[jaywillin]

the ms2i that i had, are definitely "i", they were bought NOS as joseph mentioned. the is no "i" designation on the box, as trellus points out

 

[trellus]

   
I'm currently running Canford HD 480 and Plantronics Rig 500, both vented and closed versions. The Rig 500 is adding a light touch of bass compared with the HD480.
 
I actually worked out there were faults on both the HD 480s I bought second hand, and now my Yamaha amp is running them, (I thought the impedance was too high) so I'm listening to vinyl - James Last at the moment, trumpets are crisp and sharp.
 
Sorry - to characterise the bass... the HD 480 is coming out as "natural," to me. Rig 500 a light touch of added bass.

 
Afraid I have never heard HD 480's or Rig 500's so I can't compare. Hopefully someone on here can be more helpful.
 
I had to google the HD 480's, in fact, and it seems the Canford HD 480 are level-limited variants of the Sennheiser HD 480 MK II? 

 

[YtseJamer]

  I've been enjoying some guitar music of my own on the PS1k as of late. Amplifier - The Octopus, arguably the best double album in the last 20 years. They're a cult favorite underground rock band from the UK. This album was the band at their creative peak. I remember having this record on repeat both in house and in the car when it came out 5 years ago. Revisiting it now with Grado cans offers a fresh "hearing it for the first time again" experience. It is guitar effects driven rock and what I love the most about it is the clean guitar tonality with the quasi-Egyptian ethereal sound. Here's a taste of what I could find on youtube:
 


 

 
Amplifier is one of my favorite bands.
 
Oh and because of you I'm now listening to 'The Octopus' with my pair of 225e 

 

[joseph69]

 

  the ms2i that i had, are definitely "i", they were bought NOS as joseph mentioned. the is no "i" designation on the box, as trellus points out

I have the MS2i that @jaywillin sold recently, and the box doesn't indicate what variant, unfortunately, though I'm sure they are MS2i because jaywallin says they are. :

Thank guys…it was a long time ago that I had the MS2i so I wasn't sure if the box indicated (i) series…but I know I, as well as you an Jay have the (i) series because I also had seen the NOS listing for them, because I was tempted.

 

[krud484]

   
Amplifier is one of my favorite bands.
 
Oh and because of you I'm now listening to 'The Octopus' with my pair of 225e 

Right on!

The Amplifier website says they're working on the next album right now. Even though the hot streak they had cooled off with their last album, I'll continue to follow their output. Echo Street is still a nice epilogue to The Octopus.

 

[msknight]

   
Afraid I have never heard HD 480's or Rig 500's so I can't compare. Hopefully someone on here can be more helpful.
 
I had to google the HD 480's, in fact, and it seems the Canford HD 480 are level-limited variants of the Sennheiser HD 480 MK II? 

 
I don't think anyone on here will likely want to try the Rig 500. It's a low cost headset that goes from basic closed back stereo, to vented 7.1 and all sorts in between. Personally, I like the detail and that's what kicked me off in to doing a decent job of headphones.
 
You're spot on about the Canford HD 480.

 

[trellus]

   
I don't think anyone on here will likely want to try the Rig 500. It's a low cost headset that goes from basic closed back stereo, to vented 7.1 and all sorts in between. Personally, I like the detail and that's what kicked me off in to doing a decent job of headphones.
 
You're spot on about the Canford HD 480.

 
I found a Rig 500, which is the "noise isolating" version, is that the one you have? Or the 500E or 500HD?

 

[msknight]

   
I found a Rig 500, which is the "noise isolating" version, is that the one you have? Or the 500E or 500HD?

 
You can buy the parts. I have the E vented earcups - http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig500-ear-cups#rig-500-earcups-open - with a blue camo band, microphone and extension. The other versions seem to carry USB in-line boxes which are controlled by driver software. I'm willing to bet that those arrangements are akin to the Q Sound system.
 
...but I just have the vented earcups in straightforward stereo.

 

[trellus]

   
You can buy the parts. I have the E vented earcups - http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig500-ear-cups#rig-500-earcups-open - with a blue camo band, microphone and extension. The other versions seem to carry USB in-line boxes which are controlled by driver software. I'm willing to bet that those arrangements are akin to the Q Sound system.
 
...but I just have the vented earcups in straightforward stereo.

 
So you have the basic stereo Rig 500, but then you swapped out the closed cups (which is what the stereo ones comes with from what I can see, correct me if I'm wrong) and for the 500E vented cups, right?
 
Do the cups easily swap out, i.e., if you prefer the vented cups, but occasionally want isolation, do you just pop off the vented cups and put on the closed cups? 
 
Reason I'm asking is I might be able to do a brief comparison of the closed Rig 500 and MS2i if that is useful at all.

 

[trellus]

You can buy the parts. I have the E vented earcups - http://www.plantronics.com/us/product/rig500-ear-cups#rig-500-earcups-open - with a blue camo band, microphone and extension. The other versions seem to carry USB in-line boxes which are controlled by driver software. I'm willing to bet that those arrangements are akin to the Q Sound system.

...but I just have the vented earcups in straightforward stereo.

I managed to snag a pair of the base model RIG 500 which came only with the closed, noise-isolating cups.

If you have a couple of songs you want me to compare that I can play on Spotify (preferably) or YouTube, let me know and I'll give you some rough impressions of the differences.

I listened to some of my own music and noted a couple of things:

1. The 500 sounds thinner overall in sound. The MS2 has a notably weightier sound without losing detail.
2. Sometimes, though, when there is lower mid-bass, the 500 is noticeably boomer on those bass notes than the MS2i, though I think partially that's due to the reverb of the bass in the closed cups, so it may not be not sound as boomy with your ventilated cups.
3. Drums, cymbals, guitar strumming, piano, saxophone sounds more natural on MS2, a little more plasticky on RIG 500.
4. RIG 500 sounds to me to have a wider soundstage, though that makes sense given that gaming headphones really do need precise spatial imaging.
5. Vocals are more prominent on MS2.
6. Detail is better on MS2.

I was actually still surprised at the quite decent sound on the Plantronics. It was an enjoyable listen to me though I am spoiled by the more natural sound from the MS2i and I definitely felt the Alessandro were better.

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

I think Alessandro never specifies what Grado-generation their cans are on the box?
Anyway I still think it's rather confusing. The MS2e still have the 6.5 plug like the i-series, the box is the small one which are most associated with e-series but got introduced in the later phase of i-series.
Thankfully both the MS2i and the MS2e seems to be well loved by all. 

 

[msknight]

I managed to snag a pair of the base model RIG 500 which came only with the closed, noise-isolating cups.

...

I was actually still surprised at the quite decent sound on the Plantronics. It was an enjoyable listen to me though I am spoiled by the more natural sound from the MS2i and I definitely felt the Alessandro were better.
 

Wow, that was fast!!! I'm impressed. Apologies for the delay, I was sleeping.
 
Yes, the Plantronics woke me up to  headphones. I was surprised that headphones could sound that good for phones that cheap. The ones I used thirty years ago put me off phones over speakers... I guess things have changed and the quality of expensive phones back then, has dribbled through to more affordable phones in this day and age.
 
I actually started with the closed back and then, because the seller made a mess of things, Plantronics themselves stepped in and sorted me out with the vented, which I prefer over the closed. I then got some Canfords off e-bay... had to do some repair work, and learned about impedance ... the hard way ... but that's how I found I preferred open back, on-ear.
 
In the mean time, yesterday, another twist of fate and a discussion with a supplier, saw me bag a pair of Musical Fidelity MF-100 on-ear. The seller said they were discontinued as they cost more to produce than the manufacturer could sell them for. Don't know whether to believe them, but time will tell when they get here. Reviews on Amazon are reasonably strong. (I get further with a supplier when talking reasonably when things go wrong, rather than screaming down the phone and calling them names.) I mean... heck... for free I'm not complaining.
 
But... more importantly... back to Grado... what you've detailed about the MS2 is exactly what I need. The question is now... whether to go with the MS2 or, because I read that they were a little bassy, to go with a different model.

 

[joseph69]

  I think Alessandro never specifies what Grado-generation their cans are on the box?
Anyway I still think it's rather confusing. The MS2e still have the 6.5 plug like the i-series, the box is the small one which are most associated with e-series but got introduced in the later phase of i-series.
Thankfully both the MS2i and the MS2e seems to be well loved by all. 

Its strange that the MS2e are terminated with a 1/4" jack?

 

[msknight]

So this is becoming a fight between the 225, the 325 and the MS2.

 

[trellus]

  Its strange that the MS2e are terminated with a 1/4" jack?

 
I kind of like it.... it's the one pair of cans I have that I don't need to use a 1/4" adapter with my headphone amps and I usually use my open cans at my desk with such a headphone amp... of course, I do have some portable amps with 3.5mm mini-jacks, but I have a very nice Sennheiser 1/4" to 1/8" short little adapter that also provides strain relief, and so on the occasion I find I want to plug my MS2 into my phone or one of the portables, I have that in the case with the MS2.