[Boss429]

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What tube amp?

 
Little Dot MK II

 

[detoxguy]

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Best match still the MAD Ear+ HD with a good NOS 5751

+1
 
I own the Lyr, LD1+, and the MAD Ear + HD
 
With my RS1i my go to will always be the MAD, hands down the best pairing I've ever heard. It doesn't have the power to drive my HE500's (god I wish it did) and the LD1+ is good enough that I keep it for my desktop rig but the MAD is audio bliss with Grados. I realize I sound like a broken record on this but I get all tingly when I think about how good this combination is. When I was researching an amp to pair with my Grados I kept coming across people like MacedonianHero etc. singing the praises of Dr. Peppard's amps and I'm so glad I listened. 

 

[Gwarmi]

 For anyone looking at a Fiio E17 but does not mind hanging out and spending $399USD for something a lot nicer then this
 unit should be very good for a USB powered DAC / Portable Amp
 
 Furutech ADL Stride - took a happy snap this morning at my local audio store - might be able to demo one down the
 track, the amp section is based on the previous ADL Cruise which was in my opinion one of the best Grado matches
 this side of a Ray Samuels P-51 - but this thing adds a 24/96 Wolfson 8716 DAC - should be considerably nicer than
 the E17, still made in Japan too which is surprising given the reasonable price.
 
 
 

 

[shimmer n roar]

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 It sure does! I've noticed that it really has ramped up the pace of late - hard to say as for the split between counter and i
 internet sales, simply because Melbourne is still an emerging market I believe in terms of beginner Head-Fiers - the best sign
 that suggests this occurence - AT-M50's appear to be everywhere!
 
 I can still recall getting mine years ago and receiving ghostly stares on the tram or train - now the humble the Shure 440/840 and
 M50 are common sightings on the morning commute - guess what this really means (especially in relation to Grado goodness)
 is that  not all of those new Head-Fiers will go on to grow their headphone curiosity but a lot of them will - they will ask themselves '
 These are ok, but what else is out there?'
 
 This is going to translate into good counter sales as these first time folks find that they want a venue who allows them to
 demo the more expensive gear. Just a shame that the only guy who holds Grado in Australia for the time being does not offer
 demos - Melburnians have speculated as to why over the years but he remains firm - no demos.
 
 The biggest difference to my ears between the RS1 and the PS1000 (or any can I've heard for that matter) is best illustrated
 with a bit of a graph called the The Fletcher–Munson curves
 
Tyll Hertsen delved into this area of science when explaining how the PS1000 sounds absolutely great at low volume with no
 apparent loss in detail and separation - I discovered this almost immediately when I got my pair, they seemed to respond to
 volume knob twiddling quite unlike any other set of cans I'd ever owned before - mids on some recordings could be moved
 closer or further back simply by increasing or decreasing the volume - now the foreground and background instrument
 volume will also change but it does not sound quite as linear as with the RS1i or any other can like let's say the Audeze range
 or even the HD800 which tend to exhibit a more constant volume
 
 
 
 

 

 


 
 
 
"The first research on the topic of how the ear hears different frequencies at different levels was conducted by Fletcher and Munson in 1933. In 1937 they created the first equal-loudness curves.^[2] Until recently, it was common to see the term 'Fletcher–Munson' used to refer to equal-loudness contours generally, even though a re-determination was carried out by Robinson and Dadson in 1956 , which became the basis for an ISO 226 standard.
 

 
yep, i'm familiar with the fletcher-munson curve and the wikipedia entry you're quoting, as well as tyll hertsen's article on the GS1000 and PS1000.

high praise indeed from someone who is not a fan of the grado sound and john grado's "tuned by ear" approach to making headphones.
 
the ps1000 is more than twice the price of the rs1i and what i'm trying to find out from people who have heard both phones, is whether there is a clear step-up in sound quality in a technical sense. i appreciate that the ps1000 is described as majestic due to its larger soundstage, but is it more resolving, does it have noticeably superior detail retrieval, imaging and clarity?

 

[our martin]

http://www.hifizine.com/2012/03/fostex-hp-a3-dac-and-headphone-amp/ A couple of headphone amp/dac combos you might want to take a look at iburdeinick..http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/HP-A8.shtml Also the audio lab m-dac

http://www.head-fi.org/t/527095/new-audiolab-dac/420 Sabre 32 dac chip

 

[iscorpio71]

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http://www.hifizine.com/2012/03/fostex-hp-a3-dac-and-headphone-amp/ A couple of headphone amp/dac combos you might want to take a look at iburdeinick..http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/products/HP-A8.shtml Also the audio lab m-dac

http://www.head-fi.org/t/527095/new-audiolab-dac/420 Sabre 32 dac chip

Thanks Martin ! for throwing more options to make the decision easier

 

[stacker45]

Quote:

 
yep, i'm familiar with the fletcher-munson curve and the wikipedia entry you're quoting, as well as tyll hertsen's article on the GS1000 and PS1000.

high praise indeed from someone who is not a fan of the grado sound and john grado's "tuned by ear" approach to making headphones.
 
the ps1000 is more than twice the price of the rs1i and what i'm trying to find out from people who have heard both phones, is whether there is a clear step-up in sound quality in a technical sense. i appreciate that the ps1000 is described as majestic due to its larger soundstage, but is it more resolving, does it have noticeably superior detail retrieval, imaging and clarity?

 
I have heard both and in my opinion,they are two very different sounding headphones,the PS-1000's bass goes deeper,the soundstage is wider and deeper,there's more air around the intruments and a little more extension in the highs,the mids are similar altough the RS1i are a bit more forward.so to answer your question,yes,the 1000 do retrieve more detail from a recording. 

 

[our martin]

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Thanks Martin ! for throwing more options to make the decision easier

So have you finally made a decision..I think the way to go would be a good dac and the woo audio wa6 but that's just my opinion..The dac/headphone amp combo would be good if you went for a good one but still not my first choice..I have got the adl gt40 which is good headphone amp/dac combo but still i am going for the wa6 to improve the sound with my hd800s and i will also be getting the crystal piccolino headphone cable to just make sure! The source will now be a naim unitiqute and the adl gt40 will be used for something else like a laptop with ulimate ears triple fi10 p.s does anyone know what would be the best tubes to get for the wa6?

 

[Focker]

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Nice review Focker. Sounds like there really something special. 
 
Even with all that, I think I still might go with the 325is again since I now have a tube amp and dont see myself keeping the solid state.

Yeah, 325s I would definitly use tubes...I can honestly see why some people consider them too bright if they're using SS amps...with tubes they sound fantastic, though

 

[Focker]

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Well, I had to sell them because I needed the cash at the moment to pay for a flight (a few weeks ago). I don't anymore and I'm seriously thinking about buying some Grados now, even though I have technically better headphones. 
 
I live in Europe, close enough.  

Makes sense   And yep, I totally understand where you're coming from...seems like a lot of people who end up finding something that like better still end up keeping a pair of the less expensive Grados around. I'm not sure I could ever see myself having headphones out the rear like a lot of head-fi'ers have, but I do prefer having a few good pairs around as opposed to just one pair.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

 
yep, i'm familiar with the fletcher-munson curve and the wikipedia entry you're quoting, as well as tyll hertsen's article on the GS1000 and PS1000.

high praise indeed from someone who is not a fan of the grado sound and john grado's "tuned by ear" approach to making headphones.
 
the ps1000 is more than twice the price of the rs1i and what i'm trying to find out from people who have heard both phones, is whether there is a clear step-up in sound quality in a technical sense. i appreciate that the ps1000 is described as majestic due to its larger soundstage, but is it more resolving, does it have noticeably superior detail retrieval, imaging and clarity?

 
 It certainly does shimmer - and this has been personally tested with some very good reference recordings namely some Chesky label 'Best Ofs' and other
 individual artists like Kenny Rankin who have some beautiful recordings out there.
 
 Probably mentioned it a few times though - the biggest issue with any prospective PS1000 is this - accepting and living with the reality that the
 PS1000 will simply never gel with certain high quality recordings due to what occurred in the mastering studio.
 
 It appears totally natural - a Grado rocker spots a pair of PS1000's at a show and whips out the USB stick filled with 24/96 FLAC Metallica tracks
 - they sit down and experience a world of audio disappointment (tried most of their recordings with the PS1000 and it's just a distant, flat affair)
 
 I'm sure 'Our Martin' can chime in too as he has the PS1000 and HD800 - the PS1K is more or less in that league of performance using traditional
 Grado craftsmanship - it does not feature fancy plastics or a custom ring driver but the sheer resolution that John has extracted from the PS1000 driver
 is extraordinary - the 'black art' lies in trying to find recordings that suit it's presentation - when you do, have a good listen and then switch back to
 the RS1i.
 
 That's when the shock wave appears - the RS1i is truly defeated on every level of crtieria with the right recording.
 
 One more thing you'll realise during the switch - how beautifully coloured the RS1i is - we all love it for that in the first place, but when your ears
 make the sudden switch - you realise how natural the PS1000 sounds - John designed this one to just sound like an invisible device between
 you and the music.

 

[Focker]

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 It certainly does shimmer - and this has been personally tested with some very good reference recordings namely some Chesky label 'Best Ofs' and other
 individual artists like Kenny Rankin who have some beautiful recordings out there.
 
 Probably mentioned it a few times though - the biggest issue with any prospective PS1000 is this - accepting and living with the reality that the
 PS1000 will simply never gel with certain high quality recordings due to what occurred in the mastering studio.
 
 It appears totally natural - a Grado rocker spots a pair of PS1000's at a show and whips out the USB stick filled with 24/96 FLAC Metallica tracks
 - they sit down and experience a world of audio disappointment (tried most of their recordings with the PS1000 and it's just a distant, flat affair)
 
 I'm sure 'Our Martin' can chime in too as he has the PS1000 and HD800 - the PS1K is more or less in that league of performance using traditional
 Grado craftsmanship - it does not feature fancy plastics or a custom ring driver but the sheer resolution that John has extracted from the PS1000 driver
 is extraordinary - the 'black art' lies in trying to find recordings that suit it's presentation - when you do, have a good listen and then switch back to
 the RS1i.
 
 That's when the shock wave appears - the RS1i is truly defeated on every level of crtieria with the right recording.
 
 One more thing you'll realise during the switch - how beautifully coloured the RS1i is - we all love it for that in the first place, but when your ears
 make the sudden switch - you realise how natural the PS1000 sounds - John designed this one to just sound like an invisible device between
 you and the music.

Dammit Gwarmi, I need to stop reading your descriptions of the PS1ks...it's like music to my ears, and that's not good for my wallet!!!!! lol

 

[iscorpio71]

Quote:

So have you finally made a decision..I think the way to go would be a good dac and the woo audio wa6 but that's just my opinion..The dac/headphone amp combo would be good if you went for a good one but still not my first choice..I have got the adl gt40 which is good headphone amp/dac combo but still i am going for the wa6 to improve the sound with my hd800s and i will also be getting the crystal piccolino headphone cable to just make sure! The source will now be a naim unitiqute and the adl gt40 will be used for something else like a laptop with ulimate ears triple fi10 p.s does anyone know what would be the best tubes to get for the wa6?

Hi, no I have not decided yet... I think it's going to take me a while in the mean time let the RS1i Burn

 

[our martin]

Quote:

Hi, no I have not decided yet... I think it's going to take me a while in the mean time let the RS1i Burn

Good to see that you are not rushing in and buying anything,the more time you take the better the end result will be and it's quite difficult finding the right dac i would also check steve guttenberg out..http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/ The wadia dac looks good..http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/dacs

 

[Focker]

I'm not saying this is unique to the PS500s (or Grados in general, for that matter), but I'm having a BLAST today. I realized that my iPhone doesn't QUITE allow for proper seating of the 1/8" headphone jack, so I took off the cover and plugged in my 500s. I am trying a new app called "TuneIn Radio", which is probably just new to me and not many of you. A friend of mine told me about a new internet station called "TheRadioStation.org", so I added that to the list. I've always enjoyed classic rock but haven't spent quite as much time really delving into it as I'd like. Well, I have to say, with just the Iphone alone and this app, the music sounds GREAT! My iPhone clearly has a more potent headphone jack than my iPod does, so while I usually prefer an amp with the iPod, connecting the PS500s directly to the iPhone sounds pretty good! This is the most enjoyment I've gotten out of an internet radio station yet...but I plan to keep listening to other stuff, too...gotta love modern technology!