Airist Audio Heron 5 Loaner Program (and Black Friday Sale!)
Apr 15, 2016 at 8:10 AM Post #151 of 156
The Heron 5 powers everything.




This is off topic , but are those your AKG K1000 ?

A "Refurbished" pair ? Or are they just an original mint condition pair (Though who wouldn't take care of pair of these headphones )

Were these still widely available ( & for a price closer to what they cost when they were in production) I probably would have tried them instead of the Sennheiser HD800 (Which I still own but don't find "Musically" enjoyable enough to use) (Be careful with those HFM HE-6s also as they may eventually fall through the floor; Nice sounding but you need to have neck muscles like a wrestler to wear them)
 
Apr 15, 2016 at 8:32 AM Post #152 of 156
 
The Heron 5 powers everything.



This is off topic , but are those your AKG K1000 ?

A "Refurbished" pair ? Or are they just an original mint condition pair (Though who wouldn't take care of pair of these headphones )

Were these still widely available ( & for a price closer to what they cost when they were in production) I probably would have tried them instead of the Sennheiser HD800 (Which I still own but don't find "Musically" enjoyable enough to use) (Be careful with those HFM HE-6s also as they may eventually fall through the floor; Nice sounding but you need to have neck muscles like a wrestler to wear them)

I don't own any this pantheon of high end headphones, but I do own the amp. :) The headphones are all owned by my friend and fellow HeadFier, @Takeanidea. He also bought the ERIB-2a that I had during my reviewing of the Heron 5. I've just got the good HD600, which is a solid performer, especially on the Heron 5. The bass shows up a bit more.
 
Apr 15, 2016 at 12:10 PM Post #153 of 156
This is off topic , but are those your AKG K1000 ?

A "Refurbished" pair ? Or are they just an original mint condition pair (Though who wouldn't take care of pair of these headphones )

Were these still widely available ( & for a price closer to what they cost when they were in production) I probably would have tried them instead of the Sennheiser HD800 (Which I still own but don't find "Musically" enjoyable enough to use) (Be careful with those HFM HE-6s also as they may eventually fall through the floor; Nice sounding but you need to have neck muscles like a wrestler to wear them)


The K1000s cost me considerably less than my HD800s. My HD800s I've modded to get more music out of them. The 1000s have not had anything done to them other than me cleaning them. The HE6s have had alterations to the headband and can be worn without effort for hours
 
Apr 15, 2016 at 2:41 PM Post #154 of 156
The K1000s cost me considerably less than my HD800s. My HD800s I've modded to get more music out of them. The 1000s have not had anything done to them other than me cleaning them. The HE6s have had alterations to the headband and can be worn without effort for hours


Well it's encouraging to hear from others who could hear that both the HD800 & HE-6 are way more listenable "modded" than not. I did quite a bit more modding to the HD800 than I did to the HE-6 as the 6 didn't have the frequency contouring feature added to them that the Senn did that obliterated the HD800 ability to present musical transients in the correct proportion in densely, wide dynamics music.

All the HE-6 needed was to run them completely open (No damping or grille) on the outer side of the earcups (& a better "aftermarket" headphone cable) on them to sound nicely detailed. I won't detail what I did to the 800 to make them sound musical , but it went beyond the "Anax" type mods , & involved physically removing parts from the HP that mechanically generate sound not existing on recorded music.

I can"t put much stock in sound impressions gathered from using an HD800 unless I know if it was a "fixed" 800 that was used ! The HE-6 impressions have more credibility for myself (Even though I find the cans "unwearable" for listening sessions longer then 30mins or so & I could never find the right balance of sound from them that was'nt slightly aggressive enough to distract me from the harmonic development of musical notes after awhile.)

All in all, I enjoyed your impressions of the Heron 5 regardless of how I feel about the headphones used ! Thanks for taking the time to do so ! ( Without hearing others perspectives on this equipment we'd really be at risk more than necessary simply due to the disappearance of "Brick & Mortar" locations for hands on experiences these days)
 
Apr 15, 2016 at 3:10 PM Post #155 of 156
The HD800s are world class- unmodded. They are better modded. This is my opinion I respect that you don't share it. Everyone else who has listened to my HD800s likes them too. But of course you haven't and I know it's a leap for you to consider the HD800s  as a worthy inclusion for testing the Heron 5 but many others interested in this amp will be owners , or interested in owning the HD80os. They are acknowledged as one of the finest headphones in production today for good reason.
The HE6s are just as controversial in how they must be tweaked to sound their best , I've gone no further at the moment but there are performance gains to be made yet with them.
Thank you for your kind comments on the AKG K1000s ; like all world class headphones , they too, have attracted their share of dissenters and like the 2 headphones mentioned above are not perfect.
Who wants perfect tho? Wouldn't life be completely boring if everything was perfect?
 

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