[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

Do not let a high number pair put you off buying,both are sublime.

Almost everybody seems to prefer the bass heavy ones because of the, well, extra bass. What do you like in your bass light pair, in other words, what does it come up with against the more balanced sound of the bass heavy pair?

 

[Fitz]

Side by side comparison of "bass heavy" and "bass light" drivers (I would rather people use another term, personally). The later version has a slightly smaller opening for the dampening foam (some early pairs may have had this too, I can't remember), and a slightly glossier and more transparent surface to the diaphragm. The early one also has a smooth, uniform coating on it, while the later one has a more grainy structure, as if it were painted on. These differences are fairly difficult to tell without taking the grilles off though.
 
It's very possible that the change in how the notch filter and driver attach also follows the change in the driver itself, making an easier identification of version through the grilles, but I honestly haven't paid enough attention to that to know for sure. The notch filter itself is not what is responsible for the main sonic differences between the two, although I wish it was, since it would make it relatively easy to "change" which version a pair was.
 

 

 

 
 
So now we have audible, measurable, and visible differences between the two known versions. Anybody else want to go and say it's just a "myth"?

 

[wink]

From my sig.
 
Quote:

 

AKG K1000 bass light #10174 AKG K1000 bass HEAVY #04645

There is a world of difference in bass output.

 

[ford2]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Do not let a high number pair put you off buying,both are sublime.

Almost everybody seems to prefer the bass heavy ones because of the, well, extra bass. What do you like in your bass light pair, in other words, what does it come up with against the more balanced sound of the bass heavy pair?

 
I fail to see how anyone could prefer a BH to a BL without trialing both,they both have their merits and both are wonderful phones.
 
The source and amp come into play here as well as your hearing,so a BL on one system could be a BH on another.
 
I am sure that their are many who believe they are listening to a BH pair when in fact they are BL.
 
I enjoy both and find that the BH is the more complete but for extended periods of listening I find the BL to be better (everyone to their own).
 
All I can say is get one of each,then you have the best of both worlds


 

 

[ford2]

Quote:

Side by side comparison of "bass heavy" and "bass light" drivers (I would rather people use another term, personally). The later version has a slightly smaller opening for the dampening foam (some early pairs may have had this too, I can't remember), and a slightly glossier and more transparent surface to the diaphragm. The early one also has a smooth, uniform coating on it, while the later one has a more grainy structure, as if it were painted on. These differences are fairly difficult to tell without taking the grilles off though.
 
It's very possible that the change in how the notch filter and driver attach also follows the change in the driver itself, making an easier identification of version through the grilles, but I honestly haven't paid enough attention to that to know for sure. The notch filter itself is not what is responsible for the main sonic differences between the two, although I wish it was, since it would make it relatively easy to "change" which version a pair was.
 

 

 

 
 
So now we have audible, measurable, and visible differences between the two known versions. Anybody else want to go and say it's just a "myth"?

 Great post,great pics.
 
 I am sure their are a heap of people all checking their drivers out.

 

[Fitz]

The only thing is it's still unknown at this point if these changes in the driver are directly responsible for the difference in sound, or are merely indications of one version or another. There could also be differences in the voice coil, magnet, dampening foam, etc. I say this because if it is actually caused by those non-visible aspects, there might be some overlap where some "bass heavy" pairs have the appearance of "bass light" pairs, or vice versa. One only needs to look at the K240 Sextett nonsense and how long it took to get any kind of consistent delineation between versions, because of things that initially seemed to belong to one version would occasionally be found on other versions. At this point we know with clear certainty there is a difference in sound between earlier and later pairs, but we still do not know with certainty what causes the change, and whether it occurs at a specific point, is a gradual change due to wear and tear on the manufacturing equipment, or is even multiple, slightly different sounding versions leading to a larger difference over time.
 
Frankly I don't care enough to try to investigate it any further myself, but if someone wanted to start compiling a list of serial numbers including version (or presumed version), as well as the various aspects of each pair (opening size, diaphragm type, PCB type, etc) it probably could become possible to narrow it down better. I'm at a point in this hobby where I don't want to deal with the research and cataloging of AKGs anymore. 

 

[Don Quichotte]

Quote:

I fail to see how anyone could prefer a BH to a BL without trialing both,they both have their merits and both are wonderful phones.
 
......
 
I enjoy both and find that the BH is the more complete but for extended periods of listening I find the BL to be better (everyone to their own).
 

OK, but why? What are the "BL" version merits that make you prefer it for longer listening sessions?  Smoother highs, or what?

 

[Don Quichotte]

...well?

 

[Sil3nce]

Very interesting. I would focus more on the source then the headphone. the akg k1000 is lovely