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Originally Posted by wolfen68  Now that I've had mine a couple of weeks, and they're burned in, I'm amazed that these haven't taken off here more than they have. The price on these must be holding them back. I've now decided I like them better than my KSC-35's and *Gasp* my UE5c's. If these had just a tad more well placed bass/fullness, I could pit them against my HF-1.
These headphones are now filling a niche I have always looked for...a comfortable, portable, great sounding headphone with no isolation that will fit in my pocket. I also really like the KSC-35's, but I never was a big fan of the ear clips and their slight loss of detail as compared to my other cans.
I wrote in another thread that I've found PK1's to also sound good with no amp...so someone wanting to grow with them should be OK. I still believe that, but I have enough listening time now to realize that using an amp makes them "better enough" to be impressive, not just plain good.
My dilemma now is: My wife also needs a good portable phone, but she doesn't use an amp. Do I get her PK1's or PK2's? She would be dissapointed if the PK2's didn't sound as good as the PK1's unamped off of her H130 (she really likes the PK1's so far).
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I also found them plenty loud and usable unamped. But of course youre not going to get the most out of em that way. IMHO they are difficult to drive (to mid-potential) out of a portable. Although a well designed cmoy ~$30 can easily get them humming, IMHO.
IMHO their lack of popularity lies in 3-4 elements...
1- The wave of the headphone future is isolating IEMs, or semi-isolating IEMs. Just look at all the kids basting their ears to infinity, in an effort to blanket ambient noise. I think youre going to start seeing more custom IEMs too in the $100-$300 range. Theres a void in that market segment. That consumer is looking for a step up from the $100 range, wanting better sonics, isolation and comfort. What better way to achieve that than to take a super-fi, or e3c armature driver and mount it in a custom earmold? Knock the price up to $150 - $250, and you have a very unique product. The drivers for those things aren't that much $$$ anyways. So, it could be a low manufacturing cost way for a new IEM company to break into the market.
2- Lets face it... looks matter. The headphone mass-consumer market is flooded with younger listeners. Who want to look good in public as well as sound good. The PK1 falls flat on the pooper in the looks department... there's just no "BLING- factor" to attract those listeners who desire a flashy looking headphone to look nice on the street. I'm willing to bet the headphone listening demographic heavily favors young teens, in the GENERAL public world outside of us here at head-fi.
3- Limited availability. Outside of headfi and TTVJ you can't get them. Which may not be a bad thing. If Yuin chooses to market their product to a niche-audiophile crowd, then that certainly is the way to do it.
4- Price. At $130 they are going toe to toe with the K501, MS1 and HD580.... thats a tough market segment for any headphone to keep pace with. Let alone a generic looking earbud.
Just look at how the v-moda vibes took off... Super-good looks(IMHO), decent sounds, semi-isolating, reasonably easy to get, and its priced a notch below the dollar-value beasts (K501, HD580, MS1). At ~$80 it competes with the SR60/80, MDRV6, HD280, MDR-EX90. If I were a headphone designer, that would be a better/easier market to compete in. I have seen them at my local Frys too.
