A call to RS1i, PS500, and/or HF-2 owners!

So I'm a big fan of the Grado sound and I think it is that time of the year to upgrade! I currently own a vintage pair of original grado 325's driven by a RSA mustang amp and I love their detailed sound, and even though many people find them too "bright" I think it adds that extra crispness to every song. Again, these HP are the highest I've gotten on the never-ending HP hierarchy and I've spent way too much time on this forum feeding my curiosity. So I've been saving and reading about these 3 contenders:

1) PS500 - The mysterious new kid on the block

2) RS1i - The Grandaddy of the Grado family 

3) HF-2 - The cool kid 

Right now I am leaning towards the RS1i because of its established legacy, but the PS500 sound too good to be true when they are advertised as being very similar to the PS1000's and the HF-2 look a lot like the PS500's.

Are there any head-fiers out there that have made a similar jump and/or own these beauties and could enlighten me on where to put my starving-college student savings? 

Thanks guys for the input!!

To: Chris_Himself

I've never heard of the upgrade, but I was browsing through the Symphones website and they do a sr325 upgrade for $399 (I assume this is what you are talking about) because I couldn't find just the drivers alone, maybe if I contact the company. But is $399 worth it? I've been reading their description on the upgrade and to my understanding they change the drivers' material to all aluminum, apply their proprietary coating (I assume this is the glue that holds the drivers to the chambers), and they get cleaned. I mean I could almost buy a brand new pair of PS500s with that!! so I'm very skeptical.

Also, since I see you own a pair, is the change that dramatic? I'm very intrigued now since this seems to be an up-and-coming company and if it provides a quality product it might be as big as Ray Samuels Audio. I haven't read all of the comments on these Grado upgrades, but it sure seems like a neat upgrade if it delivers LCD-2-notch sound, even though I've never heard a LCD-2 

To: San_Raal

Thanks for your great input first of all. I have read before that the PS1000 is a league of its own and it is great to confirm their similar performance to the PS1000. Hopefully one day I can hear them, but for now the PS500 are in my reach and if they sound as good as the top notch PS1000, then I might go for them. Grado is making a lot of hype about them, even if you go to their website they automatically pop up and are even giving them away as sweepstakes on facebook as a marketing tool.

From your pointers on enhanced detail retrieval, tight bass, and fantastic mids, I think the PS500 and I could be a great pair. I listen to a lot of indie rock and folk music, so these words are right up my alley!

To: bbophead

Great review! It's nice to hear a simple and direct review without all the mumbo-jumbo over-the-top diction that most users like to use when reviewing a pair of HP or maybe I just need to educate myself with some sound engineering vocabulary. Anyways, I got from your review that you were satisfied with your purchase, but you used the word "little" a lot, which signals that there was a small improvement from your sr-325s. I mean obviously there's a point on high end headphones when the ratio of improvement to price gets very low as you go up this curve.

So as stereotypical and head-fi newbie as I might sound, was the improvement worth it?   

On the head-fi meet note, I would love to attend. As a Texas resident, I had given up a while back on finding a meet, so it's great that there's more interest now! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by San Raal 

Your welcome :)

 

I spun Metalica's black album, the PS500 rock and then some, toe tapping glory! In my experience if you partner these cans with a tube amp such as Dr Lloyds headamps you'll get a great synergy - tame the top end, and the mids - well just heavenly even with SR225's the Mapletree's are fantastic.

 

Check out the Mapletree front page, there's a link back here with his tube amp and the PS1000's

 

 

 

That's my favorite Metallica album! Tube amps are out of my monetary reach for now, but that will be the next step down the road. I really like my recently acquired RSA mustang portable amp and it has been great for driving grados.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbophead 

Was it worth $300 more for the refinement in the upper mid-range and a bit more fun in the mid-bass?  For me, yup.  You?  I think an audition is required.  However, you need to be undistracted and have maybe an hour of the old back and forth before you decide.  Lots of peeps here don't mind spending your money.
 

 

I agree and audition is required! Hopefully this Austin meeting happens and I would love to test your PS500. Right now I am very interested in this magnum upgrade, since from what I've read it takes the 325 to ps1000 status for $300, so this is very tempting at the moment. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacedonianHero 

I've owned both the RS1 and RS1i and loved them both. But my favourite John Grado headphone is the HF-2. Not by a huge margin by any means, but enough to prefer it.

I've heard good things about the HF-2, I'm always looking for some used ones at a reasonable price here at the sale forum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_Himself 

To the OP, there is a DIY option for the Magnum upgrade available from the company for $250 to obtain the same headphone which involves them shipping you the components required to assemble the Magnum. Just basic soldering skills are required.

I contacted Rhydon to get a bit more explanation on what his upgrade consists of. I have no soldering skills, but I've read there's a lite version of the upgrade where you send him the 325's and he puts the drivers, but not the aluminum gimbal replacement. So if I decide to do it, I'll probably do that and still enjoy the sound improvement. At the same time since my 325 are the original vintage ones, I would be kind of sad of saying good bye to their vintage status, but I guess I could always switch back to their original drivers. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris_Himself 

He's very busy but basically the upgrade consists of their branded drivers, new gimbals, installation, and new inner cups (basically aluminum sleeves)

 

The drivers have an aluminum ring around them and combined with the sleeves and the existing SR-325 outer cups, the sound is completely encased in aluminum from the moment it leaves the driver. I haven't experienced an aluminum Magnum quite yet, but they were actually designed for that material as opposed to the wood cups we've been using on the "mod threads".. it should absolutely sound fantastic and as an RS-2 owner, I have another RS-2 equipped with Magnums basically, and the Magnum'ed drivers beat that. I don't know about the RS-1 or PS500 since I am not in possession of those models though.

 

Either way it's a win/win/win scenario :)

I'm going to try it! I contacted him and chose the lite version (without the gimbals, so I can save $100). I hate to get rid of the vintage original status of the 325's, but I think it's the right move at a good price after the great reviews I've read of this upgrade :). Thanks for recommending this, I had never heard of it! We'll see how they sound!

So guys, I finally got the magnums in and I am very pleased with them. Just out of the box they sound more detailed than my 325s and have a tighter bass, but they are still burning in. I was skeptical about spending so much in an upgrade, but now that I have them, it was worth it. I was just going to get the driver upgrade at first, but then decided to go full magnum and these aluminum gimbals are insanely good looking. Here is a pic. Thanks Chris for recommending them!