Grado Fan Club! - Page 397

I think the RS2i will compliment the PS500s for my taste.  Sometimes, I miss the forward presentation of the 325is.  The PS500s mids and highs are clear, but it is a bit farther away.  I tried the RS1i and RS2i before, and I think the RS2i is a good match for the PS500s.

 

BTW, towel hook from ACE hardware...  =)

I used to be a fan of Bose, until I discovered Grado and V-moda cans.

Still, I bought a Bose speaker since it is the cheapest one with decent soundstage.  I have to always set the Itune equalizer  to treble boost when using the Bose desktop speaker.

I am looking forward for a Little Dot tube amp.  Either the Hybrid 1+ or the MKii  ?  I wonder if any tube can make the PS500 sound sig a bit warmer ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well so maybe I should get a tube amp to pair with my Fiio E10, which has a DAC and a line out that presumably comes from the DAC, I'm into the http://bravoaudio.com/Bravo%20Ocean.html. The question now is, FLAC files with FiiO E10 + Bravo Audio tube would give me something better than my Sony Vaio headphone output? I'm sayng that because the FiiO E10 amp output gives me a less detailed sound than the notebook jack to the point I don't use it anymore. Need help.

 

What i mean is. it's asking for trouble to put them on an headphone stand WITHOUT the collars,

My first pair of real headphones were SR60s. I guess there are now a couple of competitors in the $80 price range but I find it hard to believe that the SR60(i) isn't still on top.

 

It is nice to see new Grado owners, but base on the many Audeze and HiFiMan threads, more specifically the LCD2/3 and HE500/HE6,  we still seem to represent a very small percentage of the Head-Fi comunity.

 

And you're right, the RS1is and the PS500s are very popular among Grado fans, and with good reason.

 

One thing that i've noticed, and that i find a bit annoying, is peoples steering other member who seek advice away from Grados, often making refference to the Grado house sound (bright and no bass), now, not only don't i agree with this statement, but i wonder if the peoples who keep reffering the Grado house sound, ever heard the GS1000is, the PS500s, or the PS1000s.

I have been considering going for either the 1000i or the Audeze LCD2's. I wish more places had the 1000i's in stock to try so that I wouldn't be as blind when purchasing :P

I bought my sr60i thinking that I could mod them, but once I listened them for the first time I thought why should I change such a nice sound. However, I did not find great differences between the sr80i even amped. I still want a sr325is simply because of the aluminum...

Hey all. Bought my first pair of sr-80's and am very impressed with their stock capabilities. I am, however, unaccustomed to to such a clear high frequency range and of course the slightly perceived lack of low end. My question. Do the mods make enough of a difference in these areas to justify opening up a new set of phones. I'm not nervous of doing the job, but will the results justify voiding the warranty? Any help would be appreciated.

 

You could be very much right and it makes sense to me.  My experience with the PS500 is that it does very much deviate from the traditional Grado house sound that many may be acquainted with from the SR60-325 series by being bright, very forward sounding and lack of bass.

 

To be said, the PS500 does still retain part of the Grado house sound but in a good way, the detail and clarity. One thing for sure it certainly doesn't lack bass impact and has a less forward presentation than the SR-series. Enhanced sound stage as well. Overall a very positive deviation from the traditional Grado house sound that many may dislike or criticize to a certain extend.

 

I'm skeptical about it but if it's for aesthetical reason that's ok. I'm thiking about getting vibros for my sr80i. On the other hand I'm getting into tube amps that can be cheaper than some mods and might bring more consistent results without changing the original design.

Edited by myears - 12/30/12 at 7:51pm

There's a few headphones around their price that I would consider "as good" that have come about since the early 1990s, but if isolation isn't a concern I think they very much are still on top.


By and large the majority of those users, when questioned (IME) will just blast you with HeadRoom Build-A-Graph and a bunch of hot air about how they don't need to listen to anything to know everything and so on. Most of them will usually go on to talk about how Grado are an "old design" and that "new technology and advances in audio in the last 10 years have made them obsolete" usually citing buzz-word laden (and in some cases downright deceptive) marketing campaigns from a few popular audiophile manufacturers in recent years as "proof" (it's always "proven" it's never "in principle" or "data supported" it's always "shut up here is irrefutable PROOF that cannot be questioned or challenged!") of the inferiority of whatever Grado product. And when that fails they usually just cup their hands over their ears and start singing the Smurf's work song.

I don't mean this directed at any particular member, but I've had this encounter a number of times in the past, usually with members that've never touched an American made headphone immediately steering people away from Grados for a variety of reasons, and I think (and yes this part is my opinion) that a lot of it has to do with the "Euro/Japanese is better" anti-domestic mindset that has become somewhat prevalent in the US. Personally I will tell you that I don't care where a product is made, as long as it's well made; I have examples of Chinese, American, Japanese, Taiwanese, German, etc made things that are all very well made, and I recognize that every people is capable of producing quality. Grado is a prime example here - very well made, well performing equipment. But I think there's too much politics and mythology that steers people away from them. There's also the "wow" expectation that a lot of new users have when they're asked to spend a lot of money on a product, and while Grado's house-sound is certainly unique and does grab you, it isn't "wow" in the bloated, super-bass sense (which is what I see most new users expect when they spend some coin - it's all about "base" ).

Sure, they're somewhat bright headphones, and they are truly not for everyone (but no headphone is), but I think the "don't get those you might not like them" reasoning that has been blanketly applied to them in an echo chamber is entirely unearned. Especially for a company that is so consistently devoted to customer satisfaction and quality, in an era when such a thing is quite rare.


My advice would be to give yourself time to get used to them before you start chopping on them. I know there's a lot of whizbang claims about "well I can tell if a can is good or not within 5 minutes" (I've heard it as low as 5 seconds, which is truly unbelievable) and so on - honestly it takes time to get to know what you're dealing with, what kinds of changes you'd like to make, and to have enough of an understanding of what you're working on to be able to make changes and say "yes this helps" or "no this doesn't help at all."

That said, what mods are you considering for them? If it's a simple pad swap, I'd say go for it, and that's where I'd honestly suggest you to start. But if we're talking about "oh I had these for two days and I'm gonna completely chop them apart, get new cups, custom pads, custom headband, recable them, punch holes in the drivers, etc etc" - I'd say take a step back and give them some time to grow on you.


Aesthetic is already an adjective.

Changing the cups on Grados will influence the sound, now to what degree and whether or not it's good or bad is up to you and the degree to which you chop them up (e.g. if you do a full Vixen they're gonna be considerably changed, but if you took them apart and repainted them it shouldn't change the sound at all unless you put A LOT of paint on them). Changing amplification and source components will, in my experience, do less for you in terms of bona fide changes to the headphones, and as always I'm going to tell you that dumping money into a new amp or new DAC as a means of transfiguring your cans is generally a snipe hunt. Sure, it makes *some* difference, but upgrading the cans will do more for you. I think we're probably in agreement that spending $300-$600 on "bling" mods for an SR-60 or even SR-225 is kind of ridiculous though - sure they look pretty afterwords, but if its nothing but a looker, what's the point when you could've had an RS-1?

 

I consider myself very lucky, because my dealer let me take my PS1000s home with me to compare them with my GS/HP1000 on my own sound system for a few days.

 

I too would like to hear a pair of LCD2s and also the, just to see what all the fuss is about, and, who knows, if i like what i hear, i might end up selling my GS1000s.

 

 

 

I find it very annoying, as well. And in addition to Obob's excellent response, I'll just point out that my approach is typically to just make a few comments about my own experiences with them, which many times is enough encouragement for another to at least give them an audition. All the headphone war nonsense really takes away from the site, IMO, and the whole idea of the "chart warriors" who throw their data and measurements around is often times more about "winning" than it is the pursuit of aural pleasure. Those of us who are more interested in finding transducers that allow us to enjoy our music at the highest level than  finding a way to win a debate won't need much inspiration to at least give them a listen. That obviously doesn't mean they'll match up to their preferences, which is perfectly fine, but I think after decades of Grado success it's pretty clear that  these products hit the mark for a pretty large number of music lovers around the globe.