AKG K240 MkII Headphones Review

While AKG is best known for its renowned and diverse microphone line, the company also manufacturers a surprising variety of headphones. The K240 MkII is one of their more popular and moderately priced offerings geared towards recording studios and critical listening.

Quick Facts

Manufacturer: AKG
Model: K240 MkII
Design: Semi-Open back
Price: $149 USD

Performance

I’ve owned my AKG K240 MkII headphones for approximately 3 years now and arguably the most import area where they excel is their comfort. The ear pads are large enough to fit over the ear, as opposed to other models of headphone where the ear pad rests on top of the ear, and the self-adjusting headband works well to prevent the headphones from falling off without putting pressure on the ears or head. This makes the K240 MkII a great headphone for long editing or quality control sessions and I’ve routinely used mine for a full day of editing without experiencing discomfort. The importance of this can’t be overstated, especially for people that work mostly on headphones. The K240 MkII also uses a semi-open back design, making it a great tracking headphone for vocalists and fretless strings/brass/woodwind players who often benefit from hearing some of the ambient sound in the room to judge their pitch. The semi-open back design can also prove a benefit in busy production environments since it helps block out low-level conversation, ambient noise and other distractions compared to the average open back studio headphone.

A close-up of the AKG K240 MkII headphones.

However, the semi-open back design is also the source of the two notable drawbacks associated with the K240 MkII’s. These headphones don’t offer enough isolation to be useful as a tracking headphone for louder instruments (think drums, electric guitar, etc.) or for a full band recording live-off-the-floor. They also allow more leakage to escape into the room than the average closed-back tracking headphone, although I’ve personally never found this leakage loud enough to be a problem. In terms of sound quality, the K240 MkII headphones provide enough detail to catch small clicks, pops and other unwanted artifacts caused by editing and I frequently use them to check how my mixes and masters will translate to headphones. Their frequency response is somewhat erratic so I don’t recommend mixing on them (or mixing on headphones at all for that matter, although that’s a discussion for another day), but that’s par for the course when it comes to headphones in this price range.

Features

The AKG K240 MkII headphones ship with a choice of two different pairs of ear pads, which are easily interchangeable: a velvet pair and a faux-leather pair. This is purely a matter of comfort. The headphone cable connects to the K240 MkII’s via a mini-XLR jack and is long enough to connect to a headphone distribution box placed on the floor when used for tracking. The cable features a 1/8” jack on the opposite end, which AKG has supplied a screw-on 1/4” adapter for. This adapter is not proprietary and can be easily replaced in the event that it is lost. Even though the K240 MkII headphones don't include a carrying case (my one complaint about the feature set), I’ve found them to be more durable than they appear and mine have survived being carried in a briefcase with hard drives, microphones, and cables nearly every day for the past three years.

Price

A top view of the self-adjusting headband featured on the AKG K240 MkII, whcih is responsible for the model's superior comfort.

At $149 USD, the AKG K240 MkII is an affordable option for audio professionals looking for a comfortable editing headphone for times when they may not have access to a studio. At this price point, it’s also a good investment for professional studios that want to have a couple pairs on hand for tracking as an alternative to their closed-back headphones. Home studio owners will find that the K240 MkII makes for a versatile engineer’s headphone that can be used for editing, checking mixes, and working when otherwise unable to use monitors, although they may prefer the original K240 as a tracking headphone due to its lower cost.

Conclusion

The AKG K240 MkII is a great pair of headphones for anyone that relies on headphones to do their work. They're a very comfortable option for those who work for long periods at a time and they can double as a tracking headphone, provided that you aren't tracking a loud instrument.

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AKG K240 MkII Headphones (click here for Canadian Price)