[boodi]

is it an mp3 player  , gwarmi ?
anyone listened to it with nice headphones ?

 

[kiertijai]

I agree that you should at least try the Symphones Magnum V3.5 or V4 if you love Grado's
I have the V3.5 modified from Grado 325i and V4 from Alessandro MS2i.  I think they are
quite similar to the vintage RS1.  I use both of them V3.5 and V4 as portable headphone with
my iphone 4S . V3.5 may be a little better with rock and pop music while the V4 is overall better
than the V3.4 with vocal with better smooth treble and bass extension.  I think you will love those

 

[boodi]

tried 325 and ms2 , so i know they are yet super(B) grado headphones , but still feel confidence they are a notch or two or three

inferior to hp-2 .
may be my confidence is wrong ..

 

[boodi]

i have the rs-1 but would take the hp-2 ( or even amp ps-1 ) anyday over them . feel ashame to not nominate them , as rs1 are some of the very finest Grado sound expression , but they're nicely behind the hp-2 (imo) , which is the  pair of Grado-non-Grado , thus they have built in  another sound idea and music design in mind ..
 
ps-1 is perdition planet , another story .. leave them alone .. .. ( not very neutral , but i like to wear a deeper black moon sometimes ..  )

 

[stratocaster]

Quote:

tried 325 and ms2 , so i know they are yet super(B) grado headphones , but still feel confidence they are a notch or two or three

inferior to hp-2 .
may be my confidence is wrong ..

Symphones Magnums just carry Grado 325 or Alessandro MS2 outer cups. They are proprietary drivers, either sold in aluminum sleeves to be mounted in the abovementioned outer shells or as the drivers alone which can then be mounted in wood cups of your choice. Apart from those outer cups there is not much Gradessandro left.

 

[boodi]

i read it , so i don't understand how can they scale up so much better on gears , as someone mentions ..
ms2 drivers are nice sounding but sure not in the league of hp.2 ..
 
i understand that the cup add something ( armony euphony soundstage etc ) in the sound , but they can't likely dig inches deeper or better in the sound coming from the source  , as the driver is the same ..

 

[stratocaster]

Symphones once started with 325 and MS2 drivers, which they extracted and 'distressed'. Later the company decided to build their own drivers, which are now at Version 4.
I don't think that the cups, either alu or wood cups, add much to the sound. It is the drivers that make the difference. There are quite some people here who think that those drivers are superior to RS1 drivers and some see the Symphones Magnums on par with other top tier headphones. And the great thing is that Symphones sell the drivers separate, so this is a fantastic option for DIYers.

 

[wolfen68]

While RS-1's have been my go-to phones...I did listen to PS-1000's at the 2010 can jam and recall that they were very nice and seemed a far notch above the RS-1's in quality.  They were Grado all the way with a fuller/lusher sound and some better detail....but I never got past the price and haven't thought about them much since.

 

[boodi]

Quote:

While RS-1's have been my go-to phones...I did listen to PS-1000's at the 2010 can jam and recall that they were very nice and seemed a far notch above the RS-1's in quality.

ps-1  are in some  ways ( not just one ) superior to rs-1 , but still need very proper matching and gearing , anyhow they can scale to a level that is *quite much* better then rs-1
 
ps.1 and hp-2 are both monsters .. rs.1 not that much ..
 

 

[boodi]

so , stratocaster , the street now is that we have this all-new heaphones ( symphonies ) , new drivers + new housing , somewhat grado sounding because derivated from them , and superior to rs.1 .. am I spot on ?

 

[stratocaster]

Quote:

so , stratocaster , the street now is that we have this all-new heaphones ( symphonies ) , new drivers + new housing , somewhat grado sounding because derivated from them , and superior to rs.1 .. am I spot on ?

 
Here is a link you might want to check out

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

is it an mp3 player  , gwarmi ?
anyone listened to it with nice headphones ?

 Yep sure is but it should support all file types on the go ~ WAV, FLAC, APE (hopefully) (It is not out yet)
 
 (external source)
 
 "There have been more than a handful of so-called “high end” audio players released by Chinese manufacturers,
 and they all have a few things in common: horrible user interface and usability, pathetic internal storage size,
 no support for audio features like gapless playback, Replaygain, playlists, and so on. Not to mention, the claim
 that those devices sound any “better” than the next quality brand player has yet to be proven.
[size=1.2em] Leaving the subjective sound quality debate out of the picture, iBasso, well known manufacturer of portable headphone amps, [/size]

[size=1.2em] seems to show other “audiophile” brands how it could be done better when it comes to designing a portable player. [/size]

[size=1.2em] While still sporting an immense brick form factor like its Hifiman, Colorfly, and HiSound peers, iBasso realized that user interfaces[/size]

[size=1.2em] cobbled together by some hacker kids in their spare time are worthless – so they did the smart thing and put Android on their DX100. [/size]

[size=1.2em] This should hopefully enable the usage of Rockbox, Poweramp, Player Pro, or other quality software for audio playback. [/size]

[size=1.2em] It is not known at the moment if the DX100 will sport Wi-Fi or other connectivity.[/size]

[size=1.2em] Internal storage apparently goes up to a whopping 64GB, and a MicroSD slot is available as well. [/size]

[size=1.2em] Here’s where the question about the price of the DX100 should come up. Good question, I know as much as you do[/size]

[size=1.2em] – just that it probably will be a bit more than what a Sansa Clip goes for.[/size]

[size=1.2em] As for the “audiophile” features of the DX100, I let iBasso’s announcement speak for itself:[/size]

[size=1.2em] The DX100 is our reference Digital Audio Player (DAP). It can play most of the 24Bit/192kHz Lossless music.

[size=1.2em] The whole design is based on the ES9018, which ESS claim as “The World’s Best DAC Chip”. We are finalizing the DX100 now. [/size]

[size=1.2em] We can release it within 20~45 days.
The following are some main features. We will release more information later this month.[/size]

[size=1.2em]
• Support up to 24/192 Decoding
• ES9018 DAC Chip
• Built-in +/-8.5V Headphone AMP
• Up to 24/192 Optical/Coaxial Output
• Line Out Function
• 256-Steps Digital Volume Control
• 64G Onboard Flash
• Support up to 32G External MicroSD
• 3-Setting Gain Switch 
• SRC Function
• Slow Roll-off/ Sharp Roll-off Digital Filter[/size]

[/size]

[size=1.2em] On a side note: this quite overkill-ish 8-channel ESS Sabre ES9018 DAC of [/size]

[size=1.2em] course isn’t intended for portable use, but for stationary devices. Let’s hope the battery life of the DX100 is measured in hours, not minutes.[/size]

 

[boodi]

Quote:

Of course you can send your HP-2 to Joe for an upgrade too.
Or, how about doing nothing knowing that you already have the best.

 
-Paul
 
 

what kind of upgrade ? cable ? else ?