AKG K3003 High End 3 Way System Headphone

[ClieOS]

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They may have just made an exception.

Good to hear. I am their customer for many years now, but always hope they can open an online store as well.

 

[Jeremypsp]

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All these hype about the AKG 3003 is making me curious. Might make a trip to stereo and give it a try. I guess the good thing about living in Singapore is its a small country that makes shopping so easy. 

It really depends on your personal preference. The AKG K3003s are hard to power, but they're super smooth, one of the smoothest IEM I have heard. But other then that, there really isn't anything else that can make you say "wow", so in my opinion, they are good, but not for the price. 

 

[ElyrionX]

It really depends on your personal preference. The AKG K3003s are hard to power, but they're super smooth, one of the smoothest IEM I have heard. But other then that, there really isn't anything else that can make you say "wow", so in my opinion, they are good, but not for the price. 

Hard to power? I strongly disagree. They sound fantastic just using my iPhone.

 

[james444]

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All these hype about the AKG 3003 is making me curious. Might make a trip to stereo and give it a try. I guess the good thing about living in Singapore is its a small country that makes shopping so easy. 

Lol. Like 150 posts in 7 months hype...

 

[cooperpwc]

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It really depends on your personal preference. The AKG K3003s are hard to power, but they're super smooth, one of the smoothest IEM I have heard. But other then that, there really isn't anything else that can make you say "wow", so in my opinion, they are good, but not for the price. 

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Hard to power? I strongly disagree. They sound fantastic just using my iPhone.

I would like to understand better this power issue. Do they ramp up strongly with amping?
 

 

[Jeremypsp]

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Hard to power? I strongly disagree. They sound fantastic just using my iPhone.

Yes, but compared to other IEMs below the $1000 range, they are considerably harder to power. I had to put a few bars higher than my normal listening level while I was testing it with my Walkman. 

 

[Jeremypsp]

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I would like to understand better this power issue. Do they ramp up strongly with amping?
 

These IEMs should have a lot of potential with amping.

 

[maverickronin]

At only 8 ohms they'll need an amp with a very low output impedance to avoid messing up the FR and they'll need something that doesn't cough up tons of distortion at such a low impedance.

 

[deffend]

I've tried them out for about half an hour. Wouldn't really say they were very hard to power from my limited testing. Ran them straight out of my iphone4 and also used them in conjunction with the Headstage Arrow. Wouldn't say it resulted in a day and night difference which I would expect if they were hard to power.

 

[Inks]

At only 8 ohms they'll need an amp with a very low output impedance to avoid messing up the FR and they'll need something that doesn't cough up tons of distortion at such a low impedance.

And this is why the iPhone 4/4S/3GS is all you need if you have it. 
 
 
 

 

[daj523]

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And this is why the iPhone 4/4S/3GS is all you need if you have it. 
 
 
 

That's the beauty of the K3003. Whether its connected to a simple iPhone or from a complicated 4 layered set-up with dac and multiple daisy-chained amps your song collection will always sound great.
 

 

[maverickronin]

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And this is why the iPhone 4/4S/3GS is all you need if you have it. 

Probably.  The output impedance should be fine for the FR but an 8 ohm load is so far outside the normal design specs that some otherwise fine-for-IEMs amp circuits could reasonably be expected to fall on their face driving it.  The initial reports look good though.

 

[ClieOS]

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At only 8 ohms they'll need an amp with a very low output impedance to avoid messing up the FR and they'll need something that doesn't cough up tons of distortion at such a low impedance.

At 8ohm my worry isn't on output impedance, but on current draw. Sure it might sound really good on iPhone - but the question is, does it sound at its best?

 

[Inks]

Exactly because of the current need, is why output impedance is important and why it's very low on high end portable amps.
 
Low impedance IEMs will sound at their best with low OI sources, its been well proven. 

 

[DigitalFreak]

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Exactly because of the current need, is why output impedance is important and why it's very low on high end portable amps.
 
Low impedance IEMs will sound at their best with low OI sources, its been well proven. 

 


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Probably.  The output impedance should be fine for the FR but an 8 ohm load is so far outside the normal design specs that some otherwise fine-for-IEMs amp circuits could reasonably be expected to fall on their face driving it.  The initial reports look good though.

 


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At 8ohm my worry isn't on output impedance, but on current draw. Sure it might sound really good on iPhone - but the question is, does it sound at its best?

If you guys are worried about the K3003 at 8 ohms consider how messed up some head-fiers are going to be once the new Sony XBA IEM's become available worldwide. According to Sony the impedance on the new XBA line is only 4 ohms and from what I understand that's even weirder.