I've had my K1000s for about a week and thought I'd post my impressions (because yeah, we haven't heard enough of those 
).
Ever since I got my ER4s 6 months ago I've been looking for a full-sized version of them. It isn't that they're uncomfortable; they're not. But they are inconvenient compared to full-sized cans and their treble extension is lacking. It is quite pronounced moving between my SR-325i and the ER4s. Even though the ER4s offer a much higher quality treble, the Grados do extend higher. It's particularly noticeable on slightly sibilant tracks like Portishead - Dummy. It just sounds better on the Grados; there is something missing at the extreme top end on the ER4s and it sounds harsh, not sweet.
So after reading for months about the AKG K1000, I set out to acquire one. Unfortunately this was after they were discontinued and as everyone knows, they are difficult to find. It was by a stroke of luck that I have a fellow audiophile at work who just so happened to have a pair.. in mint condition! He also has a very nice horn-loaded electrostatic speaker setup at home, and said that as the K1000's sound signature was so close to it he didn't find many opportunities to use them. I made him an offer, he accepted, and shortly thereafter I had them in my possession.
Though I knew it was a bad idea at the time, I couldn't help trying them out on my work setup (where they arrived). I twisted wires together in a horrible crime against audio, running them straight out of my Lavry through a headphone jack I hacked off a $10 pair of earbuds. I didn't have the positioning right. Not that it mattered - the amp barely had enough steam to keep the bass notes together and at some points there was even (mild) distortion. It became apparent that they really DO need a high quality, powerful amp.
I gave up after 10 minutes and mentally wrote it off as a "DOA test."
Later that night I wired them up to my H/K using a Stefan Audio Art end cable.
At first I was confused. I started with a track that I know very well: Opeth - Windowpane. The cymbals sounded funny. I went back to my Grados. Then my ER4s.. then back to the K1000. Then I realized - wait. This is how they're supposed to sound!
They were sustained and had a metallic timbre that although digitally fuzzy, was much more accurate. They made sound until they stopped resonating.
Then I moved on to Metallica - The Shortest Straw, the ultimate cymbal and guitar texture test track. They had the ER4-ish distorted guitar texture I was hoping for, and the cymbals were again brilliant. However it was at this point I began to encounter a weakness. Though the bass is tight, fast and bright, it does not extend deeply. It has the opposite problem of the ER4. I fired up my Velodyne 10" sub and after a few minutes of adjustment, all was well. What an amazing experience: headphone clarity and intimacy, and visceral speaker bass.
Next was Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 3 (Lang Lang, Temirkanov). This is what hooked me for good.
What the K1000 does better than *any* other system I've heard is reveal the most subtle details in the recording. It's almost as if the sound is compressed... but it's not compressed; rather the opposite. They're incredibly dynamic (earpiercingly so), and yet the most tiny, insignificant and normally inaudible details are brought to the forefront. A perfect example is piano hammers, or crowd noises. Tapping on violins, page flipping, etc. The K1000s played Sergei like I've never heard before.
This may be the secret as to why cymbals sound so real (aside from more proper timbre). You can follow them into oblivion as they fade away linearly. They aren't lost in the wash of sound from the rest of the instruments.
The ear-filling mids are better than anything I've heard short of Monitor Audio towers through a Creek Destiny amp. Certainly the best I've heard from headphones. They can get become unlistenably grainy on bad recordings, but on good recordings they are truly outstanding. The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over - Hotel California sounds so real it's scary.
On symphonic tracks, the brass is aggressive and stabby when it needs to be, strings are textured and horns are smooth and soft. Pronounced piano hammers are followed by a rich and realistic tonality, which like cymbals, fades away naturally.
As I sit here now listening to Concerto no. 2, I've really come to appreciate what the K1000 offers. It wasn't quite the ER4 replacement I was searching for because the extension fails (albeit gracefully) on the other end of the spectrum.
However in other ways it is so much more. It offers brilliant, detailed presentation that, dynamically speaking, is truly in another league. Razor sharp but not sibilant. Excellent sound stage and decent imaging (though not quite up to the ER4).
All in all a superb phone.
).Ever since I got my ER4s 6 months ago I've been looking for a full-sized version of them. It isn't that they're uncomfortable; they're not. But they are inconvenient compared to full-sized cans and their treble extension is lacking. It is quite pronounced moving between my SR-325i and the ER4s. Even though the ER4s offer a much higher quality treble, the Grados do extend higher. It's particularly noticeable on slightly sibilant tracks like Portishead - Dummy. It just sounds better on the Grados; there is something missing at the extreme top end on the ER4s and it sounds harsh, not sweet.
So after reading for months about the AKG K1000, I set out to acquire one. Unfortunately this was after they were discontinued and as everyone knows, they are difficult to find. It was by a stroke of luck that I have a fellow audiophile at work who just so happened to have a pair.. in mint condition! He also has a very nice horn-loaded electrostatic speaker setup at home, and said that as the K1000's sound signature was so close to it he didn't find many opportunities to use them. I made him an offer, he accepted, and shortly thereafter I had them in my possession.
Though I knew it was a bad idea at the time, I couldn't help trying them out on my work setup (where they arrived). I twisted wires together in a horrible crime against audio, running them straight out of my Lavry through a headphone jack I hacked off a $10 pair of earbuds. I didn't have the positioning right. Not that it mattered - the amp barely had enough steam to keep the bass notes together and at some points there was even (mild) distortion. It became apparent that they really DO need a high quality, powerful amp.
I gave up after 10 minutes and mentally wrote it off as a "DOA test."
Later that night I wired them up to my H/K using a Stefan Audio Art end cable.
At first I was confused. I started with a track that I know very well: Opeth - Windowpane. The cymbals sounded funny. I went back to my Grados. Then my ER4s.. then back to the K1000. Then I realized - wait. This is how they're supposed to sound!
They were sustained and had a metallic timbre that although digitally fuzzy, was much more accurate. They made sound until they stopped resonating.
Then I moved on to Metallica - The Shortest Straw, the ultimate cymbal and guitar texture test track. They had the ER4-ish distorted guitar texture I was hoping for, and the cymbals were again brilliant. However it was at this point I began to encounter a weakness. Though the bass is tight, fast and bright, it does not extend deeply. It has the opposite problem of the ER4. I fired up my Velodyne 10" sub and after a few minutes of adjustment, all was well. What an amazing experience: headphone clarity and intimacy, and visceral speaker bass.
Next was Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 3 (Lang Lang, Temirkanov). This is what hooked me for good.
What the K1000 does better than *any* other system I've heard is reveal the most subtle details in the recording. It's almost as if the sound is compressed... but it's not compressed; rather the opposite. They're incredibly dynamic (earpiercingly so), and yet the most tiny, insignificant and normally inaudible details are brought to the forefront. A perfect example is piano hammers, or crowd noises. Tapping on violins, page flipping, etc. The K1000s played Sergei like I've never heard before.
This may be the secret as to why cymbals sound so real (aside from more proper timbre). You can follow them into oblivion as they fade away linearly. They aren't lost in the wash of sound from the rest of the instruments.
The ear-filling mids are better than anything I've heard short of Monitor Audio towers through a Creek Destiny amp. Certainly the best I've heard from headphones. They can get become unlistenably grainy on bad recordings, but on good recordings they are truly outstanding. The Eagles - Hell Freezes Over - Hotel California sounds so real it's scary.
On symphonic tracks, the brass is aggressive and stabby when it needs to be, strings are textured and horns are smooth and soft. Pronounced piano hammers are followed by a rich and realistic tonality, which like cymbals, fades away naturally.
As I sit here now listening to Concerto no. 2, I've really come to appreciate what the K1000 offers. It wasn't quite the ER4 replacement I was searching for because the extension fails (albeit gracefully) on the other end of the spectrum.
However in other ways it is so much more. It offers brilliant, detailed presentation that, dynamically speaking, is truly in another league. Razor sharp but not sibilant. Excellent sound stage and decent imaging (though not quite up to the ER4).
All in all a superb phone.
