canadianmaestro said:

 
long time, joseph. I've pared down my Grado crop recently, decided to keep only my PS500. Sold GS1Ki, RS1i. Very satisfied with 3 HPs now.
If you had to keep only ONE Grado below PS1K....which would it be? (older series, not e).

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For me, it would be the RS2i.
 
Here are how I rank my Grados (all but my more recently acquired RS2e, S325i, and SR325is), and the RS2i has the highest overall score (right-most column).  If I were truly keeping just one, it would be the PS1000, but you excluded that from your question.
 
 
 

Post in my signature gives details about this ranking (as well as a neat 4D graph comparing the 13 headphones!)

Thanks for this. Obviously, our tastes differ. Part and parcel of audio.

canadianmaestro said:

  long time, joseph. I've pared down my Grado crop recently, decided to keep only my PS500. Sold GS1Ki, RS1i. Very satisfied with 3 HPs now.
If you had to keep only ONE Grado below PS1K....which would it be? (older series, not e).

Click to expand...

RS1i 

silver8ack said:

Ok so... Your way or the highway? Audio is subjective. A fact I had to learn. I have my methods for trying to figure out what I hear. I'm not sure what your problem with me is.

I think graphs DO have a role. I'm not staying they're the end all but to completely ignore them is ignorant IMO.

In my attempts at finding the holy grail(perfect headphone) I've been able to use EQ and some frequency graphs to make a lot of headphones sound similar. So to say they are useless shows the fallibility of your own perceptions.

I realize there's a lot more than frequency graphs. I had to learn that however.

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Can there be any doubt?

ruthieandjohn said:

  For me, it would be the RS2i.
 
Here are how I rank my Grados (all but my more recently acquired RS2e, S325i, and SR325is), and the RS2i has the highest overall score (right-most column).  If I were truly keeping just one, it would be the PS1000, but you excluded that from your question.
 
 
 

Post in my signature gives details about this ranking (as well as a neat 4D graph comparing the 13 headphones!)

Click to expand...

 
I don't agree with the score you gave the PS1k for the ''pluck'', I think that 33% is very low, in fact I would give them a 75%.
 
That being said, I do agree with the 89% that you gave to the classic RS1.
 
Without going into detail, and keeping in mind that I haven't heard all of the headphones that you have, here's how I would rank them.
 
Oh! and I included a few that I are not in your grid.
 
Drum roll please!
 
PS1000
PS1000e
RS1
HP1000
Bushmills X
PS500
GS1000i
GS1000
SR225e
SR80e
SR225i
SR325i
SR125i
SR80i
RS1i (I'm sorry, really, I am))
SR60i
 
About the RS1i, low score. In all honesty, I liked all aspect of the RS1i's sound, exept one. The pair that I've tried, wich were brand new, had almost no decay, or air, if you prefer. For example, one of the songs that I often use when I try a new pair of headphones is Diana Krall's, ''Peel Me a Grape''. After some sentences, there are pretty long echos, and they were almost non existend on my RS1i.
 
Given how much love the RS1i recieves here, I'm willing to accept the fact that my particular pair may have had an unusually stiff suspension. I believe in burn in, so, who knows!, maybe the suspension would've losened up over time, They had a long way to go though, and I was affraid that I might have to sell them later, and take a financial hit, so, I decided to play it safe, and took them back after 3 days,
.

Seeing I've owned most/all Grado's through the years, here's my list:
 
PS1000e (the headphone that got me back into Grado)
PS1000
RS1
RS1i
SR225i
RS2i
SR325is
SR125
SR80
SR60
 
The sweet spots IMO are:
 
PS1000e
RS1
SR225i/e
SR80i/e
 
The rest I'd personally skip over if I had to do it again...just my 2 cents.

My list, well:
- 325is
(I'm buying it again, for the 3rd time)
- 325e
(great for almost all genres, exept New Age and Classical or anything that requires huge soundstage)
- MS2i
(best for Symphonic/Progressive Rock/Metal. You can see I'm very fond of the 325 family)
- PS500
(G Cushs for the win!)
- PS1k
(too expensive, I have to make do with the PS500)
- RS1i
(I like the pair but I'm starting to think I like the 325 more. At half the price.)
- SR60i
(my very first Grados)
- MS1i
(my 2nd Grados. Great all-arounder. Can be modded to MS1000).
- iGrado
(SR60i at a very cheap price)
- SR80i
(good attacks for Rock and Metal, but having the 325 completely eliminates the need for the 80).
- iGi
(has the Grado sound, but overall not so impressive)
- GR10
(I don't know how I could stand it for 3 months... It's like a RS1i with no bass).
- MS Pro 
(I think I hated it. At least when it was not modded to MS Ultimate)

macedonianhero said:

  Seeing I've owned most/all Grado's through the years, here's my list:
 
PS1000e (the headphone that got me back into Grado)
PS1000
RS1
RS1i
SR225i
RS2i
SR325is
SR125
SR80
SR60
 
The sweet spots IMO are:
 
PS1000e
RS1
SR225i/e
SR80i/e
 
The rest I'd personally skip over if I had to do it again...just my 2 cents.

Click to expand...

 
When you say sweet spot, do you mean that they have the best price vs performance ratio, or that they are your SWAT team.
 
The only headphones that I could sell without missing them are my SR80i, and GS1000, the rest isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
 
Wich means that my SWAT team are.
 
PS1000
RS1
HP1000
Bushmills
SR80e
 
I just realised that we have similar taste.

williamleonhart said:

 

Click to expand...

 
What about the 325 do you like more than the RS1i?

zazex said:

   
What about the 325 do you like more than the RS1i?

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Metal and Rock riffs sound better on the 325is than on the RS1i to me. I find it hard to explain. Perhaps it's due to the smaller soundstage and the more punchy (not neccessary deeper) bass?

I Really Enjoy lists like this, that rank headphones that a person owns (even put together a comprehensive analysis of 2,000 such comparisons, here - but these lists are Grado only and are generally longer, as people have direct experience with more Grados.)

For me, I debate about the extent to which my numerical score, gained by ranking the Grados on a set of four acoustic attributes (transparency, sound stage, bass, and treble detail) actually match my own preferences. For example, if I could keep just one, it would be the PS1000, yet it shows up under the RS2i, RS1, and RS1i in my ranking.

I suspect that there are two factors that also contribute, which are not related to their acoustic attributes... comfort and appearance. I also think that I rate some attributes, such as sound stage, higher than the 25% of total that my way of adding up entails.

ruthieandjohn said:

I Really Enjoy lists like this, that rank headphones that a person owns (even put together a comprehensive analysis of 2,000 such comparisons, here - but these lists are Grado only and are generally longer, as people have direct experience with more Grados.)

For me, I debate about the extent to which my numerical score, gained by ranking the Grados on a set of four acoustic attributes (transparency, sound stage, bass, and treble detail) actually match my own preferences. For example, if I could keep just one, it would be the PS1000, yet it shows up under the RS2i, RS1, and RS1i in my ranking.

I suspect that there are two factors that also contribute, which are not related to their acoustic attributes... comfort and appearance. I also think that I rate some attributes, such as sound stage, higher than the 25% of total that my way of adding up entails.

Click to expand...

 
Hi John,
 
if i managed to sell my 400i, which one do you think yields more benefit to me... selling my 325e and Little Dot i+ and getting the rs2e..
or keep the rs2e 325e and get a gs1000e someday later?
 
i've read your comparison, and opinions of grado fans on the other threads but... i don't know. Some people say 325 and rs2 is really close, and OTOH, everybody here said that rs2e is really good.
 
So i really don't know how much increment will i get moving up to a rs2e, given that I own a 325e atm... and the fact that I will be forced to sell the 325e if I were to get a rs2e...
I do like the wood though, vanity reason.

Dang... though I have not heard it personally, I have heard enough to believe that the Little Dot i+ is one of the handful of amps that make Grados really shine, so I'd hang on to it.
 
And as for the RS2e and GS1000e?  I like the comfort and panache and large soundstage of the GS1000e, but I LOVE the RS2e - it is my best-scoring headphone (even better than the RS2i that I actually scored at the top in my 13-Grado comparison).
 
Not that it changes it (I'd always take the RS2e over the SR325), but which SR325 do you have?  Original SR325?  Gold SR325i?  Sliver or satin SR325is?  Current SR325e?

ruthieandjohn said:

  Dang... though I have not heard it personally, I have heard enough to believe that the Little Dot i+ is one of the handful of amps that make Grados really shine, so I'd hang on to it.
 
And as for the RS2e and GS1000e?  I like the comfort and panache and large soundstage of the GS1000e, but I LOVE the RS2e - it is my best-scoring headphone (even better than the RS2i that I actually scored at the top in my 13-Grado comparison).
 
Not that it changes it (I'd always take the RS2e over the SR325), but which SR325 do you have?  Original SR325?  Gold SR325i?  Sliver or satin SR325is?  Current SR325e?

Click to expand...

 
oh, the 325e.
Is there a sound variation between one person's 325e and other person's 325e. Because mine is excessively warm in tone.
It's not bassy or bloated or anything, it's just "sounds warm-ish in tone...".
 
Anyway the point being, as you probably remember many moons ago I said I can't listen to the old grado sr60 and the new sr80e anymore because of my vestibular neurinitis, and then I got 400i, the clamp force of that unit was really bad, so much so, that I bought the 325e ~a month later.
And back then I said lo and behold, whilst I can't listen to 80e for more than 15 minutes without inner ear pain, i can listen to 325e for hours and still feel fine. In fact, I listen to them like, almost everyday now.
On another note, the dt880 exaggerates the inner ear pain, it's even worse to my ear, the pain level than the sr80e.
 
the point of that tangent being, while sr325 model is supposedly the brightest of the bunch, my sr325e sounds quite warm in tone.
 
I don't know if all sr325e sounds the same or not, given the previous Mercuttio's rs1e and stacker's rs1i unit. It still confused me to This day that the sr325e is pain-free, for me. I assumed that is because it's tonally warm, probably.
 
But... may I ask how is the rs2e fare against sr325e for Female Vocals?
Not the Whitney Houston-range female vocals... more the middle and lower-register female vocals...?
Can't really give you examples because all my albums are Japanese, except this one English Duo from Sheffield. Probably Jazz Female Vocalist...
That's like... 70% of my consideration.

williamleonhart said:

  Metal and Rock riffs sound better on the 325is than on the RS1i to me. I find it hard to explain. Perhaps it's due to the smaller soundstage and the more punchy (not neccessary deeper) bass?

Click to expand...

I would agree with you about the 325is sounding more mid-centric and suites Rock very well…all in all the 325is/RS1i are two different sounding HP's too me.
 
Quote:

ruthieandjohn said:

 For example, if I could keep just one, it would be the PS1000, yet it shows up under the RS2i, RS1, and RS1i in my ranking.

Click to expand...

Hmm, I'm a bit confused with your choice being the PS1K if you had too keep just one HP after reading your opinion/scoring charts?