[TheMiddleSky]

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Hi All:
A quick question. I just purchased a pair of HF-2's to replace my 225i's. How does the HF-2 stack up against the PS500? Is it basically the same? Also, what are the best Grado pads for the HF-2. Thanks!

I prefer HF2 than PS500. Both has smooth treble and thick midrange. But HF2 has better vocal presence and more balance midbass unlike PS500 which I feel has too much midbass.
 
I like bowl pad the most for HF2.

 

[Melvins]

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Mentioned before about wanting a tube amp to go with my RS1i.... currently waiting for a Little Dot 1+ and Sylvania Gold 408A tubes to arrive. So hyped about seeing what this synergy with grado's  and tubes is liked...

you are in for a treat sir! You thought the grad sound was warm before....

 

[our martin]

 

[obobskivich]

Thank you! lol maybe, but I just want to make sure of one thing: you know that I did not found and wrote all the "Full Grado Labs History" facts list right? I took them off Grado's Facebook. Okay now.

Lol yeah by reading Kite7's post I really started believing the wooden RS-1 has had good years and less good years, like wine. My first "real" (Head-Fi) headphone was that "2003 RS1" he's talking about. I sometimes call him the "RS-1 expert", he has owned 7 of them in total (8 if you count the MS-Proi lol).

Actually! they're so sensitive that I hear static and pages loading connected to my Dell Inspiron 1720's jack, almost as loud as you would with an IEM. It's not loud though, but it's there, and it can be heard within a very calm (almost silent) part of a song on top of the usual hiss noise that would also be present in it, (to give you an example). It's because it's harder to forget that it's there than a pink noise hiss (which you'll probably get some with the RA-1, to a small extent, in the background, but the users said not being be bothered by it), because it's an irregular noise and made up of high frequencies.

Although you surely don't have any of that with a real soundcard (sorry for making a big deal out of it, but the RA-1 is a waned amplifier around here, you would have trouble selling it, so I want to help you decide and it's really my narrow field of expertise too , you could test it with a pair of sensitive low impedance headphones (like a IEM), that's why I have an external DAC.

Sounds like your laptop has a grounding issue. I've got none of that noise with the last three generations of Sound Blaster; and the Recon3D is thus far the only amp that doesn't hiss with my MDR-F1s (which fit your "like a IEM" example: 100 dB/mW and 12 ohms - just heard back from yet another amp manufacturer that doesn't think their products will be stable with them; Grado is one of the few that thinks their amp will run them actually).

At this point I'm just holding on to the Recon going on gut instinct - if it can make the MDR-F1 happy, the RS-1 are a cakewalk. The RA-1 would purely be a vanity buy; and I am nervous about the hiss/noise and channel imbalance issues inherent to many stand-alone headphone amplifiers. I'd certainly buy from somewhere with a return policy.

 

[Pingupenguins]

Hey guys, So I'm almost in the boat with picking up some 325is 's but I have one concern. All the grado's I've listened to and other open back kind of lack fullness to the sound. It's very airy. Also the lower grado's don't have much of anything for bass response, but I've been told the 325's have some thump. Any inputs?

 

[Gwarmi]

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Hey guys, So I'm almost in the boat with picking up some 325is 's but I have one concern. All the grado's I've listened to and other open back kind of lack fullness to the sound. It's very airy. Also the lower grado's don't have much of anything for bass response, but I've been told the 325's have some thump. Any inputs?

 
 Opt for a good deal on a second hand RS1i - lots of tube options range from the Little Dot series, Mapletree
 and Woo Audio - I recommend going second hand here too to minimize costs.
 
 In my opinion - the RS1i is the thickest sounding Grado, considerably so over the tizzyness of the 325i.

 

[Pingupenguins]

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 Opt for a good deal on a second hand RS1i - lots of tube options range from the Little Dot series, Mapletree
 and Woo Audio - I recommend going second hand here too to minimize costs.
 
 In my opinion - the RS1i is the thickest sounding Grado, considerably so over the tizzyness of the 325i.

 
 
The problem is, I'm a student so I don't think owning a tube setup would be such a great idea since I'll have to move around a bit.
 
Now I've heard mixed things about the 325, so say its screeching and other say its just below the cusp in perfection land. I hate scratchy treble and wooly bass, but I still love the grado sound. Just trying to figure some stuff out.

 

[LCfiner]

Try a used hf2 or ps500 if you want more bass quantity and less treble.

If you want a more traditional grado sound but more refined - less shrill highs and less midrange shout, then get those 325 magnum upgraded for 300 bucks. The end result will sound like an RS1 but, IMO, even better.

It also means you can get the 325 or the MS2 now and then opt for the upgrade down the line instead of paying for everything all at once.

 

[Pingupenguins]

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Try a used hf2 or ps500 if you want more bass quantity and less treble.
If you want a more traditional grado sound but more refined - less shrill highs and less midrange shout, then get those 325 magnum upgraded for 300 bucks. The end result will sound like an RS1 but, IMO, even better.
It also means you can get the 325 or the MS2 now and then opt for the upgrade down the line instead of paying for everything all at once.

I've always wondered what the "magnum" upgrade really did for the sound. I just read on their site that it's an all around benefit, which means nothing to me.
 
I was thinking about doing that, but it's basically buying another set of headphones.

 

[Gradofan2]

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Try a used hf2 or ps500 if you want more bass quantity and less treble.
If you want a more traditional grado sound but more refined - less shrill highs and less midrange shout, then get those 325 magnum upgraded for 300 bucks. The end result will sound like an RS1 but, IMO, even better.
It also means you can get the 325 or the MS2 now and then opt for the upgrade down the line instead of paying for everything all at once.

 
Rhydon tells me that Symphones is no longer offering the Magnum upgrade / conversion - just the drivers for those who want to DIY.  

 

[Pingupenguins]

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Rhydon tells me that Symphones is no longer offering the Magnum upgrade / conversion - just the drivers for those who want to DIY.  

Really? I read on their site it was $400 for a new chamber and gimbals and the magnum upgrade.

 

[devouringone3]

Yes, it's outdated. He doesn't make the aluminum parts anymore. He also told me that.
 
I don't find my SR325i (and I've read at many place that it still sounds like one of today's SR325is) screechy at all, unless I put the volume really high, higher than my usual high-volume critical listening. It's part of the Grado sound and yes they have 2-3 resonance peaks, like many other headphones, and if you raise the volume too much it'll sound piercing.
 
What you heard about the SR325is sounding metallic and torturing surely isn't exact. You need to read a reviewer's background, if he comes from Sennheiser of course he'll find the SR325is bright and aggressive, if you go to the SR325i club and ask them how they like theirs you'll get drowned by positive thoughts.
 
Yes, SR325is are the ones offering the biggest quantity of highs. Probably... it seems... by judging from what people say... but I have never heard one exactly (again I own a SR325i).
 
 the bright
 
HF-2/PS500, PS-/GS1000 and SR60i are said to be the bassiest Grados, descending order... and it's also reflective of the frequency response (FR) graphs at Headphone.com, if you go compare them (you can stack graphs together by clicking on any FR plot they have for their headphones).
 
 the bassy
 
PS500 has considerably less highs (compared to all other Grado models), it's been popular lately because of that, more than for just its bass.

 

[Pingupenguins]

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Yes, it's outdated. He doesn't make the aluminum parts anymore. He also told me that.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
 
So I have to pick up aluminum sleeves from old Magnums? What "v" drivers is he making? and who is he? (user name?)
 
I'm not quite sure whats going on since the site looks to be operational. Any info on this would be great.

 

[Focker]

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Hey guys, So I'm almost in the boat with picking up some 325is 's but I have one concern. All the grado's I've listened to and other open back kind of lack fullness to the sound. It's very airy. Also the lower grado's don't have much of anything for bass response, but I've been told the 325's have some thump. Any inputs?

 
I've never found the Grados to lack fullness (to my ears), but if you're wanting more of a "thump", I would probably look somewhere else. As others have said, you'll probably need to go up to the next level of Grados (RS1, PS500, etc) in order to get some thump. Grado bass is very well articulated, but not accentuated. It also rolls off a bit as you head toward the lower registers. 
 
The best comparison I can make with the Grado 325s are the other two headphones I own in that price range, the Beyerdynamic DT880/600 and the Beyer DT1350. Just as a comparison, the bass on the 1350 is much more pronounced than the 325s. With recordings that have some bass, I get quite a lot of impact from them. The 325s roll off well before I get to that point, though. 
 
And for the record, that's not a knock on the Grados. Anyone who is familiar with my posts knows I love them. The PS500s are my favorite headphone, even though they cost less than half of my "best" phone. 

 

[devouringone3]

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
 
So I have to pick up aluminum sleeves from old Magnums? What "v" drivers is he making? and who is he? (user name?)
 
I'm not quite sure whats going on since the site looks to be operational. Any info on this would be great.

 
Yeah I reacted exactly the same, lol. Because of lack of cash I waited and ended up missing it completely. So I sold my Grado headband assembly and MS2i metal cups that I was keeping to have a Magnum made with them.
 
Head-Fi: "Rhydon" (like the Pokémon, although it's also his real name, lol) and his first name is Rayment, located in Ontario. He used to be very active in the Grado Head-Fi scene in 2002-2003-2004, interested by their drivers and metal headphones (purposefully so, lol). Indeed his website is operational and open to steal away from your 400 bucks on PayPal, but it was never updated nonetheless. 399.99$ was a promotional pricing for Head-Fi member that was supposed to last 20 days (July 31 2009 to August 21; regular price 599.99$), and the images of the V1 magnums do not represent so well what that latest ones have becomes over time (V4). Also you absolutely need to contact him to have done any operation really, because he has choice for colors, and a "Magnum Lite" product for 300 (250 initially).
 
I don't know about the "v" drivers, I don't think he has told anyone what he was going to do in the future, and if it's of any interest to us of course. People here have speculated he could just make his own headphones, now that he has a recipe for a great driver and the tools and machinery to make aluminum parts.