Originally Posted by mikeg
Zanth - As I previoiusly mentioned, I have an RS-1/RA-1 setup, and I love the Grado sound that it produces. In fact, I listen to the RS-1 for more hours than any of my other headphones, and I also find it to be the lightest and most comfortable of my headphones. But, IMO the RS-1's sound is not as good as that of the K1000, and not nearly as good as that of the R10. As for my repeated descriptions of the HE90 as the world's best headphone, I reached this conclusion as a consequence of reading lots of Head-Fi postings. I've actually never heard an HE90. As for our Head-Fi membership comprising only a very small base of Grado and other manufacturers' clientele, that may be true, but we comprise a really good statistical sample of what headphone users like. My suggestion remains, that John Grado delegate the responsibility to develop a new headphone (possibly an integrated electrostat/dynamic one that matches or exceeds the performance of the big O headphone, but at a lower price. During development of such a headphone, I suggest that the Grado person in charge should frequently listen to an HE90, in order to evaluate their new Grado headphone's performance. My personal interest is to promote having an HE90-quality headphone brought to market at a cost that's less than $3.5K. As part of my effort to achieve this end, I've forwarded written appeals to Sennheiser Corp., and to Grado Corp. through the vehicle of this thread, and also shortly to Koss Corporation. So far, I haven't had any clear response.
I'm glad you enjoy the RS1/RA1 combo. Definitely light on the head. Quite comfortable for me as well. As for the K1000's, R10's or HE90's being overall better, if the RS-1 were paired with the Ear HP4 for instance, perhaps you would feel differently. Not that I'm saying you will instantaneously feel they jump to some super level that the others are apparently on, but that you will be getting the most out of the headphones. Regardless, there are many who feel the RS-1's are already better, so the sample size here may not be a good one, particularly because we don't represent a diversified demographic. We are predominantly male, predominantly younger, predominantly more educated, more discerning etc.
This is definitely not a typical overall market. If Grado were to sell in Best Buy for example, the demographic we represent would likely be 10%
I so agree with you for wanting the greatest phone ever for a decent price. With speakers we have so much competition it is ridiculous. Heck just look at the explosion in amps around this place. When Head-fi started we had a handful:
Grado
Headroom
Meier Audio
Stax
Sugden
Krell (though limited to one unit and itself extremely limited)
Sonic Frontiers (with their preamp which used Headroom's circuit)
RKV
Ear Max Pro
Ear-Yoshino
Holmes-Powell
I think that pretty well rounds them out. Of course we had the DIY's, so Kevin Gilmore designs, the CMOY, CHA47 soon after the META42.
Now we have so many and the competition is fierce. This is great for us because we are getting phenomenal sound for excellent prices. Competition stimulates growth and we certainly want to see the limits pushed! Perhaps in time it will happen from Grado.