Yuin PK2, Impressions & Pics.

[kramer5150]

Nankai loaned me a pair of PK2 earbuds a few weeks ago. In that time I have been commuting with them, and listening to them pretty regularly. I ended up taking them on a long road trip with the family / kids to Disneyland, using my LG cell phone as my ultra-portable MP3 source. So there I was…. Chasing my kids around Tom Sawyer’s island with the PK2 jamming the non-isolating tunes. For the heck of it, I rode Space Mountain with them blasting away some Rockin’ Joe Satriani guitar-centric tunes. Truly a memorable product evaluation. You guys want to make roller coaters really fun… bring your cans along with some Van Halen, Aerosmith or Dick Dale

Several times throughout the days they would fall out or become dislodged and yanked by the cord. I can certainly say this about the PK2, THEY ARE DURABLE. They certainly pass the Disneyland thrash test.

Physically they are very comfortable. I wore them to sleep several times and I found that I could lie ON them at night without hurting my ears. Normally I don’t like earbuds, because they always fall out. I never had this problem with the PK2. It comes with 2 pairs of foam earpad cushions that are grippy-type foam and keep the PK2 planted. One pair of foams are the standard earbud sleeve type, while the second pair is identical except it has a hole cut out of the middle to increase mids and treble. Using the foams also creates a tight seal to the ear, to further increase bass response. I couldn’t use them without the foam ear pads though because they would fall out too easily. For the record, I used the non-hole cutout ear pads for all my sonic evaluations. They were more comfortable and seemed to enhance the bass response further. So, in that regard pad swaps can be done to increase or decrease bass response.

The cable is a “J” type, with the shorter end being on the left side. As you browse through the pictures you’ll notice the absence of “L” and “R”. The TRS connector is a small straight plug, and a gold ¼” adapter is included.

They come with a nice wood / foam padded box as well as a little cylindrical carry-case. Nice touches overall.

Sonic Impressions:

I demo’d the PK2 with a variety of sources and amps. My fore-mentioned LG cell phone was my main ultra-portable source while chasing my kids all over the magic kingdom, followed by my D335 PCDP+GoVibe2 as a trans-portable CD source, and my main home setup which has a Panasonic DVD/CD deck, Entech DAC and a Millet Hybrid.

Bass is smooth and detailed, tight and never flabby or un-controlled. For the record, these aren’t bass-monsters. So if you’re a member of the crowd and accustomed to a certain level of bass-bloat, these may leave you wanting more. Periodically, I found myself using the bass-boost function on my D335 with excellent results. So, I can say the PK2 handles EQ tweeks with ease, never flabbing out or showing signs of distress. Usually however I left the bass boost EQ off.

Amping with an OPA2107 loaded pimeta or my Millet also helps to further color the sound. So, while I wouldn’t go so far as to say the PK2 is amp-finicky, or really needs outboard amplification, it IMHO benefits from a warm amp circuit. (those of you who are familiar with my rantings, know that I use amps more to color the sound than amplify it) If memory serves me right about the MDR-e888... PK2 also seems to be warmer, with more bass kick than the sony earbud.

That being said, the PK2 does not skimp on warmth adding its own kind of grooviness. They possess a little coloration and flair around ~315Hz. Not quite an echo, but a little resonance. It adds warmth to snare/tom-tom drum tones and deeper male vocals. A very unique kind of signature, it’s not severe enough for me to consider it a flaw… more like a “signature coloration”.

Midrange clarity is its strength. Dianna Krall vocals and Jay Beckenstein Jazz Carinet (Spyro Gyra) sounded smooth, detailed and articulate. Mids are forward and aggressive enough to fill center stage, yet not harsh and fatigue-ing. Stevie Ray Vaughan guitarwork is executed clean, sharp, and snappy. Stevie’s delicate touch as well as his chunky/heavy, string-spanking dynamics are accurate and convincing. Switching to the hole modded pads opened up another layer of detail and resolution.... very nice.

The midrange / treble transition is another strong point. Treble extends cleanly, with a gentile roll-off above 12kHz. There is a smooth uniform sound to the upper mids and treble. I never got the impression “HERE is where the treble ends, or HERE is where the midrange begins”, just a smooth range of frequencies and clean replication throughout. Never did I detect harshness or fatigue from the PK2 mids/highs.

As an earbud, they are much more open sounding than an IEM, yet the forward nature of PK2 mids fills center stage nicely. If you find IEMs too closed in sounding and too “head-filling”, the PK2 might be your ticket. Changing earpad foams to the open-doughnuts creates a stronger center image compared to the solid earpads.

So there you have it, and here are the pics.

Nice foam padded box...






Aaw.. how cute! Little bowls and little TTVJ flats




Anyone care to translate?






**The reviewer did not receive payment or compensation for writing this review**

[poonpower]

wow, sounds like these buds are a winner.
The packaging is great, but I have to admit those buds look like crap. Luckily the SQ makes up for the looks.

[tyrion]

Excellent review and I think I agree with most, if not all. I've had a pair that was sent to me for the upcoming meet and they are easily the best ear bud I've used to date. They do rival some of the less expensive IEM's. The bass is nice and well defined (I prefer my E6i's because they are IEM's but the bass on the PK2 is superior). My complaint is the "J" cable. I never liked the design and this is compounded by the cable being too short for my purposes. If the cable was the length of the Apple ear buds, I would consider buying the PK2.

[munkong]

**The reviewer did not receive payment or compensation for writing this review**



Great Review !
I like the last significance in your review

[kramer5150]

Thanks fellas!!

Yeah I am not a fan of earbuds. In fact of all the different types of headphones... open/closed, earclip, streetstyle, IEM, canalphone....etc... Earbud designs remain my least favorite.

All the earbuds I have tried always seem to lack bass kick and dynamics. Even the higher end ones... like the e888, CM7, I thought lacked bass, warmth and a sense of "fun". They just sounded too dry, accurate, sterile with a severe bass roll-off to really capture my interest.

The PK2 is different. Yes it is lighter in bass output (compared to a full sized can or KSC75), but it has a certain "fun"factor to its lower mids that I found made it an enjoyable listen. When you factor in a little bass-boost EQ you have IMHO one of the warmest sounding earbuds. For the record, I was adding about 3-4 db on my foobar EQ below 100Hz.

Hope some of you found this useful!!

Garrett

[JLai]

Atleast you know no one will steal those things...they look identical to the ones you find at dollar stores. You'd think with the fancy box, fancy wooden box, etc that they could atleast somewhat make the earbuds look nicer or of higher quality.

[laxx]

if you liked the pk2's, then you'd really enjoy the pk1's. the improvement with amplification is quite pleasant.

[derek8555]

Awesome review! Hows midrange coloration?

[kramer5150]

Originally Posted by derek8555

Awesome review! Hows midrange coloration?

It adds a sense of "thickness" to the sound. Its readily apparent on drum tones. Snare drums and toms have an added sense of body and resonance that is unique to the PK2.

Its not what I would consider muddy or conjested... just different.

Certainly these are one of the more unique sounding headphones I have tried.

Its almost like... you take the Grado flair and coloration thats centered around 3500Hz.... and you drop it down to ~315 Hz, thats what the PK2 does. Its a combination of frequency boost and resonance.... so it seems its both frequency dependent and time-delay dependent.

It made female vocals seem deeper and more resonant... Almost like Dianna Krall gained 20 pounds and did a Sade impersonation.

You guys should also note that all my Grado-centric sources and amps are on the warm side. The sony D335 is noted for having a warm DAC. My pimeta has OPA2107s, noted for their bassy character, and my millet has 12FK6s and low gain for RS1 synnergy. I'm willing to bet a different amp... maybe something with an OPA2227 or JRC4556 would excite that lower midrange coloration less.

[jdimitri]

Wait until you hear the PK1

[daveDerek]

Originally Posted by kramer5150

It comes with 2 pairs of foam earpad cushions that are grippy-type foam and keep the PK2 planted. One pair of foams are the standard earbud sleeve type, while the second pair is identical except it has a hole cut out of the middle to increase mids and treble. Using the foams also creates a tight seal to the ear, to further increase bass response. I couldn’t use them without the foam ear pads though because they would fall out too easily. For the record, I used the non-hole cutout ear pads for all my sonic evaluations. They were more comfortable and seemed to enhance the bass response further. So, in that regard pad swaps can be done to increase or decrease bass response.

wow, these come standard with a kramer-mod sets of foams - and you didn't even try 'em?!?!

[Filburt]

I now have the pair kramer used to test, so hopefully I'll get a review up of it as well. Unfortunately, I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to doing reviews, so if anyone has any things they're interested in or tips, let me know.

[chesebert]

I am sorry to poop on your party but those headphone looks like $5 sony earbuds. The build quality looks piss-poor.

Why would you even want an earbud that's open? I would pick sr60/PX100/sr80/ms1 if I was doing portable open, and IEM if I want closed.

[milkpowder]

Well... nothing really worth translating apart from this:
The use of high quality sources, interconnects and amplifiers may improve sound quality.

It might also be interesting to note that the AC impedance is different to the DC impedance, ie 16 +/-4 ohm vs 14.5 +/- 1.5 ohm

[Filburt]

Originally Posted by chesebert

I am sorry to poop on your party but those headphone looks like $5 sony earbuds. The build quality looks piss-poor.

Why would you even want an earbud that's open? I would pick sr60/PX100/sr80/ms1 if I was doing portable open, and IEM if I want closed.

Well, you didn't throw water on the fire for me, at least, but your comment seemed to contribute almost nothing to the discussion. Is that what you meant by 'party pooper'?

The build quality seems pretty good overall, as far as earbuds go. They aren't the prettiest earbud out there but they do have a solid feel to them, and I find them comfortable. I personally find any of the things you just listed to not be suitable for portable use for me, anyhow, and I don't like IEMs (I find them uncomfortable, and I find the majority of them don't even sound very good to me).

At least for me, something like a high quality earbud is optimal for portable use. I guess people have different preferences, though. The looks of them don't bug me at all, and actually I find the overall design to be fairly practical other than the uneven-length cords.