[obobskivich]

Those woodies are absolutely hawt - are those 325s or Alesandros in those shells?

Anyways, I haven't heard the PS-500, but I found the 325's treble un-naturally bright to begin with. FWIR (like Focker's comments) the PS 500 are less bright/aggressive compared to their siblings - FR graphs seem to show a similar trend. But what you're describing with the jumbos/bagels/GSK pads on the 325s is what most people describe as happening to their Grados (apart from the GSK/PSK) when mated with those pads. I don't think there's much to be done while retaining the sound as it is now (remember that pads play a big role in the sound of a headphone); what's your issue with them as-is? Comfort? Fit? etc You might actually be able to happily get away with the comfies (the pads the SR-60 have) since the 325 are brighter; I tried them on my 225s and it just killed the top end too much, but I'm imagining if the top were boosted up a bit more, it might just balance out nicely (or at least be a nice enough compromise). They're also a lot cheaper than bagels to try.

 

[Brooko]

Quote:

Those woodies are absolutely hawt - are those 325s or Alesandros in those shells?
Anyways, I haven't heard the PS-500, but I found the 325's treble un-naturally bright to begin with. FWIR (like Focker's comments) the PS 500 are less bright/aggressive compared to their siblings - FR graphs seem to show a similar trend. But what you're describing with the jumbos/bagels/GSK pads on the 325s is what most people describe as happening to their Grados (apart from the GSK/PSK) when mated with those pads. I don't think there's much to be done while retaining the sound as it is now (remember that pads play a big role in the sound of a headphone); what's your issue with them as-is? Comfort? Fit? etc You might actually be able to happily get away with the comfies (the pads the SR-60 have) since the 325 are brighter; I tried them on my 225s and it just killed the top end too much, but I'm imagining if the top were boosted up a bit more, it might just balance out nicely (or at least be a nice enough compromise). They're also a lot cheaper than bagels to try.

 
Thanks - they are nice looking - I think the recable and Manta headband helped a lot with the final aesthetics
 
They're 325is in there now - I don't think I could go back to the MS1i again - I really like the 325i FWJ.  It's bright - but I still really enjoy it.  I have tried the TTVJ, the comfies and the Senn 414 - and none of them matched the bowls.  The bowls are comfortable enough - but if I could get similar sound sig to what I have now - maybe a little less brightness, and a little more sound-stage - plus the added comfort of the jumbos, I think I'd have found my ideal Grados.
 
I did try the Jumbo pads with the MS1i initially (not a good match) - loved the comfort, hated what it did to the sound.  What I was hoping for was with the added bass, and less treble impact from the PS500 - the jumbos might suit them, and I don't really mind the added brightness if it's not exceeding what i currently have with the 325is.
 
Think next time I'm in the US, I'll have to go demo a pair and find out for myself.

 

[bbophead]

I have 325i's and 500's, both with G-Cush.  What can I say, i vote for comfort and soundstage over everything else.  However, lately I'm beginning to tire a little of the mid-bass increase of the 500's.

 

[obobskivich]

And now back to the original intent of this thread. I am enjoying the hell out of my 80i, how are everyone else enjoying their Grados?

Cheers,
Dan

I'm regretting not having paid for 2nd day shipping...that's how I'm doing. :angry_face:

 

[MegaMushroom]

Quote:

And now back to the original intent of this thread. I am enjoying the hell out of my 80i, how are everyone else enjoying their Grados?
 
Cheers,
Dan

 
I love the sound no matter, but the pain becomes noticeable after a couple of hours.  They might lack the comfort of my Sennheiser HD598s, and the bass of my Ultrasone HFI580s, but they have that extra little something that makes metal sounds more awesome to me.  Must be the sound stage mixed in with the bright sound. 
 
So... To answer the question.  I am enjoying them very much. 

 

[Focker]

Quote:

I'm regretting not having paid for 2nd day shipping...that's how I'm doing.

 
What did you order?

 

[Focker]

Quote:

 
I think the best thing that can be done in these cases is to ignore the obnoxious behavior of the poster and not take his bait. 
 
And now back to the original intent of this thread. I am enjoying the hell out of my 80i, how are everyone else enjoying their Grados?
 
Cheers,
Dan

 
I'm listening to my 80s in your honor, Dan

 

[obobskivich]

What did you order?

Oh you missed that a few pages back?

Oh, and after a few years of not having a Grado in the house, I finally decided to correct that, and am awaiting an RS-1. Hopefully they'll stack up against my ESPs as swimmingly as the SR-225s did against equally more expensive/"technically competent" (read: hojillions of dollars of R&D) headcans years ago. It should also be fun to compare two American giants.

So yeah - I went for free shipping, but didn't consider that for anywhere but Amazon Prime, free shipping means SLOW shipping. :wink_face:

 

[Focker]

Quote:

Oh you missed that a few pages back?

So yeah - I went for free shipping, but didn't consider that for anywhere but Amazon Prime, free shipping means SLOW shipping.

 
wow, nice! I hope you don't get a bum pair like I did...I was so disappointed. I really loved their look and how light they were, but one of the drivers was clearly messed up. The sticker that seals the box was open, so I'm almost positive they sent me a pair that was supposed to have gone back to Grado for repairs or something....I dunno, but I want to give them a listen again at some point. Looking forward to your impressions! 

 

[obobskivich]

Don't scare me with stories like that! :eek:

And yeah, I'm looking forwards to my impressions as well - I'm curious what two of the longest-running American flagships have to do towards one another. Especially given their seemingly diametric opposition in terms of design goals.

 

[Focker]

Quote:

Don't scare me with stories like that!

And yeah, I'm looking forwards to my impressions as well - I'm curious what two of the longest-running American flagships have to do towards one another. Especially given their seemingly diametric opposition in terms of design goals.

 
lol, sorry...I think I just had some very rare bad luck from Amazon. I purchase from them all the time and this was really the only time they send me something that I felt was mis-handled. To their credit, they took full responsibility for it.  I think in a way it worked out for me because I really love the PS500s...it's possible I'd like the RS-1s as much or more, but the headphones I ended up with have really given me a great deal of enjoyment. Of course, I've been able to say that about all three of my Grados, so clearly I'm biased  
 
I hope they show up soon! 

 

[obobskivich]

lol, sorry...I think I just had some very rare bad luck from Amazon. I purchase from them all the time and this was really the only time they send me something that I felt was mis-handled. To their credit, they took full responsibility for it.  I think in a way it worked out for me because I really love the PS500s...it's possible I'd like the RS-1s as much or more, but the headphones I ended up with have really given me a great deal of enjoyment. Of course, I've been able to say that about all three of my Grados, so clearly I'm biased  

I hope they show up soon! 

Yeah I've had some bum luck with Amazon recently and getting defective products too - so I tried a different dealer.

And they aren't late yet - UPS is estimating Thursday. But c'mon man, that's A FEW DAYS AWAY.

 

[Focker]

Quote:

Yeah I've had some bum luck with Amazon recently and getting defective products too - so I tried a different dealer.

And they aren't late yet - UPS is estimating Thursday. But c'mon man, that's A FEW DAYS AWAY.

 
THURSDAY?? How am I supposed to wait that long??? lol

 

[CrystalT]

I hate that feeling. Especially when the package chills at the post office for a few days because there's other packages that are higher priority. I especially hate when that's happening, and they won't let you just go there and pick it up yourself. :'(
 
Happened with my stolen Klipsch X10.
 

 

[devouringone3]

Quote:

More to the history of the RA-1, and feel free to correct me: the RA-1 (from your awesome thread) was released in 1998 - wasn't the cmoy only brought about around 2001?

 
The RA-1's internal circuit was designed by Sidney Stockton Smith (http://www.stereophile.com/news/10884/) that designed all of the original Marantz High Fidelity products, he is a revered audio engineer and considered a genius. He made this "portable" design at the request of Joseph Grado for his HPA signature headphone amplifier (to drive the HP 1000), somewhere around 1989. The RA-1's circuitry schematics are based off that. Although I don't know about the RA-1 exactly, the HPA's capacitors are custom made to have synergy with the HP 1000. I think that it's still the philosophy behind the RA-1 (to have synergy with current Grado headphones), but most of the parts used are generally of lesser quality compared to those of the HPA, which costed too much to produce (they lost money on each unit).
 
I love my HPA-1, although it has too much background/power hiss when listened to with John Grados (for me to use them with it, but I'm difficult on that), it's barely audible with higher impedance headphones like HP 1000 (40 ohms, a bit less sensitive) though. It sounds more powerful than anything else I have , can go very loud and has a very smooth potentiometer.
 
I think it's a coincidence the cMoy asteroid landed so close to the design of Sidney for the Grado amplifiers. The popularity and portability of the nowadays cMoys shows that Joseph Grado knew what he was doing, who he was hiring and was well ahead of its time (a time when standalone headphone amplifiers as we know them didn't even happen yet). I know Tyll Hertsens credits Headroom corporation for commercializing the first headphone amplifier and the first portable headphone amplifier, but me I credit Joseph Grado for being the first at that, although he lacked the visibility of the internet and maybe the overall marketing skills.
 
To tell the truth I think cMoy's design is even more complex than that of Grado amps (and that Head-Fi calls "cMoy" anything that is small and has simple circuitry in it [http://www.head-fi.org/t/472214/are-most-headamps-overpriced-cmoys]). While most cMoys use only one battery, the HPA/RA-1 uses one 9 volt per channel, you need two or else you'll hear a big screech, lol I did try it.
 
 
But I understand that you are revising your choice, although RA-1 sounds good with Grado and plays loud, it looks sub-par compared to every other headphone amplifiers of this millennium. Only Grado fanatics use it, lol.
 
RA-1 can be had at 200 dollars easily on the used market. HPA on the other hand, is nowhere to be found (I've been trying for about 4 months now), I ended up paying a premium price for mine, 800 EUR, which once you convert it is more than the retail price of 795 USD! It was sold on Head-Fi in the past of a lot less... :/ (but I genuinely like it!