Korg Forums

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2011 3:39 pm**

Hey guys,
I own a PA800 and a PA500 ORT. I know that the PA500 does not have a sampler and that I am pretty much stuck with the built in samples.

My question is, would I be able to get both machines to sound exactly the same when working with built in samples? Basically, is the PA500 engine ideantical to the PA800 minus the sampler?

Right now, the PA800 always sounds better and richer than the PA500. For example, when I select "Akordeon" on both the PA800 and the PA500 (this is a native Korg Sample), the PA800 sounds far better and has a richer sound. Am I not configuring the PA500 wrong? I want to make sure I unlock the full potential of the PA500. On the 800, I am using some one else's set and I do not know if they are utilizing better effects and EQ settings.

Also, I am using the built in speakers. Could it be that the 500 speakers are weaker?

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:22 pm**

obarguti wrote:Also, I am using the built in speakers. Could it be that the 500 speakers are weaker?

Yes they are. Never compare the sound of two keyboards with build-in-speakers.
The sound-engine of Pa500 is the same as Pa800 and Pa2x.
Once I testet the Pa500TR with the build-in-speakers -> bad sound. With (good) headphones or speakers it sounds more powerfull and not so cheap. (Btw.: the Pa50 also sounds much better with good speakers!)

If you have the possibility to compare the two keyboards again, ask for good headphones (or better: speakers) for a fair comparison.
I think it would be the best to plug in both keyboards on the same PA.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:32 pm**

They will NEVER sound the same even on internal samples which has been tested
and that is due to both machines having different Outputs, thats what actually
makes one machine better sounding then the other, not necesarilly the sample.

Posted: **Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:55 pm**

Nedim,
Thanks for the feedback, but I am afraid I did not understand you well. When you say "Both machines have different outputs" do you mean the speakers? Would the PA800 and 500 sound the same on external set of nice speakers?

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:31 am**

obarguti wrote:Would the PA800 and 500 sound the same on external set of nice speakers?

I don't really think so. The Pa500 sounds a bit different. It's up to you if you like Pa500's sound.
Ask a dealer if you can test the Pa500 and Pa800 on the same PA to compare the sounds.
As I mentioned earlier, the internal speakers of Pa500 have a bad sound-quality. The Pa800's are also not the best, but better. You just can't compare the sound of keyboards with internal speakers.
The sound of Pa800 is maybe better than the Pa500's, but the Pa500's is not bad! (I listened to Pa500TR with headphones and was surprised)

# In my opinion, if you have the money for Pa800 (or Pa2xPro), buy the Pa800/Pa2xPro. I don't like the keys and buttons of Pa500 and I can't live without a sampler.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:36 am**

BasariStudios wrote:They will NEVER sound the same even on internal samples which has been tested
and that is due to both machines having different Outputs, thats what actually
makes one machine better sounding then the other, not necesarilly the sample.

Nedim,

Could you point us to some documentation to support this assertion? Thank you.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:44 am**

hi how are you obarguti. Please can you upload the KORG pa500 Oriental ORIGINAL styles Files . if you dont mind . I try to use it in pa800

And if you did try this did you succeeded ????

http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=59489

thanks 1000000 for the help

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 11:52 am**

The PA500 has cheaper DACs.
DAC=Digital-Analogue-Converter.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:28 pm**

I owned a pa2x and I will soon have a pa3x.
For now I use pa500ort and I think that the sound is almost the same with pa2x. The only difference is that PA500 has 80 notes polyphony so KORG uses less samples for the same sounds and in that way pa500 hasn't got so rich sounds like pa2x/ 800! But, that's the minority of sounds and it's up to you to tweak them to sound exactly the same!! I am very happy with that little blue baby!!!

Regards,
Dimitris

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 6:10 pm**

By saying that i dont mean the machine is no goo,
all i am saying is that they do not Sound the same
when you connect them to external speakers and also
we cannot expect something 2000$ in difference to
sound exactly the same. The price being so higher
has a reason becuse, they share the same Samples and
lets say, Samples are the same price, they are also
almost the same dimension with PA2X having few extra
keys and PA800 even same keys and size which also makes
almost the same MASS of hardware material and would
make one thing they should be the same price. Now thats
where the difference starts, in some Chips, some DACs,
some FX processors e tc. Thoraldus, there is no official
documentation but a while ago there was a topic about it
in here, where some support my claim some do not. This
has been tested by me and few others that i know off and
always is the same results. Now if someone tests it with
some cheep speakers of course they will probably sound
the same but tested only thru a really High End Sound
Cards and Speakers will show the difference and it will
be a big one.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:46 pm**

LESSISMORE wrote:The PA500 has cheaper DACs.
DAC=Digital-Analogue-Converter.

Could you point me to the documentation? Are there any schematics? Service docs? I'd like to see part numbers. Then we can look up the specs. Otherwise it's just speculation and subjective opinions.

Thank you.

(I'm an E.E. - so it's an occupational thing to nail things down)

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:55 pm**

BasariStudios wrote:By saying that i dont mean the machine is no goo[d], all i am saying is that they do not Sound the same when you connect them to external speakers and also we cannot expect something 2000$ in difference to sound exactly the same. The price being so higher has a reason becuse, they share the same Samples and lets say, Samples are the same price, they are also almost the same dimension with PA2X having few extra keys and PA800 even same keys and size which also makes almost the same MASS of hardware material and would make one thing they should be the same price. Now thats where the difference starts, in some Chips, some DACs, some FX processors e tc. Thoraldus, there is no official documentation but a while ago there was a topic about it in here, where some support my claim some do not. This has been tested by me and few others that i know off and always is the same results. Now if someone tests it with some cheep speakers of course they will probably sound the same but tested only thru a really High End Sound Cards and Speakers will show the difference and it will be a big one.

Thank you for your opinion Nedim. Many years ago we did an experiment at a high end Beverly Hills HiFi showroom. We blind-folded several listeners and A-B'd a dozen speaker systems. We asked the listeners to tell us which system was the most expensive. In every test they picked the cheapest system. What they didn't know was that we had boosted the output 3-6db on the cheap speakers.

For them, louder was better.

Posted: **Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:30 pm**

Thoraldus wrote:
LESSISMORE wrote:The PA500 has cheaper DACs.
DAC=Digital-Analogue-Converter.
Could you point me to the documentation? Are there any schematics? Service docs? I'd like to see part numbers. Then we can look up the specs. Otherwise it's just speculation and subjective opinions.

Thank you.

(I'm an E.E. - so it's an occupational thing to nail things down)

Did you ever made an A/B Varifying ? PA500/PA2 ? I did !
What do you mean what my occupational thing is ?
It doesn`t matter. My ears are the important things. My ears are very good. O.K. I have no E.E.´s

Do you know the Line-Output Volume (dB) of a PA500 and PA2 ?

PS: Ask Korg for schematics.

Posted: **Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:01 am**

LESSISMORE wrote:
Thoraldus wrote:
LESSISMORE wrote:The PA500 has cheaper DACs.
DAC=Digital-Analogue-Converter.
Could you point me to the documentation? Are there any schematics? Service docs? I'd like to see part numbers. Then we can look up the specs. Otherwise it's just speculation and subjective opinions.

Thank you.

(I'm an E.E. - so it's an occupational thing to nail things down)
Did you ever made an A/B Varifying ? PA500/PA2 ? I did !
What do you mean what my occupational thing is ?
It doesn`t matter. My ears are the important things. My ears are very good. O.K. I have no E.E.´s
Do you know the Line-Output Volume (dB) of a PA500 and PA2 ?

PS: Ask Korg for schematics.

Sorry, what I meant to say was - "it's an occupational thing for me". Yes I have played both a PA800 and PA500 but not under conditions that would allow me to discern any significant differences. Just for the record I am not trying to argue that these keyboards have identical output, but I sure would like to know more technical details.

So Korg has never spoken to this issue?

Posted: **Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:22 am**

Korg will NEVER speak of this issue. Even if they did mix themselfs in this topic
just for the hell of it they will twist their words but still, they are right, it is
a buyers/advtertisement market...hence the price difference, the difference is
not cuz it just IS but there is actuall differences between products and of course
they will always sound different from each other, no matter what, internal or
external speakers...just for that matter...THE DIFFERENCE IN PRICE.

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