[Vault]

I've been searching for a pair of earbud-style cans for the past few weeks after I got my Zune 8. I've owned a pair of Ety ER6i's for about 2 years and love them to death, but I'm missing some of the warmth and "fun" that I get out of my Grados.

So a trek down to Jaben and Uncle Wilson and the guys have me sorted for a pair of Yuin PK3's. Honestly, not what I thought I would get. I had been looking at getting the ATH-CM700i's, but I gave the PK3's a demo and I have to say, I'm very pleasently surprised.

What's in the box?

Don't expect a standard plastic blister pack, as you've seen in other reviews, these buds are incredibly well packaged. The box is cute and probably will find another use storing cuff-links, but also included is a film-canister like container that's super sturdy and great for when you're treveling. There's also an 1/4 inch plug.

Did I miss anything?

Ohh yes, the buds themselves. Well what can I say, they're not going to win any fashion awards, very standard issue looking. That said, as earbuds go (and I do prefer them over IEMs) they are very comfortable. No sharp angles, no fancy protrusions, just a standard shape that kind of dissapears after you put them on. The j-cord is just OK, would be nice to get them in a y-cord style, but that's not a deal breaker. One nice thing, the cord is quite thick and doesn't appear to tangle so much so very happy about that. Overall, the construction on the PK3's can't be faulted.

Where these babys shine - the sound

So everyone has raved about the sound on these, so I was expecting big things when I demo'd them. These are initial impressions as I haven't burnt them in for very long (straight out of the box!)

Well they live up to that reputation. They are the best buds I've had. Period. I'll try to not wax lyrical and give a bit more info.

Bass

There's plenty here, even without the foam pads on. There is a certain pleasentness to the bass. It's impactful and not too muddy.

I will say one thing that sets these apart, and thats bass seperation. I guess that's technically part of the soundstage of the buds, but you can definitely tell individual snare hits over cymbals and bass drum. More so on metal tracks than techno (as dance tends to be seperated by default) The bass just hits you from different points of the soundstage, something I haven't noticed on my Ety's.

Treble

I'm a bit of a treble nut. I enjoy a can with slightly shrill highs (Listened to a Qualia once and it was heaven to me so that kinda sums that up). The PK3 has a good amount of treble. Certainly more than the stocks buds that came with the Zune and comparable to what I get from the Ety's. If you like your highs, you wont be dissapointed. If you're after something more mellow and laid back, these may be a bit hard to get used to.

Soundstage

I mentioned the bass soundstage earlier so you know the bass seperation is good. Overall the soundstage is fairly narrow, however it seems to be quite tall. This sounds strange, but it's the best way I can explain it. Bass and treble seem close, but ripple from under to over your ear. Again, not that airy, but a pleasent soundstage nonetheless. The attack of this phone is very good too (again, probably to do with the bass separation). It keeps up with dance and metal exceptionally well.

Overall I'm very happy with this unexpected purchace. For the price, these buds are quite exceptional. I've paid a lot more and gotten much less (earlier Sony IEMs for instance). If you're after a earbud style can, the PK3's are worth investigating, if you can get them shipped to you. One of the perks of living in Singapore

 

[ClieOS]

Oh, you came late on the Yuin game. The new OK's series will be released soon (in a few weeks), and people who previewed them said they are even better than the PK's series

 

[Vault]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, you came late on the Yuin game. The new OK's series will be released soon (in a few weeks), and people who previewed them said they are even better than the PK's series

Yeah I noticed some of those early reviews also. Call me a laggard, but the great thing about head-fi is you get the combined experience (and wallets) of this community working for you, so you don't have to be on the bleeding edge all the time.

 

[ben7337]

When did you order your headphones? They haven't been making them in a j-cord for a while now, did you just decide to write the review recently? or are the people you got it from not through head-fi and they do have j-cord pk3's?

I am sorry for being so annoying but I really grew to love the j-cord after my first pair of pk3's which broke after 5 months and really want either a new pair of pk3's or the ok3's. However j-cord would always be nicer.

My Logic(feel free to ignore it I am just ranting): I just don't see any reason not to like them. they hardly restric head movement, you can take off one earbud and still have the other one on without one earbud dangling far below, or have both off and not dangling far away. and the cord is over on your side so as to not look ugly the way a y-cord does going right in front of you and it keeps from getting in the way because it is on the side as well.

 

[ClieOS]

The OP got the PK3 from Jaben, where Uncle Wilson like to keep a lot of strange but wonderful headphone in stock (he actually has a batch of Senn HD414 in NOS condition!!!). If you wish to know whether Uncle Wilson has the J-cord PK3 or not, join Jaben forum and you can PM him there (this is generally the fastest way to reach him).

 

[ben7337]

okay thanks for the tip, this might really make it hard to choose for between the ok3 or pk3.

Vault, if you are on, what did you pay for the pk3 from Uncle Wilson?

 

[uncola]

I'm late to this party but just want to say I just got some yuin pk3's and they're really great. My only comparison are shure e3c and sennheiser hd590 but I greatly prefer the pk3's to the shure e3c. the e3c had more transparency and better highs but the pk3 are way way more comfortable than IEMs to me and the bass on these makes the bass on shure e3c seem nonexistant