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post #46 of 113
3/30/08 at 7:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
PS: Wonderful collection of cans you have, ricmat: Beyer DT880, AKG701 ... I've considered those, too, and ATH-AD2000, instead of GS-1000. Again, if I decide to stretch budget.


Thank you!

Well, I try to have good HP with different sound signatures!

There is only 4 I am looking now, RS1, AD2000, HD600 and some high end Sony...

(I am also considering some W5000, and L3000... but that's another story... ...
)




Let's just walk one step at a time!



Of course, then there is the minidac question... but I didnt have the courage to spend that much in a DAC... ...
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post #47 of 113
3/30/08 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ricmat View Post
Sincerely, IMO if you have the 325i already, and want to spend such amount I would go to RS1 if you're looking into the Grado line, and then spend the rest of the budget in other HP for other brands.

For me it is more important to have different sound signatures to listen to different music styles
I had the impression RS-1 were rather similar to 325i, whereas GS-1000 was a deviation from the Grado signature sound and that it was more like, say Senn HD650 (which I have wanted to buy but which clamps my wide head way, way too hard).

Quote:
I would buy the minidac as well, instead of the Duet.
For sound quality? Or versatility? Better DAC?

Quote:
(and I would sell the 325i as well )
Sell? Ack!

Quote:
You would get great great DAC /amp + RS1 (Rock) + K701 (Classical) + HD650 (all the stuff ) and maybe DT880 '03 (Jazz, ... .. )
Which can is best for voice, in your opinion? Opera, classical choir, female jazz singers, Kate Bush ... that is the area in which sound quality matters the absolute most to me, though it matters a fair bit for instrumental as well. But getting that tone and detailed emotion out of a voice is what I really yearn for.
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post #48 of 113
3/30/08 at 8:06pm
The RS1 is the best headphone I've ever heard for female vocalists.

If you don't need to use the dac away from the computer, the duet is a great choice, and even if you spend time directly comparing it to the minidac, I'd think you'd be ok owning just the duet.
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post #49 of 113
3/31/08 at 1:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
I had the impression RS-1 were rather similar to 325i, whereas GS-1000 was a deviation from the Grado signature sound and that it was more like, say Senn HD650 (which I have wanted to buy but which clamps my wide head way, way too hard).
I don't think so. The 325i is very, very bright. The RS-1 is quite smooth (considering the Grado line). the wood give them a temper in the highs and somehow in the mids in a way they become greatly pleasent to listen to. and I have to agree with grawk, they sound superb for female voices, as MS-Pro also sound superb for voices (but then we are already discussing another fine tuning)


Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
For sound quality? Or versatility? Better DAC?
Overall better machine! it is one of the greatest DACs outthere, and will give you more liberty for you to plug it into whatever you want to, while Duet is more to the mac stuff... (less beautifull though... ... )



Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
Sell? Ack!
well... if you can buy your entire rig without having to sell anything to raise some funds, I guess there's no need, right??



Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
Which can is best for voice, in your opinion? Opera, classical choir, female jazz singers, Kate Bush ... that is the area in which sound quality matters the absolute most to me, though it matters a fair bit for instrumental as well. But getting that tone and detailed emotion out of a voice is what I really yearn for.
I have to say I listen a lot to those kind of musics you mentioned IMO, my choices are as follows:

- Classical (not only the perior, but what is generally called classic - I mainly listen to some romantic period Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Liszt, Prokofiev, Mahler, and of course some Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, ... ... ): AKG K701

[They are almost perfect for every composer I listed, very very neutral, with enormous soundstage, making you feel you're just looking into the orchestra. They are also very confortable, so it's nice to stay with them for hours! IMO, a must have HP]- Opera (I would differentiate here moder opera from classical period, because of their differences in terms of instruments used, singers' range, ... ...): HD580 /6** for classical period, K701 for modern period... - you will want to have those once you start to hearing all those new instruments usage, and the new sound inhambiances in strings, drums and sound spots as well... ...


- Classical Choirs: It a hard one here... When listening to choirs I found myself grabing the DT880. However, it is the HD580/6** it will do for me with Gregorian...

- Jazz / Female Jazz Singer: This is a particular interest ... I love Jazz with my DT880 in general. I mainly listen to them with ~80% of Jazz music, but female voices sound so sweet in the RS-1! (in a way, they are not the great, by far, to listen to Jazz, but when the female singer takes the lead it's so sweet... .. I guess the MS-Pro could have a window here... ... )

[I guess I'll just have to buy some RS-1 in the near future]


So, for female voices I guess you have quite a few to choose from:
- Grado RS-1
- MS-Pro
- and I would also say DT880 | HD580/6** (quite a bang for buck here...)



Just hope it helped... ...
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post #50 of 113
3/31/08 at 6:57am
Thread Starter 
Beyerdynamic: I used to own ... well still own, but they are seriously worn out ... a pair of Beyer DT801. The bass is somewhat exaggerated, but they were a joy to listen to Mozart's Requiem with; one of my true favourite pieces of music. Maybe the beefy bass helps the feeling of the death mass, of the authority? And they were ultra comfy, even for my wide head. (Despite a large head, my ears must be quite small, because my ears minus earlobe fit inside the foam on the SR325i).

Sennheisers: I just wish I could be distracted from the physical pain of wearing them. CLAMP! I couldn't concentrate too well on the sound when I tried the 650s. For all I know, the sound of Senns are perfect for me. For all I know ...

AKG: Never tried, though I hear nice things about them.

Audio Technica: The AD2000 look very nice. Never tried any from them, either.

PS: It will be Duet. After you guys started that upgrade talk, I realized that having a unit that allows me to rip LPs is of prime importance, and grawk has convinced me that the sound is more or less the equal of the Mini-DAC, so for this budget period it'll be the Duet. Then maybe other units, and maybe I should scrap my original plans of buying a Cowon D2 and focus on the non-wearable audio instead, perhaps putting those 150 dollars toward ... and extra pair of cans (which ones? which ones?) or a tube head-amp? ... I catch myself wondering if there are any tube portable file players out there. Would have been cool!

PPS: Well, I live in Norway, but will be visiting relatives in the US this summer, and that's where I'll be buying all this gear. Still time to decide; still time to have you guys to turn my head around. Big minus: Not much time to test the equipment, so I will to a large extent buy "blind" on recommendations ...

PPPS: I'm generally geared toward few but higher end rather than many and medium ... so my desired end result in 5 years or so is:
* Two pairs of complimentary headphones, one of them very probably a Grado (RS-1 or GS-1000?).
* Two head-amps, whereof one is tube and one is SS.
* A darn good DAC (which I might already have found in the Duet).
* A tube-based portable files player. I'm sure I can convince someone to tinker with --say-- a Cowon D2 and plug on a kick-arse DAC and tube amp wherever the output from the codecs is.
Also ... In 10 years' time I might buy speakers and listen to music in that awkward, social way ...
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post #51 of 113
3/31/08 at 8:10am
Another advantage to the Duet that I think about - It is quite transportable. If you had your tunes on an external hard drive, plugged into an Airport Extreme, your Mac laptop and Duet could move a reference listening system from living room to den to bedroom to back porch.

Can you tell I've spent some time thinking about this?

Tim
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post #52 of 113
3/31/08 at 8:33am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfarney View Post
Another advantage to the Duet that I think about - It is quite transportable. If you had your tunes on an external hard drive, plugged into an Airport Extreme, your Mac laptop and Duet could move a reference listening system from living room to den to bedroom to back porch.

Can you tell I've spent some time thinking about this?
You're my twin brother on these forums, Tim.

Yes, the portability and the added AD tips the scales for me. It will be the Duet. As far as external HDs go, that's where I keep my music. Lossless and all that, and I scan all the album art. Even then, storing an album is far less than a dollar. I really can't understand people who go for MP3 to "save space". If the music ain't worth 20 cents to store, it sure ain't worth listening to!

But imho, you don't need to use the airport connection to your external HD. Just plug in once in a while ... delete 10-20GB of music from your HD, and move in 10-20 new. Most people tend to play the same few albums over and over again -- changing not each day, but by far longer periods like weeks, so there's no need to have them all at your fingertips all the time. Which is why I thought I'd go down from a 20GB Cowon iAudioX5 to a 4GB (or maybe even 2GB) Cowon D2.

As for the portability, it's excellent, isn't it? The only drawback is that my wife thinks that the MacBook Pro is competing for place as the #1 wife ... and she's kinda right. So I maybe I really should strive to make things harder for myself by switching to a stationary Mac ...
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post #53 of 113
3/31/08 at 8:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solan View Post
You're my twin brother on these forums, Tim.

Yes, the portability and the added AD tips the scales for me. It will be the Duet. As far as external HDs go, that's where I keep my music. Lossless and all that, and I scan all the album art. Even then, storing an album is far less than a dollar. I really can't understand people who go for MP3 to "save space". If the music ain't worth 20 cents to store, it sure ain't worth listening to!

But imho, you don't need to use the airport connection to your external HD. Just plug in once in a while ... delete 10-20GB of music from your HD, and move in 10-20 new. Most people tend to play the same few albums over and over again -- changing not each day, but by far longer periods like weeks, so there's no need to have them all at your fingertips all the time. Which is why I thought I'd go down from a 20GB Cowon iAudioX5 to a 4GB (or maybe even 2GB) Cowon D2.

As for the portability, it's excellent, isn't it? The only drawback is that my wife thinks that the MacBook Pro is competing for place as the #1 wife ... and she's kinda right. So I maybe I really should strive to make things harder for myself by switching to a stationary Mac ...
So you're saying keep an iTunes file on the iBook's hard drive and just refresh it from the big drive occasionally? Yeah, that's the way I handle my little iPod Nano. Because all of my iTunes files are lossless, the little Nano will only carry a few albums at a time. No problem. I just change them once a week or so when re-charging.

Good suggestion. I'll give it a try.

Tim
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post #54 of 113
3/31/08 at 9:12am
Thread Starter 
Yes. I use Cog on the Mac and a Cowon player for portable, and my lossless is FLAC, but the principle is the same.
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post #55 of 113
3/31/08 at 9:41am
Yep, I gotcha. I'll still get that Airport extreme ASAP, though. I find that having my entire collection on hard drive makes me play a much broader variety than I once did. Actually advanced access has come to me in a couple of moves. The first was from jewel boxes to binders. That made everything easier to organize and get to, but it was nothing compared to having it all in iTunes. Since I did that, I'm finding and listening to music I haven't listened to in years. And I don't miss the paperwork at all. My laptop is my remote control, so all the liner notes the net has to offer are just a Google away. The most comprehensive liner notes I've ever had in my life.

Tim
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post #56 of 113
3/31/08 at 9:49am
Thread Starter 
I ripped my entire CD collection to FLAC with EAC on a PC (well, it's the best CD ripper, and I consulted with Emperor Palpatine and he approved of this lateral move to the Dark Side), and now my CD collection is just hidden somewhere dark for storage. OK, so it took 1 hour per CD to rip, and scanning covers took some effort, but ... now it's done! Well, almost: New things come dripping in ...

Anyway, it's much easier to browse files catalogs than to look through those CDs that always disorganize themselves in a very non-alphabetical way.

Maybe in a few years, I'll do like you and put even my external HDs in a dark place (with power supply and an Airport). That will probably be when I buy a Drobo for pro file storage. Right now I have my HDs in pairs, for back-up, since I do not want to repeat the whole ripping (and scanning) process.
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post #57 of 113
3/31/08 at 9:58am
All my dvds and cds are in the process of going into itunes. I use handbrake for dvds and max for audio. And audacity when it comes to grabbing sacds. 5-10 minutes per cd, 1-2 hrs per sacd, and 3-4 hrs per dvd. Not having to have the kids be able to reach dvds to watch movies = priceless.
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post #58 of 113
3/31/08 at 10:10am
Thread Starter 
Not that it matters for most CDs, but there are sometimes errors in the reading of the CD when you rip. With the right settings on EAC, I have managed to get good (perfect!) CDs that produced unlistenable rips on iTunes. The closest ripper in Mac is xACT. The annoying thing about xACT, though, is that it doesn't tell you what the progress is; if it's proceeding OK or if it's suddenly hanging.

I rip most of the kids' movies to AVI or MKV with Handbrake. Their DVDs tend to become ruined rather quickly, for some odd reason ...

PS: Grawk, some people say 352i and RS-1 sound pretty similar, but you loathe the 325s and love the RS-1. How big is that difference, and where does GS1000 land amid all this? AND: How do the latter two cans sound from the headphone jack of the Duet?
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post #59 of 113
3/31/08 at 10:14am
I don't love the RS1s. I think they're the best for female vocals and gibson guitars played through marshall stacks . I personally don't own a pair anymore, even though I've owned them twice. The problem I have with the RS1 is they're too lush for most things. The problem I have with the 325is is they have an incredibly harsh high end, and I'm sensitive to that.

Give max a shot on the mac. It uses cdparanoia and a comparison ripper, and I've not had problems with it. sbooth.org
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post #60 of 113
3/31/08 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Don't own them anymore? Ah, what shame ... I am sure I could ... help ... you find a buyer ...

So what is your current choice of cans (HF-1) like compared to RS-1, and why do you prefer them?

I'll give Max a shot. Trying a new CD now to just see how it performs and how the LOG file turns out. May try a hard-to-rip CD later. LOG files matter if you want to be sure that your rip was indeed perfect. xACT has a decent but chatty LOG file, whereas EAC has a more or less perfect LOG for checking. IMHO, of course.
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