Thank you for your interest but these are now SOLD
I am the second owner of these headphones. They are #5160
I am selling these hardly used RS-1. I've kept them around for months but never got to use them as a base reference to compare against a potential APS v3 recabled RS1. I would keep them but I am in need of money at the time being so I chose to sell the one in better condition.
These are unique in 2 ways : it has a new cable and but mainly because it has a different sound. They have the new thicker and improved i cable from Grado yet they are not RS1i because they have the buttons and is colored darker not the mention the lettering on the cup is completely different compared to the RS1i. Only a handful of RS1s have this cable. I am not sure if the cable contributed to this sound signature.
Allow me to briefly explain. They are much bassier than my other pair of RS-1 and has a very smooth midrange without the upper peakiness at all. The bass presence is quite prominent but controlled with punch and not boomy and sloppy . There is no upper mid peak, zero nada. Also, they do not sound bright which is a huge surprise and has a non-fatiguing sound. It is like a mellower grado if that makes any sense but not sennheiser mellow. I do not know if there any RS1s that sound like this, of the 4 I demoed none came close. They are different monster compared to my other RS-1 making it more versatile for a wider variety of genres than just rock, noticeable unamped and amped. I can confirm that this new sound signature is not the same as the RS1i as I compared at a local store, even the sales person was quite surprised at this pair. From what I've read, I suspect these do not sound anything like the HF-2 and is in a realm of its own (for the better) .
My sound impression in a nutshell : A Grado that has plenty of bass, smooth and full bodied midrange,absolutely no peakiness, no harshness and is not bright. It does so while still maintaining the energetic sound the way a grado should.
They are in very good condition and was used sparingly. There is only one tiny dent on the left cup on the edges. The first owner said he only used it for 50 hours tops with no off-time burn-in. They were purchased brand new from a local shop on November 2009. While I had them, I gave them about 100 hours pink noise burn-in time with less than 10 hours of actual listening time. The left and right blocks are in perfect condition with no silver worn off. They come with the box.
Selling for $XUSD firm, express shipping with tracking and insurance and paypal fees all included in the price. I will ship anywhere in North America but I will consider shipping internationally with added costs depending on the location (Pm me and I will tell you the extra cost). North American buyers have priority.
My feedback can be found in my here
Here are the pictures
Left cup/Right cup
Tiny ding on the left cup between the last E of REFERENCE and the first S of SERIES. Minor paint wore off on the grill shown here.
New cable
More pictures added:
Left side / Right side
Edited by kite7 - 7/14/10 at 9:19pm
