AKG Pro Audio K240 MKII Channel Studio Headphones

I’ve owned K240 s (Made in AUSTRIA) for over 10 years. I’m a semi-pro mix engineer and musician and know them very well. I’ve mixed music that’s made it’s way to US TV on those headphones. They used to cost over £100 and were made in Austria up until around 2013 I think. After that, all the ‘lower end’ AKG’s moved to Chinese production. Many claimed they sound identical. THEY DO NOT. I have some MKII (silvers) here made in china from around 5 years back. They sound pretty awful next to the ‘legendary’ K240s AUSTRIA made cans that people raved about for years.

The soundstage on the chinese/MKII is muted, muffled, indirect, muddy and cheap sounding. Just a bit better than the typical £20 sony consumer phones you can buy. I couldn’t mix on them confidently, there’s no detail and the soundstage is small and dirty. Compare to the austrian made K240s (Gold) made before 2013, these are what built the rep (along with the classic much older K240/sextet etc), the older AUSTRIA made ones are direct, full sounding, like you are IN the music, all details can be heard, it’s amazing to mix/edit audio on and sound like phones cost hundreds more.

I just don’t want anyone getting fooled into thinking these newer MKII and also the MK1 chinese (post 2013) models are going to sound/work great for mixing or even listening. It’s a shame AKG cashed in on their own legacy in such a way because people will assume those of us highly rate the old K240s are talking about this newer mediocre sound. Ignore anyone who claims there’s no difference, there is, just not between k240s (china) and K240s MKII (these sound the same), but the ‘real’ K240s wasn’t made in china and had to be bought before 2013. Even some more expensive AKG modern phones over £100 don’t sound/work as good as the OLD AUSTRIA K240s because they are also made in China, not sure why that makes so much difference but clearly the drivers are NOT the same or not calibrated as well cos they can’t touch the original K240 or K240 studio made in Austria for being used for pro work.

I give them 3/5 because they aren’t too expensive and have some comfy velour pads and 2 cables, my GF uses them for TV, about all they are worth using them with sadly. Original K240s AUSTRIA would get 10/5 they are THAT good. If it doesn’t sound ‘made in austria’ around the gold bad on the cable side of the phones then it’s chinese tat sadly.

I managed to get this used via Amazon Warehouse Deals for $107 and I feel like it was amazing deal. I don’t think it was actually used, maybe just returned? Not sure but the headphones are in perfect condition. The sound quality and build is so much better than my old Plantronics Backbeat Go 600’s – those ones are starting to crack on the headband in 3 places. My only gripe is that the squish my head a little too much (I might be sensitive to this tbh), but they don’t make the top of my head hurt.

I had wanted to use the Mpow bluetooth 5.0 adapter to make these wireless but I don’t think I can unless I can an adapter for that too, lmao. Overall I’m still very happy with my purchase.

I’m a live sound engineer doing more home recording than usual due to the pandemic. I wanted something more comfortable than my Shure SE215 in-ear monitors for prolonged use.

Initially the treble on these was a bit loud but most importantly it was garbled like MP3 artifacts. I could live with a slightly uneven frequency response but these will also be for musicians to use as I record them, can’t have them thinking I’m recording at low bitrate MP3! I actually requested to return them after listening for under 5 minutes.

But it occurred to me that they may need to be burned in, and I was curious how much of the garbles would disappear. I recorded a song played through the headphones into a pencil condenser mic for comparison later. Then I ran an 8 hour playlist through them on repeat. I checked in after about 18 hours and there was much improvement, but still noticeable garbles left. Astonishingly, they eventually all disappeared after about 30 hours. I repeated the recording again recreating the initial test recording from the picture above.

The resulting difference in frequency response shows that there has been significant change, but it doesn’t really tell the whole story. It wasn’t lab conditions, nor was it a proper measurement microphone (Josephson C42) but at least it was as apples-to-apples as I could get. I can attest the spike at 9kHz is real and somewhat unfortunate, but for the money that inequity is very acceptable because they are VERY pleasant sounding headphones. It should be noted that they sweeten up the sound somewhat, and are not to be treated as reference for audio engineering purposes. But they’re excellent to have your clients wear them as they record to boost their confidence.

I only left a star off because of the long burn-in requirement and minor 9kHz spike. I’d do 4.5 stars if I could.

I use the AKG K240 Mk II in a hi end Project/Luxman headphone system costing £5k. I mention this only to say I listen at such an audiophile level that any weaknesses in the chain is revealed glaringly.

When people suggest the AKG K240s have weaknesses I suggest they do not, they are made for studio use to reveal weaknesses in the recording chain. In my experience of Focal, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic et al the AKG 240s are THE ONLY headphone I have used that do not have inherent weaknesses, but purely reveals them. Considering the thousands of pounds I have spent/auditioned on headphones their cost is truly remarkable.

Misconceptions:-

They don’t have bass – any headphone that extends to 15hz has more bass depth than humans can hear. I have recordings electronic keyboard tracks with 20 hz basslines, the lowest humans or CD can do and these are clearly audible on my system as are 20hz tones. You may not have a system that can reproduce these, you may not like the correct bass levels studio headphones give, but they clearly do have deep bass if not in any exaggerated amount.

They have too much treble – well not if you go to concerts and listen to live cymbals they don’t. You may have a system that does not reproduce treble perfectly, but if you do the K240s will reproduce it.

So I would say blame your equipment, blame your recordings, blame your ears, but don’t blame your K240s. Are they totally perfect headphones ? No. The original cushions are sometimes too uncomfortable for long sessions, but alternatives are available. The original cable is not up to audio standard, but you can buy a Van Damme OFC pro cable with neutrik plugs for £20, but in 40 years of serious listening it is as close as to revealing “the neutral truth” as anything I’ve heard, when partnered with the best equipment.

So for a total of £75 for headphones & upgraded cable that makes it an absolute bargain for a listening tool par excellence. ( I did read an article that said the original 1975 model was based on the sound of classic BBC studio monitor speakers like the LS5/8A – as they cost several thousand pounds it puts that £75 into perspective)

So if on a budget save your money on mega price headphones, and spend it on a great front end & amplification. You will not be disappointed. Still true legend of a headphone after 42 years.

Produit conforme à mes attentes. Très agréable à porter, même sur une période longue. Le son est de bonne qualité et surtout neutre. Ajouter à cela une carte son (j’ai une asus strix) le son devient juste fabuleux. Que ce soit pour du gaming ou de l’écoute musical.
Je recommande fortement le produit. Surtout que le prix peut parfois descendre dans les 50€.

merci de voter “utile” si cela l’a été pour vous, merci 🙂

I have a pair of ATs (M40s)and while they were great they were extremely uncomfortable for long periods and had more low end than what I would’ve liked. I was looking for something more flat/balanced and more comfortable. I looked at these and decided to give them a try. They’re extremely light and very very comfortable, almost feels like there’s nothing on my head. They also give another pair of ear pads to swap to if you don’t like the leathery feel of the default ones. Also the sound is flat! Super happy i went with this purchase, it makes listening and creating music not irritating or painful as it did with the other headphones I had.

Plus it totally looks cool