[Anaxilus]

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I'm off to work now and will post some first impressions later today.

Excuses excuses....

 

 

[i2ehan]

Work can wait james... 

 

[cooperpwc]

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Ultimate Ears silicon tips (for the TF10/SF5 Pro) work great for me.

That's interesting. I wonder if the Comply T-500 or TS-500 would work. They are great with the Triple-Fis but K3003 compatibility is not listed.

 

[music_4321]

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Tbo, when I decide to go for something in that price range, I don't mind paying a little more or less, since the price is blown out of proportion anyway. The main reason why I bought from Singapore was that no one had a clue about the non-remote version here in the EU.
 
I absolutely wanted the plain version, not only because I have no use for remote control, but also because I consider these phones as much a work of art as an audio tool. The remote just takes away from their otherwise extremely clean design imo. ymmv.

I never actually thought that in your case money would be an issue. Like you, I also wanted the non-remote version of the K3003 and, in fact, contacted a couple of places in Europe to see if they had it but they all only had the one with the remote/mic and none of them had any idea there even was a non-remote version of it!
 
I'm with you 100% re the whole minimalistic design of the K3003. Turns out I was very pleasantly surprised to learn the mic/remote has been placed in just the 'right' place, has the 'ideal' size, thickness & feel to it and, more surprisingly, that it doesn't really seem to add extra weight to the left monitor & cable - and that it actually has come in very handy when I have my Touch in my pocket and I'm able to use the pause/play, volume up/down features. But still, given the choice, I'd probably get the non-remote version.
 
As for your EX1000s, I still remember quite a while ago (6 months ago?) I joked about you getting your loaner set back before Xmas, thinking you would, of course, get them back long before that - seems I was being overly optimistic.

 

[rudi0504]

My AKG K 3003 arrived 30.12.2011
 
I bought my AKG K 3003 from Jaben Jakarta.
These AKG KJ 3003  are fenomenal IMEs , In one weeks time Jaben Jakarta sold 4 pcs from The Stock 6 Pcs

 
My First Impression : 
 
Source : Iphone 4 S
 
Portable Amp : Pico Slim and Head Stage Arrow 3 G and Fostex Hp 1
 
High : very clear and clean high
 
Mid : Very sweet and lush and clear and clean Mid 
 
Bass : very tight and very detail and Clean
 
Tonal Balance : the best tonal balance from Iem that i own
 
Separation : very good separation, that i can imagine where the Singer and The instrument position
 
Soundstage : wide and very good depth , not as wide as my KH 16 , but is fine.
 
Overall : Direct to Iphone 4 S sound already good
             If you add Ampli, the SQ can follow the character from your Ampo.
             My Opinion the best Iem i ever heard to date, sound so sweet and well balance
             Only My JH 16 can has the same level to my AKG K 3003, Jh 16 is good for fast music
             like Rock , AKG K 3003 is very good for all rounder music genre 
 
This is only my personal impresion
 
My Iems collection : Sony EX 1000 , Shure SE 530 and SE 535 and SE 535 Le in Red, Westone W3 and UM 3 X RC.
                               Earsonic SM3 V2 , Ortofon e Q 5 and EQ 7 , ACS T 15 ,Monster Miles Davis . TF 10 Pro.
 
My Custom Iem : JH 16 Pro
 
 

 

[cooperpwc]

Great impressions, Rudi. Is yours the K3003i with the remote/microphone or the K3003 without?

 

[james444]

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Ultimate Ears silicon tips (for the TF10/SF5 Pro) work great for me.

I'm back to stock tips again, cause they actually sound slightly superior. Nevertheless the UE silicons are worth a try if stock tips won't fit.
 
Also tried de-cored Olives to increase isolation, but they muffle the sound. That said, I get about average isolation with stock tips, better than the IE8's, but less than the Shure's.
 
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Excuses excuses....

I wish you were right, but it's holiday season and I have to fill in for my colleagues...
 
Anyway, I concur by and large with music_4321 and rudi0504 that the AKG K3003 are very very good. They combine the best virtues of balanced armatures and dynamic drivers and manage to sound completely seamless and coherent in doing so. These are what I'd wished for moving armatures to evolve into, ever since I first heard the Ortofon e-Q7. That said, the K3003 are clearly a notch above all moving armature based IEMs I've heard. In fact I've only A/Bed them to the UERM and FI-BA-SS so far, cause everything else didn't seem to make much sense.
 
Overall they sound a bit like a less aggressive version of the FI-BA-SS with more refined treble, smoother mids and a hint of warmth down there, but still retain almost the same sense of extreme clarity. I think they might be a tad closer in sound signature to the FI-BA-SS than the UERM, but in many ways they just occupy a middle ground between both phones: mids presence, note weight, forward projection, soundstage,...
 
As it stands there was far too little listening time to draw definite conclusions, but suffice to say that I'm extremely taken with what I've heard so far...

 

[james444]

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As for your EX1000s, I still remember quite a while ago (6 months ago?) I joked about you getting your loaner set back before Xmas, thinking you would, of course, get them back long before that - seems I was being overly optimistic.

No, I'm pretty sure I'll get them back before Xmas.

 

[music_4321]

^ Here's hoping you do get them back before Xmas 2013 

 

[cn11]

If only they were more like $600-700..... 

 

[tinyman392]

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If only they were more like $600-700..... 

LOL, Then the Phonaks would get more competition

 

[james444]

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LOL, Then the Phonaks would get more competition

The Phonaks are great, but these are in a class of their own as far as design and build quality are concerned. Here are some amazing hi-res pics I've found, far better than anything I could possibly do with my own camera.
(Click on the image below and then use the small top right arrow to proceed)
 

 

 

[i2ehan]

@music_4321: would you declare these a clear step up from the EX1000, or merely a different (and not necessarily better) offering? Same questions for you rudi0504, and to you as well james, as soon as you've been reunited with your EX1000. 

 

[music_4321]

^ A clear step up? No, definitely not, if by that you mean a night and day difference. But, like so many things in life, a small difference to some may be a more significant difference to others. Well, I happened to pay £1000 ($1,550 USD at today's exchange rate. I know the K3003s currently go for $1,300 in the USA). I paid $500 for my EX1000s. Here, the law of diminishing returns is a very, VERY real thing, ie to these ears you do get an improvement in SQ, but I'm convinced most people (ordinary people, that is, and even some so-called audiophiles) would not be able to easily find the K3003s that much better sounding, let alone twice or three times better sounding.

You are well aware of my stance on custom IEMs which, on the whole, I consider downright overrated, ie I strongly believe there's too much hype and exaggeration just as there is, in my view, too much hype and exaggeration when it comes to bitrate differences and the seeming mandatory use of lossless files, or at the very least the need, according to some, to listen to 320 kbps files when it comes to using higher-end phones. Same [or (much) worse] goes for aftermarket cables and, to a lesser extent, portable amps.

Then, there's the usual variables such as sound preferences, fit issues, and so on. Already someone's said they prefer the 'treble' filter on the K3003s to the other two - to me the 'reference' filter is by far the better sounding of the three. Someone else said they found the treble on the AKGs rather 'troublesome' - so, here we have the usual differences we find in almost every IEM we talk about.

Yes, the K3003 is a very, very good sounding IEM, and it'd better be at that price! But, inevitably, expectations by some/MANY people (because of the price) will inevitably be very, very, VERY unrealistic. I'm sure in a blind test most people would very likely enjoy the K3003s, but there would be those who'd say they find a different, and (much) cheaper IEM better or similarly sounding. Some would just say: "Yeah, it sounds nice/great, but I wouldn't pay more that $100 - $150 for it.

There are people who will buy any and all high-end IEMs because they can afford them or for other reasons. There are also people who are very good at regurgitating audio jargon causing many to think that a particular IEM is truly something else. There are people who are prepared to pay a [very (high)] premium for a small increment in SQ…etc., etc., etc.

The EX1000 remains, in my view, an amazingly good sounding phone.

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All that said, and for what it's worth, the K3003's midrange, to these ears, is simply unparalleled by any other phone I've heard.

 

 

[i2ehan]

Thank you, music. Your insight is always appreciated, my friend.