ihearnoises1981
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2013
- Posts
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- Likes
- 10
AKG 271 VS AKG 240 COMPARISON CHART
HEADPHONE & SETUP STATUS
AKG K271 and AKG K240 BOTH have 200 hours( burned in with pink noise, with white noise, and with 2 frequency sweeps) and BOTH have mesh inside ear cup taken off, also have the pleather or leather ear pads on ( more comfy to me and fit better, also it sounds better) being run through my red wine audio cassabria, my woo audio WA6, my ipod classic 5 gen, my macbook, my ipod with a LOD and the behringer HA400, and my Audio engine D1. ALL file formats have been converted to AIFF 16 bit 44KHZ (due to being the highest quality format that is accepted by my iPod classic 5gen and iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, iPod touch and also iPad)
AKG 271's PRO LIST
1# more control overall, specifically in lower end impulse
2# more broadband dynamics (guitars and vocals are not supposed to rumble?!)
3# better imaging
4# better separation (the arpeggio, seems so striped down and raw, every pluck of the string is so isolated and alone)
5# better soundstage overall ( how did these people get into my house?)
6# better low end extension( how low can you go?)
7# better resolution
8# better timbre quality ( so rough, and textured, i can hear the velocity of him hitting that dry bright snare and that grist in that brush drum)
9# more revealing in midranges ( what a raspy tone of hers, i can hear her exhaling)
10# more audible throughout the FR spectrum
11# more Agility
12# more detail (i think i just heard the split of the lips of that tuba player hmmm)
13# better transparency
14# alot more "vocal" or " striking" in the mid and upper mid range ( just look at her belting it, WOAH)
15# more clinical or sterile ( never thought i never notice his fingers slide across the strings of that guitar THAT many times)
16# more "organized" if you will, less cluttered
17# more neutral
18# more balanced
19# better transient response overall( due to a more broadband dynamic range)
20# more evenly layered (everything plays at its own terms evenly, nothing gets focalized (fight for the spotlight) so nearly nothing gets buried in the mix, so nearly everything is coherent, audible, and so everything is concieved)
21# slightly more lush in the mid mid range, upper mid range, and highs (due to the less inflated and captivating bass, less thick ambience and less densely thick midrange, so one could focus more on mid ranges)
22# more linear
23# more present sound across the FR spectrum
24# less coloured (no Crayola here buddy NONE)
25# more "Edge"
26# more definition
27# better vocal and instrument projection ( i'm blown away, seems like i felt the rush of wind bypassing me when she's belting it in my ears, wow what a ranged register)
28# more articulate
AKG 240's PRO LIST
1#warmer (like tripling your blankets in winter next to a fire place)
2#more tonal quality and full ness ( very throated and chesty, reminds me of my momma's chilli )
3# more ambience (contributes to sound stage, reverberation, as well as the midrange)
4# heavier bass impact ( a big " kick in the pants") can be loose and uncontrolled)
5# more "dense" or thick, chesty is the word
6# more resonant (due to the convenient open back design)
7# slightly sweeter ( better than ice cream)
8# more saturated or "richer" if you will
9# more subtle and unforced, ahh smooth and silky are the words( like laying in a hammock in fiji while your bitch get you some booze)
10# better reverberation (Dilidaydee..... Dili-oohdee..... Dileeldayhe, Dilio-ohhe, Dilidehe-hooooo......... Seatle yodel my fellow Hobo)
:POINT RESULTS:
AKG 271 : 28 points: Winner
AKG 240 : 10 points: Loser
:RESULTS AND IMPRESSIONS:
I found the AKG 240's to be very musical, for it was warm, sweet, chesty and smooth midrange, with excellent bass impact. shows utmost quality in ambience and reverberations, being a open back it is BOUND to have this advantage. The tonal quality was very saturated and rich and was just silky smooth very subtle and nicely laid back, but tends to be disorganized, lazy and lethargic and a tad veil compared to the 271's and the overall "presence" of all ranges is just not as available as it's contemporary also it looses soundstage though, due to A lack of instrument separation and transparency and is too dense and too full and fat and cluttered at times, and the bass sadly tends to be loose and sometimes to over impulsive, further destroying distance and space ) the extra push in the upper mid bass response and ambient and reverb range further bury and mudify the mix a tad since it's attenuated a bit too much, it also is hard to focus on the upper register and mid ranges with this "bump" we should call it and further captivates and buries ALOT of what we are looking for. I find the K271 to have a more lean clinical uncoloured and striking and vocal presentation, timbre quality that "Attacks" you and utmost control
GRAPH OBSERVATIONS:
As you can see it is attenuated approx. 10-15DB more in the 10-500hz ALOT MORE than the K271 further making it "muddier'' sounding and making the upper register less captivating than the lower register, thats the HUGE main difference between these cans, and since the K271's OBVIOUSLY congest more (Due to it being a closed and the K240's are open) it will have a more controlled and striking presentation and will seem to have better resolution and definition and a more even and broadband dynamic range and shines its upper register alot more and timbre quality will be more noticed as well as having better quality
(open backs tend to lean towards lower and ambient and reverb frequencies making them alot more emphasized and tend to be more dynamic in those frequencies (10-500hz) as shown in the graph and will obviously make the upper and mid frequencies less noticeable further mudifying and burying the upper and mid frequencies in the mix)
:Note
i have opened up both headphones) the although the K271's are closed they resonate a SIGNIFICANT amount due to having very Large un-dampened/uncovered resonation holes both for the bass cone and tweeter and due to it having a very LARGE resonation cavity, THATS why i think being closed is good enough, since it already resonates a **** load there is no need to make it open back and have be muddy and will make the resolution worse since you are making it resonate too much, it's also more balanced when closed and is bound to be less glued together making it better for imaging and instrument separation as you can see and further making it more audible throughout the FR range. Open back headphones Ideal when the headphone has damped/covered or small resonation holes and has a small resonation cavity, THAT is when it is ideal to make it an open back, like the AKG K70X
:BACK TO RESULTS AND IMPRESSIONS:
But the 271 was still just as musical, meanwhile being Very proficient. I found it striking, patronizing, and while being sweet, having fine balance, being true with it's uncoloured sound, having utmost control and authoritative bass, with having excellent bass extension. Having a stunning broadband dynamic range, that oscillated with guitar phrasing, though in most cases considered "lean" or "thin", after it's pesky burn in, it felt throated and defined, I was and still simply am blown away by its vocal as well as its instrument projection, the clinical articulation and true timbre quality has my eyes gazing over this un appreciated headphone. Vocals were so coarse and showed its power and fine grist, the coarse and abrasive timbre quality (2-10khz) was so pure, uncoloured, graceful, the word is real..... none the less this headphone is DEAD neutral in it's tracks. They also corroborated sweetness though it's tonal presentation, while being very saturated with rich lushness, funnily also being nice and lean, with having a concentratedly dense mid range that showed a nice distance, it has that constant bare boned focus and concentration in the midranges and just conveys pure power and everything seemed coherent across the FR spectrum.With limbo low authoritative bass with utmost control, that sweet AKG house sound and throated chesty mid range, fine tonality, A Unreal vocal presentation that was so defined and projected so quickly and powerfully, A broadband dynamic range, Agility and A powerful lighting fast and powerful transient response, that left no rock unturned when it came to careful oscillations and reverberations and every vibration/fluctuation will be so coherent and be conceived with Unreal audibility. The very care for reverberations and tonal fulness was so pinpoint and crafted and messaged (kind of like germans over engineering and designing there cars and whatnot), as reverb floats through the air, hovering above my favourite bands heads, as she belts it with the fine coarse and abrasive timbre quality in her edgy raspy voice , I can easily detect the velocity and texture of him hitting that dry yet vibrant snare drum and the cymbals being hit that show such grist, the I'm am truly winded by the experience, by the power, timbre, and tonality. I feel as if i'm clinically operating through my music, the fine articulation and sparse separation as she ominously sweeps though that captivating dark arpeggio that INSTANTLY grabs my attention, every pluck of guitar seemed so Isolated, Alone, The buzz that rings out so cleanly that when she occasionally ****s up when she plucks the string of her guitar to hard, or maybe it's on purpose because it sounds quite nice. Piano kicks punch through my guts, as they are striking and so well defined, I get a good sense of the size and dimensions of the room, since the strike of the key that plays the note rings reverberates throughout the room. The AKG K271's are still on my hall of fame for having such controlled authoritative bass, extension was simply just bedrock, OK OK it's not the ABSOLUTE BEST extension i've heard, having listening and owning many planar/ortho dynamic headphones (nothing beats a pair of Audeze's when it comes to bass yum), but its close to it!! but more controlled then planar/ortho Dynamic headphones. Although you can suggest the sony mdr cd900st that has INSANE resolution and is SUPER clinical and sterile to compare with this headphone, and that it would be bested, this is quite close and does have a better soundstage and is smoother. BOY is this paragraph becoming my typical long winded rants... Anyways to close the red curtains i will say this , Sure the K240's sounded warmer and more musical to some, but just did not compare since the K271's are just as Musical and More proficient, for both my applications of use, both cutting and editing (i also use the Q701 for this purpose also, it being the exact same and cheaper, with slightly more bass than the rest of the K70X series) or when i have to lend a phone to my vocalist or drummer, or when i'm just laying on my couch with my macbook and Audio Engine D1 that i very much enjoy, or when i'm lying i bed, and right next to me on my drawer is my lovely Cassabria or my WA6, and to the fact that i just like the realism and proficiency with being musical, none the less, the AKG K240's and AKG K271's are two horses of different colours, i honestly hate to compare them due to their closed and open back housings, Although the K271's are one of my go to headphones and the K240's are not so much when it comes to cutting/editing/monitoring/mix-downs/recording and overall the K271's are more proficient and mold better and are more versatile with my BOTH my applications of use, they are equally enjoyed, and appreciated, with their sparse differences and qualities,
they remain "Horses Of Different Colours" and should not be compared
P.S Feel free to add anything if i missed anything or correct me if i did anything wrong so i can edit my post and please try not to take this as a "biased" response, for i have both headphones both burned in and have critically judge and listened with a multitude of amps as well as genre's so they both can get a fair shout (it took me 4 hours alone to test and trial them through songs A-B testing,
and 6 STRAIGHT hours to write this long ass post, ENJOY and APPRECIATE my hard work and i may add more to this thread/post but as a means of now... I am parched, haggard, it's 3.25 am and if you see any mistakes.... now you know why)
Good night
HEADPHONE & SETUP STATUS
AKG K271 and AKG K240 BOTH have 200 hours( burned in with pink noise, with white noise, and with 2 frequency sweeps) and BOTH have mesh inside ear cup taken off, also have the pleather or leather ear pads on ( more comfy to me and fit better, also it sounds better) being run through my red wine audio cassabria, my woo audio WA6, my ipod classic 5 gen, my macbook, my ipod with a LOD and the behringer HA400, and my Audio engine D1. ALL file formats have been converted to AIFF 16 bit 44KHZ (due to being the highest quality format that is accepted by my iPod classic 5gen and iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, iPod touch and also iPad)
AKG 271's PRO LIST
1# more control overall, specifically in lower end impulse
2# more broadband dynamics (guitars and vocals are not supposed to rumble?!)
3# better imaging
4# better separation (the arpeggio, seems so striped down and raw, every pluck of the string is so isolated and alone)
5# better soundstage overall ( how did these people get into my house?)
6# better low end extension( how low can you go?)
7# better resolution
8# better timbre quality ( so rough, and textured, i can hear the velocity of him hitting that dry bright snare and that grist in that brush drum)
9# more revealing in midranges ( what a raspy tone of hers, i can hear her exhaling)
10# more audible throughout the FR spectrum
11# more Agility
12# more detail (i think i just heard the split of the lips of that tuba player hmmm)
13# better transparency
14# alot more "vocal" or " striking" in the mid and upper mid range ( just look at her belting it, WOAH)
15# more clinical or sterile ( never thought i never notice his fingers slide across the strings of that guitar THAT many times)
16# more "organized" if you will, less cluttered
17# more neutral
18# more balanced
19# better transient response overall( due to a more broadband dynamic range)
20# more evenly layered (everything plays at its own terms evenly, nothing gets focalized (fight for the spotlight) so nearly nothing gets buried in the mix, so nearly everything is coherent, audible, and so everything is concieved)
21# slightly more lush in the mid mid range, upper mid range, and highs (due to the less inflated and captivating bass, less thick ambience and less densely thick midrange, so one could focus more on mid ranges)
22# more linear
23# more present sound across the FR spectrum
24# less coloured (no Crayola here buddy NONE)
25# more "Edge"
26# more definition
27# better vocal and instrument projection ( i'm blown away, seems like i felt the rush of wind bypassing me when she's belting it in my ears, wow what a ranged register)
28# more articulate
AKG 240's PRO LIST
1#warmer (like tripling your blankets in winter next to a fire place)
2#more tonal quality and full ness ( very throated and chesty, reminds me of my momma's chilli )
3# more ambience (contributes to sound stage, reverberation, as well as the midrange)
4# heavier bass impact ( a big " kick in the pants") can be loose and uncontrolled)
5# more "dense" or thick, chesty is the word
6# more resonant (due to the convenient open back design)
7# slightly sweeter ( better than ice cream)
8# more saturated or "richer" if you will
9# more subtle and unforced, ahh smooth and silky are the words( like laying in a hammock in fiji while your bitch get you some booze)
10# better reverberation (Dilidaydee..... Dili-oohdee..... Dileeldayhe, Dilio-ohhe, Dilidehe-hooooo......... Seatle yodel my fellow Hobo)
:POINT RESULTS:
AKG 271 : 28 points: Winner
AKG 240 : 10 points: Loser
:RESULTS AND IMPRESSIONS:
I found the AKG 240's to be very musical, for it was warm, sweet, chesty and smooth midrange, with excellent bass impact. shows utmost quality in ambience and reverberations, being a open back it is BOUND to have this advantage. The tonal quality was very saturated and rich and was just silky smooth very subtle and nicely laid back, but tends to be disorganized, lazy and lethargic and a tad veil compared to the 271's and the overall "presence" of all ranges is just not as available as it's contemporary also it looses soundstage though, due to A lack of instrument separation and transparency and is too dense and too full and fat and cluttered at times, and the bass sadly tends to be loose and sometimes to over impulsive, further destroying distance and space ) the extra push in the upper mid bass response and ambient and reverb range further bury and mudify the mix a tad since it's attenuated a bit too much, it also is hard to focus on the upper register and mid ranges with this "bump" we should call it and further captivates and buries ALOT of what we are looking for. I find the K271 to have a more lean clinical uncoloured and striking and vocal presentation, timbre quality that "Attacks" you and utmost control
GRAPH OBSERVATIONS:
As you can see it is attenuated approx. 10-15DB more in the 10-500hz ALOT MORE than the K271 further making it "muddier'' sounding and making the upper register less captivating than the lower register, thats the HUGE main difference between these cans, and since the K271's OBVIOUSLY congest more (Due to it being a closed and the K240's are open) it will have a more controlled and striking presentation and will seem to have better resolution and definition and a more even and broadband dynamic range and shines its upper register alot more and timbre quality will be more noticed as well as having better quality
(open backs tend to lean towards lower and ambient and reverb frequencies making them alot more emphasized and tend to be more dynamic in those frequencies (10-500hz) as shown in the graph and will obviously make the upper and mid frequencies less noticeable further mudifying and burying the upper and mid frequencies in the mix)
:Note
i have opened up both headphones) the although the K271's are closed they resonate a SIGNIFICANT amount due to having very Large un-dampened/uncovered resonation holes both for the bass cone and tweeter and due to it having a very LARGE resonation cavity, THATS why i think being closed is good enough, since it already resonates a **** load there is no need to make it open back and have be muddy and will make the resolution worse since you are making it resonate too much, it's also more balanced when closed and is bound to be less glued together making it better for imaging and instrument separation as you can see and further making it more audible throughout the FR range. Open back headphones Ideal when the headphone has damped/covered or small resonation holes and has a small resonation cavity, THAT is when it is ideal to make it an open back, like the AKG K70X :BACK TO RESULTS AND IMPRESSIONS:
But the 271 was still just as musical, meanwhile being Very proficient. I found it striking, patronizing, and while being sweet, having fine balance, being true with it's uncoloured sound, having utmost control and authoritative bass, with having excellent bass extension. Having a stunning broadband dynamic range, that oscillated with guitar phrasing, though in most cases considered "lean" or "thin", after it's pesky burn in, it felt throated and defined, I was and still simply am blown away by its vocal as well as its instrument projection, the clinical articulation and true timbre quality has my eyes gazing over this un appreciated headphone. Vocals were so coarse and showed its power and fine grist, the coarse and abrasive timbre quality (2-10khz) was so pure, uncoloured, graceful, the word is real..... none the less this headphone is DEAD neutral in it's tracks. They also corroborated sweetness though it's tonal presentation, while being very saturated with rich lushness, funnily also being nice and lean, with having a concentratedly dense mid range that showed a nice distance, it has that constant bare boned focus and concentration in the midranges and just conveys pure power and everything seemed coherent across the FR spectrum.With limbo low authoritative bass with utmost control, that sweet AKG house sound and throated chesty mid range, fine tonality, A Unreal vocal presentation that was so defined and projected so quickly and powerfully, A broadband dynamic range, Agility and A powerful lighting fast and powerful transient response, that left no rock unturned when it came to careful oscillations and reverberations and every vibration/fluctuation will be so coherent and be conceived with Unreal audibility. The very care for reverberations and tonal fulness was so pinpoint and crafted and messaged (kind of like germans over engineering and designing there cars and whatnot), as reverb floats through the air, hovering above my favourite bands heads, as she belts it with the fine coarse and abrasive timbre quality in her edgy raspy voice , I can easily detect the velocity and texture of him hitting that dry yet vibrant snare drum and the cymbals being hit that show such grist, the I'm am truly winded by the experience, by the power, timbre, and tonality. I feel as if i'm clinically operating through my music, the fine articulation and sparse separation as she ominously sweeps though that captivating dark arpeggio that INSTANTLY grabs my attention, every pluck of guitar seemed so Isolated, Alone, The buzz that rings out so cleanly that when she occasionally ****s up when she plucks the string of her guitar to hard, or maybe it's on purpose because it sounds quite nice. Piano kicks punch through my guts, as they are striking and so well defined, I get a good sense of the size and dimensions of the room, since the strike of the key that plays the note rings reverberates throughout the room. The AKG K271's are still on my hall of fame for having such controlled authoritative bass, extension was simply just bedrock, OK OK it's not the ABSOLUTE BEST extension i've heard, having listening and owning many planar/ortho dynamic headphones (nothing beats a pair of Audeze's when it comes to bass yum), but its close to it!! but more controlled then planar/ortho Dynamic headphones. Although you can suggest the sony mdr cd900st that has INSANE resolution and is SUPER clinical and sterile to compare with this headphone, and that it would be bested, this is quite close and does have a better soundstage and is smoother. BOY is this paragraph becoming my typical long winded rants... Anyways to close the red curtains i will say this , Sure the K240's sounded warmer and more musical to some, but just did not compare since the K271's are just as Musical and More proficient, for both my applications of use, both cutting and editing (i also use the Q701 for this purpose also, it being the exact same and cheaper, with slightly more bass than the rest of the K70X series) or when i have to lend a phone to my vocalist or drummer, or when i'm just laying on my couch with my macbook and Audio Engine D1 that i very much enjoy, or when i'm lying i bed, and right next to me on my drawer is my lovely Cassabria or my WA6, and to the fact that i just like the realism and proficiency with being musical, none the less, the AKG K240's and AKG K271's are two horses of different colours, i honestly hate to compare them due to their closed and open back housings, Although the K271's are one of my go to headphones and the K240's are not so much when it comes to cutting/editing/monitoring/mix-downs/recording and overall the K271's are more proficient and mold better and are more versatile with my BOTH my applications of use, they are equally enjoyed, and appreciated, with their sparse differences and qualities,
they remain "Horses Of Different Colours" and should not be compared
P.S Feel free to add anything if i missed anything or correct me if i did anything wrong so i can edit my post and please try not to take this as a "biased" response, for i have both headphones both burned in and have critically judge and listened with a multitude of amps as well as genre's so they both can get a fair shout (it took me 4 hours alone to test and trial them through songs A-B testing,
and 6 STRAIGHT hours to write this long ass post, ENJOY and APPRECIATE my hard work and i may add more to this thread/post but as a means of now... I am parched, haggard, it's 3.25 am and if you see any mistakes.... now you know why)
Good night
