AKG K340 electrostat-dynamic impressions/pictures

[deepak]

First of all my mailman is awesome. This is what it looks like right now outside my apartment. All that snow on the deck is fresh, and it's going to continue for another 5 or 6 hours. The entire town has pretty much shut down (I didn't have to go the hospital, so I spent all day comparing headphones, what a life) yet I still get my package!

This pair is bone stock, NOS.

Overview

My K340 says "electrostatic-dynamic systems" on the earcups. I'm not sure if they are bass heavy, bass light or the third one. What I do know is that they are a NOS pair that only has around 10 or so hours on them. I've been in contact with my seller the whole time who was really friendly and just today he told me he was the first owner, didn't use them much because he didn't like the way they sounded out of his receiver. Thus they've been in storage until he decided to sell them. I have not burned them in, I just had to listen to them as soon as they arrived.

The headband is really plush, I don't see myself replacing it and the the elastics are pretty strong, not as strong as the ones in my K1000 or a K501 I used a lot, but they stay on my head really well. The cord on my pair is perfectly intact, no tangles so I was trying to be really gentle with it. It stretches out just over 6 feet, which is pretty short. Comfort is amazing. It's probably the most comfortable phone, ties with my (now sold) AudioTechnica A500 which just disappeared off your head after a few minutes. The only thing that puts the AT ahead is the K340 is really heavy. Thepleather pads (which are in perfect shape) are alright, but became uncomfortably hot and sticky after 4 hours of continuous use. Any sudden head movements doesn't move the headphones much unless I'm really trying. I still might replace the elastics for a slightly tighter fit.

So far music I've played:

Massive Attack - Mezzanine

The Prodigy - Fat of the Land

Mogwai - Mr Beast

Sigur Ros - Takk

A strange selection of music? Yup.

I mostly got these for electronic music, which none of my other headphones really excelled at. The K1000 just can't do really low bass, and I prefer intimacy in electronic music. The HF-1 is too congested and small sounding. TheHD650 was what I turned to...it was acceptable but wasn't bringing me the last bit of nirvana. The Mogwai was thrown in since it has many dynamic passages going from really loud to quiet. All music was encoded from CD in lossless.

Equipment:

It's unfortunate but I have to use the headphone amp in the Lavry for the time being. However I feel that it has an excellent, discrete headphone amp that competes with most of the SS offerings that I've heard under $400. Also the DA10 has a ridiculous amount of overhead, putting out 7.75V at max volume (# 56).

For my preferences I listen at soft to moderate volumes at all times and prefer to listen in a perfectly quiet environment. The HD650 will be the main headphone I'll be comparing it with, since they're both roughly in the same price bracket and like I mentioned before I want a notable phone for electronic music.

For most of the music listed the HD650 was played between 12-20. The K340 between 20-28. The K340 is much harder to drive. I didn't have an SPL meter, but I feel I did an alright job in level matching.

These are impressions from about 5 hours worth of listening:

Mezzanine:

First album I played was Mezzanine. Angel is a good track to test for bass extension, and volume. It was a little weird hearing this on the K340, it didn't sound exactly like how I wanted it to. The bass was absolutely amazing, went really deep and had great body and slam. But, there was something really weird about the rest of the percussion, the snare and cymbals sounded more distant and slightly muffled.

Next came Risingson. Now this gave me goosebumps. All of the percussion just sounded perfect. When the guy started to sing it just sounded holographic with the background vocal stuff (dream on...), incredible my eyes went wide open. I played the track again 3 times

Really the rest of Mezzanine was the same way. It was like hearing the album for the first time, the midrange was just amazing. Risingson, Teardrop, Man Next Door are my favorite tracks and this was the best I'd ever heard them. Most impressive about this headphone (that I gathered from this album) is the very textured deep bass, amidrange that gets out of the way (doesn't impart a house sound), 3D imaging, handles dynamic passages very well without the need to be cranked up to uncomfortable levels.

Verdict: I listened to the album again on the HD650 and it didn't hold up well. The K340 clearly had it beat. The H650 midrange just wasn't cutting it, and it sounded 2-dimensional, which isn't doing justice for this album.

Fat of the Land:

Not as well recorded as Mezzanine. Not so many oohs and aahs here. Still I grew up on this album in high school, destroyed 2 CDs now on my third. This CD sounds good on the K340, but equally acceptable on the HD650. One thing I heard for the first time is the echoing off of the vocals on certain tracks that the HD650 wasn't doing, the Senn sounded more flat and dead for most of the vocals. Switched to K1000 to make sure this wasn't a result of the closed design and I heard those additional details I was hearing in the K340. Also on theHD 650 bass it hits hard, then disappears. A lot of the bass on this album is pretty distorted and is meant to fade in and out very quickly, the K340 was able to capture this attack/decay pattern more accurately. Still this album needs to be heard on a speaker system to really hear the bass effect.

Verdict: K340 slightly edges out the HD650. I could live with either.

Mr Beast:

This album starts off slow then explodes into absolute madness (from Auto Rock to Glasgow Mega-Snake). I really loved this album with theHD 650, it has lots of bass, and is able to capture the magic of the piano. I'd usually listen to it on the K1000, simply because it was more dynamic, where theHD 650 made most of the album sound like every other generic post rock band (quiet, static, compressed). The K340 just rocked this album. Congested parts (Glasgow Mega-Snake) sounded congested and compressed. Dynamic songs (Friend of the Night) sounded dynamic and full of life. Plenty of body and warmth. Still the K340 lacked that absolute last level of high frequency extension that made cymbals sound a bit more artificial. TheHD650 made them sound more real.

Verdict: aside from the last bit of high freq. extension the K340 lacked, I can say I enjoyed this album with the K340 just as much as the K1000. More in some parts that required the warm low bass andmidbass.

Takk:

Ah tough album. Very difficult to capture all the beauty and emotion in this one. If I had a world class speaker system I could just turn up, turn off the lights, this is how I'd like to experience it. But that's not happening in an apartment...so onto the headphones. I really love this album. I played it twice through on the K340, then once on theHD650. The K340 did it. The midrange was able to capture every last drop of emotion from the vocals, background singers, and the rest of the electronic parts. After hearing this the K340midrange is definitely more upfront compared to the HD650. The HD650 sounded dark, and sucked out a lot of the magic in this album.

Verdict: I'd keep the K340 if only to listen to Sigur Ros, over and over, and over again

Conclusion:

On the headstage - it's very intimate. Not very wide or tall, but very deep. Imaging is superb, sounds meld together and seperate effortlessly creating a 3D image, I haven't heard this in any other headphone save for the Qualia, HE90, K1000 and the Omega 2 (I have not spent much time with the R10).

If I had to compare my K340 to any headphone I'd say it sounds closest to the Omega 2. Prominent, textured bass, stunning midrange, 3-D imaging, intimate headstage, with a high end that is slightly rolled off in the extremes.

Next up I plan on playing a lot of classical and jazz. Of recent I've been obsessed with the Star Wars soundtracks so I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare.

I have another pair of K340 on its way (maybe tomorrow?) so I'm interested to see how if it sounds different or the same. All in all great day, god bless snow.

[aerius]

Sounds like you got the stock version of the one philodox has, I think that's the best one out there. Also, since you're getting a 2nd pair, will there be any plans to mod one of them?

[deepak]

Sounds like you got the stock version of the one philodox has, I think that's the best one out there. Also, since you're getting a 2nd pair, will there be any plans to mod one of them?

Probably modding the non-NOS pair. I'd like to keep these stock in case something goes wrong with the other.

[TheSloth]

Yeah, the K340 is a true classic. Not a classic because it is old or unique, but simply beacuse it is darn good.

[TheSloth]

Next up I plan on playing a lot of classical and jazz. Of recent I've been obsessed with the Star Wars soundtracks so I'm looking forward to seeing how they fare.

Isn't that a non-sequitur?

[deepak]

Isn't that a non-sequitur?

Star Wars is jazz!

[philodox]

Congrats... I'm just going to throw my post from Head-Fi here mostly for aerius' benifit.

Glad to hear you got them and are happy. If I would have known your musical preferences in more detail I would have urged you to get a pair of K340's sooner. Stuff like Sigur Ros and Massive Attack are perfect for these headphones. I've been absolutely loving M83 on my pair recently. :340smile:

Oh, and I have to say it, just wait until you mod them...... :veryevil:

From what I remember they sounded decent out of the Lavry... but they *really* scale well to better amplification and deserve something a little more. It also depends on what volume you listen at, I suppose. I tend to listen quite loud, and the Lavry sort of fell apart when I pushed it too hard with the K340's.

[humanflyz]

Ahh, the K340s, I fondly recall my pair when I still had them, but they had to go in order to fund a K1000 setup. And now, everytime I think about getting another pair, I remember that it costs just as much to build a good K340 rig as it does to build a good K1000 rig. But if I ever have enough spare change...

[aerius]

Isn't that a non-sequitur?

Your mom is a non-sequitur.

[TheSloth]

Your mom is a non-sequitur.

Always good having you around here aerius .

[deepak]

Ahh, the K340s, I fondly recall my pair when I still had them, but they had to go in order to fund a K1000 setup. And now, everytime I think about getting another pair, I remember that it costs just as much to build a good K340 rig as it does to build a good K1000 rig. But if I ever have enough spare change...

I think I'm going for the Darkvoice. Not too bad at $300, and it seems the 6AS7 is putting out some serious power. I read through half of the thread and it looks like people love them with the K340. And it has really neat P2P wiring and the maker released the schematic so shouldn't be too bad if something breaks. I wont lie, I'm still nervous about a Chinese amp

[TheSloth]

I wont lie, I'm still nervous about a Chinese amp

I wouldn't worry about that aspect of it. My favourite audio company is Chinese (www.quad-hifi.co.uk) .

[deepak]

Woah nice, thought Quads were UK brand.

Reks: is that Bjork in your signature?

[Dusty Chalk]

Woah nice, thought Quads were UK brand.

He was (kinda) kidding (hence the smilie) -- Quad are, indeed, a UK brand, but they outsource quite a bit to China.

That said, I second his statement -- I've seen some very good stuff come out of China. Isn't ASL Chinese? I'm pretty sure my Radii is Chinese...double-checked, they're out of Hong Kong. I wouldn't worry about it.

[deepak]

yes, yet it is

Oh god

[Dusty Chalk]

It'd be funnier if you could end the loop earlier, so she's just miming the ol' in'n'out over and over again.

[deepak]

what's wrong with bjork miming sexual intercourse?

Nothing...

It'd be funnier if you could end the loop earlier, so she's just miming the ol' in'n'out over and over again.

Catcher in the Rye, oh man haha

[aerius]

On a completely related topic, who among you would sleep with Bjork?

[TheSloth]

He was (kinda) kidding (hence the smilie) -- Quad are, indeed, a UK brand, but they outsource quite a bit to China.

As far as I am aware, IAG who owns (pwns?) QUAD, Wharfedale, the rights to Leak (unused unfortunately) and some others I can't remember, is a Chinese investment consortium. So, as they are Chinese owned, and all production of all products is now done in China (better than they ever did it in the UK I might add), I'd say QUAD is Chinese!

And to aerius's question, I certainly wouldn't.

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, considering Peter Walker and David Patching are British, and that the google cache of their web page reads:

British high end audio manufacturers of the ESL electrostatics, pre-power and integrated amps, tuners and cd players. For the serious enthusiast.

, and since I believe the design team is still British, and since the Quad sound epitomizes the British sound, I would have to say that they're still prototypically British.

Maybe I'm just fooling myself.

Not that there's anything wrong with that (being Chinese).

Aerius -- it's not sleep we'd be getting.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

On a completely related topic, who among you would sleep with Bjork?

I'll hit anything under 200lbs as long as they have no diseases and a bag over their head.

Biggie.

[philodox]

Well, if I wasn't already spoken for I would definately give Bjork a spin. Come on, she's fucked Tricky and Goldie! Two musicians that I have adored at some point in my life and one that I still like a fair bit. Oh, and I enjoy most of her work as well... except for the super creepy/weird stuff. I remember finding her hot in that movie she was in.

I'm also pretty sure she would go absolutely apeshit on your cock. I just get that feeling.

EDIT: She might still have that swan outfit as well... that could be kinky.

[tkam]

Quad is a bit beyond "outsourcing quite a bit" to China . Pretty much their entire operation is in China now.

[postjack]

On a completely related topic, who among you would sleep with Bjork?

Bjork is hawt.

I've never listened to any of her music though, other then what I heard on Alternative Nation when I was in 6th and 7th grade.

[TheSloth]

Quad is a bit beyond "outsourcing quite a bit" to China . Pretty much their entire operation is in China now.

Though, in defense of the UK, the original Huntingdon UK address is still there, and does still have some of the original service staff there. When I had 988's back in the UK I drove one of them there to be repaired (a bass panel started hissing). Great service - it was out of warranty but they still did it for free. But that was one of the last 988's that was actually made in the UK, and funnily enough, the ones made in China are more reliable!