[vanfrosty]

I excitedly unpackaged my PK2s on Tuesday. It had been about two weeks since my old iRiver pack in buds that I used for my walk to work had died. The suitors from Shure, Klipsch and Creative that I tried in the days following my old bud's demise weren't working. They isolated too much, took to much time to put in and take out, and irritated my canals.

I remembered stumbling upon some purportedly good sounding standard ear buds while shopping for the Grados I bought a while back. After bumbling around for a bit, I found the PK1s once more. Head amp required eh? That's a pity. Low impedance PK2s you say?

The reviews sealed the deal; they sounded like the perfect solution. The problem was that it was going to take a week for the ones I ordered to get to me. I stopped by a department store and picked up some 15$ Sony buds to tide me over.

Fast forward to my first listen. Gorillaz's first album happned to be playing on my MP3 player, and a bit of one song hit me with some impressive sound staging. I listened through bits of my favorite material, and my impression was that the PK2s were pretty good, even if they didn't blow me away.

I've been using them for a couple days now, and to justify my purchase, I put them up against the cheap Sony buds.

I'll be damned if I can tell them apart most of the time.

I switched to my Grado SR225s, thinking that maybe I just had tin ears... Nope, the Grados still have that gut stabbing clarity which blows both the Sonys and the PK2s out of the water.

Why can't I tell the difference between these POS "Bass Sound" Sony buds and the PK2s that cost five times as much and are generally well respected? I wasn't expecting five times the enjoyability from them, but I was hoping for something a little more substantial than the odd instance of nice sound staging.

Can somebody tell me what makes these so much better than most other buds? Am I insensitive to certain qualities of sound which others can appreciate more?

Meh.

 

[Graphicism]

Whats your source? you mention MP3 player but didn't mention which one..

Oh and welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet

 

[vanfrosty]

A Creative Zen Vision M is my workhorse

 

[Graphicism]

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the Zen, never heard it myself.. my initial thoughts were it's your source, have you tried listening to them through anything else, home theater, computer etc

A few things I've learned about the PK2; people that bought both the PK2 and PK3 sold the PK2.. some guys here who bought the PK1 also sold that in favor of the PK3. It could be that it needs an amp to shine, I'm not sure about the low-independence thing... my PK3s do sound slightly more impactful out of my home amp than my Zune for instance.

What suprisess me is that you can't hear a difference between these and the Sony, no doubt the Sony have bass-aplenty, the PK2 are said to be rather balanced.

 

[a_tumiwa]

yeah many people prefer pk3 than pk2, pk2 is too balance or somewhat that make people dont like

btw, what series is your Sony?

 

[RickB]

I hate to say it, but the PK2s need burn in to sound their best. The bass doesn't come fully in for quite a while.

 

[koven]

they do need burn-in, but return them for the pk3 and i bet ull be impressed

 

[userlander]

I think you're missing the "3."

 

[dugforeva]

I had a pair of PK2s. they died after a year. I thought they sounded good though, definitely better than any standard buds. My source was an ipod and a sansa clip though.

 

[rotorwash]

I haven't heard the PK2s but I am very impressed with the Pk3s. My set is still burning in but these are the best earbuds I've ever heard for portable use. Every one that asks, "what are you listening to?", I just let them used the buds. I enjoy seeing their jaws drop. They are impressed by the bass... I like their tonality and soundstage. Hope I am not hijacking the thread but I listen to these more than my nicely broken in KSC75s (which I am impressed with for bang for the buck). Try them out... they are inexpensive, although not a inexpensive as the KSC75s which are legendary.

 

[vanfrosty]

So I've been living with the PK2s for a couple weeks now, and I have to say, I'm liking them more all the time. A few things have changed; A, I ran about 16 hours of pink noise in them. B, I stopped coparing them to the Sonys. C, I have started listening to my music instead of the headphones.

I'm not sure if the burn in did anything, if my ears have adapted to their style of sound, or if I'm just fooling myself in to liking them, but if you can't trust your perception, what can you trust?

To be more specific, the lower mids, which I thought were muddy and undefined before seem nicely rounded and natural sounding now. I was listening to The Thermal's The Body, the Blood, the Machine, and I was really blown away - I always liked the album musically, but it wasn't the kind of album that I listened to for its production values. Again, the great sound staging shows itself over and over again.

They get my recommendation (they still don't compare to the Grados though).

 

[koven]

The PK3's sound better than the PK2's..

 

[thomasshi]

the PK3 might be a little better in bass.

however, when it comes to clarity and balance, PK2 is the winner.

I have both earbuds. They are great on portable players, and you don't need to buy an amp.

I find myself listening to IEMs more since they have much better isolation on subway