[AudioNovice]

It is kind of weird that Alessandro would somewhat disown their association to Grado, saying they won't compare the products. MS1's have text that says "Grado Labs" directly on the earphone. So whether they want to admit it or not, they are tied to Grado and shouldn't stay stuff like "we don't compare" our products.

They are pretty stand-offish, to be honest. I submitted a question to them asking if they sell their "woodies" separately, and got back a pretty lame "sorry no" (literally, just like that, no punctuation or capitalization, just "sorry no"), which is like, $200 lost on their part, because I was willing to purchase a woodie for that much.

So their product rocks... but they are goofy.

 

[kunalraiker]

I feel a company that doesn't make its own drivers just tweaks others , you could expect that response from them

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Quote:

They are two separate product lines. If you are purchasing the phones for professional use in the Music Industry then the Alessandro line is appropriate, if you are purchasing for home use then purchase the Grado product.

it's make a sense to me, because I've never found Grado products at music industry, but:

Noon - Better than anything

 

[Doorbell]

I feel like my MS1i's are unbalanced. Like the left side is a little louder than the right. Is that normal?

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doorbell /img/forum/go_quote.gif I feel like my MS1i's are unbalanced. Like the left side is a little louder than the right. Is that normal?

nope, maybe you can try to adjust the position...

 

[Drubbing]

Alessandros response sounds very much as suggested earlier - cloaked in contractual obligations and marketing. Alessandro and Grado are very good mates, this is very likely J Grado doing a mate a favour, and selling some more products in the process.

THe industry/consumer thing is nothing more than Alessandro being mostly a supplier to the industry and musicians - instrument amps being their bread and butter. They are not disowning the fact they're Grados - how can they when it's printed right there on the casing?

They don't sound the same - Alessandro definitely tweak them for a tamer upper range and overall smoother sound, while retaining the obvious Grado sig of bright forward presentation, this is no straight rebadge. Anyone who thinks they do sound the same, haven't heard the comparable Alessandro or Grados concerned.

 

[MrGreen]

My limited experience has me leaning towards alessandro, simply because they sound less "grado" - a sound I personally dont like

 

[EddieE]

Messing around with Orthodynamic phones has made me realise how much difference any change in what the sound can "bounce back" off makes a huge difference. Ryhdon also noted in the thread about Magnums that the material the grill is made of does make a notable difference to sound.

Based on these facts, it is possible that the difference in sound could be based around something as small as Alessandro phones having no buttons on the back?

I have both MS1 and SR125i, before I glued on the distances to 1000 the MS1 I did a comparison and the difference does seem to be SR125i - brighter MS1 darker. Could it be the button is "pinging back" treble?

I also have MS2i (incredible set of phones) and while I haven't heard the SR325is the difference written about is that the Alessandro has less of a mid treble hump. Again, could this just be the button bouncing back treble?

It would be great if comparisons could be done between SR325is with the button taken off and MS2i to see.

EDIT: And for the record, what ever it is that causes it to be different, when it comes to Grados (and I do consider Alessandros Grados) I much prefer the sound of the Alessandro models to the in-house ones. I wish I could afford some MSPros!

 

[Mr Joboto]

MS-Pros are made of win

 

[Kevin Brown]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kmhaynes I cannot remember now if the MS-1 is "based" on the SR-80 or the SR-125.

The MS1/1i uses the same driver as the SR125/125i.

 
Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjinh yeh, that's what i've heard.. that's the thing that makes the ms1i exceptional value for money

What I have most recently heard is that all of them, except the SR-60/80's and MS-1's use the same drivers, which are then treated differently. That's at least one of the speculated rumors. The other is that they are all the exact same, and are later tested for quality and assigned to the most appropriate cans. Hmmm... confusing business, Grados.

Lurker here. 

I have a pair of SR125i's at work, and a pair of SR80i's here at home, and I just got the MS-1i's for curiousity.  (Yeah, I like Grados. 

)
 
I do not have my SR125's in front of me to compare, just got the MS-1i's today.  But the MS-1i's have the same cord as the SR80i's, *not* the beefier cord of the SR125i's.  And the plastic earcup housings are identical between the SR80i's and the MS-1i's.  However, if you look in the back of each housing (under the button of the Grados), there is a difference.  In the Alessandro's, there's a circular piece of metal about a nickel in diameter that's shiny silver and says "Grado 32" on them.  On the SR80i's, those "nickels" are shiny black with no apparent text.
 
I'll post more detail on my SR125i's Mon. 
 
One question though, I ordered the newer MS-1's, the MS-1i's, or the "2009" model.  But there's no indication anywhere that that's what I got.  Not on the sticker sealing the box, not on the cans themselves, and no documentation came with them at all.  Just my Paypal receipt.  How do I know they are indeed the newer ones?

 

[Kevin Brown]

OK, the SR125i's look the same under the button as the SR80i's.  Shiny black nickel size back-of-the-driver.  Almost looks like they forgot to paint them for the MS-1i's. 

 
Also remember the SR125i's come with a 1/4" jack, but both the SR80i's and the MS-1i's come with an 1/8" jack.
 
So personally, I think the MS-1i's are based on the SR80i's.  Makes more sense that way for cost too.
 
And I think this was mentioned, but it's my feeling now too: Grado manufactures these for Alessandro, but Alessandro sells them.  IOW, originally I had thought maybe Grado made them, and then sent them to Alessandro to be tweaked, and then Alessandro sold the final product.  Now I'm convinced that Grado does everything except sell them.
 
Also, I asked Grado about how do I identify that my MS-1i's are indeed the "i" model, or the 2009 tweaked model.  This is what they said:
 
Quote:

[size=x-small]They have a different housing design than the old version (which will eventually be phased out, so we did not change box labeling). The air chambers are angled and are larger in the new version.[/size]

 
The earcup housings themselves are indentical between all three: the SR80i's, the SR125i's, and the MS-1i's.  Maybe the SR80's and the SR125's would look different ...

 

[Spelaeus]

 
Quote:

 
The earcup housings themselves are indentical between all three: the SR80i's, the SR125i's, and the MS-1i's.  Maybe the SR80's and the SR125's would look different ...

The MS-1i has the same housing as the SR80i and SR125i. The older MS-1 has the same housing as the SR80 and SR125. I'd be inclined to agree that the Alessandro music series headphones are a purely Grado product designed to be sold by Alessandro (and I certainly hope that's the case, since it would make repairs a bit easier) given that the improvements seen in the 2009 version of the MS-1i are the exact same improvements developed by Grado for the SR series.
 
 
And if you wanted to be absolutely sure as to what model you have: pre-2009 cups on the left, post-2009 "i" version on the right.

 

 

[Kevin Brown]

Awesome. 

  All 3 are like the one on the right.  Beefier housing.
 
Also a correction.  I asked Alessandro about the MS-1i's vs the older ones.  Not Grado.
 
Plan to do listening tonight, the SR80i's vs the MS-1i's.  But based on what I've seen here and elsewhere, I expect a similar sound with maybe a tamer high end with the Alessandro's.

 

[supersleuth]

Quote:

Awesome. 

  All 3 are like the one on the right.  Beefier housing.
 
Also a correction.  I asked Alessandro about the MS-1i's vs the older ones.  Not Grado.
 
Plan to do listening tonight, the SR80i's vs the MS-1i's.  But based on what I've seen here and elsewhere, I expect a similar sound with maybe a tamer high end with the Alessandro's.

Your impressions will be of considerable interest. I can't help suspecting that many older comparisons of the "pre-improved" models compared them with their stock pads (which back then were comfies on the MS1 and bowls on the SR80)- apples and oranges.
 

 

[Kevin Brown]

OK, I did *some* listening, and I need to do more.
 
1st impressions are that the SR80i's and the MS-1i's are much more similar than they are different.  I tried to focus on the highs 1st, because that's where the consensus seems to be in terms of differences, but in the listening I did tonight, I couldn't hear many differences there.
 
What stood out though, is that I felt the SR80i's have more bass.  But don't pin me down yet to whether it's a mid-bass boost, or lower extension (vs the MS-1i's).  That's why I need to listen some more.
 
Now, let me tell you about some other cans I've listened to lately just so in the big world of headphone listening, you know where I'm coming from. 

 
I started with PX-100's.  The old model (although mine are about 2 years old).  I love these babies.  Detailed without being too harsh or shrill, but yes, I think these have too much bass, a pronounced mid-bass hump where I know exactly what to do to EQ that hump out.  (Also, I get to listen 3 - 4 hrs a day at work, plus 1 to 1.5 hrs during lunch.  I'm lucky I get to spend that much time with headphones on.  So  I also know what works for extended listening too.  Love the Grados.  Just bend the metal headband. 

)
 
OK, time to move up from the PX-100's.  I've looked at and researched probably 50 sets over the last year or so.  I spent 2 hours at a local place auditioning the SR60i's, SR80i's, and the SR125i's.  (They also had 325s there and RS1's or something?)  Got the 80's 1st.  (The 60i's do not have enough bass.  I don't know why anyone would buy these if they directly compared to the 80i's 1st.  I also don't understand the rave reviews these get either.  The 80's have *deeper* bass, but not much of a mid-bass hump IMO.  They are very balanced I think, but I do think they could be a tad tamer on top.) 
 
Anyway, had the 80i's for a week, before I went back and swapped them for the SR125i's.  I can't go higher because I don't like the open earcups the higher models have.  And I'm too concerned that each model is engineered with its particular ear pads to get the 225i's, for example, and swap to the full face ear pads.  Now, I don't think the 125i's sound that much different than the 80i's.  Much more similar than different.  Big jump from the 60i's to the 80i's, small jump from the 80i's to the 125i's, IMO.
 
OK, but I'd still like a *different* pair.  So ... I have a list of criteria, and "work-friendly" is one of them.  I looked at the ATH-AD700's as a prime alternative but they are just to overbearing for work.  (Btw, I know the Grados leak, and they leak a lot, but I've never had anyone complain at work.  And I sometimes let the volume knob drift higher and higher.  Either I have really nice neighbors, or our cubes are pretty good at sound isolation.) 
 
Looked at a lot of models.  A long time ago I had a cheap set of on-ear Sony's that I always liked.  Ear pads disentegrated, tossed them, but I always remembered liking them.  Tried the 7502's.  Garbage.  Didn't know this until after I bought them, but they are rolled off top and bottom for only a 60 Hz to 16 kHz freq response.  Good for talk radio maybe, but not much else.  So I tried the 7505's after that.  These *almost* stuck with me.  But I felt there was too much bass, and the treble was way too subdued.  I still have the V6's/7506's on my radar though.  But my impression is that the 7505's and V6/7506 is the same except on-ear vs around-ear.
 
Oh, tried the Denon AHD1001K.  Too much bass.  I was told that gets better after burn in, but life's too short.  I have the Grado's, loved them, they didn't need burning in, so I wasn't going to subject myself to the bass of the Denon's waiting for it to get better.
 
Also tried the Sennheiser HD-238's.  Too much bass.  Even "worse" than the PX-100's.  I used these at lunch for a while, and I came to hate the earpads too.  The leather gets too hot and they just are plain uncomfortable I think, vs the PX-100's.  So I switched back to the PX-100's for lunch.  Keeping an eye on a deal for the PX-100 ii's though.
 
So there you have it. 

  I need to listen some more between the SR80i's and the MS-1i's though.  I was surprised they sounded as close as they did.  Oh, neither of those sets are really burned in.  (I use the SR125i's at work for hard core extended listening for pleasure.)  The SR80i's and MS-1i's are meant for short term listening at home between different CD masterings.  (Old US, West German, Japanese, MFSL's, DCC's, AF's, Targets, etc.  If you're familiar.)  So for my home cans, I really want FLAT freq response.  So as much as I love the SR80i's, I was kind of looking forward to tamer highs with the Alessandros, but that's not what I'm hearing so far.