Auditioning headphones, advice!

[Lollan]

I currently own Sennheiser HD595s and have been rather pleased with them, but I am moving towards something with a bit more clarity and after spending the afternoon with several pair of Grado, I was offered the opportunity to audition the two I had the most difficulty deciding on for the weekend. I had a good bit of difficulty distinguishing much between the two and come to you, experts of this field for advice! They all sound amazing, but other than slightly larger bass impact I am having difficulty selecting a winner!

The two I am auditioning are RS-2 and SR-325. I do not currently have an amp and am using either my computer, Foobar->Creative X-Fi Platinum or my Zen Micro.

I am detecting a lack of soundstage, but the clarity and precision are top notch!

 

[krmathis]

Enjoy!

 

[ELMHURSTBEATS]

i heard this is the place where people know there stuff on studio headphones. anyways im getting the new motif xs and right now im staying away from the monitors for right now. well right now all i want is a damn good sounding headphones. and since im gonna use the motif xs with it is that ok to do. cause the headphones im researching on are the akg 701, the beyerdynamic 770, beyerdynamic 880, the ultrasone hfi 700 and the ultrasone proline 2500. im reading amp this and amps that to really make em sound good. since im pluging the headphones in motif xs keyboard do i need an headphone amp to push out power? oh yeah and the type of headphone im looking for is one that sounds quick,detailed, sounds very realistick and accurate with detailed bass and highs. but not too high to a point were its too loud and it hurts my ears. for example the sony mdrs studio headphones i hate them with a passion they are a pain in my ears!!! please help me peoples!

 

[Comfy]

To the OP: RS-2. Amazing cans.

 

[Lollan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ELMHURSTBEATS /img/forum/go_quote.gif i heard this is the place where people know there stuff on studio headphones. anyways im getting the new motif xs and right now im staying away from the monitors for right now. well right now all i want is a damn good sounding headphones. and since im gonna use the motif xs with it is that ok to do. cause the headphones im researching on are the akg 701, the beyerdynamic 770, beyerdynamic 880, the ultrasone hfi 700 and the ultrasone proline 2500. im reading amp this and amps that to really make em sound good. since im pluging the headphones in motif xs keyboard do i need an headphone amp to push out power? oh yeah and the type of headphone im looking for is one that sounds quick,detailed, sounds very realistick and accurate with detailed bass and highs. but not too high to a point were its too loud and it hurts my ears. for example the sony mdrs studio headphones i hate them with a passion they are a pain in my ears!!! please help me peoples!

The K701 in particular are rather difficult to drive, you will most certainly need an amp and atleast 300 hour of burn-in time based on what I've read. As far as the others, I don't believe they require as much, but some form of ampage is recommended. The rest wont particurally require as much burn in, but it always seems to help!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Comfy /img/forum/go_quote.gif To the OP: RS-2. Amazing cans.

I agree completely! But for $200 more than the SR325, I'm not sure if they're worth it, which is why I've made this thread. Perhaps I need some form of amp-age to more accurately tell this, but I would like to develop a more keen listening to more accurately describe the sound.

 

[Lollan]

Ok, so I'm basically listening to a variety of songs and repeating it three times for each headphone. First up was Pink Floyd - Welcome to the Machine, a song FULL of background effects and what I'd call "spacey lasers"

Of the three, I would say the RS2 definitely "define" the soundstage the best, this is a very novice attempt at a description, so hopefully someone can help me with this, but with the RS2s, it felt much more authentic and crisp when audio was being simulated "out of ear", it didn't always sound directly from the driver or directly in the middle of my head, it would fill the area in between, creating a very nice "surround feel". The SR325s seem to stick more with coming straight from the driver and simulating the "in head" experience coming from the very middle, not bridging the gap between the two as the RS2 did very nicely. The HD595s failed the worst, I listened to them second after the SR325s and almost made Roger Walters sound like he was singing with a lisp comparatively! The Grados are just amazingly accurate and crisp by comparison, this is VERY obvious to me!

 

[Aaron Friedman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lollan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ok, so I'm basically listening to a variety of songs and repeating it three times for each headphone. First up was Pink Floyd - Welcome to the Machine, a song FULL of background effects and what I'd call "spacey lasers" Of the three, I would say the RS2 definitely "define" the soundstage the best, this is a very novice attempt at a description, so hopefully someone can help me with this, but with the RS2s, it felt much more authentic and crisp when audio was being simulated "out of ear", it didn't always sound directly from the driver or directly in the middle of my head, it would fill the area in between, creating a very nice "surround feel". The SR325s seem to stick more with coming straight from the driver and simulating the "in head" experience coming from the very middle, not bridging the gap between the two as the RS2 did very nicely. The HD595s failed the worst, I listened to them second after the SR325s and almost made Roger Walters sound like he was singing with a lisp comparatively! The Grados are just amazingly accurate and crisp by comparison, this is VERY obvious to me!

I have the 325i, Denon D5000 and K701. I also do mods for my own personal use. I have taken all these headphones apart upgraded them etc....

I like the 325i better than the RS2 or the RS1. You have to understand that the aluminum casing on the 325i is very rigid and hence is less prone to vibration. As a result it will sound more detailed. That out of the head experience of the RS2 is simply some "Fuzziness and a result of the wood vibrating". To some it sounds musical. I can get the Grado 325i to sound musical by just changing the solder joints and use some better wire. However, it will still sound detailed and will be less prone to vibration than the RS2.

The woods on the Denon 5000 are different than that on the Grado. On the Denon the woods are latched onto the body NOT the vibrating driver. The Denons drivers and body are supported by a rigid magnisiam/aluminum body and driver housing. On the Grado the wood supports the driver housing (not as good).

 

[Lollan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron Friedman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have the 325i, Denon D5000 and K701. I also do mods for my own personal use. I have taken all these headphones apart upgraded them etc.... I like the 325i better than the RS2 or the RS1. You have to understand that the aluminum casing on the 325i is very rigid and hence is less prone to vibration. As a result it will sound more detailed. That out of the head experience of the RS2 is simply some "Fuzziness and a result of the wood vibrating". To some it sounds musical. I can get the Grado 325i to sound musical by just changing the solder joints and use some better wire. However, it will still sound detailed and will be less prone to vibration than the RS2. The woods on the Denon 5000 are different than that on the Grado. On the Denon the woods are latched onto the body NOT the vibrating driver. The Denons drivers and body are supported by a rigid magnisiam/aluminum body and driver housing. On the Grado the wood supports the driver housing (not as good).

Thanks for the reply and very informative might i add! This reminds me of whether or not someone prefer CMSS-3D on their X-Fi or not, honestly, which simulates a more "surround" experience while sacrificing some quality. Honestly, I'm a bit torn on that field, but I do find the "surround" experience more immersive, so it may receive my preference!

Next up I chose: Opeth - Bleak i picked this song for generic reasons, it switches from a deep growling lead singer with metal background guitars to a more "melodic" song towards the end, hitting a bit of everything in between and frankly, there's a lot of background and competing sounds in this song.

The "competition" was very apparent in the Sennheiser HD595s where whichever sound took focus in the middle of my head greatly outweighed the "out of ear" sounds and felt very overpowered, especially during the highs of the song. There was a lack of bass to me and it felt like a collision. Apparently, I'm becoming more critical already as I used to not find any issues with these phones!

The Grado SR325s and RS2 were very similar during this song, but I found the highs in the SR325s to again, be too overpowering for my tastes but it showed much more balance than the HD595s overall. Similar to the first song, I found the "immersive" experience gained by "out of ear" sounds, not deriving from the ears or the very middle of my head. The RS2s on the other hand created a very nice balance while not sacrificing anything from what I could tell. It sounded just as clear as the SR325s but with a more immersive feel. The differences were very minimal otherwise though.

And remember, if anyone has recommendations or critique PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! I'm very new to this and very open to your criticism as it's only for the better to improve myself!

 

[Lollan]

Next up: Ayreon - Computer Eyes, I chose this song because it has a repeating drum machine beat in the background and tons of high pitched guitar riffs and is extremely immersive. I listened to this song twice over on each headphone specifically with focus on the drum machine in the background the first go around to see if the highs interferred with it much and honestly could not detect any defect or difference in any of the headphones. I gave them all a second play to see if I would notice a generic difference as I did with the other songs and failed to detect anything here either. They all sounded wonderful to me!

 

[Sieg9198]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lollan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the reply and very informative might i add! This reminds me of whether or not someone prefer CMSS-3D on their X-Fi or not, honestly, which simulates a more "surround" experience while sacrificing some quality. Honestly, I'm a bit torn on that field, but I do find the "surround" experience more immersive, so it may receive my preference! And remember, if anyone has recommendations or critique PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! I'm very new to this and very open to your criticism as it's only for the better to improve myself!

I dont like the CMSS-3D myself, I dont think it sacrifice "some" quality only.

I usually play my tunes with bit-match on.

As for the little surround effect, I like it sometimes on some of my tunes too. I usually set it like this to prevent serious loss of quality.

CMSS-3D 10%-15%(nearly off, but has THAT little effect)
EAX Stone Hall -6.7db - -8.0db(I like this feeling the most

)