[Necrolic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SillyHoney /img/forum/go_quote.gif K1000 was $650 new? How about today someone put a like new one up for sale?

Exactly my point, and IMO AKG could have charged more than they go for used nowadays when they were in production. They were very cheap at $650 for what you got, the actual sound is like $1200+ easily, and this guy wants us to compare them to $150 ones?

 

[hurryup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrivs /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont rly understand why you would want to have a headphone that sounds like a pair of speakers? Speakers are speakers and headphones are headphones. Maybe its me, but if you want something that sounds like speakers, why dont you just buy a pair of speakers? To me this sounds a bit like searching for a car that drives like a motorcycle or something Oh and btw, I'd rather have a pair of speakers than those AKG K1000, cuz their just plane ugly. But thats my opinion.

Good speakers sound better than good headphones.

 

[Landis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrolic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly my point, and IMO AKG could have charged more than they go for used nowadays when they were in production. They were very cheap at $650 for what you got, the actual sound is like $1200+ easily, and this guy wants us to compare them to $150 ones?

Well this is hurryup...

Sony has the PFR-V1 headphones which are along the same "ear-speaker" design as the K1000, but I only read one vague review on them, so I cannot comment on how that person described them. A search on Head-Fi would probably prove fruitful. Note, these still shoot over your budget as I think they're around $500 new, but if you find them used or from a cheap vendor, you may be able to cut that in half.

Your cheapest option? Take two AKG drivers and glue them to a headphone band. POW, DIY K1000-- Actually, as the designer I'm going to call them the L-1000s (Landis-1000 series). Send all royalties to my Paypal account.

Enjoy.

 

[Drag0n]

He prolly likes speakers better than headphones, but he cant always play his speakers or he will bother others, so he wants phones that sound like speakers.

 

[jcx]

for a little over $2K the Smtyh SVS Realizer could make $150 headphones sound like a specific speaker system in a specific room when you've done the personal calibration

but Smyth doesn't want to deal with people dissing the system because of cheap headphones and bundles it with a Stax system for ~ $3K together

 

[Uncle Erik]

Actually, the K-1000 was down around $380 at one time.

Did you know it was discontinued due to weak sales?

Buy the good headphones while you still can.

 

[hurryup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif Actually, the K-1000 was down around $380 at one time. Did you know it was discontinued due to weak sales? Buy the good headphones while you still can.

I can't even get AKG K501's for that price! Everybody is scrambling for the k501s.

 

[greenlight]

I've been thinking about the Speakers vs Headphones issue lately as well. I was considering starting a new thread, but I'll just hijack this one instead since I'm a noob and my thoughts are probably half-baked

I'm off in Japan for a few months, and I've been missing my speaker setup at home (nothing too fancy, a pair of 〜$600 B&W DM685s hooked up to the most basic NAD integrated stereo amp).

So the yesterday I went past yodobashi camera, tested some headphones, and came home with a pair of $500 audio technica ATH-AD2000's and a nuforce icon USB DAC. (I went with audio technica since foreign brands such as sennheiser/AKG cost twice as much as back home here, and the nuforce since I went with the cheapest thing that got my away from my macbooks integrated audio)

Yeah they sound good technically. All the sound is there, I can pick it apart with my ears and hear the same thing. But the _presence_ isn't there. I'm listening to Rolling Stones - Flashpoint, and on my speakers, I can be fooled into thinking the audience is behind me. From the headphones, it still sounds like everything is coming approx 5 cm from my ears...

Am I just a noob and need to get used to it/"train my ears"? Is it a burn-in thing? (keep in mind I think my speakers were a lot better even not burned in). Did I pick the "wrong" headphones (it seems that anything after this price class ought to be diminishing returns)?

 

[oqvist]

Headphones most like speakers? Edition 8 has the exact same balance as my speakers. But I doubt you have a XTZ 89 system

.

Regarding soundstage Pro 900 has the most speaker like presentation I ever heard.

As for speakers vs headphones... I guess I am headphone damaged... Listening critically I can´t really find anything wrong with my speakers reproduction. They do offer a better soundstage for obvious reasons. However I enjoy music much more out of my headphones. Like the intimacy I suppose and isolation. I get boored to death after 30 minutes with the speakers. Its work listening to them after that. I really doesn´t miss any physical interactions with my body... DX 1000 can make me dizzy enough much more so then my 10" sub ever do.

 

[Bilavideo]

I know I'm going to get flamed over this, but isn't the K-1000's big secret its baffle-less design? You've got a pair of drivers with no chambers, just an open frame positioning them in front of each ear. This architecture is going to give you the widest HF dispersion with the least amount of resonance. You can't help but get a more "open" sound. It's transparency to the max! But you're also going to lose bass. Something has to be done to adjust to the shift in tonal balance that comes from getting one side of the spectrum while the other drops out. What does the K-1000 do to handle this loss of bass? Does it just say, "Hey, I'm for classical?"

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilavideo /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does the K-1000 do to handle this loss of bass? Does it just say, "Hey, I'm for classical?"

...Well that's why it was discontinued, the only reason it's sought after now is because you can't easily pick it up. Like most things you don't miss them until there gone.

 

[n3rdling]

I have the K1000 and both Stax Sigmas and no headphone sounds like speakers. It's a cheap selling point used in reviews. The only time I've heard a headphone sound like speakers was when I demoed the Smyth SVS system.

 

[nonsupremous]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hurryup /img/forum/go_quote.gif Good speakers sound better than good headphones.

Dollar for dollar I completely disagree. If you put together a decent 800 dollar pair of speakers and played them on a very base model receiver, you're getting garbage out of your speakers. You would have none of the details and nuance of any of your music. Perhaps you could get some of the detail out of your nice speakers, but the volume would have to be so loud that your hearing will soon go.

So when you make the investment on nice speakers...you then have to make an almost dollar for dollar investment on the source.

Now take the Audio Technica ES7 headphones for around 90 dollars street price matched up with an unamped Sony S639 also around 90 street value and I'll take that sound over my 800 dollar speakers and a 200 dollar receiver all day long.

 

[nonsupremous]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenlight /img/forum/go_quote.gif But the _presence_ isn't there. I'm listening to Rolling Stones - Flashpoint, and on my speakers, I can be fooled into thinking the audience is behind me. From the headphones, it still sounds like everything is coming approx 5 cm from my ears...

You're getting the benefit of walls and space with your speakers in this case. Your sound bounces off walls thus creating the illusion that the sound is coming from behind you. It's more difficult for your headphone to create this illusion because they are almost 5cm away from your ear. There's no where for the sound to go except around the padding of your headphone and into your ear.

This is also why when you set up a system at home, it's important to tell your receiver how far away the speaker is from the main listening point. Most receivers now have a microphone that you connect and it tests all the speakers for you so that it adjusts properly to that space. If your speakers are too small in a really large room, you will have a hard time achieving that same effect.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...Well that's why it was discontinued, the only reason it's sought after now is because you can't easily pick it up. Like most things you don't miss them until there gone.

Well, I though it was discontinued because some of the machines used to make them were worn out after 15 years.