more detailed; they are speakers,very costlier one, with more depth imaging power, no doubts; but where is the headphone with a perfect balance between the natural depth imaging and the inner details ? Where ? But wait if there is one with this kind of perfect equilibrium between inner details and natural depth imaging,and probably there is one out of my reach, what is his price? ....No thanks, i will die, i must die with this AKG K 340 for sure, after all this is a relatively imperfect headphone,like most headphones are,it is not the better one , but nevermind the more musical that i ever listen to, i must say that, i must think that,OR my wife will kill me....
final note :
What explain the enigma around the adoration and simultaneous insatisfaction and sometimes contradictions that comes from this headphone and the different level of appreciation is the very clumsy material design,a solid one, but a clumsy one with no adequate damping around the revolutionary hybrid technology of the 2 cells, electroacoustic and dynamic one...
The other reason is linked with a simple audio fact, speakers are in general less profuse in inner details than the best headphones, and headphones are in general less able than speakers to give a depth imaging dimension ... Guess what ? The 340 produce a depth imaging on par with my actual speakers with also way more detailed mid range than my speakers, hence the organic realist presence of voices to die for.... This AKG K 340 to my ears is without evident, absolute, defect, i want to say defects that will kill the pleasure, all is relative for sure, for example the bass is so good, better than my he-400 and sound more, way more, nuanced and musical on all counts and in the bass department particularly, except the he-400 have sub-bass the 340 dont possess, but who need sub-bass in classical and jazz ?Oh! yes i forget the canon will be too smooth in The 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky and some last notes in organ music for sure ...
I experience also in the first listening, when they had not been damped rightly and mods. by me an incoherency between the bass and highs yes.... But now rightly mods, and damped,no more evident incoherencies;my 2 stax, a lambda nova one , and the Stax sr-5, sound now more artificial by comparison....And the natural realism of the 340 trounce the AKG K 701for me...They dont have the soundstage of the 701 but they have an headstage that is essentially a natural depth imaging so natural that listening to the 701 is difficult after that...But the last reason is in the end absolutely no fatigue at all even for 12 hours listenings, compared to he-400, the highs are a bath of butterflies wings!.....They sound simply like speakers taped to your head pure and simple, and compared to any of the headphones i know of, they sound less like headphones than like speakers..Indeed they are some headphones, very costlier one, more detailed; they are speakers,very costlier one, with more depth imaging power, no doubts; but where is the headphone with a perfect balance between the natural depth imaging and the inner details ? Where ? But wait if there is one with this kind of perfect equilibrium between inner details and natural depth imaging,and probably there is one out of my reach, what is his price? ....No thanks, i will die, i must die with this AKG K 340 for sure, after all this is a relatively imperfect headphone,like most headphones are,it is not the better one , but nevermind the more musical that i ever listen to, i must say that, i must think that,OR my wife will kill me....
final note :
What explain the enigma around the adoration and simultaneous insatisfaction and sometimes contradictions that comes from this headphone and the different level of appreciation is the very clumsy material design,a solid one, but a clumsy one with no adequate damping around the revolutionary hybrid technology of the 2 cells, electroacoustic and dynamic one...
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