[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by TimSchirmer HP1000's >>>>>>>>>>>> K1000's

For the price, hell no.

For the prices the HP1000's have been selling you can get the K1000's and a decent amp to drive them with.

IF you win, Tim, I have a couple pairs of photo handling gloves for you to keep from rubbing off the letters and leaving fingerprints from handling.

Unless you plan on keeping it underneath a sealed display with a nitrogen atmosphere.

-Ed

 

[braillediver]

HP-2’s would cost twice as much as the RS-1’s if they were made today. Every single piece is just better made. They were after all a Professional Grade Headphone.

Why doesn’t John Grado make them again? Why didn’t he re-release the Flat Pads? Todd sold 650 pair in 3 months so there must have been some demand. Pride? His sound? Who knows? Obviously Grado is doing something right since they are profitable.

Has anyone imported a pair of Grado PS-1’s from Germany yet? That might be a gauge of the true desire for a $1500 headphone.

Joe Grado was a Mechanical Genius. Maybe not a great business man though. I opened my HPA-1 and it was solid, well laid out and just completely over engineered. I’m not complaining but you have to be able to sell the item at a profit if you want to stay in business. It sold for $800 in the mid 1990’s. It’s hard to profit when you do things that well.


Mitch

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally posted by TimSchirmer HP1000's >>>>>>>>>>>> K1000's

Sure, gimme a break!

The only thing that the HP1000 has over the K1000 is bass impact. I would be more than willing to trade that for the absolutely amazing soundstage the K1000's give with the right material.

 

[grinch]

k1000 is bright and harsh, which makes it worthless in my eyes. i think it takes a certain level of masochism to love k1000, from the sound to how stupid you look while wearing them.

i've been reading posts for years about k1000 where people try to "fix" their sound by using crappy tubey amps with rolled off highs, warm cables, warm sources, whatever. taking a poor product and then trying to tame is just such a waste. i've heard k1000 with rkv, norh 9se, and ear v20 and i couldn't stand them on a single one of these amps, even though these are known to have "great synergy" with the k1000.

hp-1000 is worth the money. the only dynamic headphone that comes near it in sound quality is the r10 and that's anywhere from three to five times the price. prices have gotten a little crazy for them in the past, but in my opinion if anybody is paying over $1,000 for them, i would really consider going for a stax 404 or omega 2 instead.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Quote:

Originally posted by philodox I'm guessing that is why you are the top bidder then

Actually, I'm pretty sure I won't win. However, I'd sure as hell pay what the current price is. (i'd have to scrounge and sell a few things first, but it would be worth it in the end.)

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood For the price, hell no. -Ed

Actually, K1000's retail for around $1195. HP1's retailed for $700. Street prices are based on demand.

Quote:

Originally posted by Iron_Dreamer Sure, gimme a break! The only thing that the HP1000 has over the K1000 is bass impact. I would be more than willing to trade that for the absolutely amazing soundstage the K1000's give with the right material.

You call it "soundstage" I call it having the transducers an inch away from your ears. As for k1000 bass, the following threads illustrate the solution of a few proud k1k owners:

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&threadid=2887
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&threadid=1633
http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=11810

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch k1000 is bright and harsh, which makes it worthless in my eyes. i think it takes a certain level of masochism to love k1000, from the sound to how stupid you look while wearing them. i've been reading posts for years about k1000 where people try to "fix" their sound by using crappy tubey amps with rolled off highs, warm cables, warm sources, whatever. taking a poor product and then trying to tame is just such a waste. i've heard k1000 with rkv, norh 9se, and ear v20 and i couldn't stand them on a single one of these amps, even though these are known to have "great synergy" with the k1000. hp-1000 is worth the money. the only dynamic headphone that comes near it in sound quality is the r10 and that's anywhere from three to five times the price. prices have gotten a little crazy for them in the past, but in my opinion if anybody is paying over $1,000 for them, i would really consider going for a stax 404 or omega 2 instead.

Nice to hear an echo of sanity around here for once. I couldn't agree more with you there grinch. While i somewhat enjoyed k1000's the first time i tried them, the second time was on a much better source, not to mention the fact that my tastes have become a bit more refined since then.

 

[dabeststax]

What people need to realize is that AKG sucks ass. I've heard several of AKG's "high-end" products and been flabbergasted by their poor performance in every case.

 

[TimSchirmer]

Heh, just by your handle i can tell you have good taste. Cheers man.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally posted by dabeststax What people need to realize is that AKG sucks ass. I've heard several of AKG's "high-end" products and been flabbergasted by their poor performance in every case.

wow... thats the most unintelligent comment I've seen on this board...

 

[PeterR]

Quote:

Originally posted by braillediver HP-2’s would cost twice as much as the RS-1’s if they were made today. Every single piece is just better made. They were after all a Professional Grade Headphone. Why doesn’t John Grado make them again? Why didn’t he re-release the Flat Pads? Todd sold 650 pair in 3 months so there must have been some demand. Pride? His sound? Who knows? Obviously Grado is doing something right since they are profitable. Has anyone imported a pair of Grado PS-1’s from Germany yet? That might be a gauge of the true desire for a $1500 headphone.(...)

Keep in mind that in Germany the RS-1s are a pair of 1300$ headphones, so the PS-1 is only 25% more...

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally posted by grinch k1000 is bright and harsh, which makes it worthless in my eyes. i think it takes a certain level of masochism to love k1000, from the sound to how stupid you look while wearing them. i've been reading posts for years about k1000 where people try to "fix" their sound by using crappy tubey amps with rolled off highs, warm cables, warm sources, whatever. taking a poor product and then trying to tame is just such a waste. i've heard k1000 with rkv, norh 9se, and ear v20 and i couldn't stand them on a single one of these amps, even though these are known to have "great synergy" with the k1000. hp-1000 is worth the money. the only dynamic headphone that comes near it in sound quality is the r10 and that's anywhere from three to five times the price. prices have gotten a little crazy for them in the past, but in my opinion if anybody is paying over $1,000 for them, i would really consider going for a stax 404 or omega 2 instead.

Well, I guess somebody has to defend K1000. I used to own HP-2's. I now live with K1000. These two are not even on the same planet as far as performance. Let me correct a couple of things you said about K1000. I have never tried a "crappy tube amp" but have tried a great tube amp (VAC renaissance) with the K1000 and also an extremely neutral SS amp (Marsh A200S). I have tried sources from a $80 DVD player to a maximally tweaked tube CDP. With all these gear, K1000 lets you hear exactly how each sounds. More neutral the gear, the better K1000 sounds.

K1000 is definitely not a "poor product." You don't have to get "warm" cables for the K1000. You do have to get rid of the crappy grainy/bright cable K1000 comes with, but as long as you use a neutral cable, you are in business.

K1000 is not perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for any other dynamic headphones.

 

[grinch]

i guess either you like akg or you hate it. personally, i find bright, dry, bassless headphones a little boring and annoying.

i guess i didn't hear them with the right replaced cable..

 

[hadron]

Thanks for the interesting discussion, thinking I might not bid any more and let these HP-2s go to whomever else wants them most. Don't really need another set of cans and the improvement seems to be slight and questionable, though the PS-1 is intriguing (know a girl who goes to Germany several times a year...), plus there's plenty of other things on my wish list.

 

[NeilPeart]

This discussion regarding the worth or virtue of a headphone (especially one as acclaimed) is a bit useless, because a case could be made for any of the top systems. Out of the systems I've heard, these rank among the best, and each vary in price and the sound offered:

K1000/AudioValve RKV MkII
ATH-W2002/Sugden Headmaster modded
DT 880/Corda PreHead
RS1/Grado RA1
MSPro/Gilmore V2-SE
HP1/SHA-Gold modded
HD600/HeadRoom Max
HD650/HeadRoom BlockHead
HE60/HE70 & SRM-007 & SRM-717 & KGSS
CD3000/Berning MicroZOTL
Omega I & Omega II/SRM-007 & SRM-717 & KGSS

Each of the above has something to offer. I still prefer the HD580/600/650 despite all the gear of I've heard; I simply love its musical, speaker-like reproduction of sound. For the record, I haven't heard:

ATH-L3000
PS1
HE90
MDR-R10
Edition7

Regarding the original topic, I've always liked my dad's HP2 better than his HP1 - it just sounded better to me (a very negligible difference existed). Back then they both had the Standard cable, so the difference was not cable-related. He recently sent the HP2s in for new drivers and JG installed the new Ultra-Wide Bandwidth cable on it. Perhaps the sound differs even more now (I just received his HP2, so when I visit my dad again I'll bring 'em buy for a little Grado shoot-out (he will have the PS1 by then, hopefully – and he still has the RS1, MSPro, MS2, 300 and 325). Regarding the little switches on the HP1, I think I did notice a difference in sound when the positions were changed: I always preferred them both in the "down" position, but I don't know why (this was on the modded SHA-Gold and the Gilmore V2-SE, connected to the Meridian 508.20).

 

[yidimsum]

I have A/B'ed a pair of HP-1s and a pair of HP-2s with identical cables at the same time on a Melos SHA-1.

The music reproduced through the HP-1s sounded more like a real live performance each time. Don't laugh - my mom who's a pianist concurred with me each time we played different material. The difference between the HP-1s and HP-2s aren't perceptible unless you A/B directly. It's not worth losing sleep over if you already have HP-2s. If you have HP-1s, keep them.