K 240 MK II Stereo Studio Headphones

I own, and love, a pair of AKG KT-553 + Mk II)'s, which are my "go to" headphones for music. These 240's are inferior (no surprise at the much lower price point). But they are great for non-critical use like Zoom meetings. What I love is that this cheaper set uses the same detachable mini XLR cord system as the KT553 cans, and comes with multiple straight and coiled cords. For me, getting the extra cords for my higher end AKG's almost makes the 240's a free bonus at the price. But - make no mistake - theses are very good headphones for under $10O, for sound quality, for comfort, and for value. And, on top of all that, the multiple cords provided with this model just might be a great addition if (like me) you have an embarrassing number of headphones. Either way, solid buy at the listed price. Highly recommended!

If I used one word to describe these it would be balanced. I listen to mostly classical but also enjoy Judas Priest type heavy metal. I don't feel these are lacking in any musical range, but I think their low end is especially enjoyable. When listening to Harnoncourt's Schubert symphonies, some of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's Haydn, and Haitink's Brahms 4th these phones brought the low strings to vibrant life. The Brahms verified that the brass would come through loud and clear. Brahms is often thick, these phones did the best job I have heard yet of opening things up a bit. Winter's rendering of Bach on the organ was handled with deep polyphonic aplomb. I would say the most fun was a disc called "Macal Conducts Mussorgsky." This is a stunning recording, testing every orchestral color (thanks Ravel.) Wonderfully clear and uncluttered and dramatic with these phones. The Priest was also splendid in both detail and the extensive range and variety of all those luscious rich chords. The stereo soundstage is very distinct and pleasing. I have three other headsets: Sennheiser HD-428, Monoprice 8323, and Koss UR-20. This set makes them somewhat unnecessary. Which it should at three to five times the cost. All of the sets I mentioned are worthy over achievers, by the way. I was pleased with the choice of detachable cords. I use the straight one and find it very easy to drape out of my way. I like this headband adjustment and support system. It is comfortable. It is similar to the UR-20 which is the most comfortable headset I have ever had. I do not, however, like the ear pads. I had high hopes that the velour set would be comfy. No, their ear hole is actually smaller than the pleather and have an overly firm foam padding (maybe they would break in.) I must confess that my ears are somewhat large. So I made a modification that I haven't heard of anyone else doing. I carefully removed the ragged pads from my UR-20s and put them on the AKGs. They fit rather loosely (in fact they rotate easily on the AKG shell), but have much larger oval ear holes and are much more comfy. They are in no danger of falling off and seem to serve the purpose. Everyone is different. What works for one of us will not work for another. This worked for me and was cheaper than plastic surgery on my ears. I guess one testament to these headphones is that I have been listening to music practically non-stop since getting them. I have wanted to explore what I have been missing in my CD collection. These are very fun, clear, and capable headphones. By the way, I use these with a Yamaha RX-V373 receiver and will not be using them with portable devices.

I've been an AKG fan since the late 1980s, when I bought my first pair of AKG K240DF headphones. Over the years, I've owned a few pairs of the 240DFs and a pair of 701s, as well as some Beyerdynamics. I was somewhat disappointed to see on the box that these are now "Engineered in Austria/Made in China" headphones. Ever since Harman acquired AKG, they've been experimenting with the brand and finding ways to extract value. I guess you can't blame them, but it's sad to see a proud Austrian audio company being revamped like this. In all, the build quality on these Chinese-made K240MKIIs is similar to the Austrian-made K240DFs I've owned. The leatherette earpads are the same. The auto-adjusting headband is also the same. Now, however, they are engineered with a detachable cord that joins at the left earcup. AKG also provides some velour-type earpads and a straight and coiled cord. At the price of just over one hundred dollars, you get quite a lot for your money. The K240DFs were about twice as expensive and didn't come with all the extra goodies. As for sound, it generally takes awhile for AKGs using this type of diaphragm to "burn in" and achieve their mature sound. I've got these coupled with a HRT HeadStreamer USB-powered Headphone DAC/Amplifier , which is a good quality USB DAC and amplifier -- I highly recommend HRT's products. I use these cans at work to listen to my music library, which is encoded in the lossless FLAC format. (At home, I use a class A HeadRoom desktop headphone amp and 701s or Beyerdynamic DT770s.) Here are my impressions. First, you need to use these with an amplifier. Even though they are rated at 55 ohms (compared with the professional studio 600 ohm K240DFs), the sound you get when driving them from a phone or average MP3 player is subpar at best. Adding the dedicated headphone amp really opens these up. Second, the sound is pretty good. These are based on a legendary AKG monitoring design and have a pretty even and accurate presentation. There is no undue emphasis at any frequency. The bass is present and well controlled. The mids and highs are coherent, with a smooth midrange and good treble extension. If they sound a bit brittle or bright at first, remember that it takes time to condition the diaphragms to their mature state -- the 701s took a few hundred hours of play before they really achieved that. These are no exception to the general AKG rule. The music is reasonably well detailed coming from the HeadStreamer. However, these do not approach the level of detail and subtlety that the 701s are capable of presenting, and you aren't going to get quite as full a soundstage. But if you don't do an A-B comparison, you're not going to miss that. What you will notice with these over others in this price range is that you're hearing well into the music and that the music sounds really good and accurate. These are incredibly comfortable to wear, too. They fit securely but not firmly -- I wear glasses and these don't bother me at all. The flexibility of the headband will allow you to pull an earcup away to hear someone without wrecking the headphones. In sum, I'd recommend these as a good entry level audiophile headphone. While they're made in China now, they still have the legendary AKG accuracy and the build quality hasn't suffered in any readily apparent way. However, I'd use them for listening at home, not as portable headphones. They really do need amplification to sound their best.

スタジオモニタースピーカーで聞いたときのような無理のないバランスの取れた音域とオープンエア独特の開放的な音が大変気に入っております。 非常にお手頃価格の優れた商品だと思います。

O fone é fantástico, bem construído, ótima qualidade de som!.

Very comfortable, these headphones give very clean and balanced sound. I accidentally damaged the identical one I had before and which worked well for many years, so I replaced it with a new one. It's well worth buying on-line, being about half the Canadian retail price - a substantial saving! In case you're wondering what the problem was, I disconnected the coiled electrical cord to repair it with epoxy cement: the outer sheathing had separated and exposed the inner wires where they join the jack plugging into the headphones. The repair was no problem, but I did not align the pins properly and pushed hard to make the jack go back in. That reduced sound to almost always coming through the right cup only. I suspect it is one or two of the three pins inside the headphone receptacle with contact problems. So it's for sale for only $40.00 if you want to try and repair it. You can reach me at [email protected] if you're interested. 2020 01 31

The AKG K240 is probably the best headphone in the £50 area money can buy. Because of the long production run and moving production to China they are an incredible bargain. Before judgement can begin it needs about a week break in period, listen to them before this by all means but don't be critical. Will it suit everyone? No absolutely not, they are listed as semi open well that may be but they leak sound loudly into the environment you are in so may disturb others in same room. Let's get one thing out of the way the K240 is a difficult headphone to drive! Yes it will produce sound from a mobile phone or iPod, but such devices are completely incapable of revealing what the headphone is capable of they need a dedicated amplifier even some receiver integrated amp socket won't cope. The reason for this is the 55 ohm load and 91db. The K240 was never conceived with mobile audio in mind it was designed for studio use who have equipment with the ability to drive it. For mobile devices look for a headphone with a 32ohm load with 100+dB efficiency. So is a £50 headphone worth all this trouble? For me and many others absolutely yes. The K240 has a mesmerising mid range with a tight image that I can only describe as beguiling and addictive, this does not mean they have no bass, they do produce bass and it's not difficult to follow Ray Brown's upright bass on we get requests or the bass on Robbie Robertsons somewhere down the crazy river, but it never interferes with what's going on in the mids, vocals, guitars etc. The highs are good, cymbals, triangles etc sound good. Sound stage is not particularly wide it bearly escapes the earpieces but it's good enough to place where instruments are but don't expect a K702 outside the head experience but at £50 how could you. The cable is detachable via a mini XLR connection with many custom cables available to tweak sound to your liking. The difference between the Studio and the MkII is only the silver finish and choice of earpad velvet or pleather and straight and coiled cable on the MkII. Stick K240's on your head put on Sarah McLachlan's mirror ball and the world will just fade away

Work well don't care about how plastic they are they just work and Good value for money very clear and crisp a bit of bass not to over the top. Very good for monitor vocal/instrument recordings good for genral use but not things like rap hip hop songs ect ect that need bass all thou the vocal/instrument part can be done very well.