[EternalEmpire]

Although everybody here seems to love these headphones (almost without exception), I got mine the other day and I can't say I'm blown away by them unfortunately. My previous headphones were the Sony V6 and while I can notice an improvement in sound quality and especially in sound stage (since the V6 practically has none) it's not the improvement I was led to believe that I would hear from all the shining reviews of these headphones I've read.
 
Overall, the highs are much better than on the V6 (I found the V6 to be pretty harsh at times) but other than that there doesn't appear to be a huge amount of difference, I'd even go as far as saying the sound seems to be fairly congested in comparison with the V6 (though that may be due to me being used to the V6's analytical sound). Also, though it's unrelated to the sound quality, I find them to be pretty uncomfortable to wear; after a while of use I have to take them off because they begin to hurt my ears. I'm hoping this will change with prolonged use though.
 
I was going to go with the Audio-Technica M50's but I decided on the MS1i's instead, I'm sad to say that I'm sort of regretting my decision now...

 

[drewfus420]

Give them some time to burn in and hopefully they will be more pleasing to you. Not every headphone is for every person, regardless of all the shining reviews. At least you won't loose much if you decide to resell them as they sell used pretty close to what they retail for.
Drew

 

[Meyvn]

Honestly, if what you wanted was an improvement in highs and soundstage, I'm not sure why you went with a Grado.  Grado has a notoriously in-your-face sound and next to zero soundstage.  I do suspect the more you listen to them and get used to them, the more you'll like them, but if you don't think they're for you, I'd consider sending them back (if you can) or reselling them, and waiting for a meet before picking up another pair.  The only way to get a feel for your taste is to listen to a lot of good headphones.  A bunch of people on the internet stating their personal biases and preferences just isn't a substitute for actual experience.  

 

[EternalEmpire]

Quote:

Honestly, if what you wanted was an improvement in highs and soundstage, I'm not sure why you went with a Grado.  Grado has a notoriously in-your-face sound and next to zero soundstage.  I do suspect the more you listen to them and get used to them, the more you'll like them, but if you don't think they're for you, I'd consider sending them back (if you can) or reselling them, and waiting for a meet before picking up another pair.  The only way to get a feel for your taste is to listen to a lot of good headphones.  A bunch of people on the internet stating their personal biases and preferences just isn't a substitute for actual experience.  

I live in England and there really aren't any meets here, I'm basically stuck with just going with whatever seems to be liked the most among the community. And it wasn't an improvement in highs and soundstage I was looking for, those were the improvements I noticed over the V6 (sorry if I didn't make that clear). I posted a thread a while ago and the general consensus was that the MS1i's would be the best upgrade for around $100 from the V6, that was my main reason for buying them, as well as all the positive feedback (I honestly couldn't find a single negative thread about them).

 

[lie495fc]

dont be upset. ms1 may not be your cup of tea, but im sure you can trade it for something that you will like. so hit up the for sell section.
beside that, M50 will not give you much better sound stage since it's a closed can. sony V6 is decent phone, you standard is pertty high from the start. now there are phones out there in $200-300 range that'll give you the improvements you are looking for, then again you may not have the proper equipments to drive them.

 

[trickztastic]

herro
 
i had the same reaction when i first listened to my ms1i's, disappointed and confused, so i get how you're feeling.  i felt that my $10 sony earphones sounded better, than the $100+ ms1i.
 
but after almost 100 hours of burning in, leaving my ipod on continuous play for 3 days, the sound improved. 
 
and i'm the type who's skeptical with burning in rituals with gadgets, but to my surprise the procedure worked with the ms1i.
 
i'm happy with it's sound now and have long forgotten the negative emotion of feeling ripped off when i first got the headphones.
 
so the lesson of my rambling is, give it a few more days/hours of settling in, it's sound might improve and live up to your expected hype.
 
if that doesn't work, give it to me for free.  woot.

 

[hahahigh]

The MS1s are also not my cup of tea. I will say, though, that their signature does take some getting used to, especially if coming from generic cans - I upgraded from a pair of super-cheap, ancient Sony earphones and was hard-pressed to overwhelmingly favor the MS1. After a week, though, I could clearly discern that the MS1 were heads and shoulders better
 
Quarter-modding the comfies helps a bit. As do bowls, in a different way. Still, I ended up trading them away anyways. The highs were far too fatiguing and the bass anemic. Once again, not my cup of tea.

 

[FLee5]

I bought the MS1is and found that I didn't like the sound signature.
Try selling them on eBay I managed to get back what I paid for mine even including the import duties I had to pay and royal mails handling fees.

 

[brendon]

I tried the MS1s and I quite liked the sound signature. However I did not like their bass response which IMO was lacking. So I could not grow to love them.

 

[Riverback]

If they're uncomfortable because of the clamp, you could always stretch the headband. It was like that with mine when I first got it.
 
The congested sound is because of the closet soundstage. Give them a week or two, if you don't like em. you could always sell them off.
 
Quote:

Although everybody here seems to love these headphones (almost without exception), I got mine the other day and I can't say I'm blown away by them unfortunately. My previous headphones were the Sony V6 and while I can notice an improvement in sound quality and especially in sound stage (since the V6 practically has none) it's not the improvement I was led to believe that I would hear from all the shining reviews of these headphones I've read.
 
Overall, the highs are much better than on the V6 (I found the V6 to be pretty harsh at times) but other than that there doesn't appear to be a huge amount of difference, I'd even go as far as saying the sound seems to be fairly congested in comparison with the V6 (though that may be due to me being used to the V6's analytical sound). Also, though it's unrelated to the sound quality, I find them to be pretty uncomfortable to wear; after a while of use I have to take them off because they begin to hurt my ears. I'm hoping this will change with prolonged use though.
 
I was going to go with the Audio-Technica M50's but I decided on the MS1i's instead, I'm sad to say that I'm sort of regretting my decision now...

 

[supersleuth]

Although Grados / Alessandros are not everybody's cup of tea, I have to say that the sucky comfy pads really don't do them justice at all, and I would suggest gambling $20 on a pair of bowls to get a feel for what they really can do before giving up on them. The bowls (L-cush for ordering purposes) really open up the sound and relieve the congestion (provided they're worn properly i.e. supra-aurally.)
 
P.S. and yes, bending the headband for a looser fit is a must.

 

[Ninkul]

Comfy pads are horrendous sound wise
 
Quote:

Although Grados / Alessandros are not everybody's cup of tea, I have to say that the sucky comfy pads really don't do them justice at all, and I would suggest gambling $20 on a pair of bowls to get a feel for what they really can do before giving up on them. The bowls (L-cush for ordering purposes) really open up the sound and relieve the congestion (proved they're worn properly i.e. supra-aurally.)
 
P.S. and yes, bending the headband for a looser fit is a must.

 

[Kevin Brown]

Hee, hee. 
 
I have previously mentioned in a few other threads that I did a shootout between the MS-1i's (based on the glowing consensus of reviews here and elsewhere), the SR80i's, and the SR125i's.
 
The MS-1i's fared the worst.  To me, they sounded more like the SR60i's with their associated lack of bass vs the 80's and the 125's, than any imrpovement in refinement of the SR80i's or the SR125i's. 
 
I did *not* find any reduction of mid/high freq harshness vs the 80's or the 125s, and that's what I was interested in.
 
I was really disappointed in them, frankly.
 
Although that comparison did point out to me that the SR125i's are a tad smoother for mids/highs than either the MS-1i's or the SR80i's.
 
Right now, I have SR225i's on the way, and I can't wait.  :-D

 

[hahahigh]

Quote:

Although Grados / Alessandros are not everybody's cup of tea, I have to say that the sucky comfy pads really don't do them justice at all, and I would suggest gambling $20 on a pair of bowls to get a feel for what they really can do before giving up on them. The bowls (L-cush for ordering purposes) really open up the sound and relieve the congestion (provided they're worn properly i.e. supra-aurally.)
 
P.S. and yes, bending the headband for a looser fit is a must.

I agree that the bowls yield a considerable improvement in sound, particularly in terms of clarity. But they are so painful to wear for long periods of time, or even short period of times. One of the reasons why I sold mine - I didn't like being forced to choose between comfort and sound.

 

[EternalEmpire]

Hmm. I think I'm probably going to sell my MS1i's if they don't improve within the next week (if anyone in the UK wants MS1i's then keep a look out in the FS forum, I'll probably be selling them for £10 less than I bought them for and they're literally brand new). I don't want to bend the headband in case I end up selling them, I want to be able to sell them to whoever buys them exactly as I received them, only with an opened box.
 
On a side note, (sorry for the noob question but...) how do you go about selling things over here? Do you put the item up on eBay and leave a link to it or what?