KONAKONA
Banned
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- Feb 25, 2009
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Well I talked my friend into lending me his PK2s for the day (I helped him buy them as well). I did it mainly to see if my ears could cope with buds for my usual daily usage (about 8 hours straight, give or take a bit) during school.
I got my portable setup (Cowon U5+Fiio E5) ready and started off for school. I quite quickly found what I heard when I had a short listen to these buds a few weeks ago; the devastating lack of bass. Not much could be done to help this, it took most of the bass boosting features in my arsenal to give my techno its thump back, and then it just didn't sound right, so I decided to run the day with a flat EQ and no effects as I usually do. Before I reached school I noticed that the mids seemed a bit rough and raspy while listening to my very small collection of rock and acoustic. I also found that during one song at moderate volume (and the bass boost off might I add) that the fiio managed to overdrive the PK2s; although the bass was completely lacking, it still managed to interfere with the mids and highs, as they were recessing with the beat. The song I was listening to didn't tend to do this, so I checked my source to make sure everything was in good order. Finding that it was I decided to go without the amp for a while and see how that worked out.
After I got to school I decided to see how some old eurobeat sounded on these, and that was probably the best decision I made. Eurobeat goes extremely well with these buds as the genre itself has a lack of bass. However, the PK2s managed to bring out more sound out of the synths (and the vocals to a lesser extent) than my portapros or Q40s have. Even better, the PK2s seem to not pick apart the bad encoding on these songs either. I was listening to 128kbps .mp3 files and I couldn't hear much of any degradation in the quality of the song. There was no sibilance at all, even on a few songs that the combination of vocals and encoding makes my Q40s take out a dagger and pierce my eardrums.
As the day went on I began to get a good feel for these buds. They have a very cold and bright sound, everything from the top of the mid-lows up is emphasized, with there being a large roll off where the bass begins. The mids and highs can best be described as delicious when the right music is being played. I can't say I've enjoyed eurobeat more than on these, but I can also say that I haven't gotten less enjoyment out of alive 2007, as all the bass was completely gone. Some techno will work as long as it's more synth heavy and less dependent on the kick or bass line. After some later testing with the E5 I decided to say that the problem earlier was due to volume, even though it wasn't all that loud. None the less, at lower volumes the E5 makes the sound warmer, adding to the emphasis of the mid-lows and extending the range just a tad. There is still no sign of impact for miles, but the warm sound makes for a good addition to the delicious mids and highs. The bass boost does practically nothing however, as all of the frequencies it affects were apparently killed when the PK2 was a young bud.
As for comfort, I was using the doughnut pads the entire time. (I thought I had gotten the non-hole pads to swap mid-day, but it turns out I got a regular and a doughnut.) They did get a little uncomfortable at times, but I wouldn't say it was that bad. I definitely need to try them with the regular pads to see how it affects the sound and comfort. The thing that bugged me the most, however, is that they come out of place quite easily. It's probably just because I haven't used buds or IEMs in quite a while, but I did spend a portion of the day repositioning the buds so they were in that 'correct spot'. The isolation is also minimal. It seems that I can get more volume without people hearing them than my portapros, but they still allow most all of the outside noises in. It's a good thing for me in this case, but if you want isolation you certainly want to look elsewhere.
Well I just wanted to write that bit up. First post yay!
-KoKo
UPDATE: Just a small update so I don't get flammed later, I was listening to some 128kbps eurobeat on these a few min ago, and the low bitrate suck out like a sore thumb. 160kbps sounds fine so far though....
I got my portable setup (Cowon U5+Fiio E5) ready and started off for school. I quite quickly found what I heard when I had a short listen to these buds a few weeks ago; the devastating lack of bass. Not much could be done to help this, it took most of the bass boosting features in my arsenal to give my techno its thump back, and then it just didn't sound right, so I decided to run the day with a flat EQ and no effects as I usually do. Before I reached school I noticed that the mids seemed a bit rough and raspy while listening to my very small collection of rock and acoustic. I also found that during one song at moderate volume (and the bass boost off might I add) that the fiio managed to overdrive the PK2s; although the bass was completely lacking, it still managed to interfere with the mids and highs, as they were recessing with the beat. The song I was listening to didn't tend to do this, so I checked my source to make sure everything was in good order. Finding that it was I decided to go without the amp for a while and see how that worked out.
After I got to school I decided to see how some old eurobeat sounded on these, and that was probably the best decision I made. Eurobeat goes extremely well with these buds as the genre itself has a lack of bass. However, the PK2s managed to bring out more sound out of the synths (and the vocals to a lesser extent) than my portapros or Q40s have. Even better, the PK2s seem to not pick apart the bad encoding on these songs either. I was listening to 128kbps .mp3 files and I couldn't hear much of any degradation in the quality of the song. There was no sibilance at all, even on a few songs that the combination of vocals and encoding makes my Q40s take out a dagger and pierce my eardrums.
As the day went on I began to get a good feel for these buds. They have a very cold and bright sound, everything from the top of the mid-lows up is emphasized, with there being a large roll off where the bass begins. The mids and highs can best be described as delicious when the right music is being played. I can't say I've enjoyed eurobeat more than on these, but I can also say that I haven't gotten less enjoyment out of alive 2007, as all the bass was completely gone. Some techno will work as long as it's more synth heavy and less dependent on the kick or bass line. After some later testing with the E5 I decided to say that the problem earlier was due to volume, even though it wasn't all that loud. None the less, at lower volumes the E5 makes the sound warmer, adding to the emphasis of the mid-lows and extending the range just a tad. There is still no sign of impact for miles, but the warm sound makes for a good addition to the delicious mids and highs. The bass boost does practically nothing however, as all of the frequencies it affects were apparently killed when the PK2 was a young bud.
As for comfort, I was using the doughnut pads the entire time. (I thought I had gotten the non-hole pads to swap mid-day, but it turns out I got a regular and a doughnut.) They did get a little uncomfortable at times, but I wouldn't say it was that bad. I definitely need to try them with the regular pads to see how it affects the sound and comfort. The thing that bugged me the most, however, is that they come out of place quite easily. It's probably just because I haven't used buds or IEMs in quite a while, but I did spend a portion of the day repositioning the buds so they were in that 'correct spot'. The isolation is also minimal. It seems that I can get more volume without people hearing them than my portapros, but they still allow most all of the outside noises in. It's a good thing for me in this case, but if you want isolation you certainly want to look elsewhere.
Well I just wanted to write that bit up. First post yay!
-KoKo
UPDATE: Just a small update so I don't get flammed later, I was listening to some 128kbps eurobeat on these a few min ago, and the low bitrate suck out like a sore thumb. 160kbps sounds fine so far though....
