Bowls vs. Flats with reason.

[asebastian0]

I simply cannot listen with bowls, even with amplification. While I can appreciate the extra detail and tighter bass it does not sound as true to my ears when I listen with bowls. The instruments are too small and whats worse the highs are far too shrill and I become fatigued after minutes, seconds even! Have tried everything including c-pads but the flats are the only thing that comes close to my ideal. Great mids, strong bass (content), and - for me - perfect resolution (or at least good enough) and detail in the highs.

 

[kramer5150]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickknutson /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does everyone like on the HF-1's? I've currently got flats and they sound muffled and Darth Beyer-ish like. If I'm looking for detail, should I invest in some bowls?

IMHO the HF1 sound best with bowls

 

[nickknutson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif IMHO the HF1 sound best with bowls

Do bowls have a good balance of detail and bass?

 

[DobsOnly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickknutson /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does everyone like on the HF-1's? I've currently got flats and they sound muffled and Darth Beyer-ish like. If I'm looking for detail, should I invest in some bowls?

I've only tried bowls and reverse bowls but I like the bowls much better with my HF-1's. The slight improvement in bass extension is not worth the change in areas that others have previously mentioned. The already small (Grado) headstage becomes even more compressed sounding.

 

[jlingo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinp6301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif slightly off topic, does the bagel bowls for the GS1000 fit the other grado models. I would love to try it out

The bagel bowls(SuperBowls) fit RS-1. Actually if you take off the bowls of GS1000 bare naked, construction wise essentially is very similar to RS-1 except for the outer big mushroom design. That's the impression I'm getting by looking at them. But sonic wise is way different. GS1000 is much superior, more refined more controlled. I guess GS1000 is using a completely different driver compared to RS-1

 

[SysteX]

I have used the bowls with my MS2is ever since I got them (about 5 months ago)--I bought flats before the headphones even arrived, but the first time I tried them, they were horribly uncomfortable. Reading through this thread made me want to try out the flats again. Low and behold, they're pretty comfortable now! Time to listen through all my music to decide which I like better (music rediscovery is such a fun thing

)

Thanks for the motivation to try them out!

 

[F1GTR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickknutson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do bowls have a good balance of detail and bass?

With the HF-1 specifically, yes they do.

From my past experience with the HF-1's I always preferred the bowl pads.

 

[Rav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ingo /img/forum/go_quote.gif reversed bowls. Not only are they comfortable, they seem to add a bit of bass over using the bowls regular style without sacrificing any detail.

You must have much different ears to me, since reversed bowls feel really horrible on my head, and non reversed bowls are heaven. Good job i like the sound of stock bowls too

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kramer5150 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bowls with warm amplification for me. The added separation, image and "air" around notes is my preference. Bass tones with bowls have more air and texture around them... as opposed to flats which just give a massive, heavy, texture-less thud.

That's actually a very good description and potential solution, on paper. I assume by "warm amplification" you mean tubes? If so, tubes do to bass what you describe flats to be doing, no? Clean solid state with flats would have air and texture around bass notes, and bowls would be too shrill. So it's really six of one...

I find the bowls have merits regarding imaging and detail, but I can't deal with the metallic edge they give to ALL vocals. It sounds like vocalists have voice boxes made of aluminum foil.

 

[RollsDownWindowsManually]

I just got some flats for my MS2's and they do make a pretty big difference in bass power....it's substantial.

Unfortunately they really muddy up the mids and highs.....it's remarkable how much the pads can change the sound of the headphones. Flats on the MS2's sound like SR-60s with super bass. Unfortunately the tradeoff with the highs is just not worth it to me. I need some snap in my treble, so I think I will stick with the bowls for most normal listening.

 

[J-Pak]

I prefer bowls on the HF-1.

 

[ackrmann]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinp6301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif slightly off topic, does the bagel bowls for the GS1000 fit the other grado models. I would love to try it out

The answer to this is "yes". I took the bagels off my GS1000's and tried them on my SR125's, just for fun. They fit fine. As for the sound...it's interesting. It seemed to be very sensitive to exact placement on the head. I was able to adjust them in such a way to get a rewarding sound. Experiment if you can.

Also note: it works the other way around, too. The bowls from the 125's fit fine on the GS1000's, and imparts quite a different sound to them as well.