[Tim D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snufkin Very easily - I had someone swap them over for me without telling me which ones I was listening to.

I don't think its possible to blind test these phones...I would be able to ID them by weight alone (disregarding that little tidbit however, the 'blind' test would only be conclusive with the control set of blind testing the entire range of Grados and being able to distinguish between each). As for why the difference between different accounts, thats the nature of being subjective. Its funny how Grado claims the SR325i as improved and cites the new molding as one reason, but claims no difference with MS2i's yet it also has been remolded. But in anycase I do find it annoying when people hear based on whats heard in the grapevine wheter good or bad or the same.

My subjective impression of the SR-325i were that they were a little better than the SR-325, but still obviously John Grado fare and rather heavy and uncomfortable. It was all too brief since I've already parted ways with it

.

In anycase its interesting since Grado claims an improvement on the SR-325i over the SR-325, and people were expecting the same for the MS2i, I wonder how they all rank up in the end.

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrillic It's the FOTM, without a doubt. This is just another typical example of head-fi sheep gone berzerk. How many times has a certain product gotten insanely popular after a high-poster rants about how wonderful it is? And when it goes truly sky high like these have, how many times has it lasted? There are simple facts here: they both sound good for different reasons (and for all we know they may sound good for the same reason!). Head-fi'ers and audiophiles in general have a hard time differentiating between different and better. Honestly there's no such thing as a simply better improvement, because some may like more bass, some might find it overpowering, some find dark cans boring, some find them musical.

This post might be the most truthful and logical one that I've seen recently.

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imyourzero This post might be the most truthful and logical one that I've seen recently.

Yeah, I agree, and what sucks is that I read a post from someone who had my source and liked the ms-2's. So I decided it would be worth a try. Then go away and come back and look what's happened, a controversial upgrade and FOTM. Oh well, it does make interesting reading.

But I also think FOTM is harmless. It's something to talk about and maybe you'll get to hear something you wouldn't have otherwise considered. That's not a bad thing to me.

At least I was smart enough to get a sneak peak at the 325i's, so I'll know from my own ears which I prefer, with no one on any forum telling me what I like for me.

 

[chumley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lord of volume what i want to know is "to flats or not to flats" I have tried the flats on the ms2i and honestly the bass gets better but it seems like so much sound stage is taken. I think i am just a Bowls guy. I think the bowls sound better, but i want the flats to work, so i am giving it more time, and I am getting a gilmore lite to amp them. Anyone else try the ms2i with flats?

Yeah, and through a GL+PSU or an SR-71 OR a maxed PPA, the MS-2s and the MS-2is sound pretty much identical, IMO. Broke in my MS-2i's with over 400 hours so far (NOT all on my head at the time), and, with a heavily modded Music Hall CD-25, a 4G iPod running Lossless through its Line Out to an SR-71, OR a Meridian G08 running music out through all the above amps to both my MS-2s and my MS-2i's, I hear a * tiny * bit more bass articulation with bowls, and NO difference with flats on both. As I am a Todd's Flats man, I really like the soundstage of both with flats, with no particular preference to either can, with any music, from any source + amp I own. If I want lots of soundstage, I'll listen through my Blockhead and balanced R10s or my HD650s...

All things considered, I'm gonna look like Abe Lincoln when I leave the MS-2i's for my wife in her home office. But is she were to A/B them, she'd know why she got the Fatboys...

 

[Cyrillic]

Quote:

I'm gonna look like Abe Lincoln when I leave the MS-2i's for my wife in her home office.

I don't get it...

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong Yeah, I agree, and what sucks is that I read a post from someone who had my source and liked the ms-2's. So I decided it would be worth a try. Then go away and come back and look what's happened, a controversial upgrade and FOTM. Oh well, it does make interesting reading.

You're right, it certainly does make for interesting reading...but when Snufkin (who has heard more headphones than the majority of people here) and George frickin' Alessandro (who distributes and aids in the design of them) claim that there is really no difference, I tend to place a higher degree of merit with their word than someone who just got the cans and is still excited (or trying to justify spending the money to upgrade to the newer model).

Perhaps I should just start taking things here with a grain of salt, as has been stressed over and over by other members. Sennheiser could release the HD 650 with a different colored cord, and people here would claim a night and day difference in the soundstage along with a magical change in the presentation of the mids!

 

[chumley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrillic I don't get it...

i.e, 'I'm going to look like a hero...' (it's a creaky-old, obscure quote from Eddy Murphy in the film '48 Hours'... sorry about that.

 

[Enverxis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imyourzero Perhaps I should just start taking things here with a grain of salt, as has been stressed over and over by other members. Sennheiser could release the HD 650 with a different colored cord, and people here would claim a night and day difference in the soundstage along with a magical change in the presentation of the mids!

That just made me laugh

- its so true.

 

[cmanc]

So in essence did Grado just take the original MS-2 driver, change the cups, anodised it gold and call it the SR325i? Makes sense if so; why have 2 separate lines which just adds to the overhead when one driver is (generally) considered superior. The fact that the new MS-2 sounds almost identical from most reports supports this speculation.

Although I would've thought modders like Larry would've spotted the similarity in a second.

EDIT: ohh yeah, the name you thought up "FATMAN" sounds sooo contrived