[donunus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch How are they when you want to lie down in bed and relax... can you throw them on and take them off in 1/4 seconds like you can with most headphones... can you use them in a library or on the bus like you can with IEMs or closed cans... can you plug them into a CMOY or PCDP if your normal amp is being serviced or is elsewhere... They are just as convenient and easy to use as a pair of Senn HD650s? Why don't I believe this? All it takes is a single picture of them on someone's head to know they require some adjustment, and could not reasonably be used at work in a cubicle or in a library (where HD650/K701 definitely could, as long as the volume is kept low).

Its all relative. the k1k is less able to be powered by a portable than a hd650 but still much better than most speakers. Its not in their sensitivity that make them headphones or speakers, its in their usage. About lying in bed, it's all subjective to what one person finds comfortable to lie down with. I can lie down with bookshelf speakers if I want but I don't because these spkrs sound best on stands while the k1ks still sound best on your head/ hence the word "HEAD"phones

 

[applebook]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch How are they when you want to lie down in bed and relax... can you throw them on and take them off in 1/4 seconds like you can with most headphones... can you use them in a library or on the bus like you can with IEMs or closed cans... can you plug them into a CMOY or PCDP if your normal amp is being serviced or is elsewhere... They are just as convenient and easy to use as a pair of Senn HD650s? Why don't I believe this? All it takes is a single picture of them on someone's head to know they require some adjustment, and could not reasonably be used at work in a cubicle or in a library (where HD650/K701 definitely could, as long as the volume is kept low). I am far from convinced, but if your goal is to convince others then be my guest... I won't be getting a pair, but if others become interested based on what you say then more power to them/you. We're way off topic BTW, but I guess it's better than talking about pretzels... at least it's about headphones.

1. Well, no, the K1000 cannot be treated like an IEM because it's a full-sized, open can, so it must be compared to full-sized open cans. I don't know if a cmoy can power it, but I do find it to be very easy to put on/ take off. A headphone-output from any source without a dedicated amp is not going to be able to power the K1000, but neither can any great can sound really good out of those outputs. I purport that the K1000 is even more flexible than most headphones in amplication because any receiver or speaker amp can give it good power, while headphones must use headphone amps.

2. It took me about 1 hour to get a nice, comfortable fit with the K1000. The only thing that needs to be adjusted is how wide apart one wants the drivers. Once this is done, one can leave it as is and pop it on in 1 second. I don't know how much noise the 701 leaks, but wherever the 650 can take you, the K1000 can do the same, provided that you have decent amp.

I don't mean to be an apologist for the K1000. It's definitely not for everyone, but a few people might be surprised at how versatile they can be.

...anyway, let's get back to having a few beers with darth...

 

[Patu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spike33 You are confusing neutral and natural. Neutral sound is subjective, only your own ears can tell whether there's coloration or not. Neutrality is overrated and practically useless. Naturalness is objective. Does it sound realistic or not. Some people may like SA5000 but don't try to convince the rest of us it sounds like a live concert. K701 is more real to life.

Yes I misread your post. Sorry about that.

Neutrality is subjective for sure and what it comes to naturalness, it's more or less the same. As I said we all hear things differently.

 

[drarthurwells]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doomanroo So far I can say, that my SA5K, ER4P and hifi sound very similar in qualitative terms. The K701 sounds pretty close. They of course all sound a little different. But, just like my 4 children whom I love so dearly, and that are unique as individuals, I like them all. To me the dark horse (pun intended) was the HD650......I returned my HD650........After several days, I decided to plug the X-Can V3 into my isolated power transformer to see if that would lower the noise floor (to see if a PSU might make a difference. After all the PSU is an isolated transformer). What I noticed instead was an immediate removal of the harshness that I heard, to the point that synch mode sounded dull and un-informative. I had to switch back to asynch mode. My conclusion was this; the additional high frequency information produced by asynchro mode could not be faithfully reproduced by a V3 with dirty electrons. The result was that certain frequencies used by the brain for spatial cues i.e. timbre, instrumental resonance, was reproduced and received as harshness. Now, with the V3 and SA5K plugged into my isolated transformer, the combination has become the sibling sound of the rest of my system.... the Placette, Sim W-5 and Apogee Duetta Signature speakers. So too are close relatives in sound is the K701 and the ER4Ps. Now that's amazing consistency. Coincidence? Statistically this isn’t likely. Yet, the HD650 simply "does not belong with the others"......Yet at the same time the SA5K revealed more layers of information than the HDs......I love all of my four children and I like all of my sound systems (3 speaker, 3 headphones, 3 head amps) very much. Each child and system is unique with its own charm and character. I could never say which one is the better child or the better system. Except that is, for the HD650. It alone is different from all the other “children”.

Art: My main problem with the HD650 is congestion with loud passages of complex instrumentation - lack of inner detail - while the SA5000 has good inner detail. SA5000 is also more holographic in forming etched and well defined tone images surrounded by air.

Dirty AC may explain some harshness with the SA5000 as your comment suggest. The BLAudio is battery powered for this reason - avoids dirty AC - and not because it is for portable use (it is two fairly heavy pieces of amp and power supply that one wouldn't want to carry around for portable use, though this is possible).

Perhaps the lack of dependence on AC power of the BLAudio serves to removes the harshness heard with the SA5000 making it superior to the K701 here.

Also I think anyone who heard both headphones on the BLAudio with 75 ohm impedance added would say the SA5000 was superior. It has not a trace of harshness except on harsh CDs where the K701 is at least as harsh.

 

[drarthurwells]

deleted duplicate post

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch I have zero interest in hearing the K1000. I'm only vocal about comparisons to headphones, since K1000 are not headphones but speaker/headphone hybrids. I feel it's unfair to other headphones to compare apples to oranges. That has been my whole point all along, which clearly has been missed by just about everyone (what else is new around head-fi ).

If you have never had an orange, how do you know it is not meaningful to compare apples and oranges?
Apples and oranges look different and taste different.
Suppose you never had a green apple before, would you say it is meaningless to compare a green apple to a red apple bacause they look so different?
When you take the first bite, you will realize a green apple may look different but still tastes like an apple, and it is OK to compare green apples to red apples.
Just a little food for thought

 

[RichardCory]

As appese and oranges are both fruits, they can be compared as such.