Yuin OK Series appreciation thread

This had to happen sooner or later.
I posted a couple of weeks ago that I had gotten my OK1's and I was using them as canal phones and was very impressed! So after a couple of days I noticed that the rubber coated cable was a slight bit heaver than the PK1's that I having been wearing for a year so I put on the rubber full covers and use them as ear buds and they stay put when I put them in my ear openings.
I'm not a reviewer but all I can say is that they sound a bit fuller and the seperation of instruments is better . As I said before I'm using them with a Headsix and they sound awsome.
Jim

Agree. Would be better if this is made in the earphone forum.

Maybe a mod can move this thread to the portable phone forum?

Anyways, just got my Yuin OK1 used from another headfi-er and man, the sound these things pop out is awesome. The bass is massive with lots of punch with luscious low end bass, all without sacrificing its excellent mids and good highs. Compared to the Audio Technica ATH-CM700 I have, they are a pretty great upgrade. The CM700 does have a bigger soundstage with greater highs and decent bass, but because of the large diameter of the earbud, most of the bass gets lost since its hard to fit with my small ears (most people shouldn't have this problem like me). The OK1 though fits just right even with its earbud's depth being much deeper.

I've read alot of people saying the OKx buds don't do well in canal phones mode and with the stock flange tips I do get that same problem. The stock Yuin flange tips are way to stiff to be used and the shortest stem for canal mode is too short. Using the soft Sony flange tips with the Yuin's medium and large canal mode stems I had great success though. The fit was very good and with active movement the OK1s were not popping out of my ear. In the end though, I prefer the OK1s in earbud mode with foam pads for comfort and better soundstage for daily use. I don't need much isolation in the places I work or usually hang out to listen to music, but it's good to know that for noisy environments like air/bus/train travel I can just switch to the canal mode stems.

I've so far only listened with the Ipod Video LOD to a Corda Headsix. Will have to see later how it works with my D2 Viper and opamp rolling. I also do plan on trying out the canal phone mode with the Comply T400 foam tips but probably will be awhile before I order those.

The only negatives I can think of is though the OKx series come with alot of flange tips and stem sizes, it sucks for the price you pay they don't include foam pads and the 1/4 adaptor like they do for PKx series. It's a small grip though. One can get a pack of 4 foam pads (2 sets of 2) at Radioshack for $5 and I do have 1/4 adaptors from the big cans that I own.

Sorry to dig up an old thread. But do the Yuin Ok2s/Ok1s come with the donut foams? That is the accessory that is keeping me from clicking checkout right now.

They do not come with foams of any kind unfortunately as I said at the end of my post. The radioshack foams aren't bad though and with the extra set you could probably make your own donut foam.

Thanks RAQemUP,

Should have read more carefully! Real shame because I love the donut foams, and I am trying to ask if Fang will throw in some foams for me if I purchase an OK2.

Isn't donut foam just regular foam with a hole on it? I guess you can easily make a regular foam pad into donut foam anytime.

These ones are really soft compared to everything else I have tried (ibud foams, radio shack foams). I don't know. I really love them. Going to try to see if any yuin owners in head-fi land have any spares on the forums.

If Head-Direct would sell the foams that come with the PKx series separately, I'd buy them if they are as soft as you say filipelli. The Radioshack foams do feel a little "rough" in the ears but usually I am so absorbed into the music I can forget about it till I have to turn off the music. Plus I've been taking them off and on for the canal phone mode and the foams get pretty stretched and loose from that.

Got my OK3's in today (my birthday )

Surprise of surprises head direct threw in an E3 amp for free. It wasn't marked on the page that i bought it from and i never asked for it, it was just in there. Thanks guys

Anyhow they seem to sound great out of the box and are a nice upgrade over my busted PK3's but after a quick inspection i became a little worried. The 3.5mm jack is the exact same one as my broken PK3's. From what i've read that is the problem with one side dying out, which has happened to 2 pairs of PK3's of mine.
Let's hope that it was just in that batch of PK3's.

Unfortunately, i had the same problem with my OK3s. The right side started cutting out a bunch. Head-Direct was very quick to replace the phones under warranty, though.

Figured I should add to this thing.

I've got the OK1 and have had it for a good while.

The OK1 might be one of the most overlooked earphone on this forum. It is so incredibly good, but the user base seems to be a bit low. It's understandable given the $230 price tag, however, even at this price, it is an outstanding buy.

Tonality, level of detail, energy, transparency, stage presence, everything is done incredibly well. There pretty much is no one aspect that I can gripe about. It's neat when you can listen to music and hear sounds that you don't know is real life or in the music. You'll find times you hear talking, noises, or something that grabs your attention, and you take your earphone off to see who was talking to you or what it was only to find it was in the music.

If I were to pick any weakness at all with this earphone is that it requires an amp and no weakling at that. I ran it with a FiiO E5, NuForce Icon, and Meier Corda 2Move, and a robust energy source greatly favors this earphone. It just isn't the same experience off less or no amp. Presence and tonality suffer as you fall short. It's not bad without, but it really should be amped if you want a better experience.

I have a review elsewhere, so I won't go into detail here, just giving a shout out and props to a great product.

Me, too?

New here, first post:
Bought my OK3's after fair amount of research, which led me to purchase the OK3's over the PK2's. I like 'em very much, but am struggling a bit when listening to rock music. I am amping with the E3 that came with the earphones and it seems that the bass becomes too strong in many cases, almost muddying the mid-lows. On more acoustic, stripped down stuff (She and Him, Mindy Smith, etc) they sound amazing. Was wanting some advice on possible solutions/explanations.

1) Could it be my bit rate? I have an older ipod with a 20GB capacity, so I rip at 192 kps, VBR enabled in mp3 format. I know AAC is better, but I find mp3 more universal for my uses

2) Is it the 3 db bump that the fiio e3 provides to the lower end? Maybe I need a higher end amp?

3) Maybe I should look at going with the OK2 instead or PK2 instead for a more balanced, spacious sound stage?

I listen mostly at work, so sound quality is very noticeable in my quite office environment. Which brings me to why I posted on this thread. It seems that my left phone on the OK3's is missing some of the bass that my right phone has, but it is so subtle, I am not sure if my mind is playing tricks on me or not.

Thanks for any feedback and a nice place for all us music geeks to come and hang out!

I'd invest in the E5 and get rid of that bass boost. The problem is the OK series is not anemic to start with, so you're just boosting an already ok bass frequency range to something that now overshadows. As well, the OK3 and OK2 shouldn't need an amp to operate. They should be geared well for straight out of the portable device. Drop the amp altogether and have a listen. Try that for a while and see how you like them then. I will say that amping does typically help to even a small extent with most earphones, typically just improving bass control and tightening up the sound a little but only at louder volume levels. There just shouldn't be a need with the OK3 though. I'd say buy a E5 anyways just to have an affordable amp to play with both for the OK3 and any future earphones you may run.

I appreciate the input! Anyone else want to weigh in?