AKG 1000: price, and power requirements? - Page 2

Dear fellow Headwizers/Headfizers,

The bad news for all owners of a K1000 headphone. The K1000 amplifier are no longer produced and sold by SAC.

The good news. I purchased the last series of the original K1000 amplifiers for a very good price and as soon as the Headwize-forums are up again, I plan to start a sales-action on the K1000 amplifier/headphone combo.

Cheers,

Jan

I guess I have to be the dissenter here: I don't like the AKG K1000. To me, they are too bright and thin, and are uncomfortable for me. I have the K1000 and the HD600 on my desk, and I will always go for the 600 first, because of its friendlier fit, friendlier sound, and higher resolution. Nevertheless, personally, I don't regret getting the K1000 because they've been an object of adolescent lust since I saw/read about them in the 80s, and I can still admire the engineering that went into them.

Other people who've heard both the Senns and the K1000 really like the AKG, and so I don't think my K1000 is broken or anything like that, but I suspect that my head shape and the discomfort of the phones make them unsuitable for me.

--Andre

Andrew, at first I had disliked the AKG-1000 too because they sounded bright and thin as well as lacking bass. Although they had super high resolution, it was just harsh and metallic sounding. I knew there was something with the amp I was using.

Anyhow I recently auditioned the AKG-1000 with the Cary 300SEI and all I can say all the thin bright sound that use to be there DISAPPEARED. The sound is now really smooth with alot of body than before and at last there is more bass than ever. The phone sound absolutely beautiful to me now. Anyhow, I think giving the AKG-1000 a tube amp helps and smooths out the overly harsh sounds.

DanG was also there as well and agree the AKG-1000 sounded absolutely smooth and wonderful unlike the harsh sound and lack of bass I was telling him before.

However, Vka, I thought that the K1000 was generally inferior to the Alessandro-Grado MSP when I listened to solo music or chamber ensembles. It felt like I was at the back of a large auditorium listening to a small group; the music felt distanced and almost lifeless in its lack of immediacy. I just couldn't enjoy the music compared with listening to it on the MSP. The music I was listening to in these cases was Bartok's string quartets (performed by the Emerson Quartet) and Chopin's Impromptus (played by Artur Rubinstein).

With orchestral music, I thought that the K1000 brought out all the awesome power of 100 instruments working in concert (sorry for the pun). On the MSP, the orchestra seemed to be condensed in a little can (comparatively); it was not like losing the forest for the trees, but rather like listening to an orchestral rehearsal in a room which can barely hold the orchestra. The K1000 captured the entire orchestra at its best -- you could almost see the whole orchestra in front of you. Music used was Brahms' 4th Symphony (Fritz Reiner, cond.), and Dvorak's Symphony No. 4 in D minor (London Symphony Orchestra, Istvan Kertesz, cond.)

With vocal music (The Cardigans' Gran Turismo), I found that there was still the immediacy that I wanted; in fact, as with good speakers, I felt Nina standing right in front of me. However, some of the effects created by the mixers was lost to a certain extent; when Nina was supposed to be singing in one ear and then the other, it sounded like she moved her head to the right and then to the left, but not very much (kind of pathetic, in fact). Also, the presentation of Nina's voice was a little de-emphasized in the midrange; I didn't feel all of her warmth and the beauty of her voice with the K1000. So overall, I still preferred the MSP for the Cardigans, although each headphone has its strongpoints with vocals.

With Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, I unfortunately didn't have time to listen all the way through (Vka was getting hungry ). I was really only able to listen to "Time," maybe my favorite song on the album. Anyway, I thought that the left ear-right-ear effects worked fine. Here, the K1000's expansive soundstage seemed to be a plus over the "cozier" soundstage of the MSP. It made the music seem more ominous and larger than life. When Waters began to sing, I think I also preferred the K1000's presentation over the MSP. The sound was more neutral and natural-sounding with the K1000; however, the difference seemed very small. It would still be difficult to choose which headphone is better, but the edge would probably go to the K1000.

So overall, if I had the Cary 300SEI (wow, that's a long way away ) and the AKG K1000 along with my Alessandro-Grado Music Series Pro, I'd likely be trading off depending on the music I was listening to. For chamber ensembles and solo classical music, I'd choose the MSP without a doubt. For orchestral performances, it would undoubtedly be the K1000. But for music like Pink Floyd and The Cardigans, I'd probably use either one with just as much enjoyment.

Oh boy, another amp option!

Hmmm...it just occurred to me that about all that I have listened to on the K1000 is jazz, and some vocals. Time to switch genre again (I go on binges like this).

As far as the phone plug goes, since the "adaptor" cable has an XLR at one end and bare leads at the other, I just clipped the bare leads to the right length and soldered on a reasonable quality phone plug. Single ground, so I joined the blue and black ground leads. The wire is decent gauge, so it is easy to work with. I used a RS gold plated "solderless" connector. Use the little screws to clamp the wire down, then solder it anyway. Great connection. I am keeping an eye out for those 4 pin XLR connectors, but they are not too common. Normal XLRs are 3 pin. It would be great to have an XLR socket right on the amp. That will be another experiment.

Ah, the sound! I found a major difference by tilting the bottom of the panels in. Had to bend the orange bands a bit to do it (no pivot on that axis, pity). The sound is much warmer in the mids, bass is stronger, and it gets rid of that funny notch filter effect that you get when you put something close to your ear (I can hear the ocean). I can still pivot them forward to get the diffuse sound effect.

That is another great thing about the K1000. Major tweakability!