[size=medium]The SAC-K1000 vs. the Creek OBH-11SE driving the AKG-501[/size]
First, let me say that up until recently, I pretty much thought that the Creek OBH-11SE was the cat’s meow! Truthfully, it is a wonderful amp, it sounds great with a huge variety of headphones, and it represents a good value in the Headphone world.
My downfall was that I first bought a pair of AKG-K1000 headphones thinking that I could get away with powering them with a little Class-A Kenwood amp I had. Well, the amp worked, but the combo sounded pretty mediocre. I started looking around for a better amp for the K1000s. I read all the reviews I could find on the amp, and was most swayed by the review that Jan Meier posted. About that same time a fellow Head-Fier put the SAC-K1000 amp up for sale. He had a conventional amp that was working and sounding better for his AKG K1000’s. I jumped at the opportunity, again confident that Jan’s review couldn’t be too far off the mark. When the SAC arrived, I couldn’t wait to hook it up and give it a listen!
Frankly, out of the box, it sounded really crummy. First, the AKG-K1000’s weren’t quite broken in yet and the SAC itself, not only was not broken in, but much to my chagrin, was wired with one channel out of phase! Over the course of the following week I corrected the wiring problem on one of the two front panel jacks of the SAC. (Yup, it has two. More about that later)
Once properly phased, the K1000’s started to come alive. The AKG-K1000’s are another story though, so let’s get on to the 501’s.
Somewhere in all of this, I met Neruda and heard his AKG-K401’s. Before I bought the K1000’s, I debated whether or not I should get the 501’s rather than the K1000’s. Both were rather attractively priced…but at the time I decided to spring for the big ones. Well after hearing the 401’s, there was something about them that I really liked about them. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time. Something natural, clean, uncluttered and unclouded about them.
Well, heck they’re on sale anyway right? So I ordered a pair. Hey, I like ‘em, I like ‘em! I liked them so well that they became my main cans replacing a position held by the venerable Grados for years before that. I save the K1000s for desert! Don’t want to totally spoil myself, after all! Well, as time went along, the K1000’s continued to mellow along with the SAC amp. Eventually, I came to the place that the K1000’s became my main cans, displacing all others, except for purposes of comparison to help me understand how they did things so well.
As time went along I saw a number of posts regarding questions about the right amp for the AKG-K501’s. As I continued to listen critically to the OBH-11SE driving the 501’s I did notice that on some material I could get it to clip. That pushed me over the edge to complete my testing of the SAC to see if I could safely use it to drive conventional cans, the 501’s included. Once I was convinced the conversion was safe for the amp, I built a quick adaptor using an Switchcraft A4M, a .25m length of Canare Quad cable, and a TRS metal in-line ¼” phone jack. These parts are just what was readily available. I intend to redo all this stuff later using better parts. (more about this in the DIY section)
OK, Ok, enough already, so howz it sound anyway?
Initial impression of the SAC driving the 501’s:
Gobs of power
and gain in reserve. This thing drives these cans with a power and authority that I never imagined possible! Better ambience retrieval. More extension at both ends of the spectrum. How can this thing sound any better than the Creek? But it seems to!
The Afro Cuban All Stars: Horns have more brilliance & sparkle to them through the SAC than with the Creek. Nice brass! More “space” between all instruments, especially noticeable during the really rowdy sections of the disc where everybody is going nuts all at the same time.
Pomp & Pipes, track 9, Jaromir Weinberger, Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper
I cannot find words to convey to you the magnificence this piece. The Creek does a magnificent job with this piece until we get to the place where the Orchestra and Organ together “kick it up a notch” or two, or three, no, make that four, nope, more than that!! With the Creek, you can tell that something very wonderful and magnificent is going on, but it doesn’t all quite make it through the amp to the 501’s.
With the SAC, Yikes!! What a wonderful juxtaposition, the delicate triangles punctuated by the thunderous foundation of the bass drum, as much felt as heard, (yes, I think my ears were flapping in the breeze!) the magnificence of the cymbals, and then there’s that incredible pipe organ, its resounding 30 foot pipes shaking the very foundation of my soul! Well, words just seem to fail me here. There’s no way on God’s green earth you wouldn’t be able to say that the 501’s aren’t capable of incredible excitement. With the right amp, that is.
The only headphone/amp that I’ve heard do this piece better is the K1000/SAC combo with the external subwoofer.
Well, duty calls, I must get back to the music! I’ll write more later. Now I have to not only re-discover my whole CD collection, but I have to do it with every headphone that I own!
It’s a terrible job, but someone has to do it!!
