[Daniel Pumphrey]

I think the 501 is a very good phone. They are inefficient and need more then the RA-1 can provide.
This post shows how many opinions there are in the headphone world.
My 2cents;
The 501 is not distant sounding. It is realistic sounding. Obviously the illusion of distance should be rethought as far as headphones are concerned. What is this illusion of distance? When I listen to music it has a sense of distance in the real world. Sounds are located in space and most headphones do not accurately reproduce this.
Obviously my favorite phones are without a doubt the Etymotic ER4 in all it's versions which I own.
I have owned the Grado 60 (Many different), HP-2 125 as well as the Sennheiser 580, AKG 301 and 501. All these have been sold after trying the 501. I consider the 501 to be the most accurate dynamic phone I have tried.
It really requires an amp with some power and one opamp designs are not really adequate. It does not have extremely high impedence but is much more inefficient then the Sennheiser phones.
I would say that most of the comments about distance relate to the inefficiency of this phone.
Dan

 

[Neruda]

a-men daniel! I've been waiting for you to show up!

so...can I sign you up for team AKG?

 

[Xander]

There. You heard the man, now go buy some K401s, or K501s!

 

[Neruda]

hey xander, what was the name of the driver you used?

 

[Xander]

I'll be damned if I remember the exact model. It was from Vifa/Scanspeak. I ordered it from parts express a long time ago, but they dont seem to carry it anymore.

 

[Possum]

I remember something strange when I was A/B'ing my K501's to my HD580's. Long before the comparison, I've read that the K501's were less efficient than the HD580's, yet, when I plugged both into my DC-coupled Szekeres amp (with a gain stage), the HD580 needed the volume to be turned up a bit more to be comparable to the volume I heard through the K501's. Just something I noted.

 

[kwkarth]

Man! You guys are making me think maybe I should go out and buy a pair of 501s to add to my collection. Anybody ever compared them to the Beyer DT250/80s?

Would my Creek OBH-11SE be able to properly drive the 501s?
TIA!

 

[Neruda]

here a re a few more pictures of kickass fullrange driver speakers (yes, I'm obsessed. back off):

The beautiful RL Acoustique Lamhorn 1.8, with the so-called "super-lowther" driver:

A lowther driver:

Another lowther driver:

The Yamamura Churchill Dionisio 27, a huge rearloaded horn tuned to 27Hz:

 

[kwkarth]

AWESOME!

 

[Neruda]

Hell yeah!

 

[Daniel Pumphrey]

Yes you can sign me up to Team AKG if you wish. I should really be on team Etymotic if anything though. I think the 501 is the closest to the Ety accuracy in a big dynamic phone.
I have not yet heard the K-1000 but think I would also like it, but I do hate to talk about the greatness of something I have not listened to for a long time. I was very impressed with the older 301 as it seemed considerably better than the Sennheiser 580 in accuracy. I didn't listen for several months and started back with the grado and then went to the 501 and it is just a very good phone. I also remember going back to the Grado and realizing all the peaks in it's response. These peaks are easily heard in female vocals where the pitchs are bent or slurred. The human voice usually exhibits flat dynamics in glissandi
until the voice breaks into falsetto. The Grado really bothered me after hearing this.
Of course if I don't listen for a while the ear reverts back to being less subjective. This is why there are so many different opinions on phones. Direct comparison is really the only way to compare until one really memorizes the sound of a phone. I feel that I have the sound of the ER4-S really well established in my "minds ear" from many years of listening. I guess a few reviewers have a reference this well established when they really stick to one phone for a long time period. Then comparisons can be easier.
Dan (ran out of space)

 

[KR...]

Very nice looking speakers. I love odd looking horn speakers!
I belive that Moth Audio uses this same style design for their horns and they cost below $1000. Easy to drive to boot.

 

[Neruda]

they're ALL easy to drive. the lamhorn exceeds 102 decibels with only one watt. Every single one of those speakers has at LEAST a 92db efficiency, usually much higher. A great way to use those low power class A triode amps!

The Moth audio Cicada Speaker:

Closeup of the very Lowther-like driver:

 

[Possum]

Cicadas!!! Eww!

*flashing back to the bugs of 1996*

 

[KR...]

I meant these speakers :

Edgar 70Hz Tractrix horn speaker box with Lowther PM2A drivers.
$895