[a-LeXx]

Hi There,

just made a very surpising discovery, thought might be interesting to one or another.

I happen to still own a CD3000 in a perfectly working condition. Don‘t use them too often, but from time to time it‘s fun.

I‘ve been away from this hobby for a few yers now, so I actually missed on all the new AKG headphones, my last one that I had for few months was K701, that was more than 10 years ago...

Recently I discovered the existence of a K550, decided to try one, got a used like new one for less than 70 euro...

Well, I can‘t believe it, but CD3000 and a K550 sound to me almost the same. I‘ve never had 2 different HPs sounding so close to each other. Strange that this has not yet been discussed here, I‘ve ran a search...

Both have exactly the same tonality, a bit different presentation. CD3000 still a bit wider soundstage, but K550 very close. The thing with CD3000 is - the soundstage with it has always almost the same width, with every recording. K550 actually scales more naturally.

K550 has more and better bass than CD3000, CD3000 just a little bit more treble and ‚air‘, but very close. I find K550 to have better resolution in the mids... But all that are just nuances... I really couldn‘t believe it myself and was switching from one HP to another for hours with different recordings.... The difference is for me in a HD600 to HD650 kind of range... Like they were siblings from the same manufacturer...

Bottom line: for me, K550 actually sounds overall better than CD3000, more natural. CD3000 could still be a bit more fun with some recordings though...

I was running both cans from my semi-mobile rig: voodooed Galaxy S1 (Wolfson DAC unchained) with a Fiio A5 amp, should be appropriate, those are not very demanding HPs in terms of amplification, and A5 has a low output impedance and is a bit on a warm side, I think it‘s a good match.

Any comments?

-Alex

 

[Roderick]

Interesting. It's been years since I had k550 but I was very disappointed. Even with good seal bass was lacking and akg's were no fun to listen in general. Cd3000 on the other hand is one of my alltime favorite headphones. I would still have those if I could justify owning two expensive closed back headphones.

Any idea which k550 version you have? Mine was propably mk1. Maybe I should give mk2 or mk3 a shot. Afterall used price on akg's is 1/10 of what sony's cost these days.

 

[a-LeXx]

It‘s difficult to tell which version it is. It was originally mk1, but the hp I‘ve got is refurbished and like new, could be mk2.

My K550 definitively has plenty of bass, much more than my CD3000.

My favorit hp is still my old W5000 though, no other hp in my small collection is getting more listening time. I listen mostly to acoustical music though. No other hp reproduces acoustic instruments and female vocals as nice for my ears

 

[FastAndClean]

K550 has excellent bass, it goes all the way down like a planar

 

[Roderick]

Cool. I keep an eye on used k550's. If I still don't like them there is always modding.

W5000 is definately a headphone I want to try some day. It's not crazy expensive either...atleast doesn't feel like it since headphone prices have exploded. I had w1000x and enjoyed those a lot. My current and all time favorite is jvc dx1000

 

[ScareDe2]

According to this measurement they share a very similar graph:

My own personal experience about sound similarities is from 2 headphones that I owned; the He560 sounds almost the same as the K812, and that also shows on a graph (I thought the K812 was slightly more neutral to my ears):

But there was important differences in how that sound was presented. The planars (as for every planars that I heard) had richer mids. And the speed of the HE560 was way above the K812- unnatural speed that make me dislike planars. It is like robots on cocaine are performing the music instead of humans. Attack and decay are unnaturally fast. On the other hand, the K812 was more spacious, natural and with better separation.

 

[a-LeXx]

Good finding! I knew my ears are not deceiving me

It‘s then very strange to me that CD3000 became such a hype on this forum over years, they were considered nothing particularly special 12 years ago when I‘ve got my used one, some people were just buying them to replace the drivers by e.g. those from Grado, or doing different heavy abuse...

On te other hand, there is almost no love for a very similar and nowadays really affordable and easily driven K550 that on top offers much better isolation and leaks much less sound. Really strange.

 

[ScareDe2]

What it seems to me is that top reviewers tend to discard AKG easily, except for 3 models: 701, 702 and 712. But even then, a top reviewer like Tyll from innerfidelity never had one single pair of AKG on his wall of fame. Just saying.

 

[Roderick]

K550 and k81dj were on innerfidelity wof.

 

[ScareDe2]

K550 and k81dj were on innerfidelity wof.

Really. Where can I see that? EDIT: oh ok, I just saw it on the retired list for closed cans. I check the open back most of the time. Well that is +1 for the K550 there. Sort of.

 

[ScareDe2]

I just equalized my headphone based on the K550 graph and now it sounds quite exhilarating with orchestral music.

 

[a-LeXx]

This hp (k550) is simply speaking pretty linear with a spike in treble, it‘s almost of a monitor quality, I do not perceive much coloration with it, it‘s pretty true to the source. With really good recordings, where you just want to enjoy what‘s already there and don‘t need a euphonizer hp to make a recording enjoyable, this is a hp to go...

 

[FastAndClean]

K550 has a ringing somewhere in the mids, if you listen very carefully sound like a blur in complex passages, the bass is tight and deep but it lacks fine texture and sound unrealistic with real instruments, those setbacks are to be expected giving the price, but overall if you are not overly critical and remember that this is not a flagship, they are excellent and one of the rare neutral headphones for the price

 

[a-LeXx]

Well, the reason for me to purchase a K550 was mainly because I needed a decent hp for my semi-mobile rig, that I use when moving around the house and stuff like that. Very critical listening is not really possible in those conditions... When I need a sonical magnifying glass, I take my electrostats and listen with my eyes closed
A really unique feature set of K550 is a decent sq with a nice soundstage, and this in a closed hp that really isolates nicely and has a very low leakage. CD3000 in comparison isolate much less, leak like hell and are not very mobile...

 

[ScareDe2]

Another headphone that seem very close to the K550 is the HE500