RS1 Versus RS1i

Wondering this as well. I definitely want to get an RS1 of some variety in the near future, preferably new, and this comparison is going to sway me quite a bit in one direction or the other.

Since the older grado's have been better the newer grado's for well over a decade, I doubt something magically happened to make them better but anything is possible.

The other trick is.. which RS1 will you compare? The buttonless model, the semi vintage or actual vintage?

Heh.. this one is going to be a bitch

lol it is already hard to get a good comparison of all the previous RS1s!!

Reading comments on the new RS1i's owners have commented on the thicker/heavier cable being cumbersome with the additional weight. This swayed me to purchase a pair of semi-vintage and no complaints here as it is a step up from my 225's. And IMO the older models look better. On a side note, they do look funny when they are on your head but beautiful when laying on your desk or headphone stand.

Agree on both counts. It looks gorgeous on its own but on your head it makes you look like Princess Leia.

No, that would be the GS-1000s unfortunately

I'd be pretty interested in doing a comparison. My RS1 is about 10 years old and definitely sounds different than the new one I had in 2005, so it'd be really interesting to test it against something that's even further changed.

So I made some phone calls, and the distributor people told me that the RS1i have a thicker and slightly shorter cable compared to RS1.

I'm trying to decide between the two.

So true, who's going to trust grado to actually improve their headphones? They've cried wolf too many times

I think for some people, the direction that Grado has gone in these past few years (the GS1000 / PS1000 / "i" path) has been very good.

From what I've heard I'd classify Grado as having 3 time periods of sound.

1st period: HP1000 / SR100 etc.

2nd period: RS1 / SR60

3rd period: Changes in barrel design to all SR phones, GS1000 / bagel designs.

While I like the 1st period and the beginning of the second period most, I don't think there's any discounting the merits of the 3rd period of sound for some.

I like your classification, that works pretty well. And I commend you for being open minded, and you are quite right in the end, it's all different flavors. But for me, it's pretty black and white. 1st period = good

I haven't gotten a chance to listen to the "3rd period" phones like the GS-1k, but from what everyone says I would agree with your assesment. I do love my RS-1s, though (buttoned, ~6 years old).

Very Interesting Thread............

.......................So far a lot of comments.....but not one from anyone who has actually heard a RS1i,

Oh. I have. Forgot to mention that. It wasn't a long listen, but I do know that it had a bit more bass than my RS-1 buttons. Anything specific more than that I didn't listen long enough to know for sure, but I do know that I prefer my pair to the 1i's overall. Also, the cable is giant. It would bother me a lot if I had to use it.