Hello.
 
I'm new to the forum.
I've been using MS-1i, but I just got extra budget and wanted an upgrade.
I mostly listen to hard rock/metal, but also listen to many other music like blues, k-pop, j-pop.
I know that just a pair of headphones can't match all those genres, but considering that MS-1i sounds great
on most of the music I listen to, I narrowed it down to those 2.
At first, I was considering MS-2i, but if I stretched my budget a bit,
I thought I could get an used RS-2i if I got a really good deal.
RS-1i is just way out of my reach, so my question is: should I get RS-2i?
Btw I will be using my Laptop or Zune HD -> Fiio E7/E9 -> headphones
 
Thanks,
Dan

T50RP are best for metal/acoustic
 
Actually listening to some UVERworld at the moment with the T50RP
Loving it
 
I believe that you should make huge steps up the Grado scale. Little steps will just waste money. From where you are, go GS1000i and stay there.
 
 
You might want some Beyers. They would be a warm welcome from Grado. Beyer 880(most highly), 860 (highly) and 660. FiiO E9 is said to push the 600ohm, but I haven't tested this. 250ohm would be safe for the 880. The rest are no problems.
 
 
Also, Hd598 are like SR225i with soundstage. Check my signature
 
 
Also, if you're asking. I'm hitting lower because it's very small steps up to the top after your level. I for one will not waste my money on small steps. The Beyer are great. T50RP are great and HD598 are more fun.

whoa gs1000i. way too expensive. 
I could consider maybe RS-1i if I saved up 1 to 2 months worth of savings, but gs1000i is way over my head.
I really want to stay in grado/alessandro line, but I guess I will also look into Beyers.
Thanks

Metal-MS-2
Acoustic-RS-2i

between the two, the MS-2 is the better choice for energy genre IMO

Quote:

dhyu99 said:

whoa gs1000i. way too expensive. 
I could consider maybe RS-1i if I saved up 1 to 2 months worth of savings, but gs1000i is way over my head.
I really want to stay in grado/alessandro line, but I guess I will also look into Beyers.
Thanks

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And you would need a decent amp to make it shine too.
 
 

 
Quote:

happy camper said:

Metal-MS-2
Acoustic-RS-2i

 

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 I don't understand these recommendations.
 

 
I have HF2's, MS2i's, and RS2i's that I rotate through here at work.  3-4 hrs a day.  To be honest, all three are just different flavors of the same thing.  I use them all for hard rock, indie/alternative/college, classical, jazz, progressive, etc.  I don't feel than any of them are better for any genre of music than any other.  With that said, the HF-2 does have more of a low end emphasis than the other two.  As far as the MS2i vs the RS2i, they are actually quite similar, but the RS2i's do have a slight more up front quality to them than the MS2i's.  The MS2i's have a slight hollowness to their soundstage.  The RS2i's have a slight amount of more refinement to the highs.  You might consider what I'm saying as an endorsement for the RS2i, and maybe it is, but I also feel very strongly that the MS2i's are a better value.  But I do prefer the lighter weight of the wood of the RS2i over the metal of the MS2i too.  My MS2i's were recently returned after way too long a time being recabled.  When I got them back, I listened with them for 2.5 weeks straight.
 
Maybe none of that helps, but I really like both of them.  If you're the kind of person who can't "settle", then by all means, get the RS2i's and enjoy.  But if you could be happy with the MS2i's and not wonder all the time about the next rung up the ladder, then I really feal the MS2i's are a better value.
 
In my case, and I have gone on record here many times in various threads, I really love my MS2i's, but I always wondered about higher up the ladder.  Well, I now have the HF2, and the RS2i, and I recently sold a pair of MS Pros, and my MS2i's still get plenty of playing time. 
 
 

thanks for the reply Kevin!
I'm just going to go for whatever I can find that's within my budget.
It would be nice if I could get RS-1i, but RS-2i should do the job more than fine.
 
 

I just got my Alessandro MS2i Headphone in about 25 minutes ago. This is my first high end headphones, so this is a totally unbiased opinion on them.
 
I got home from college around 12:30 and was anxiously awaiting the FedEx truck pretty much all day. They finally came about 30 minutes ago. I carefully opened the box and they were a lot smaller than I had imagined them to be. Not heavy at all like other people were saying. I plug them into my amp and open iTunes. I wasn't sure what genre to start out with. I'm a very diverse listener. I picked what I expected to be the worst for these headphones first. Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy. The high's were unlike anything I had heard before. Absolutely stunning, but the bass of the song was too much for the MS2i's. The heavy, low bass just didn't sound clean. (I'm comparing the SQ to that of my JL Audio W7.) Before I got disappointed I switched to another song. This time, Metallica - Unforgivable. I'm on such a natural high from the quality of the guitar. Such a crisp clean, sound that I cannot even begin to describe in words. Gorgeous mid-bass and a soothing low bass. My genre of music is going to completely switch now. I was raised listening to Classic Rock/ 80's by my dad, but I guess I just have never "heard" Classic/80's rock until now! I'm glad I'm typing this because I'm speechless really. It was love at first sound. 
 
People always said that they leaked a lot, but that is an understatement. They leak everything! Everyone else in the room can hear exactly what your listening to, and I even sat them down in my living room to go to my room for a second, and could hear them through the two walls between us. That is the only downfall for me. But not anything too big by any means.
 
Note that these are the only Grado's I have ever heard, so I'm not much of help comparing them to the Reference Series. The best pair of headphones I have owned prior to this was my Power Beats, (Please Don't flame, I still believe they are the best sounding sport headphones available.) but I they simple aren't even comparable in terms of SQ. 
 
I hope you are happy regardless of your decision.
 

Quote:

cmac2010 said:

People always said that they leaked a lot, but that is an understatement. They leak everything! Everyone else in the room can hear exactly what your listening to, and I even sat them down in my living room to go to my room for a second, and could hear them through the two walls between us. That is the only downfall for me. But not anything too big by any means.

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You are listening much too loud. Turn the volume down before you do more damage to your hearing than you already might have. Unless these walls are paper thin, sound should mostly be contained in one room and the hallway just outside, and someone across the room should not be able to pick apart lyrics without issue.

cmac2010, Allow your headphones some more time to break in.  I'm sure you'll get happier with the sound as time goes on.
 
Last evening, I was listening to my Grados as I was going to sleep.  My wife came to bed and commented on how she could hear my music.  I think she thought that since she could hear them, I was listening to them at quite a high level.  I don't think she understands the concept of open headphones and if I tried to explain it to her, she'd probably blow off what I was trying to say.  While the open concept can have it's downfalls - with the sound leaks, I still think that they are the best choice for me and I'll suffer through the weaknesses to have them just for their positive points in the sound they produce.
 
Welcome to the club.

Quote:

cmac2010 said:

 
People always said that they leaked a lot, but that is an understatement. They leak everything! Everyone else in the room can hear exactly what your listening to
 

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lol, so true. I live in dorm, so I was worried about the noise level at first, but my roommate brought semi-big desktop speakers, so he can't complain about my headphone noise.

Quote:

dhyu99 said:

thanks for the reply Kevin!
I'm just going to go for whatever I can find that's within my budget.
It would be nice if I could get RS-1i, but RS-2i should do the job more than fine.

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After I read your OP, and before I scrolled down, I was hoping Kevin had weighed in. Another option for you is to woody your MS1i and pick up that T50 Bot was talking about. I had the MS2i before I sold it to upGrado to the HF2. Kevin is right the MS2i is a great headphone. I'm thinking the RS2i might be slightly better but I dont know. I'm curious what Kevin thinks are, or were the differences between his RS2i and the MS Pro he just sold.
 
This btw is what a woodied MS1i could look like.
 

 

 
I've woodied my SR60's with two different kinds of wood and also woodied a pair of 225's. Replacing the plastic on your MS1i with some wood will have a huge impact on both how your MS1i looks, and how it sounds. wje can give you some feedback on a woodied MS1i and also some feed back with regard to the quality and craftsmanship of the guy that made the Cocobolo cups in the above picture, and both of us have posted impressions of our woodied Grado's here.

Hee, hee.  I didn't really like the MS Pros (and remember, I love the MS2i's), and from what I have gathered, the RS1i's sound very similar:
 

 
I think that the RS2i is a very balanced headphone.  But the RS1i has boosted highs and lows vs the RS2i.  (The peaks around 100 Hz, 5kHz, and 9kHz.)  That's also what I heard from the MS Pros.  At first, I thought the MS Pros sounded "better" and more exciting than the RS2i's.  But after more and more listening, I realized that they were coloring the music more than the RS2i's.  But I will also fully state that that could be a personal preference too.  But after having the MS Pros for a while, I lost my interest to try out a set of RS1i's.
 
Moving up the Grado line is a process and a journey.  Each person has to find their own best bang for the buck in terms of where they stop. 
 
Not too long ago, I got to hear a set of GS1000i's.  Got to tell you, I was even less impressed with those than the MS Pros.
 

Quote:

kevin brown said:

 
Moving up the Grado line is a process and a journey.  Each person has to find their own best bang for the buck in terms of where they stop. 
 
Not too long ago, I got to hear a set of GS1000i's.  Got to tell you, I was even less impressed with those than the MS Pros.

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Totally agree with your thought regarding Grado being a journey or a proces. You've heard more of their product line than I have, and understand the nuances a little better regarding the stock sound signatures. I dont know that I've ever had a desire to hear the GS1000. Most Grado heads that like bluesy classic rock sort of stuff like I do, think the RS1i is the pinnacle of Grado nirvana. After spemding a week with the MS Pro, letting the signature sink in, and listening to the same sort of stuff the OP said he listened too, back to back to back, one song at a time and entire CD's. I determined my HF2 and woodied 225 were a better bang for your buck, and I actually preferred them to the MS Pro. Not that I didnt like the MS Pro, just that I think my HF2 and woodied 225 can rock. Actually my woodied 225 is no more. Sold the cups, and right now the drivers and cable are in a sandwich bag waiting for a new home.
 
I really liked my MS2i when I had it too. I always thought the bass could be better, but in retrospect the bass was was there when it was supposed to be. I also thought the mids on my MS2i were like butter. Price wise a used MS2i might give the OP more bang for his buck, and he can always get his money back if he doesnt quite like it. My advice though, is to contact Marty and put some wood on his MS1.
 
 

MS2i is in every aspect a thorough refinement of the MS1i in terms of sound signature, bass, highs and mids especially. To me the RS2 is more forward sounding, narrower soundstage (similar to the 325i, RS1) than the MS2i. To me Alessandro cans deviates from the Grado sound by it's rolled off highs, slightly bigger soundstage and liquid mids. The OP should know how good strings sound on the MS1, on the MS2i it's much better, female vocals, scrumptious.
 
IMO, moving up the higher rung of the Grado ladder yields different flavors of the sound signature and for some the variation yields little to no difference at all. But the differences of SQ ARE there, just that it diminishes as you get higher end models. I believe that I might need better amps for, say a PS500/RS1/GS1k, to really get the most out of the cans in the future, maybe a WA6SE + Schiit Bifrost