[dukebox_1st]

Long-time luker, first time poster...

I'm currently looking for a good set of headphones for Uni after the summer as we are not allowed speakers in the halls of residence. A soundcard will be used as the source 90% of the time playing music most of the time however also used for gaming (currently a Creative labs Live! but soon to be replaced with something mre sutible, probably m-audio revo or chaintech 710). I may add an amp later or have a shot at building a Cmoy in the summer (4 months of nothing to fill!). My budget is 100GBP.

Over the past couple of weeks i've looked various headphones, SR60s, SR80s, HD280s, HD590s, MS-1s mainly. I really liked the results people got with with the grados however have almost definatly decided on the MS-1s due to the fact that they are supposed to perform better and atcually work out cheaper and easier to import into the UK as opposed to buying the SR60/80s in the UK. One of the main attractions is the low impendence of these headphones which should be easier to drive through the sound card.

The HD280s looked promising at first however i'm a little concerned with the extensive burn-in time and also the force exerted on the head to provide adequete sound isolation. The HD590s were under serious consideration aswell as i can get them for 80GBP new, seemed comfortable and supposedly good alround sound, however the high impendence relative to the grados concerned me a little to the the ability to be driven with the sound card.

I have almost deffinatly settled on the MS-1s and will probably order within the nxt few days, unfortunatly its 1 to 2 weeks delivery time because of coming from the US. Having looked through the boards using the search function last week i have found lots of helpful information however with it disabled atm for the rebuild i'm left without its benifits. Is there any weaknesses of the MS1s which i should be made aware with? would the HD590s in fact be a better bet for my plans?

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[swee]

my ms1s took 3 weeks to get to new zealand

only major weakness i rekon is the sound leakage problem, which may annoy people around you especially in a quiet environment

other than that they sound great : >

 

[Lisa]

It took a couple of weeks (a month actually) here too, but apperantly they were out of stock or someting. I had to read that here, Alessandro didn't send an e-mail to let me know.
Other than that I got good service. The questions I asked were all answered quickly.

And yes, Grado headphones leak a lot. The ms-1s come with the comfy pads and that muffles the sound quite a bit so many people change or mod the pads. Do a search for it when it's back on.

 

[MonkHead]

Im also very interested to hear about those alessandro's... does any1 here compared them to the grados? (60/80/125)

 

[swee]

the main reason i got my MS1s, is cause of the whole grado international trade restrictions, which basically means anyone outside US pays over double or smthin (i think thats what it is)

i dont know if that goes for everyone, but yea, i wont be able to compare it to the grado SR series, but the email i got from alessandro describes them like this

"They are closest to the 125 but have been made more open and dynamic as for use in the Music Industry. "

 

[plainsong]

The ms-1's aren't as thin-sounding as the sr60. The sr60 gave me headaches, the ms-1 lets me groove, and we're talking unamped from an ipod here.

You may as well order the flat pads from Todd while you're at it, it makes a huge difference.

 

[MuZI]

I also e-mailed Alessandro Products and they told me the MS 1`s are simmilar to the SR 125, i have heard this alot. I don`t have the SR 125 to check but i can say after all the times it has been said i am confident it is true.

The only thing i hate about them is the quality build, but they should last a long time if used appropriately (their not for portable usage).

 

[Scholarlymonk]

What are the Ms1s made from? Are the modified grados?
Do they unquestionably improve the Grados?

 

[plainsong]

Well it's made of plastic.. not sure what you mean here. Alessandro has a partnership with Grado, and sells something that's a modified sr125. I've not heard the sr125 so I can't say if it improves... but what I can say is that it's a Grado sound that I can dig. It's supposedly neutral. Well of course it's not actually neutral. But it's more laid-back (for a Grado), and basically grooves more. But haven't these questions been answered already?

 

[ixeo]

was wondering what's the warranty on the alessandro?

 

[Snufkin]

The MS-1 sounds so similar to the Grado SR125 some people find it difficult to tell them apart

 

[skitlets]

im quite happy with them. ive had the ms-1s for about 2 weeks now, and i definitely dig them. only problem is that after a few hours, i think i suffer from fatigue. everything sounds muddy, not clear. nothing sounds right, its very odd. at that point, i need a break. they drive easily out of a soundcard, tho my onboard soundstorm drives me nuts with all the inner-computer noise. the bass is very tight wich i love. u may experience some brightness on the comfies, but i dont listen to it unless im actually paying lots of attention to my music. maybe modded radio shack pads will fix it. dont think i can justify 30 dollar flat pads for a 100 dollar can....

 

[MuZI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ixeo was wondering what's the warranty on the alessandro?

I e-mailed them about this too, their reply was somewhat like this:

We offer a 1 year warrenty, after 1 year the headphones can be repaired for a nomial fee.