[mikeliao]

Not sure if this belongs in the Headphone, Source, or Amp forum. Anyway..

Has anyone tried driving the K1000 from the DAC1? Either from the headphone out or from the balanced connectors on back? Impressions anyone?

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I tried it once from the headphone jack, using Edwood's adapter cable, and you had to crank the volume very high. It doesn't go as loud as it would properly amped, but was listenably loud and sounded quite good, though quiet music was another matter. In short, I don't recommend it, especially considering you could get that $30 T-amp and have all the amp you'd need. The balanced connectors would probably sound worse, and quieter, because they don't put out as much power as the headphone jacks. That trick works well with the Sennheisers because their high impedance means they need very low power to sound good, but the K1000's are a whole different story.

 

[TrevorNetwork]

I felt the K1000 worked fine directly from the DAC1. In fact, I felt it sounded quite good. I had it at ~1:00, and it was plenty loud, and dynamic. I have not personally tried the tri-path with the K1000s.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrevorNetwork I felt the K1000 worked fine directly from the DAC1. In fact, I felt it sounded quite good. I had it at ~1:00, and it was plenty loud, and dynamic. I have not personally tried the tri-path with the K1000s.

Hmmm, I wonder what accounts for the volume difference of our experiences? The DAC1's headphone amp is rated for 8W @ 32ohms, so it seems like there'd be enough to drive the K1K's. Perhaps I will have to give it another try the next time I see Edwood.

 

[Edwood]

The K1000 sounded pretty anemic with the DAC1 last time.

We'll have the switchbox this time to really hear how it sounds compared to other setups.

-Ed

 

[mikeliao]

Umm, so guys, did any of you get to try the DAC1 and K1000 together again?

 

[Yikes]

A couple of years ago I bought a DAC1 (The retail was $750 at that point). I purchased it primarily as a simple DAC/Preamp solution. This was before my more recent headphone obsession. I found that it was too bright with my Beyer DT-931’s. At $750 I found the DAC1 to be a very competitive DAC. Overall I found the presentation to be a little too analytical, so I kept the DAC1 for about 6 months and then moved on. (This was before I owned the K1000’s)

Just for something to do this weekend I borrowed a DAC1. I mainly wanted to see if it could drive my K1000’s. Well the answer is a little convoluted. It can drive them, but IMHO not very well. Surprisingly the sound was not overly bright. The big problem is that the DAC1 driving the K1000’s lacked balls. The dynamics were very constricted; the presentation was sort of flat and lifeless. The combination would play loud enough for me, but I tend to listen at relatively low levels. So volume level might be a problem for some users.

So for use with K1000’s the DAC1 gets a fairly big thumbs down.

For my other headphone it is a different matter. I will post some thoughts on those results sometime this week in the Amplifier Forum.

 

[zdogg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yikes It can drive them, but IMHO not very well. Surprisingly the sound was not overly bright. The big problem is that the DAC1 driving the K1000’s lacked balls. The dynamics were very constricted; the presentation was sort of flat and lifeless. The combination would play loud enough for me

From my experience with this combo, I would tend to agree. The DAC1 drives the K1000's, but doesn't really DRIVE them; there's a lack of guts, even with the volume >1PM. I've found this is more pronounced with complex music. There's an overall lack of presence, but highs are crystal clear and the presentation doesn't sound bright or harsh.

By contrast, a stock T-amp has more guts/bass to my ear but sounds a bit shrill in the high's with a more indistinct soundstage. Some of this may be due to the stock K-1000 cable used with the T-amp versus the headphile adapter cable used with the DAC1 headamp.

Then of course, with the RKV, there seems to be the perfect synergy IMO, liquid, gutsy, great highs, beautiful soundstage; I haven't really been able to listen to either of the other amps with the K-1000's since, so as usual everything's relative

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zdogg From my experience with this combo, I would tend to agree. The DAC1 drives the K1000's, but doesn't really DRIVE them; there's a lack of guts, even with the volume >1PM. I've found this is more pronounced with complex music. There's an overall lack of presence, but highs are crystal clear and the presentation doesn't sound bright or harsh. By contrast, a stock T-amp has more guts/bass to my ear but sounds a bit shrill in the high's with a more indistinct soundstage. Some of this may be due to the stock K-1000 cable used with the T-amp versus the headphile adapter cable used with the DAC1 headamp. Then of course, with the RKV, there seems to be the perfect synergy IMO, liquid, gutsy, great highs, beautiful soundstage; I haven't really been able to listen to either of the other amps with the K-1000's since, so as usual everything's relative

Yeah, the stock K1000 cable would be THE Worst match for Sonic Impact. A better cable is the minium one should do for K1000/SI combo.

Over next week or so, I will be doing some easy mods to my SI. I'll convert to 12V SLA battery power (I have some SLA's lying around), probably change the input coupling caps to real caps, add capacitance to PS, and maybe even change to black gates. I could have just bought Red Wine Audio's modded SI, but what's the fun in that? The ojbect will be to retain(enhance) the incredible detail resolution of SI while improving tonality/richness..

 

[xenithon]

Sorry to dredge this seemingly ancient thread up, but I wanted to ask if anyone has tried running the K1000 straight out of the DAC1's XLR output. Most reservations had to do with it not being loud enough, but from what I have read, the DAC1's XLR output is attenuated by factory default to -20dB. This can be set using the jumpers to 0dB (i.e. attenuation disabled) - would this help?