Member Reviews: Grado RS1i Reference Series Headphones

(Note: this review is for the generation of headphones immediately preceding the current RS1i.)   Grados are the headphone equivalent of old British sitcoms – you either get them, or you don’t. Fortunately, I get them… and my favorites so far are the Grado RS1.   I own what are known in these parts as “Buttonless RS1s.” These headphones are sort of an intermediate step between the classic RS1s with buttons on the grills and today’s RS1i model. They have beautiful dark wood cups and appear to suffer from none of the casualness of build that some Grado products exhibit. These are distinctive, attention-getting headphones – nearly every visitor to my headphone room comments on...

Back in year 2008, when I saw the picture of rs1(buttoned) on a website for the first time, I said to myself “darn these cans are expensive, I wish I could have mine one day". A few years later, I finally hold these baby in my hands. The build quality of these cans are as bad as I expected since I have already owned several grados. But what I care about is the sound quality, and its just BEAUTIFUL!   I love the treble sparkle and intimate sound of my sr325is, but they are too bright for some genres and could be hurtful to my ears in long term listening. I also love the bass texture of  my mspro, but they are a bit...

i think it better than G1000i

A lovely refined headphone in the shape of the Grado house sound. Lovely mahogany earcups add fantastic warmth and detail to stringed instruments. The RS1i give you a lot of insight into hidden details into your music and will get you toe tapping. The RS1is have really opened my world into headphone listening like no other headphone.   For the price of these I would expect the build quality to be higher. You have to handle these with care. The metallic gimbal is nice and sturdy compared to Grado headphones lower in the range. Whilst the RS1is do sound fantastic and are hand built, I think these would be more popular at a lower price point. I suspect that I'm quite lucky with my...

I have owned 3 RS1i, yes 3 because they sounded so different from a SR60i that I had to be sure I didn't get odd balls. I've come to the conclusion it's just the way it is. It has a serious level of warmth that prevents any harshness, only smoothness. Poor recordings won't sound so bad on the RS1i unlike all the other grados.   My first listening impression was,   "...err what the heck is this??"   I'm a huge fan of the bright grado house sound and I cannot deny that I was disappointed in hearing the RS1i. Any non ""i models possess that bright grado house sound if you want to know what I mean.   The RS1i strays away from the house sound found on the...