I just obtained a "new-old-stock" HD 580 Precision for a great price. But there is no "II" on the phone, booklet or the box. So I wonder how old that stock was. HP

At least they vanisched from Sennheiser's current sales brochure. HD 600 and 590 are still there. HPL

Not all vinyl enthusiasts praise the LP12. Check out www.tnt-audio.com for some alternative viewpoints. www.audioasylum.com is another source. I can't confirm this from personal experience, but I at least I would say that LP12 prices, both used and new, went a little bit over the top during...

Koss Porta Pro, well under USD 100 Sennheiser HD25, rugged and closed, still under USD 200 Current PCDPs with their whimpy amps may have problems to drive the HD25 well. If you are willing to carry an extra little box (portable headphone amp), you would have a wider choice of suitable...

Connect the K1000 to a decent integrated amp and you get as good service as with a Sennheiser HD600 powered by a dedicated headphone amp. For the same cost, if you already own a decent integrated amp. The dedicated SAC K1000 class A amp will do a much, much better job than most integrated...

With the ear speakers "floating" besides your head the K1000 deliver the closed approximation of conventional "room" speakers, even without complex diffuse field processors or cross over filters. Directly connected to a decent integrated amp (via speaker terminals, not headphone jack) the...

Is anybody using balanced cables with XLR connectors on the SAC/AKG amp? I found a dealer with some remaining stock, but he says I would net a special cable, or custom make my own, because the polarity of the pins is different from standard. Is that correct? Why would a manufacturer...

When complaining about low bass, take into account the following: Even with lower bass, only your head and ears would be exposed, not your entire body. Looking at conventional speakers you will find that even dedicated subwoofers and large floorstanders bail out at 20Hz. If not carefully...

My 15 year old Technics SL-XP5, a 2nd generation PCDP, sounds better than any current PCDP. Sadly, there is no replacement for the 1kg rechargeable battery pack, so it depends on a walwart AC adapter. And I hesitate to travel with it, since there is no adequate replacement at all. hpl

My 8 year old K1000 is producing a buzzing resonance, typically when playing jazz with acoustic bass. The level is moderate, but the buzz is quit noticeable. Is that typical for older headphones and is there a cure for it? hpl

Even user reviews, presumably unbiased by any commercial interest (paid advertisement or even bribes) are personal. Don't we want to show our competence in finding the best and perfect audio gear for ourselves? So if we are not grossly disappointed by the performance of our gear and the...

In the early days of CD, practically all CD players irrespective of price earned raving reviews, with a very narrow ranking, say from 95 to 100 "points". In comparison to that, reviews and rankings of turntables, cassette decks or amps had a much wider range, say 30 to 100 "points" and were more...

The early (Mission) Cyrus One has a nice 3.5mm headphone jack which is wired between amp section and speaker out! There are no (sound degrading?) switches, so you have to remove the speaker bananas for headphone listening and vice versa. Later Cyrus Ones come without headphone jack, because...

I indeed own a custom made (well, all of them are) Amity HPA3 with a pair of extra speaker terminals on the rear side (a K1000 came with it as a bonus :-). Compared to my Cyrus IIIi the Amity delivers noticeably more detail and a slightly warmer tone to my K1000. No noise on both. Initially...

I was lucky to find and win a used Amity HPA3 from that auction site, see www.amity.de. My version in addition to the 6.3mm headphone jack has a pair of conventional loudspeaker terminals on the rear side. After changing over from my Cyrus IIIi I was initially not very impressed. Similar to...

What puzzles me is that every month hifi mags laureate new "absolutely best" and new "best buys" CD players, and all that even with a ranking for sound quality in absolute terms. What I see is that the mags' "best buys" from one or two years ago now sell for street price one third below the...

A local dealer has Maranzt 6000 OSE, Rotel RCD 971 and RCD 991 AE on sale, one third below old list prices! These used to be the "best buys" in various magazines one or two years ago. Even if there has been some progress in making DACs, at the greatly reduced prices these still should be very...

I find the K1000 very comfortable to wear, in the first place. The open soundstage is the another great benefit. The described deficits in tonal characteristics, e.g. compared to the HD600 are subtile, and secondary from my point of view. You either get used to it or find a complementary...

I am investigating options to drive my AKG K1000: 2nd hand integrated amp, preferably of "British" make, with somewhat laid back highs to compensate the K1000's tone. Since my main system is Cyrus I would prefer a Mission Cyrus One or Two. Compact size. New old stock SAC K1000, still...

More and more it is my conclusion that, putting aside expensive tube amps, an ordinary integrated amp from the shelf is the most appropriate option to drive the K1000, preferably one that is somewhat complementary to the K1000 tonal characterisdtics. The lacking need for a dedicated headphone...

Forgot to mention that "my" local dealer has a AKG K1000 + BAP 1000 on commission. The BAP is a diffuse field processor with integrated amp for professional monitoring. There are 9 pre-set modes and in addition you can have your individual profile programmed on a magnetic card. Of course I...

squirt, interesting to read that the A500 sounds better than the dedicated SAC amp! I currently use my K1000 on a Cyrus IIIi + PSX-R (nominal 70W@4Ohm) and I certainly like the result, with the volume setting never exceeding the 10:30 position. Brighter than connected to my Dynaudio...