Help purchasing headphones for my mother (closed, K1000?)

[n_maher]

I'm not sure I'd say (based on my limited experience) that the W5000 is necessarily a can that scales well but rather is very particular about what it will and won't sound good with. It could just be one of those headphones that likes what it likes and hates everything else. All I do know for sure is that I heard them on two distinctly different amps and they sounded vastly different.

[Uncle Erik]

I'd go with a K-501. NOS ones turn up on eBay and there are usually a few used ones around. It has a similar signature to the K-1000 and she would probably like that.

Or how about a DT880? A little more forward up top, but fairly lean and tight at the low end.

[Dusty Chalk]

I didn't find the DT880 light in the bass at all. Not heavy, neither, but certainly not bass-lite. And I have heard bass with the K501, but that's still probably the direction I will go. Or perhaps one of the "bad" W100's -- anyone have one of those they want to sell me? I've heard those (L, I used to own them), and they might be perfect. I'm not getting her another limited headphone.

[Dusty Chalk]

Alright, update time: my mom jokingly came to the same conclusion that my sisters and I did, that I get the K1000's when she dies. Well, I made the usual joke that "I'm not waiting that long", and apparently it bothered her. I guess that's my problem -- I'm a little too honest.

So she's giving them back to me. Yay, I guess.

I mean, I was going to offer her a trade for them, as I gave them to her as a gift, a sincere gift -- it was the only things she's been able to hear music on, and I'd like to stand by it. But I wasn't going to offer her just any old compromise -- it had to be something that was pretty close.

And I still will. And since she's giving these back to me now, I'd like to get around to it sooner than later.

So I brought a couple things (a pair of Shure e2c's, a generously lent pair of W5000's) and we compared the three of them.

So, here's the problem: the headphone jack on her mini-system sucks. And I mean sucks big time. It's worse than an afterthought -- it distorts so incredibly bad compared to the speaker jacks that it's not even funny. And it had a pair of RCA jacks, but I think they're aux ins, not source outs. Which rules out an external headphone amp unless I get her a source as well.

So choices are:

new source, Behringer EQ, external headphone amp and headphones

Grado speaker adapter thingy and headphones (as it has built-in EQ)

ASL speaker adapter thingy and headphones (I actually have this...somewhere...)

DIY speaker adapter thingy -- I presume designs for these exist? Besides the obvious Grado one -- I was thinking the reverse of the AudioValve one -- a transformer based one -- buh?

Any other choices I'm missing? Any recommendations, one way or another? I know, the first thing you're going to ask is budget, but here's the thing -- for comparison's sake, just assume that whatever budget I come up with, it's going to be the same. I'm thinking anywhere between US$400 (what they went for then) and US$1K (less than what they go for now, but a little more than I can afford in the immediate future) is reasonable. And of course it doesn't make sense to spend money on a new source at the US$400 end of the spectrum, whereas it will make more sense at the US$1K of the spectrum, but I'm not sure she can hear that much of a difference. I'm beginning to think that the reason she liked the K1000's so much better is because the speaker outs on her little rig is that much better than the headphone jack was. She's basically deaf -- wears a hearing aid all the time, and half the time still needs people to repeat themselves. So instead of the old criteria -- being clean sounding, having little bass, I'm thinking the new criteria is: can handle being played loud. Because she does, she cranks it 'til everyone in the room can hear them. Long term, not just the occasional transient. And since it has built-in EQ, it doesn't need to be bass-light.

So what's the best loud-handling headphones -- open or closed, but closed would be preferable -- yet moderately comfy (she didn't mind sticking the e2c's in her ears -- she said she's used to that -- but having to hold them in ruined the enjoyment factor for her a little bit), today? I don't play my music loud, so I don't really have a handle on this -- anyone know what measurement I should look for? I'm thinking Senns (HD600?) since they're open -- the voice coil is a little more exposed, hence cooling, hence better loud-handling capability (guessing). Although we're still thinking that closed might be better, since outside noise can be distracting.

Here's anothing thing -- if the headphones are big and comfy enough, she can handle using her hearing aid -- she did with the W5000's. At which point you'd think that almost anything would work, but I would still prefer something that she can just crank, that way she doesn't need to leave the hearing aid in.

So anyway -- when I get the A900Ti, I was thinking about getting the entry level closed A500, and giving her a shot on those. Since I'm always recommending the Koss Pro 4AAAAA, I'm thinking maybe I should get around to getting those and giving her a shot on them. I believe there are three of them: Pro 4AA, Pro 4AAT, and the Pro 4AAAT, which, although looking open, is closed according to Koss.

[n_maher]

Peter,

I'd say try and find a pair of K340s and have them reterminated with spades/bare-wire/whatever. I think at least a few folks around here have ran them direct from speaker taps with good results and even with the FOTMness of them you should be able to buy them and have the cable modded comfortably.

[boomana]

Peter,

I'd say try and find a pair of K340s and have them reterminated with spades/bare-wire/whatever. I think at least a few folks around here have ran them direct from speaker taps with good results and even with the FOTMness of them you should be able to buy them and have the cable modded comfortably.

Or get them reterminated with a 4-pin and use them with a K1000 tail or an adapter to single-ended for more options.

[Comfy]

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.

[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.

[postjack]

Welcome to head-case Comfy!

[postjack]

Welcome to headcase, EdipisReks!

[Dusty Chalk]

Well, first of all, Comfy, thanks for your input, I certainly appreciate it.

Secondly, most of the information in the first post has been superceded by this post (I should probably modify the original post). Basically, the headphone jack sucked, and I suspect that that was the problem, not that the K1000's were so much better than anything else. So I'm going to find my ASL speaker-headphone adapter thingy and try some cheaper headphones on her and see if she can tell the difference. The new criteria is that they can handle going loud for long periods at a time.

[Comfy]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

As far as loudness goes, I really think you should check out some Stax. That way you could also avoid the headphone jack issue, as you could use an energizer out of the speaker posts to drive these. I'm a very new Stax mafioso, with just one setup, but maybe you could ask in the Stax thread for more experienced opinions.

In my opinion, the SR-Lambdas I have are more accurate to the recording, as well as faster, more detailed and much louder (up to the absolute limits of my listening capacity and far beyond with no issues) than any dynamic setup I've ever heard.

[grawk]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

As far as loudness goes, I really think you should check out some Stax. That way you could also avoid the headphone jack issue, as you could use an energizer out of the speaker posts to drive these. I'm a very new Stax mafioso, with just one setup, but maybe you could ask in the Stax thread for more experienced opinions.

In my opinion, the SR-Lambdas I have are more accurate to the recording, as well as faster, more detailed and much louder (up to the absolute limits of my listening capacity and far beyond with no issues) than any dynamic setup I've ever heard.

It's not bad advice, but well, I'd suggest you read a bit more here to get a feel for the community

[Comfy]

It's not bad advice, but well, I'd suggest you read a bit more here to get a feel for the community

I've been lurking here for around a month already. Mainly reading the Stax thread though. Did I say something wrong?

[Dusty Chalk]

No, you've actually been pretty good so far, I think Dan was just being pre-emptive.