Headphones
AKG K 240 MK II
A famous studio and recording model for many decades, the AKG K240 MKII headphone has long-proven its studio and professional-level mettle during its unblemished 40 year reign in the audio industry. Listeners looking for tight bottom-end clarity with smoothly focused midranges and silky highs will enjoy these superb, well-priced, durably high-value headphones. Well-powered direct from iPod, iPad and computers and an ideal choice for any studio A/V sound console or recording mixing / mastering desk.
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Product Features:
- Pro quality sound, a headphone found in nearly every recording studio on the planet!
- Classic retro style but with modern audio performance
- Detachable headphone cable allows easy replacement or Cardas cable upgrades
- Comfortable 'full-size' around-the-ear fit
- Excellent bang-for-the-buck sonic value
- 100% engineered & manufactured in Austria
What's In The Box:
- Leatherette earpad set
- Velvet earpad set
- 3m straight detachable cable
- 5m coiled detachable cable
- 1/4" screw-on plug adapter
Applications:
The venerable Austrian-made AKG K240M served for many decades as the reference headphone in professional studios across Europe, Asia, and North America. Hoping to catch on with the listener at home as well as in the recording environment, AKG released the K240-Studio headphone to tremendous acclaim. Now comes the K240 MK-II headphone re-designed with a few extra convenient accessories while keeping the original K240's signature sound largely intact. Those looking for some tight bottom-end push with silky highs will enjoy these K240 MK-II headphones a lot. The lower frequency ranges are lean & focused with the midranges/highs a hair forward, making for a pleasingly smooth tonal signature compared to most other cans around this pricepoint. The K240 MK-II are fairly efficient full-size headphones rating at 55 Ohm impedance and should deliver clean moderate-to-loud listening levels with most portable players like MP3 devices, iPods and laptop computers. However, keep in mind any quality dedicated headphone amplifier will fully maximize the audio clarity, dynamic range extension ('quickness'), and musical detail resolution of the K240 MK-II. Although this edition shares the same numerical appellation as the older -- now sadly discontinued -- AKG K240M and AKG K240DF models, the K240 MK-II are significantly less expensive and, hence, are not quite built to the same demanding specification level as those more spendy 'true' reference-application headphones. However, their quality construction is superb with the K240 MK-II remaining 100% manufactured in Austria.
The AKG K240 MK-II headphone now offers two user-friendly 'quick-detach' cords provided in the package: a 5-meter length straight cable plus a 3-meter coiled cord, both exiting from the left earcup via a mini-XLR 3-pin connection system. The K240's automatically self-adjusting headband, lightweight frame design, and full-size circumaural pleather earpad cushions makes these a very comfortable wear during long extended listening sessions at home or in the studio. The earcup construction is a "semi-sealed" design so they'll provide a mild degree of ambient noise attenuation & sound leakage protection. As another nice plus, the K240 MK-II also includes an extra set of velour fabric earpads in the box, allowing the listener to employ the earpads of their choice. The K240 headphone cable terminates to an 1/8" [3.5mm] mini-plug jack. A full-size 1/4" [6.3mm] plug adaptor is handily included in the package. A superb 2-year product warranty remains standard with all AKG headphones.
Other Recommended Accesories:
For serious AKG K240 listeners & producers, HeadRoom highly recommends investing in an upgraded k240 replacement headphone cord from Cardas Audio. Although not inexpensive, aftermarket Cardas headphone cords are widely renown for significantly improving dynamic range 'quickness' and extension, soundstage imaging depth & spatiality, and overall musical detail resolution clarity. It's certainly a quick, worthwhile upgrade for audiophiles looking to make their beloved AKG k240 headphones perform at the very top of their game. Cardas Audio AKG headphone replacement cords are available in 10ft, 15ft, and 20ft lengths. Fully compatible with AKG k702 and AKG k271 headphones too!: Cardas AKG K240 Headphone Replacement Cord
Specifications:
- Sensitivity: 104 dB SPL/V
- Headphone Type: Full Size
- Manufacturer Warranty: 2 year
- Isolation: -12dB ~ -16dB
- Weight: 8.5 oz. w/o cord
- Detachable Cable: Yes
- Impedance @ 1kHz: 55 ohms
- Cord Length: 10 ft. (3 m)
- Cord Type: Coiled and Straight Left-Side
- Coupler Size: Large
- Ear Coupler Type: Full-Size
- Driver Type: Dynamic
- Acoustic Seal: Semi-Open
Average Rating
Posted by NatureSoundLover from Belgium, Ghent on 2012-01-03
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Very good price, staging, vivid sound, comfort
Cons: slight false sound around 100Hz causing warming
Having heard K701 before and comparing with 702 right in the shop these headphones differ only in slight coloration @ around 100Hz due to their half-open nature but excel the high end K70x with punchiness and quickness typical whenever low ohm headphones like these are compared with higher impedance units. Another lacking is slight difference at the top end. Their high tones seem to have slightly lesser 'resolution', still sound correct and balanced. Again great staging like any earpad AKG's. This is not something any Sennheiser or Beyerdynamic could produce for you even for much higher price. Comparing to old ultra-popular Sennheisers 560 (if i recall the name well) these are much more alive and airy. (Sennheisers sounds simply dull in base mid and high tones)
As comfortable as the much more expensive sets of AKG these make the best buy you can think of in this price range.
The Huge added value is that due to fair effectiveness and low impedance these heapdhones will work even with portable sources.
Greetings
Michal
28 out of 35 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Posted by Now Hear This! from Pleasant Grove, UT on 2010-01-25
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: comfortable, durable
The automatically adjusting headstrap is wonderful and the tension on them is perfect: you can make minor adjustments easily without having the headphones ride up on the head.
These are semi-open headphones, and as such offer little ambient noise attenuation. You can leave these on your head and carry on a conversation without any problem.
97 out of 98 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Posted by Eric0 from Canada on 2010-01-23
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Good value, nice sound.
Cons: Might be worth it to go up a level
The sound quality even on the old ones is still very good. It is accurate and the bass is well represented as are the highs. For the price, the sound quality on these will blow away all of the comparable Bose products.
Clearly these headphones are still in use as I've seen some studio photos with artists wearing these. (Sophie Milman for one)
My only gripe is that there are some very competitive options within reach of the K240s. For one Shure, Ultimate Ears and the low-end Grados are all possibilities. At the higher end, both the DT880 and K701 while 2x the price are huge leap in terms of sound quality.
11 out of 20 people found this review unhelpful. Did you?
