K321, K330, and K340 Ear Canal Headphones
Company: AKG
Price: $80, $100, and $120
http://www.akg.com
There was so little audio quality or comfort/fit difference between these three moderate-priced in-ear headphones from AKG, that our recommendation below will surprise you, as it does me. But please read through the entire review.
After completing a prior comprehensive evaluation of this company’s ear buds, in which the most expensive model was the clear winner, I expected the same from their ear canal headphones. I was wrong. There is some improvement in audio delivery from lowest price to highest, but not enough to scream “spend more!”
I assembled my test panel again, to confirm or deny my initial impressions. With the exception of a single hard core audiophile, not one person said the K340 top model sounded the best, or felt best inserted into their ears. The K33o middle-range headphones were consistent losers in all categories for every person. Over and over again, men and women, young and old, serious and casual testers chose the low-priced K321. They fit best and they sounded “really good, Nemo.”
Experienced reviewers and audio aficionados will recognize that K340 is slightly more classy, with its stylish, black appearance and inline volume control. K340’s sonic experience is equivalent to our recommended competitors in the $100-150 price range, which is a good thing. Bass is rich and full, midrange is clear and complete, and treble intensity is noticeable but not problematic.
Playing the same song through K330 is consistently disappointing, and I’ll leave it at that for the middle model. Cases, fit, and interchangeable ear tips for all three earphones in this series are similar enough that neither of them would dramatically influence a comparative decision. (One pair of three sizes of tips is included with a purchase.)
It is with the lower-priced $80 K321 in-ear headphones that smiles show up on faces, toes start tapping, and members of the test panel ignore requests to “take them out so someone else can have a chance, please!” An $80 price is not cheap for many music lovers, but if the fit, feel, and performance of K321 is to their liking, they will skip a week or two of deluxe lattés to fund the purchase of these ear canal headphones. The audio spectrum is especially seamless on K321, with the bass less ponderous, and the treble being more transparent.
Example: I know it’s a little early for New Year’s Eve, but “Auld Lang Syne” by the vocal group Straight No Chaser sounds magnificent when listening to K321. I can hear my wife talking on the phone as I write, with K321’s tips inserted and the music silent, but audio immersion is splendid once I press the play button. Ambient isolation is not especially great with either model, but that is no deal breaker.
Be careful wearing these or any headphones while crossing the streets of Manhattan, Madrid, or Montreal. Ironically, K321 is more forgiving of artifacts from compressed recording than are most over-$100 earphones, without any diminishing returns when recordings are full-strength audio.
Speaker enclosure stems connecting to the cables are long and straight on every one of these headphones. Try ’em before you buy ’em, or make sure you can return them, if these straight stems are not comfortable. I never forget I’m wearing either model in my ears, but that probably is okay for most purchasers. You will get some transmitted noise when you touch the cable, which is a bit more annoying on the K321 than on the K340, with its more flexible cable.
MyMac ratings:
LINKS:
email – MyMac Magazine – Twitter – Advertise – Reviews Archive – Podcast
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.