Oh my...have finally put the K1000's on and I am IMPRESSED!
The very first thing I noticed, if we use the Chesky Ultimate Demo Disc set of criteria, is RHYTHM and PACE. I am listening to Daft Punk's "Discovery" and am definitely feeling the groove. Getting up and grooving (carefully, so that the cans don't fall off, God forbid) was not even an option: I was absolutely compelled.
I have not really read any of the K1000 reviews, so I'd be interested to see them once I finish writing this, to see how the reviews compare. I am using the cans with a mid-fi Kenwood consumer-grade amp. I'd call it higher-end Best Buy six or seven years ago. Perhaps this cripples my review, but at least I can get the macro details and general character reported on. It's not all that bad, anyhow.
First off, these cans are very different from, well, cans. They are a whole new experience because of the sheer energy they can project through the air, with no "pad" or any other sort of circum-aural or supra-aural direct coupling to seal in bass, etc. So, right off the bat, one must sort of redefine his preconceptions about performance, comparative and relative sound, etc.
To my ears, these are not "terribly analytical" cans, as they do have a somewhat smoothed-over, somewhat (slightly) distant character when it comes to the very finest of fine details, because of both the relative distance of the drivers from your ears compared to "regular" headphones and the lack of that pad seal. To restate this better, these things definitely are "earspeakers" and deliver sound to you in the same way a speaker would, as stated above, with no coupling, using sheer radiated energy. And a damned good job it does of it.
Because of this "sheer radiation," the bass is extremely naural and engaging. It gets my Best Bass I've Ever Heard So Far award, easily. To me, the bass of, say, W100's is nice but it's not speaker-like at all. These definitely have a more speaker-like character, by far, bar none.
I feel very queer listening to these (no, not in the pink feather boa and leather codpiece sense) because they are this delicious (and admittedly somewhat confusing) mix between speakers and headphones.
The energy these things are able to convey over thin air is astounding. Perhaps this is just because I am not used to the whole "real amp" thing, but geez! This is definitely ear-ringing territory for me, because they still sound so damned good when you crank them up. Still very speaker like.
There are no, absolutely no emphasized highs enforced on your ears. I hate that ****, the W100's do it a bit, but these are pretty chillin' in that department. Any high frequency energy that is too energetic has a little more of a chance to dissipate before it reaches your ear, because, again, there is no coupling to force them upon your ears.
The only real ground I feel I'm giving up is the ultra-micro-tape feed-like-detail due to the lack of relative distance of the driver and the lack of a sound-insulated coupling that other headphones such as the W100's have. To me, now in the light of the K1000 sound, the W100's (or really most any headphone I've owned) is unnatural in that way.
I'm now on a more slammin' track (10) and the energy is all there. That's another word that comes to mind with these: ENERGY. Again, the ability to convey general musical and bass energy through thin air is astounding.
The NEXT big thing that I'm totally digging about this utterly new experience is the soundstage. Solid, speaker-like and huge. Huge and another "totally different" quality. It's just different from closed or even other open cans...you definitely immediately realize that no other can can touch these, just on general design and power principle. It's extending past the walls. This again reinforces the fact that these are very different cans and a very different experience compared to any other cans I've used.
I was stunned in a similar way with the ability of Etys to portray "wet" or "out in the soundstage" sounds in a fashion that befit them, with solid, measured distance, etc. and these are just as stunning (though the sound is very different...again, very speaker-like and different from regular cans).
Going back to track nine to check vocal transparency and microdynamics (yesh, there are a few things there)...I think the W100's are a bit better with insane microdynamics but only because they have that "coupling" with your head that the K1000's don't have. The vocalist is on now and I can't say that the transparency is where I'd like it to be. Of course, as noted above, the amp is not so great, and in my experience with amp switching, this is exactly the kind of thing that would be helped along. The sound is nonetheless delicious and, once again, very "real speaker" like. It is terribly pleasing.
Next: Audioquest recording of Mighty Sam McClain "Sledgehammer Soul and Down Home Blues" (audiophile recording). Listening to this sounds like I am in, say, the House of Blues, just me, Sam and his band. Intimate concert, I'm in the first row. I feel like it's coming through the PA, *but* I am definitely THERE. This is the first time that I can say "I feel like I am really at a show" with headphone playback. If I shut my eyes, the illusion is very convincing. There is an organicness and life to the sound. The bass delivery and more "sound through the air," "real speaker" feel really helps contribute to that illusion.
The PA comment above is meant to say that I don't feel like I'm listening to a tape feed (i.e. ultra-saturated with every last little detail being piped directly into my ear), but I'm just listening to music, the way it sounds live, aka how it's supposed to sound when performed. That's nice and a neat new perspective to have.
Next is Whitney Houston "Saving All My Love For You." I keep feeling like I get more detail if I turn them up. The words that come to mind when listening to these is "quality concert experience," i.e. loud, live sound. Rich, organic, loud etc.
When Whitney starts really wailing and shifts her voice to her nasal cavities more, the lower-high frequencies get too intense. If I turn it down, I feel like I'm losing detail, too much so. They don't have that queer, unnatural (but nonetheless pleasing) Ety-like detail, but they are re-turning me on to the speaker experience and they feel like a good compromise between speakers and headphones. They are definitely a whole new sonic experience.
I must say that I like vocals on Etys better, but the damned instruments sound so nice on here, with such realistic body. It's a nice listen. Vocals do have a touch more body than one would normally expect, too.
This WH recording doesn't exactly sound like anything close to an audiophile recording to me (basically being pop music), anyhow, so I'm not reading much into this. Plus, again, a better amp would probably present a more refined picture of this recording anyways, good or bad. Where she's not wailing, it's really quite beautiful.
Listening to track five, I get the impression that these would be wonderful with a tube amp. They are already warmish while still being detailed, they have a rich, natural presentation that I really like.
"Open Fire, Two Guitars" Johnny Mathis, Gold Plated Special Edition. Johnny's voice is a little closer in the soundstage than I like it (like it is on the W100's), and his voice sound sorta "reproduced" and sibilants are uncomfortably emphasized, but the instruments (two guitars, duh) are gorgeous.
On romantic music such as this, my heart is definitely being engaged and filling me with warmth. This is cool and I feel it correlates with the first few paragraphs talking about the cans' rhythm and pace and ability to get me up and moving around with authority. In that way and in this rich, heartwarming sense, I would call them very viscerally engaging. Even though I have experienced it before, it is something that I have experienced relatively little of with Grado RS-1s and Etys and W100's compared to this experience.
Just to prove to myself how well these things do soundstage, I stuck on my "Bags and Trane" CD. Holy ****. John Coltrane plays in some room here and you hear the room very much. I am IN THE ROOM! I have never been able to say that with real conviction, and now I'm saying it.
If I micro analyze them, as above, I find things that are different from my closed-can norm, but listening to this, I think "who gives a ****?" The experience is all that matters and this is an experience! With this recording, I am flat-out-on-my-ass stunned with these cans.
Another freak occurrence: I let my sisters and father listen to the same track (1). They gave, by far, the most enthusiastic response I've ever gotten to any of my crazy headphone trials with them. Mostly, their jaws just dropped. So, these have mucho popular appeal, which says a lot to me. Oh my gawd, I'm feeling K1000 lust overtaking me. My stepmother said "It definitely feels like you're going to turn around and find someone in the room playing for you."
OK, take a deep breath, count to ten....sober moment:
Would I buy these? I don't know...I want to say "yes" for sure (and I almost am), but I think it would be more like "not unless I had some 'regular' cans, like the W100's, also." Mine are practical considerations, in this case being the extreme and even amplified leakage these cans have. Another huge issue for me, at least, is the opposite: sound (dog, refrigerator whine, sisters, etc.) leaks in. I hate that because if that stuff is going on, it severly limits my ability to enjoy the music and these cans are just about the most extreme example of that problem.
Other than that, I would say if I could pick one set of cans and practical concerns like leakage weren't an issue, I might definitely head this direction. They are just sexy and frankly, I am worrying less about "audiophile concerns" than I do with other cans I've owned.
Overall, I am extremely pleased that I was able to listen to these. They are awesome and sound aside, one of the best things about them is that since they need a "regular" amp to power them, you only have to have one amp for your cans and your speakers.
The Bottom Line: An entirely new, way more speaker-like experience that is both exciting, pleasant and engaging. Every last micron of detail is not there, but who gives a frig, because it's so fun and romantic and otherwise natural and speaker-like. The rhythm and pace and ability to engage me with dancable or energetic music towers over the competition.
- Matt
