AKG headphones K240 & K44
Adrian Tuddenham wrote:
All though I dislike using headphones for 'professional' listening,
there are times when the need arises. I bought a secondhand pair of AKG
K240 MkII headphones, thinking they would be the best headphones that
would ever fall within my budget and might be adequate for occasional
monitoring use. They turned out to be a big disappointment.
There is a 16dB dip in the response just below 4 Kc/s and a sharp 8dB
peak at 6.5 Kc/s. Both sides are similar, so it isn't a fault in one
earpiece. Before buying, I had read some of the 'independent' reviews;
they were utter bull****, not one of them even noticed those two glaring
faults.
For comparison I bought a pair of AKG K44s, they suffer from far more
minor ripples in the response, including a peak at HF, but overall they
sound better than the K240. They also have much better isolation, being
semi-closed back, and they are only 1/10th of the price.
I would still recommend the Koss PRO35A for over-the-ear (open) phones.
Nearly no isolation, but they don't fatigue, don't hurt and sound pretty
smooth. They're excellent for bass-checking mixes, too - they
have quite a bit of bass.
They're not ideal for tracking - click bleed is a problem, even
at low volumes. I've taken to using a pair of plug-phones I like for
tracking acoustic instruments when a click is in play.
--
Les Cargill
|