[Elecraft] K2 / K3 audio - and the K2 fan

[Fred Jensen]

Can't answer your second question about the fans, but I initially 
thought that my K2 "just sounded 'nicer'" than my K3.  It's not a huge 
difference, and I'm fairly deaf anyway, so I don't have a definitive, 
iron-clad answer but:

1.  I usually use lightweight headphones [single narrow metal band] with 
the small foam covered phones on my K2 and a Heil Proset I got from 
Elecraft on my K3.  When I finally tried the lightweight ones on the K3, 
the sound improved.  I tried a very old Sony headset [1960's from a 
reel-to-reel recorder] and it too improved the sound, at least 
subjectively.  The K2 sounded about the same with it.  I've concluded 
that the radio-headphones are a system and the components work together.

2.  Jim, K9YC, gave me some advice on the RXEQ, the most important of 
which was ... "go very slowly while adjusting it."  Make a change, and 
then use it for awhile.  That stopped my flailing around with it, and I 
found I could improve the audio quality noticeably.  My current 
settings, which I haven't messed with in several years sort of roughly 
mirror the response of a couple of "programs" in my hearing aids.  The 
differential gain achievable in the K3 RXEQ is much less than my hearing 
aids, but somehow, it smooths out the sound.  [That's a technical term 
used by someone who doesn't really know what's happening. :-)]

My observations are mainly for narrow BW CW, I've listened some on 
sideband, but not enough to figure anything out.  My K2 does not have 
DSP, and I've wondered if the less-square response of the crystal filter 
isn't part of the equation too.  The K3 DSP seems like a brick wall at 
times.  Maybe someone with a DSP K2 and a K3 has some observations.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016
- www.cqp.org

On 6/26/2016 3:56 PM, Dauer, Edward wrote:

> My guess is that the K2’s curve is skewed toward the
> lower ranges.    2.  I have never set the RX EQ in the K3 – it’s
> still on what it was when I bought it.  Has anyone tried to make a K3
> sound more like a K2?  If so, what settings do the best?