Stay away from poop coins and you'll do fine.

The $160 at Drop was too tempting pass up. Looking forward to owning these!

Do you have the mediums? How do they compare in size to the stock triple flange tips?

Sounds like you are hearing what you see, a common form of expectation bias.

Revolutions are often recognized as such after the fact.

30-65, 40, are all numbers consistently greater than 25. As for feelings, they are very easy to put into words. In fact doing so could help one get through the denial stage and reach acceptance of one's age. Tell your friends.

Interesting, this is the first I've heard of this. Does the KSE1500 plug directly into the M03 or do you need an adapter/customization?

As an existing owner: No, transparent is transparent.

That's good to know. Glad you were able to "fix" it yourself.

I don't think there's really a Sony "House Sound", rather it's more the industry has taken note of Harman's frequency response research, and have incorporating the findings into their designs/tunings. Harman's research found "older folks" prefer higher treble than younger ones, hence the...

Yes, and that demographic is 30-65 males. Given the price of the Z1R it's probably more like 40+, aka older gentlemen who have natural, age-related hearing loss. If you consider that many people over 25 can't hear above 15KHz you can get a good idea of the high frequency sensitivity of said...

Thanks, I actually do have several alternate cables, both balanced and unbalanced. I purchased them for cable length and ergonomics rather than "sound" but it's the high frequency energy is the same with all of them.

You know that’s not a real user right? Rather it’s something called an “advertisement”. I’d be willing to bet that dude doesn’t even own a pair or Z1Rs. Amazing I know.

After living with the Z1R for a bit over a month now, my impressions: It takes awhile to get used to the 10K peak. I have a feeling the target demographic for this headphone are older gentlemen who prefer boosted treble to offset age-related hearing loss. I find the sound a bit fatiguing over...

Yes, from a digital transport perspective bit perfect is bit perfect. You already have a dedicated DAC in the Hugo no? As for “high end” cables, while I think they look nice, don’t affect the sound in any appreciable way. JMO, so you do you.

As simply a digital transport for current 16/41 Redbook? Never. 300++ in cables? Never.

It's just the white tri-flange with the smallest tip cut off.

After living with the KSE1200 for about a month, I’m definitely going to keep them and they’ve become my go-to ‘phones. The KSE1200 achieves a transparent, “you are there” kind of sound yet (amazingly) without any harshness or fatigue. I used to consider the Ety ER4S as the ultimate in IEM...

Cool, thanks for the info. I like the look of the Noir better but don’t necessarily want something that scratches so easily

What does it matter what position the potentiometer is at to achieve a given loudness? If anything, getting to your desired listening volume at 50% of the potentiometer sweep is ideal. You’ll probably have the best channel matching there.

I’m strongly considering picking up the 99s, and from what I can gather, the Noir is exactly the same as the Classics correct? In that case what made up that $100 difference (unless it was all just margin)?

The Z1R has surprisingly good soundstage, particularly for a closed can. It's almost the best of both worlds in that in can sound spacious but doesn't "force" everything into the distance like some other headphones.

I (personally) don’t believe there are audible differences between competent DACs but do nonetheless appreciate you writing up and presenting your impressions.

First off I'd like to thank Todd for running this loaner program. I've been curious about Grado's recent offerings for some time, and this tour provides the perfect opportunity to audition without committing to anything. My write-up won't contain any images as previous reviews have done a great...

I have the BTR2 and I’m very impressed with it. There is no shouting woman, and I have never experienced a drop out, even when walking a significant ways from my phone.