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AKG K1000 Bass: decent or lacking? - Page 3

post #31 of 41
3/19/09 at 4:36pm
listening to mine right now, underpowered out of a gs-x, and still getting decent bass. when i had the sig30 i never found the bass on the k1000 to be lacking.
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post #32 of 41
3/19/09 at 5:05pm
Some songs I felt it needed more deep bass given the material (Jazz and Blues), maybe it was just the Pass amp or source or whatever that time though it was great with Classical/Opera . Next time was out of a tube amp and it seemed not as detailed, but more rich and had more deep bass.

Duggeh, the O2 is stiff competition and given the price of a Stax setup like that and an average K1000 system it is unfair on more than a few levels. Though some might say that the O2 is dark whereas I haven't seen anyone say that about the K1000.

Next time, I should probably say in what context for usually (as in the music genre).
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post #33 of 41
3/19/09 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by -=Germania=- View Post
Duggeh, the O2 is stiff competition and given the price of a Stax setup like that and an average K1000 system it is unfair on more than a few levels. Though some might say that the O2 is dark whereas I haven't seen anyone say that about the K1000.
The stiffest competition comes from my AMT headphone which I run from the same amplifier and is basically made of blu-tac and sellotape.

As for the unfair pricing difference you allude to, thats complete nonsense. A used O2 costs a comparable amount to a used K1000 in the current market (condition variable of course), and a decent K1000 amp is going to price similar to an SRM-717 as well. Given the total outlay involved, a K1000/Firstwatt F1 combination is hardly going to be cheap compared to an O2/717.

I can't work out what the "other levels" of unfairness you refer to might be, although I should be happy to reply to them if you elaborate.

People dont say that the K1000 is dark because it isn't dark. It's had just as much of its chunk of criticism for being bright as the O2 has had for being dark though.
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post #34 of 41
3/19/09 at 6:38pm
Fair or not, the K-1000 easily competes with the O2. There was a time where I thought I wanted to go the O2 route, and after several listens, I couldn't get into them. They have the same problem that the HE-90 has and that's the lack of involvement long term for my taste.

I like the impact and sparkle of the K-1000. The absolutely accurate presentation of the system and recording. More uncolored than any headphone and maybe speaker too because of it's design.

I prefer the K-1000s bass, midrange and treble to the O2. I understand it's a preference thing. But my point isn't to knock the O2 which I think is an outstanding phone (up with the best), but to point out that price doesn't really make a difference.

Case in point, Foo_me sold his HE-90 set up for his K-1000 set up because he liked it better, so the K-1000s aren't really in need of feeling intimidated by any headphone.

Of course Foo_me's amp retails at $14K, so price isn't all that irrelevant in the bigger picture
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post #35 of 41
3/20/09 at 2:53pm
Has anyone ever tried using something like this SameDayMusic.com: dbx 131 Single 31-Band EQ to boost the 20-40hz range? Using that it seems possible to have the k1000 around 0db down to 28-30hz. At 20hz it would only be -8db.
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post #36 of 41
3/20/09 at 3:12pm
Na, most equalizers muck up the sound - plus I'd need to get another pair of expensive ICs...

I was listening to 2 poorly recorded CDs last night (well not terrible but not great) and I was actually experiencing heavy bass rumble which bordered on excessive bass. I thought of this thread. They definately are not lacking in bass weight and impact.
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post #37 of 41
3/20/09 at 4:00pm
i have my k1000s running through a modified deq2496, and the brief time time i have had with them and this together, i have yet to be able to come up with anything that doesnt sound false and overly accentuated

nb. its all kept in the digital domain

i was using it with great effect on my hd555's, really improving on their soundstage and opening up the soupy mids

but the K1000's thus far do not respond well to equalization, it makes them sound awful to be frank, i will have a go at EQing thm by ear over the coming weeks and see if anything resembling normality can come out of it, i am doubtful though...
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post #38 of 41
3/21/09 at 2:01am
how would u guys compare bass on K1000 to HD600?

i find HD600's bass more than adequate for most music.
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post #39 of 41
3/21/09 at 2:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by robm321 View Post
Fair or not, the K-1000 easily competes with the O2. There was a time where I thought I wanted to go the O2 route, and after several listens, I couldn't get into them. They have the same problem that the HE-90 has and that's the lack of involvement long term for my taste.

I like the impact and sparkle of the K-1000. The absolutely accurate presentation of the system and recording. More uncolored than any headphone and maybe speaker too because of it's design.

I prefer the K-1000s bass, midrange and treble to the O2. I understand it's a preference thing. But my point isn't to knock the O2 which I think is an outstanding phone (up with the best), but to point out that price doesn't really make a difference.

Case in point, Foo_me sold his HE-90 set up for his K-1000 set up because he liked it better, so the K-1000s aren't really in need of feeling intimidated by any headphone.

Of course Foo_me's amp retails at $14K, so price isn't all that irrelevant in the bigger picture
your tastes may differ but i think the biggest factor in the K1000s presentation is its sound stage and ability to create an out of head feeling. Very few headphones do this. Infact you could probably tally them on one hand. Because of that im not exactly sure its wise to compare the O2 to it since the experiences vary. The other issue is of course whats driving the O2.

What i think would be interesting is a comparison of the K1000 and the origonal SR-Omega [not the SR-007/BL but the origonal released in 93ish] because both had similar goals of creating that out of head experience. Throw in the Taket H2 that Duggeh likes so much and i think that would make for a fun time indeed. hmmm now all we need is an SR-Omega, wider selection of amps, complimentary plane tickets, and an invitation to Duggeh's house!
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post #40 of 41
3/21/09 at 6:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nocturnal310 View Post
how would u guys compare bass on K1000 to HD600?

i find HD600's bass more than adequate for most music.
only going from memory on the 600's, i would suggest that the bass on the k1000 is more defined, fuller and punchier/tight, and goes deeper! the 600's have a softer, shallower all round presentation re. bass IMHO.
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post #41 of 41
3/26/09 at 1:49am
Despite my obvious bias I've always been fairly critical of the K1000, but its bass has never been a problem for me. The problem is there's a lot of factors that can make the bass seem lacking, such as...

- Non-optimal earspeaker angle for the particular listener's ears. Too far and bass rolls off sooner, too close and you can get some unpleasant artifacts in the upper midrange / treble.

- Too used to the midbass hump common to a lot of headphones. This even gets me at first if I put the K1000 on after listening to K240 for a while, but everything is fine once my ears readjust.

- High-ish amplifier output impedance. From what I remember seeing of the K1000's impedance curve, you'll want a very low output impedance to avoid overemphasizing the treble. May also be related to the large number of people preferring speaker amps for the K1000.

And then there are some people who just need moar bass than the K1000 can create (I keep the K240 around for that purpose ).
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