Grado RS-1i. Holy cow these sound amazing! - Page 3

Washing the bowl-pads or a slight headband mod do wonders in terms of comfort.

Thats what I thought.

 

 

Thanks for the review. While Grados are not my favorite headphones, I plan on getting the 325 model sometime in the near future because they are fine headphones.

 

 

I do this weird thing where I wear them after I'm damp from the shower, 2-3 sessions of that and I stop crying about caved in earlobes haha. Seriously those new pads + new headband are no joke
 

 

I have a set of rs1i phones and i do agree that they are not the most comfortable to wear phones.But as far as the sound quality I must say that the rs1i phones are very musical even compared to the audeze they are pretty musical sounding.They also seem to sound pretty dimensional with my ray samuels raptor otl amp.They are also  not as demanding to drive as some of the other phones.I guess my real only complaint is the headphones  somewhat uncomfortable feel when you are wearing them especially with the stock ear cushions(bowl type).I have replaced the earcushions with replacement comfort pads purchased at radio shack at ray samuels suggestion.The grados are now somewhat more comfortable to wear for longer listening periods.I also find the phones sound to be smoother and less bright sounding with the comfort replacement pads.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                    buson160man

Edited by buson160man - 5/4/12 at 11:51pm

 

Mind posting a link to these replacement pads you mentioned ?
 

 

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3786220

 

The larger ones, of course. You'll need to cut a hole out of the center though. The foam will impact audio quality big time. 

 

You should also consider checking out the yellow sennheiser 414 pads, pretty easily found on eBay. Cut a hole in those too. They're silly looking, but will last way longer than the RadioShack ones. Comfiest foam too.

 

Now, I must say... The rs1i doesn't sound as good with a flatter pad. You will get an increase of bass but lose spatial positioning. Early rs1 in transitional phases sounded better with a flatter pad, but the significant driver changes to the rs1i really improve these inequities and I'd say try to  just tough out the bowls. At this point I actually think the rs1i is superior to previous rs1 "classic" buttoned and unbuttoned models. It's a different flavor than the vintage series (see my linked guide for info). I'd still rank the vintage higher, but the gap has closed a bit in personal preference.

 

I swear, my ears are so calloused that they feel great to me. So, just use grado phones for a few years and your ears won't have any feeling anymore... I uh, guess that's the lesson.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/420092/classifying-versions-of-the-rs1-your-guide-work-in-progress

 

There is the guide, looks like the link in my sig was broken.

Edited by Mercuttio - 11/27/11 at 10:39am

 

If someone is looking for an amplifier that works with the grado rs1i phones might I suggest the ray samuels raptor.I have found this combination to be very satisfying.The sound of this pairing is pretty dimensional with good tight bass (especially for a tube amp) with good dynamics. I have to say that you have to provide your own power cord because they did not provide one when I purchased my amp a couple of years ago.May I suggest the emotiva power cord ftrom the emotiva website. I just purchased one very recently and have hooked the cord up to the raptor.The sound of the raptor with the rs1i is just amazing imho. The sound for one has taken on a more neurtral tendency with much better low level details.The bass from this pairing is excellent with good power and definition.Dynamics have also improved.Everything just sounds more natural with plenty of speed, especially for a tube amp.I was using a nine hundred dollar power cord (the kubals sosna emotion) with the raptor before and I had thought it was a good match.But simply, I thought I would try one of these fairly inexpensive power cords and I was not prepared for the dramatic change that the emotiva cord produced with the raptor amplifier.I was in utter disbelief that this eighty dollar power cord could sound so much better than my emotion power cord. But that is hi-end audio I am sure that at the time the kubala cord produced very satisfying performance when I bought them two and a half years ago.But things change and new products emerge sometimes at a astoundingly affordable price.I implore anyone that is considering the raptor they have to purchase a emotiva power cord to get the best out of the amp.I imho believe this is a no brainer considering the eighty dollar pricing for a two meter power cord.

 p.s. you have to order the emotiva power cord from their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by buson160man - 4/15/12 at 1:20pm

OMG waiting for my RS1i just bought from here and waiting for the payment come through, and by reading these review make me wanna listen to it right now!!!! 

I agreed, although I did change the stock ear cup for the larger GS model ear cup for comfort. Have you found any issues with comfort on the stock ear cup?

It is perfect but after i add the headband cushion the cup start to clamp in my ear however if i take the cushion off the stock cup surround my ear perfectly.... As for the sound i put it through iphone only and i loved it so much!!!! The vocal are super clear!!! And the jazz with saxophone is superb!!! But i will order some other style cushion to try and see which one has the most confort... Overall i love it!!! And well worth the money lolz.