AKG K3003 High End 3 Way System Headphone

[H20Fidelity]

What is lo-fi?

Budget music?

 

[eke2k6]

Just stopping in to pour a drink out for music_4321

 

[Gilles De Rais]

Just stopping in to pour a drink out for music_4321

What happened to the bird?

 

[james444]

What happened to the bird?

 
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=music_4321

 

 

[eke2k6]

What happened to the bird?

He is *no longer with us*. I realized today it's getting to 4 years

 

[Gilles De Rais]

He is *no longer with us*. I realized today it's getting to 4 years

I know he was banned from here (and that he is a habitue of other sites - thanks James, that I knew his nickname should have been a hint). Your post seemed a touch foreboding...

Regards,

Giles

 

[up late]

he could be a cantankerous old bird

 

[Audiofail]

I would like to modify my K3003i to balanced cabling for the AK series player's balanced output. Is there any good suggestions? I mean either I find some one experienced at doing this or DIY. However, since I am pretty clumsy at soldering, I would rather find someone with the experience.

 

[bcheng94]

Are there any IEMs that sounds as good as or similar to the k3003 but with replaceable cables for around 500? I just sold mine for cheap because one of the cable was fraying/splitting.

 

[Gilles De Rais]

Are there any IEMs that sounds as good as or similar to the k3003 but with replaceable cables for around 500? I just sold mine for cheap because one of the cable was fraying/splitting.

Tried and failed on this path. I tried a combo of dd and ba - Noble Savant, Final Audio Design Heaven iv & vi & F4100, Campfire Audio Lyra & Jupiter, Fidue A83, Dunu Dn2000 and last Ibasso IT03 I was looking for a complimentary iem so sort of same but different - as i've articulated elsewhere on this thread, my preferences are for timbre (esp bass and percussion) and PRAT. None of them came close - savant was an audiophile phone - female vocs and acoustic jazz good, edm no. The Fads were too curtailed at either frequency response ( though I bought the F4100 due to their size as a bedroom phone). The Campfires were okay, I kept the Lyra but it isn't in the class of the Akg. Despite serious FOTM, all of the hybrids sounded like their price points - mid-fi. The ergonomics of the ibasso rule it out as a comparison - that thing is big compared to the K3003. If a gun was put against my head, I'd probably give the nod to the ibasso for sound, the Dunu for comfort, but with the caveat that the K3003 sounds (to my ears,my music and my opinion) effortlessly superior to them.

What I have found is that if you like the K3003, you're more likely to graduate to a dd sound than a ba. I suspect it has something to do with the decay profiles of the two types of driver. This is why much as I like my K3003 it has after 4 years been supplanted by my new favourite the AK T8ie mk ii. I still like the Akg and she gets taken out a few times a week, as a hybrid she has few peers.

Regards,

Giles

 

[james444]

What I have found is that if you like the K3003, you're more likely to graduate to a dd sound than a ba. I suspect it has something to do with the decay profiles of the two types of driver. This is why much as I like my K3003 it has after 4 years been supplanted by my new favourite the AK T8ie mk ii. I still like the Akg and she gets taken out a few times a week, as a hybrid she has few peers.

 
Same here, while I still consider the K3003 the best hybrid I've heard, I've come full circle back to DD sound. Only in my case it's a modded Fostex cheapo that supplanted the K3003. 

 
How would you compare the AK T8iE MKII to the K3003? After a somewhat disappointing CA Vega audition, these or Beyerdynamic's own Xelento variant have been on my radar lately.

 

[Turrican2]

Are there any IEMs that sounds as good as or similar to the k3003 but with replaceable cables for around 500? I just sold mine for cheap because one of the cable was fraying/splitting.

The LZ-A4 are an interesting unit, Lots of tuning options. I own 2 pairs. In addition to my three year old k3003i.

They are around $185 from penon audio.

 

[SeeSax]

Hi Folks, hoping to jump on the legendary K3003 bandwagon soon (I know I'm about three years late). I've owned a LOT of hybrids, but I feel as though they've all tried to be the K3003. I do love the LZ A4 like one other member posted about, but have never really fallen in love with another hybrid in quite the same way. Well, maybe the Sony Z5, but it's so huge and painful to wear outdoors that I find myself only listening to it at home. I want to try the real deal and am looking for a decent deal on the K3003. I wanted to circle back to a few posts from many months ago about the counterfeit suspicions. Obviously eBay has the best deals, but has anyone confirmed that they have received a non-genuine pair? I looked at the photos and it's really, really hard to tell. I'm not ready to spend $700 on a pair, but I could do $400ish as that seems to be the going rate for a used pair. When I bought my IE800, it was out of the question buying from eBay because there are so many fake pairs running rampant. But it would appear that the K3003 is different in that it's not a hugely counterfeited product. Maybe I'm way off, but is the general recommendation to stay away from eBay? 
 
Thanks!
 
-Collin-

 

[Turrican2]

Hi Folks, hoping to jump on the legendary K3003 bandwagon soon (I know I'm about three years late). I've owned a LOT of hybrids, but I feel as though they've all tried to be the K3003. I do love the LZ A4 like one other member posted about, but have never really fallen in love with another hybrid in quite the same way. Well, maybe the Sony Z5, but it's so huge and painful to wear outdoors that I find myself only listening to it at home. I want to try the real deal and am looking for a decent deal on the K3003. I wanted to circle back to a few posts from many months ago about the counterfeit suspicions. Obviously eBay has the best deals, but has anyone confirmed that they have received a non-genuine pair? I looked at the photos and it's really, really hard to tell. I'm not ready to spend $700 on a pair, but I could do $400ish as that seems to be the going rate for a used pair. When I bought my IE800, it was out of the question buying from eBay because there are so many fake pairs running rampant. But it would appear that the K3003 is different in that it's not a hugely counterfeited product. Maybe I'm way off, but is the general recommendation to stay away from eBay? 

Thanks!

-Collin-

I recently bought a pair of fake k3003 from aliexpress. £61 shipped.

They look identical. The leather case is obviously different but still smells like leather. The sound is good for a pair of £60 iems but not the k3003 sound, filters look the same but interestingly the originals appear to be threaded differently so they are not interchangeable. . Beware of Ebay my friend.

Some photos, original on the left.

 

[SeeSax]

I recently bought a pair of fake k3003 from aliexpress. £61 shipped.

They look identical. The leather case is obviously different but still smells like leather. The sound is good for a pair of £60 iems but not the k3003 sound, filters look the same but interestingly the originals appear to be threaded differently so they are not interchangeable. . Beware of Ebay my friend.

Some photos, original on the left.


 

 
Thanks for this! Honest question: you weren't expecting genuine from AliExpress for that price right?
 
The ones in the listing I'm following look like the correct leather case, but I'm still scared to roll the dice. I guess if I can't buy the known-genuine ones for the price AKG says they should be, I should not being buying them at all. But, we'll see what I can come up with. 
 
-Collin-