[hgabi00]

Here is a slideshow from my K1k. Watch it, enjoy it.

 

[HiFlight]

Beautifully done!   AKG should hire you for their PR!!!
 
 

 

[mrarroyo]

Hi Ron, still enjoying the K1000 I bought from  you. 

 I will try to call you in a couple of days to discuss a meet of some sort. Cheers.

 

[fatcat28037]

Amanda modeling my K1000, serial #5142. If you've never had the opportunity to hear a Binaural recording on your K1Ks you're missing a spectacular listening experience.

 
 

 

[svyr]

I unexpectedly had a chance to get a loaner pair from a fellow headfier (and to briefly compare the BL (I think it was an 110xx or something of the sort) and BH (44xx) versions)...Along with a 20w class-a speaker amp to drive them.

I'm a bit ambivalent about these.

At first, I (somewhat) wanted to disown my SR-507 system and adopt a K1000 bass-heavy and a power amp ... I don't think I've ever heard such bass from open headphones. Deep, ample but at the same time not overly obtrusive...Complements the great mids and the highs on the bass-light version pretty well (also, the soundstage is fantastic).The adjustable drivers' angle is a great feature as well. (although I can't get used to how they sound with the angle > 15 degrees).

The bass heavy version sounds a bit like SR-507 + a (3,4,5,3,2,1)db boost @ (30-250hz) and a slightly different mids emphasis around 1-2k. Maybe a bit overpowering for orchestral + piano, where I find myself turning the music up to get the mids to the same level I'm used to with the stax (I quickly realized that was a mistake and paid for that with listener fatigue pretty as the bass knocked me out ) . So I had to eventually EQ the bass down by between 3 and 1 db across the above range.
The other thing is, I can definitely hear a narrow peak at about 1.5-2.5khz (I had to eq it down by 1-4dB), otherwise it was the 'ow-ow-owww' kind of grating on wind instruments and piano notes in that range)...IDK maybe I wasn't using them a the right angle or something (about 15 deg)

Can't get used to the headband comfort (open sliders - wobbles, closed sliders also wobbles but in a different way and more pressure on the side of the head just above the ears)


K1000 BH are very versatile, fun and engaging headphones (on the warm side for BH, but very enjoyable with classical and metal/rock alike ). I can't definitively say - go for the BH or BL version, I'd probably EQ the bass up on the BL version ...but these are definitely worth considering and I found I liked them a lot more than HD800 and T1 out of a lot more expensive amps.





>I own both and can assure you that the differences are small,very small.

I tried both and the difference in bass seemed very substantial (3-6 dB depending on the band). The terms description BL and BH are more than appropriate.


>Here is a slideshow from my K1k. Watch it, enjoy it.

just....wow...

 

[grokit]

Hmmm I don't feel like the bass is lacking on my 5-digit version at all, am using quite a bit of power with a nice tube stage and a pretty dynamic dac. Still would like to try a bass-heavy version though, now more than ever and on my rig ideally.

 

[mrarroyo]

I just spent a couple of hours listening to John Coltrane via a S/N 61XX K1000. It was a sublime listening experienced which a certain points was marred by the slight movements as mentioned by svyr. Although I feel the pressure on the temples can be reduced by "opening up" the headband it never goes away and you either get used to it or reduce your listening session to under 2 hours or so. I usually swap the cans to alleviate the pressure.

 

[idauntless]

05710

 

[svyr]

The adjustable drivers' angle is a great feature as well. (although I can't get used to how they sound with the angle > 15 degrees).

The bass heavy version sounds a bit like SR-507 + a (3,4,5,3,2,1)db boost @ (30-250hz) and a slightly different mids emphasis around 1-2k. Maybe a bit overpowering for orchestral + piano, where I find myself turning the music up to get the mids to the same level I'm used to with the stax (I quickly realized that was a mistake and paid for that with listener fatigue pretty as the bass knocked me out ) . So I had to eventually EQ the bass down by between 3 and 1 db across the above range.
The other thing is, I can definitely hear a narrow peak at about 1.5-2.5khz (I had to eq it down by 1-4dB), otherwise it was the 'ow-ow-owww' kind of grating on wind instruments and piano notes in that range)...IDK maybe I wasn't using them a the right angle or something (about 15 deg)

Can't get used to the headband comfort (open sliders - wobbles, closed sliders also wobbles but in a different way and more pressure on the side of the head just above the ears)

and yet there on maybe 1/3 of tracks where the mastering favours the relatively brighter K1000 sound and presentation, and I go back to the thoughts of pawning kidneys (bit like SR-404LE vs SR-507 )
mmm, who needs two kidneys, right?

 

[tranhieu]

Quote:

K1000 BH are very versatile, fun and engaging headphones

(on the warm side for BH, but very enjoyable with classical and metal/rock alike ). I can't definitively say - go for the BH or BL version, I'd probably EQ the bass up on the BL version

...but these are definitely worth considering and I found I liked them a lot more than HD800 and T1 out of a lot more expensive amps.


 

concur. the K1000 stand out among the crowd of >1k$ phones I've heard up to date. And even compared to the notorious O2, they still stand stand their ground with their unique imaging and soundstage.
 

 

[grokit]

I fully agree that these are some of the best headphones out there, but with one important caveat: They are absolutely top-tier for well-recorded music, but poor recordings break the sound of these headphones down more easily than any other headphone that I've heard in this price class or above, especially during complex passages. In other words, they are incredibly high-strung.

 

[dhmpan]

I was wondering....
has anyone ever opened up both a sn say 3XXX and a 11XXX to check if they are completely the same inside?
 
Mine have a sn 07425 and I would say rather not Bass heavy.
With low volume levels they are great. If the volume goes high I'd say the go the harsh way...

 

[aRRR]

Here are some comparison pictures:
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/500167/k1000-bass-heavy-light-fact-or-fiction/45
 
Harshness may go away if you use a better amplifier.

 

[Leonardo Drummond]

Quote:

Harshness may go away if you use a better amplifier.

 
Absolutely. I was using my K1K with a JVC A-S5 integrated and it was extremely harsh and hard sounding, especially in the midrange. With my previous Cambridge 340A SE it was better, but I sold it.
 
Then I got a Little Dot MKVI and didn't think it was that different from the JVC, and almost ended up selling both in order to fund another headphone that isn't so fussy about equipment. But then I decided to try some tube rolling and there you go! Most of the harshness went away. It didn't transform the AKGs (the midrange is still too proeminent), but it made a few changes that were enough to completely transform my perception of its sound. Bass it turned up as well, by the way. So now I love it again!
 
I'm aware that this is not the be-all end-all amplifier for the K1000s, but it is doing a pretty good job. So they are quite difficult to drive in the sense that it takes a whole lot of time and effort to find an amplification that suits it, but when you do, the harshness is tamed. My two cents!

 

[dhmpan]

it happens that I use them mainly for critical listenings
But even though I enjoy every minute of it when I take them off I find that my ears have lowered their threshold in mids by trying to adopt their response.
 
I must admit that my ears have a higher sensitivity in mids and upper mids, but I don't want to end up using eq..
btw the amp I am using with them is an arcam 290P driven with a MBL 4004 pro.
I usually listen at 9 o clock, but after a while it seems I pay all the detail I get with my ears pressed with mids...