[Assorted]

background: I ordered the PK1 from HeadRoom, and there was a minor accoustic defect on the right channel (definitely not HR's fault before conclusions are made), so I ended up using their exchange program, which by the way, like everybody says, is speedy and excellent.

This might be a factor in what I'm hearing wrong with the PK1, but I could not see what was so great about it. Sure it wasn't burnt in yet, or even the drivers themselves might have been defected, but there has to be a massive and drastic burn-in change to make the tone anywhere close to the impressions posted here.

Perhaps my ears have gotten too used to the smoothness of the ED9; everything sounded extremely fizzy, and had a definite lack of focus. Bass was understandably bloated due to the stiffness of the hardware, which in my experience, is the sound category which changes most with any HP burn-in.

If anybody can give me some assurance that burn-in/working pair would sound better, I'd be grateful

 

[dap_pad]

Well I bought mine used, but they were in great condition and they sounded great to me. Great soundstage and bass impact for an earbud. Although, it seemed to complete omit some parts of the bass frequences, it sounded great overall, I'd let it burn in a bit first

If you still don't like them, give me a PM

 

[Assorted]

Thank you for your response. I guess I was expecting something completely different, because I have never read anything about fizzness (which even lower Grado's don't nag on a whole lot), even in sub-50 hour impressions.

 

[dap_pad]

fizziness? You mean like static-y stuff? My pair never had any of that...

 

[ClieOS]

Is it possible that you have getting too accustomed to the big cans' sound? For $150 of price, a big can should easily outperform an earbud, and an earbud can easily outperform an IEM. The price/performance ratio of each type of headphone is very different, which should also be in your consideration when judging the sound quality of headphone.

Just use those stock DAPs' earbuds and do an A/B test with PK1 (amping by your pico) once you get yours back. It should be easy to see why people like me, who have to use very portable 'phone most of the time, really appreciate the sound of PK1 (even though my AD700 sounds much better than it).

This is one of the reason I start my headphone journey from low-fi. Once you trained your ear (and expectation) to a higher quality of sound, anything less seems dull, unimpressive and difficult to appreciate. Hope this is not your case.

 

[vexeus]

I received PK1's today from HeadRoom and so far my impressions are similar to yours. I've allowed them to burn in for most of the day and now they are going to burn in through the night.

Hopefully that's all these need.

 

[L7R]

Quote:

For $150 (or XXX, imho) of price, a big can should easily outperform an earbud, and an earbud can easily outperform an IEM.

This sentence should be put to the head-fi first page and you'd have to understand and then click it, before you could step in.

Admirable!

 

[moogoob]

I was considering getting a pair for portable use... are they open? If so they'd be a great portable replacement for my crappy Sony buds.

Or just bite the bullet and buy some SR-60s.

 

[ClieOS]

They are open. The new OKs' series should be released with in a month or so, and they are said to outperform the current PKs' series. You might want to wait a while for them instead.