The Grado HF2--It's For Real - Page 67  

Until I receive my HF-2, guess I'll have to settle on listening to my modded SR 225

Very nice looking I would mod any other Grado in a heartbeat, but I will NEVER touch my HF-1 or HF-2 with anything but hands and love. No recables, nothin. Whole point of limited items is to keep them the way they were when you first opened them

Unless you have 2 :P

So I've listened to them

After a long day at CanJam I am happy to say I have listened to the new HF-2.

The look of the headphones was actually quite awesome and I talked with Todd about the design's similarity to the PS-1000. Even he said it was a "baby ps1000".

I did my listening through one of the Millet amps there but I'm not quite sure which one it was. However, it was enormous and looked very expensive so I don't doubt that the system was great.

I did a comparison of the HF-2 to the GS1000i and RS1.

You guys can take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt because I only got to listen to them for maybe about 10-15 minutes before moving onto other headphones (Holy moly hd800 and PS1000). However these are MY impressions.

The HF-2 sounds great first of all. It is clearly better than the SR225 and SR325i's I've listened to in the past. However, I do not believe they are RS-1 level. The detail was crisper with the RS1, the highs extended further with the RS-1 and the HF-2's soundstage also seemed to be less. However the HF-2 is an amazing headphone and though I've never listened to a pair of RS-2s, I think the RS2s have some really hefty competition against them. The HF-2 has the same grado sound and it is a little darker and seems to carry more "weight" in the sound.

They do exceptionally well in the midrange like other Grados and are really clear, and I can confidently say these are in the right price range as they trump the lower grados and are still below the higher priced grados.

Todd has RS1s next to the HF2s at the show. At least with this HF2 (possibly not burnt in) and RS1 (not sure year), and bowls (what I preferred on HF2, but no doubt some will prefer more agressive flats), the RS1s seemed to still be a bit ahead in overall signiture balance and detail - finesse if you will - but that's not surprising with price difference and possible burn in status.

What was the HF-1 comparable to in the Grado lineup when it came out?

technically the sr-225 since it had the drivers from it and wasn't much more, some preferred it to rs1 and rs2 though so ymmv as usual. Never got to hear the hf1 myself, some members sold it recently for reasonable prices but the market price is 400+.

Yeah I meant what was it comparable to soundwise not what it was developed from or used pricing. I've got to admit I'd be dissapointed if a limited edition phone for the benefit of Head-Fi just 'fit in to the lineup' at its price rather than compare to well above it. If it's a different sort of sound signature then all bets are off and it's a matter of whether that sound is good.

Anyway I hoipe those who brought them home will have some nice reviews written up after burn-in on their own gear for more indepth comparison.

I resemble that remark!

the hf1 was based on but it doesn't uses the 225 drivers

I wonder how many of these will be made. I think I'm going to make these my first pair of Grado phones. They look nice!

I speculated earlier on that it would be very difficult for Grado to release a $400 headphone that would perform at a higher level than the RS-1.

I'll hold off on drawing any conclusions until more information is available, but at this point, I'm not sure these will offer the same type of value the HF-1 did, at their respective price points.

I would love to hear the comparison between the HF-2 and a pair of RS-2's

No kidding..

This looks much more like a baby PS1000 than a 325i.

Listening to my pair right now in my hotel room straight out of my macbook pro. Gotta say, I'm really happy with them. I'll post impressions later (gotta get back to the party at the pool), but if you like the Grado sound, these will be worth it for you.

agree!