A few months ago I came across a mention of this new Kenwood flagship on a Japanese site. It was acompanied by some frequency graphs that were very promising (at least I could read that...). Since then there has been some mention on this site, but not much. It stuck in my mind though, for some reason. Possibly because I have very fond memories of the Kenwood receiver I used to have (35 years ago).
Anyway, when I found myself last week with some money to spend (on phones of course), I took the plunge and bought a pair.
They just arrived a couple of hours ago, so I cannot say very much yet, but I think a few first impressions won't hurt.
Out of the box I was very surprised of their sound signatur. The impressions I read had made me believe that these phones would be rather emphasised in the mid-high frequency area and rather lean on bass. The opposite is true.
These have very substantial bass. At first tha bass was very boomy and completely covering the midrange. The highs were distant and tinny. But after a couple of hours the drivers were settled a bit and everything was rearanged to an exceptionally good balance.
This is what I had been hoping for when I saw the graphs, and I was not disappointed!
The first thing that attracted my attention was, even when they were fresh out of the box, their ability to completely draw me into the music from the moment I put them on my head. These are very involving phones. Their overall sound signature is pleasant, open, spacious, friendly. Transparent.
This combined well with my second observation: they are VERY comfortable, only bested by the DX1000.
The fit and finish: Good to very good. As you may expect from $315 phones. No fancy box and no extras.
To give you some perspective of where I am ranking these right now (very preliminary, mind you): I think they sound as I had hoped the DT990 would sound. They succeed (IMO) in every respect the DT990 failed (for me). Nice, extended highs that are not sharp, detailed and dynamic mids that are not recessed, and big bass that is getting better every minute....

Main thing: they keep drawing me into the music and they keep me well away from critical listening, which is a very good thing in my book.

I am one very pleased Headphoneus right now.

And a few pictures of course.
(just two quick crappy shots, I just didn't dare starting this thread without pics )

Nice looking pads.
Looks like there is quite some room in there for your ear, so it doesn't get squished against the driver mesh like with some AT headphones.

Thanks for your impressions. It seems like a great headphone. Two questions...How hard are they to drive? And so far, what's the bang-for-buck value on these?

I look forward to impressions once the drivers burn-in!

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Thy are in fact quite similar to the ATH pads, but the driver is positioned differently.
I notice as I am writing this, that the driver is actually slanted quite a bit. This probably (at least partly) accounts for the very good (spacious) soundstage.

looks like solid build quality, but also suspiciously like an A900 with some magic W1000 pads and an akg headband

of course it's NOT, but that was the first thing that came to mind

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They are easy to drive. I tried them on my Earmax Pro, and it was just perfect. I also tried the X-CAN V8, but hey, this amp can drive anything, the other K1000 included.... Same goes for the Prehead.
When I find an adapter I'll try them straight out of my Cowon D2.

Bang-for-buck. Difficult to say at this point. They are not really cheap, for Americans at least, for me (in euro) they are relatively cheaper I guess.
At this moment I definitely consider it money well spent though.

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I can't blame you for thinking that, it does give that sort of an impression.
I never heard A900, but I can tell you the sound signature is very different from my W10VTG (and from the AD2000 I had, but those are open of course).
And then again, who cares? As long as the end result is good music....

On the audio cubes website there is mention of them being Denon's. Not sure if it is a typo or what?

Denon presents a classic style headphone with the new KH-K1000 Dynamic Headphone. Featuring a "Self-Adjustable" strap that will fit any user's head comfortably. Plus with soft ear-pads on each side, KH-K1000 will last for a long period of time while the user enjoys the music. It delivers remarkable sound quality that is pure and warm. Each material is carefully chosen and assembled. With a large 53 mm driver, the bass is strong and controlled. Available only in Japan

Specifications

Type: Air-tightness dynamic type
Driver unit: 53mm (high purity OFC bobbin winding voice coil adoption)
Output overpressure value: 98dB/mW (JEITA)
Impedance: 42 ohms
Largest input: 1,500mW (JEITA)
Playback frequency zone: 10 - 45,000Hz
Cord/code material: Elastomer sheath/high purity OFC
Cord/code length: 3.0m (Y type)
Plug: Gold-plating standard stereo plug/mini-stereo plug
Mass: 390g

Accessories

Gold-plating standard stereo plug

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Must be a typo from Audio Cubes.
They are definitely not Denon.

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Hmmmmm... who else and only who else uses 53mm drivers... And those pads are shaped suspiciously like those of...

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Audio Technica (W5000, A700, A500 for instance).
Denon.
Allen & Heath.
Maybe more, I don't know....

Interesting, never heard of them. Isolation/sound leakage?

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They don't leak sound, says my wife, who is sitting next to me and does not hear the music playing right now.
If there is music playing I don't hear her either. When the music stops, I can hear her.
Press play.