AKG K3003 High End 3 Way System Headphone - Page 51

I personally see them as a clear upgrade. I look at headphones as monitoring systems, meaning, how accurate picture they can portrey over music.

While I would be hesitant to mix on EX1000, I would trust more the K3003. The only downside they have is that one could end up with a slightly darker sounding mix because of the emphasized treble. EX1000 on the other hand can portray a convincing bass, but overall I feel I could miss some details with them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunlun 

However, there's no need to hunt for reasons not to enjoy a earphone you've purchased, that's just a thing people do on head-fi and maybe not a good one.

I love this sentence :)

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Originally Posted by up late 

I need to figure out what those squiggly lines mean. Do you think that the k3003 is an upgrade from the ex1000 or more of a sidegrade?

It should be an upgrade :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ypoknons 

Yea there is something with the EX1000 in the treble I don't get. Sony's graphs show they should be sibilent if anything but I have never experienced anything like that, it's a bit mellow up top.

You are lucky then. I have yet to hear a more aggressive IEM lol.

Since the excellent thread: “AKG K3003 — Impressions, Reviews & Discussion” (started by the now banned “music_4321”) has been locked (can anyone please inform me of why?), I’ll just post here instead…

I want credibly reproduced sound, and to me well rendered transients add a lot to the overall realism of the sound. What I mean by transients is the very first tiny fraction of a second when for example a piano string is being struck by its hammer, or a guitar string is being plucked and released by a plectrum or a finger nail and starts to vibrate. When I was listening to the K3003 in the peace and quiet of my own home for the first time, feeding it from my “CLAS –db”/”Rx MK-3B” rig (set to low gain), I felt the transients were quite soft-boiled. They were just too rounded, milk-and-water. Also, it hissed quite a bit, even when playing music at moderately low volumes. It would be somewhat of an overstatement to say I was panicking, but having spent $1.500 on an IEM, I wasn’t feeling too good about it.

Now, from my limited experience of amplifiers I didn’t think an amplifier change would make any substantial difference. Nevertheless, as my first step I dug out my old “TTVJ Portable Slim” and replaced the “Rx MK-3B” in my rig with it. My fingers somewhat trembling and fumbling, I fired up the Slim. First observation; the old thump from the electricity surging through the Slim’s circuits. Second observation; hiss, yes, but nowhere near the hiss of the “Rx MK-3B”. Slight sigh of relief! Second step; push the play button with Mike Oldfield’s “Muse” from the “Guitars” album selected (lots of transients from guitar strings being plucked and released). Third observation; not just much better, but really quite realistic transients! Deep sigh of relief, and quite a surprise in relation to my expectations! Third step, switch to the K3003’s “High Boost” filters. After my first few hours of trying the K3003 (outside the peace and quiet of my own home) I thought I would never have any need or want to even try the K3003’s boost filters. I thought that I would always use the reference filters. Final observation (I’ll try avoid going into “hype mode” now); spot on transients and complete relief. The “High Boost” filters create a very realistic transient attack without ever hammering the eardrums, (as my Earsonics EM4 sometimes would do).

Clearly, the K3003 is the most source sensitive IEM I’ve heard to date. Based on average_joe’s review of the Portaphile 627 in his “Multi-Portable Amp Thread” and based on what he has to say about it under “Portable Sources, DAPs” in his first post on his thread “AKG K3003 Universal IEM Review: Challenger to the Custom IEM World?”, plus some other reading up about it, I’ve just pre‑ordered the Portaphile 627X. Got an e-mail this Tuesday from Cesar Aguilera, owner of Portaphile Amplifiers saying: “he expects to ship the 627X sometime between late April and early May” Can’t wait to hear the AKG K3003 with the Portaphile 627X! (Tip: “Final sales price will be $550.00 with a pre-order sales price of $499.00”)

For now the “High Boost” filters (which don’t really seem to be filters, but just grills) are definitely my favorites. I feel they significantly (among other things) improve the overall resolution (which is quite amazing with the reference filers as well), not just the resolution of the treble but the resolution of the bass and the mid-range as well, and I’m an addict of resolution which also adds a lot to the realism of the sound. The “High Boost” filters somehow make the bass stand out better too, to somehow better contrast the treble and mid-range. Before trying the “High Boost” filters I was afraid they would make the K3003 bright and have a negative effect on the bass and lower mid-range, and I don’t like bright sounding headphones. However, my fears were completely unsound. Ok, slightly brighter, but that would be the least significant effect of the “High Boost” filters.

I really don’t want to get into the debate about the AKG K3003 being “flawed”, but I just have to say this. I find it very, no, extremely strange to call it flawed. How can it be called flawed? To me something that is flawed is so in comparison to its specification (in the case of the K3003, the specification defined by the engineers at AKG), or some expectation, and who has the authority to define what we should or must expect from an IEM? All I have to say for now is that the AKG K3003 is the most satisfying sounding IEM I’ve heard to date, and I recommend anyone looking for a reference high-end IEM (of any type) to try it.

I’m really looking forward to explore the K3003 further, and for those interested I’ll try to write about my findings.

BTW, I’ve seen quite a few posts and reviews complaining about the price of the AKG K3003 as being “outrageously high”. I bet a fair share of those same people find it reasonable to spend $1500 on a TV set or some $1500 for some accessory to their cars, such a slightly more powerful engine, a panoramic roof, or what not. Well, if that is the case, I guess audiophile sound and the IEM hobby isn’t all that important and meaningful to those people. At the end of the day it’s all a matter of priority, isn’t it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by toads 

Interesting...

I've just received my UM Merlins and should have my 3003s this week, my 1+2 on warranty replacement are a couple of weeks away...

When all have been run-in for a bit, I'll try to put some thoughts up on similarities and differences between these hybrids....

I do look forward to that! Any information or impressions (long or short) would be highly interesting!

can't wait for your review.

how do we get a loan of this earphone? I wish I could hands on this baby and try them out.