K340 has a very nice headstage. Their unit-to-unit sound variation these days is quite horrible; sounds like you have one of the good pairs left out there. These have already exceeded the quoted lifespan of the electret driver; but if it sounds good now it probably will remain so for quite a while longer. Count yourself lucky! Very nice headphone, and we will never see anything like it again.
I did not like so much the AKG K340 like all my others headphones when i bought them long ago...
It takes me 6 modifications/optimizations on 6 months intensive listenings, but by God! this was worth it...
I even read the patent of Dr. Gorike to understand their workings topology...
they have a dual acoustic chamber ( with 5 passive tuned Helmholtz resonators like the many i designed myself for my Speakers/room )and they need the right pads then i throw off the thick protective grids over the driver which was there for security not for sound quality...
They ask for special amplification too...
i returned back the best tube amplifier for headphone the Berning ZOTL i bought for them after 15 minutes...they need an amplification which serve them so good was Berning design it did not work ...
i stick with my perfect Sansui model alpha for them... Upgrade was a bad idea...
they are extremely sensible to amplification...
Anyway i will not resume my 35 pages of journey with them...
When they are optimized there is NO COMPARISON between the out of their box state and their optimized state...
All my others 10 headphones sound as trash for me compared to them...I only use the K240 sextett with my computer not for music even if it is very good headphone it does not compare at all to the K340, nor the 2 Stax i bought long ago...
Which headphone gave a deep bass at 25 hertz with big organ you hear with your toes ?
if the recording condition are good as often in classical soundstage is out of my head with natural timbre because of this hybrid use of the 2 cells with 5 helmholtz resonators tuned around them..
i glued 2 type of materials anti resonance and anti-vibration too inside &outside with great results...
The use of the right pads are hugely important, their thickness and they way to absorb bass and mid bass ...I tried 5 kind...
The K340 is the only real hybrid made with a cross over done so well that the 2 cells work in the mid frequencies together ... it is not a super tweeter like the Dharma which is not a real hybrid...
i am lucky indeed because i dislike headphone but i cannot afford costly speakers...
But i will not recommend them to someone who dont know how to optimize them...
With all their qualities i am pretty sure no other headphone beat them...
By the way the RAAL at 10,000 dollars had no deep bass you can hear with your body (bone resonance)
Mine costed me 100 bucks...
Few years ago i spoke with a Kennerton representative and ask him why there is no replacement and improvement for the K340. He answer me frankly explaining to me that if we want to make a good profit it will be necessary to create an hybrid of this class to do intensive research and investment... The resulting profit margin will be too thin in the market compared to many other design... it is better and more profitable to stick with simpler design he said...
Dr. Gorike was not a mere headphone designer or an engineer, but a real physicist specialized in acoustic, founder of AKG in the golden era where cost did not matter for a dreamer who wanted to created the best headphone as flgship.. it is evident when you read his patent for the K340...
No Akg so original could it be replaced the K340 acoustics balance... The K701 i own is completely artificial compared to even the sextett...The K1000 has no deep bass at all ...
