wrecked_porsche

Yup, I agree too, the Denons and the CD3k do leak about the same amount.

When I owned the CD3000, I found that the sibilance was dependent on the source and amp. The sibilance drove me nuts as I am extremely sensitive to sibilance, however when I switched from the ibasso D1(stupid crap shit) to the pico as source, the sibilance was as good as gone. If your source/amp/recordings has sibilance... then good luck. Well, at least the sibilance on the CD3k is not as bad as the DT990. The DT990 had a metallic~ish sheen to the highs in addition to the sibilance.

I consider myself to have a medium~ish sized head too (around ~23 inches circumference), and I find that there is a slight gap at the top of the earcups. I had to mess around with stuffing the ear pads a little to get a perfect seal. Too much stuffing and I got a cavernous sound, too little and some of the bass impact as well as texture was gone. I messed around with the earpads/headband over the course of a few days and when I finally got the perfect fit, the W5k did sound quite nice indeed.

@Monkey, If you have a medium or small head, then forget about the W5000, they really do sound like crap if you don't get a proper fit/seal. If you're not fond of bending the headband and messing around with stuffing the earpads in various locations to get the best fit, then forget the W5000, it will sound shrieky and kinda hollow with very little bass. If however, you're open to messing around with the fit, you'd be surprised how good the W5k actually is. It has very clean and textured bass (better than a lambda signature, but not as good as the O2mk1 and SC1) and bass impact strong enough to kick you in the face. Its quite picky over amps too, it can make the difference between face kicking bass and meh bland sound. It(W5k) is a finicky bastard though, so don't expect them to sound awesome in stock form. You've gotta work it to get them to sing for you. W11jpn ( ) is a nice choice too, but the W5k comes closer to the "stat" sound if that's your thing. To me, W5k<W11jpn<W10vtg Can't think of any other good closed headphones right now that I've owned before that is worth a look... I'm kinda sleep deprived right now and can't really think that far back at the moment. CD3000 that I had some time back was ok, but I still >>> prefer those 3 ATs. Never liked DT990 (can you sssay "Ssssssssibilance"? ) when I had the chance to audition them. DT880 was decent for casual listening. Oh yeah... then there was the Darth Beyers that I owned waaaaaaaaaay back.... :basement::basement:

Is this gonna make much of a difference? I mean, the ground is tied together anyway in the 1/4 inch jack termination no? If someone was using this balanced then yeah maybe, but single ended would probably make no (audible) difference? Right? Or did I misunderstand the reason for the recall?

Have a nice one Adam!

^ I have heard the mini at an audio show (KLIAV 2009) late last year. I remember thinking to myself that if I did own an ipod, that these speakers would make for a nice bedroom rig. These speakers did not suck.

Heh.... yeah, he (Necro guy) was really going all out there. Reminds me of a friend I had back in high school... I don't agree with what Todd did in the end too, it will definitely leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those who waited patiently and played by the rules. Oh well, what's been done is done.

Who was the first guy that you banned Nate?

Well, that "Necrolic" was makings lots of noise. The other guy I think would be AndrewG (I could be wrong, posts were flying by soo fast); I think Todd got pretty pissed off at that guy at one point for calling him "incompetent". All those back and forth bickering were mostly uncalled for. No one was putting a gun to their heads to make them buy the HF2. EDIT: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/6422827-post569.html I hope Todd just ignores them and does not get too worked up over this mess. Oh well, its all been said and done anyway. I'm off to bed.

Yeah, me too. I was on the paypal page already and ready to send the cash, but clicked "cancel" because I think they are all gone now. Oh well. Poor Todd, now he knows the horrors of the Head-Fi mad mob...

Yeah, it was real ugly, Todd is offering a great deal, yet they (especially that Necro guy IIANM) felt the need to constantly bitch and whine. In the end Todd ended up reserving 16 units for some of the annoying posters... Oh well, at least that got them to shut up. Was funny to see how some of them quickly did a face turn after being "selected"...

^That looks like its lots of fun. Must be terrifying to see the ground approach soo rapidly and then swish right by while being soo close to your face? Would love to try that.

Having breakfast right now; toast bread + butter and sugar, a banana and some hot chocolate. Freaking sugar and butter combo is bloody unhealthy, but tastes soo damn good. Mmmmm...

Thanks. Hmmmm...combining those two would mean... throwing a kitchen sink down from a 710 feet tall bridge? Yeah, sure looked that way. He made it look soo graceful. Mullets rawk! Not that I have one... It was a little terrifying actually. Yeah, seriously, I did in fact spontaneously shout out "FFFFUCKKKKkkkkkk" in utter terror right after leaping off the platform... but then at one point, the wind gushing past my face was soo fast, it just cut off my voice. I guess my face was going all flappy and shit, just like Jeremy Clarkson's face was when he was driving the Atom: At that point, I just STFU and broke out into a sheepish grin, relaxed and enjoyed the ride. It all happened soo fast, yet it was a fucking awesome experience. As for "WTF was I thinking?"... well, actually, before the jump I was thinking "Why not? I'm here thousands of miles from home and will probably never pass by this way again, so fuck it, I'll just do it. I only live once." ... Leaving the platform, I was thinking "Shieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!" After the jump, I was thinking... "Fuck yeah, that was awesome!" Anyways, if you get the chance, you should dew eet. Certainly a worthwhile experience IMO. Next, if I come across the chance to skydive, I'm gonna dew eet.

Heh. You know, the worst part of it all was actually the initial 1 second right after leaving the platform when the weightless feeling kicks in. Didn't feel (much) fear before the actual jump, even when I was standing at the edge of the platform with my toes over the edge, it wasn't too bad. Then came the actual jump, the initial 1 second of the jump... that was the worst feeling ever! I was thinking " OMG SHIT FUCK! What the fuck! What da fuck did I just do? " I literally screamed " ffffffffffffffffuuuuuuu! " due to sheer terror... Then, the flight down was actually fun. Here is some random dude doing the same jump.

Didn't exactly do it today, but did this a few days ago. My brother and I, both first timers, bungee jumped 710ft (@ 70++ mph) down from this bridge (Bloukrans Bridge) while I was in South Africa. That's a truck there right in the center of the bridge for scale; the jumping platform is just underneath it. The best part of of the jump, to me, was when I was just hanging there upside down in mid air and looking back up at the bridge. It was eerily silent and calm except for the sound of the wind. Awesome shit!

Well, I re-read my posts above, I wasn't very clear with my posts there, my bad. I didn't mean to imply that there was a sonic difference between using a headphone jack and speaker taps (there isn't a difference to me). No, far from that. When I said "headphone jack", what I meant to say was "headphone jack from a weak amp". It slipped my mind that it could have also meant headphone jack from a more than adequate amp. I was trying to say that when the K1000 does not get enough juice, it sounds lifeless... the dynamics are missing. My post was not about sonic differences between the headphone and speaker amp (because as you say and as I do believe, they only really differ by output power) but was more to do with available power on tap and the amps ability to control those K1000 drivers. I should have not used the headphone jack and speaker taps to distinguish between inadequate and adequate k1000 amping capability. My bad, my fail. Instead of saying: I probably should have said: Also, instead of saying: I probably should have said: BTW, I do not subscribe to the whole SS vs tube generalization thing myself because I have heard SS sound smoov and toobes sound harsh and bright.... I really should go get some sleep though... I have a 24hr 35 min flight coming up in 9 hours... I feel like a zombie.

1.5TB WD Cavair Green

Yes, with the right amp, the dynamics and impact are friggin' great. Makes you wonder what people who say the K1000 "lacks bass" are on about. But then again, we are Stax people... Still, I think it has plenty-o-bass impact even for non Stax people. Soo darn tight, especially with the Class A Denon amp that I had. I was afraid the poor little driver was gonna pop out from the enclosure and hit me. The bass was soo damn taut and controlled, it was frightening at times! ~~ The Yamaha amp that I have is also from the 70's, 125wpc; its an NS series amp. Nice flat and clean sound. The thing I love most about that amp is the sense of presence that it has. I just love it when it sounds like the musician is playing an instrument right in my room just a few feet from me (when used with my speakers).

I sure hope so. Been wanting to try one for a VERY loooooong time now. Finally gave in to the curiosity. Yeah, I was in the same boat. Have always been intrigued by the W5000... Have tried the other AT woodies and loved them, but, this particular one... it gets some very mixed reactions. And yes, some of them look really purdy. I have to admit, that was partly why I wanted to have one. I loved the way "moonboy"over at HF polished his W5000 to a freaking shiny gloss! Did any of you guys see that one? My noggin could be considered medium ~ almost large, so I'm hoping that it won't be too much of hassle to get them adjusted properly... We'll see once they get here. I'll have to wait two weeks though because I leave for overseas tomorrow and won't be back until then. Want now.

I've tried the K1000 from a headphone jack. The dynamics died-ded. Sense of presence ran away. Sure, it got very loud, enough to make me go deaf and then some, but the music felt lifeless. Then I tried them K1000 out of a few amps I had lying around the house; an Aura Evolution, a Pioneer, a Denon and a vintage Yamaha. Now we're talking! The K1000 only comes alive when you're using speaker amps to kick it in the nuts. Oh and that "trouble" that you're having with the treble? Well you mentioned "extremely resolving" and "transparent" and this is exactly what they are. Every time I tried a different amp, the K1000 would allow me to identify the "flavor" or "coloration" from the amp. Going from one amp to the other, I could immediately tell the differences between the amps and how they presented the music. I could be wrong, but if memory serves me correctly, my 11xxx light brown box version with the silver akg logo did in fact have "AKG Acoustics" written on them. I'd go dig up the pics now, but they are on my desktop and I blew the PS a few days ago, so that will have to wait. The top lid was different, and the serial numbers were close, but did they sound like they were different versions or did they essentially have pretty much the same sound? Just take some time and try them out of as many speaker amps as you can, you will find they are very, VERY transparent. I feel that the O2mk1 resolves more detail, but somehow its slightly less transparent; does have a tiny hint of its own sound signature thrown in. Well at least on the 717 level (and below) amplification though. A BHSE or KGSS might fix that, I don't know. I think my sonic taste probably mimics that of your and Steve too. Try this: "Lee Hazlewood - Cake Or Death" on your K1000... Its really spooky how it sounds like the singers and just beside your ears. Its feels like as thought he K1000 grill is the mic and the singer's mouth is just beside your ears as he sings into the mic. None of my other headphones can do this....

Well... its probably called "Earpollution Toxic" for a reason I guess... Love the outline of the tree frog inside the ear cups though.

I know, I know... but... curiosity got the better of me. I just had to try it out for myself. I've loved every single AT I've owned thus far (W11jpn, W10vtg, AD2000, ESW10jpn, ES7), so we'll see how this one works out.

I've got wood: