Comfy

Oops, first post and first screw up. I didn't read far enough to notice that the OP already tried the W5000... Anyway, in my system from back in the day, those two were pretty similar. So much so, that I was very close to buying my second pair of W5000 a month ago, until I luckily stumbled on a pair of SR-Lambdas, and couldn't be happier. Maybe some 'stats for the OP's mother? At least my Stax put out a volume that surpasses by far anything remotely acceptable for human hearing. And the detail and speed is even better than K1000, with the soundstage coming in second.

Hi Head-Case, great forum you guys got going on here. Much more straight to the point than some other major headphone forum(s), makes finding proper information easier. Replying to the OP: The closed pair of headphones that to me resembles K1000 the most, is the W5000. Similar speed, similar detail, similar soundstage. Less bass, closed and somewhat coloured (sweet, toe-tapping euphonics) in the midrange though. The W5000 also has the positive aspect of needing much less amping, unless your mother wants to throw huge amounts of dollars on upstream components. Both of these are very revealing though, so a good source is a must.