[qua2k]

The knock off G-Cushs don't do a thing for me. Much like the Shipibo pads, I think they are just too far from the drivers.

After one run through my test list, the stock pads sounded Much better.

This is exactly my conclusion out of all of the pad rolling I have done. It is definitely distance away from the driver. Congrats on the Hemp! Original cable, black stitching my preferred version Happy listening.

 

[jonathan c]

First thoughts: This RA-1 is incredible. It may have preceded the RS-1x by a decade and a half or more but it sounds tailor-made for the RS-1x. I have been alternating between RA-1 and the Violectric V200 on the RS-1x on jazz tracks that I know well. With the RA-1: more air, clarity, depth, hall size, reverberation AND low-level detail! There is a background quietude at a deeper level here - no ‘AC->DC conversion “haze”’ with battery power. The RS-1x bass response seems extended or, if down a few dB at 50 Hz, comes through more clearly & forcefully due to background inertness & silence. It will be a while before I pair the other Grados with RA-1. There is too much honest-to-God music here / now to pass up!

 

[majo123]

I'd personally avoid the adapters that have a TRS or TRRRS on one side unless the unit is resting on a desk; the weight of the adapter and subsequent connector will eventually screw up the springiness of the contacts on whatever jack you're plugging them into. The other ones look very nice though.

There actually not very heavy more bulk than weight and if the female and male are made well nice tight fit then you shouldn't really have issues...in all my life I have only ever had one 3.5 mm springy contact go on me and I have used many daps many adapters and it was the poor quality female in the dap ...I have one pair of grado at the moment where the 3.5mm Is not good slightly smaller than the rest ...these particular adapters are well made and very light I use there connectors a lot , the only real issue is bulk but even that is more eye sore and not pocketable , but neither is a 4.4.

 

[majo123]

Nice, thanks for sharing your impressions. I was very curious after @majo123 had the strange experience of shorted grounds.


You must have the older version with TTVJ pads. Grados flat pads are soft, but I don't like them quite as much.

I did a better video showing the headphones from top to bottom , all along the wire Y split to cut off connector and where the inner cores protrude out of outer insulation just to show no possible insulation damage on inner cores from my work ...I sent it to grado who still insist it's impossible , we who do this type of work for a living know it is extremely unlikely! But not impossible... we all know in the industry you can trap wires in any connector /moulding (maybe wires in Y split when moulding pressed together) breaking insulation creating a short , bare wires with no insulation inside outer would also cause a short but again what are the chances??? .. I still need to double check my meter against another but busy schedule means I just don't have time at the moment... honestly though it's never done this and I tried on a iem cable to recreate and nothing , no shorting ....
So I have a dilemma , they sound great on 3.5 mm and if another meter also shows continuity between all 4 blue wires then the only way im going to find it is replace the whole wire .. grado are not acknowledging any warranty on this which if it is after another meter check the same I find pretty bad ....If it is my meter I will obviously hold my hands up and to grado too but as it stands I'm not so certain it is .

 

[Knee Deep In Epoxy]

I did the deed over the weekend; I reterminated my RS1x with an XLR balanced connector. Since I didn't change the cabling, this was a good way to listen to the difference that balanced brings vs. single ended.

As some folks have said, this was relatively easy to do, and only took about half hour total - and for perspective, my soldering skills are pretty basic. You must use a multimeter to determine which wires should be soldered where though, so that you don't blow your amp or headphones. The most complicated part was that Grado had to make things difficult by using 4 identical blue wires - two per channel. Mine measured 40 ohms when wired correctly.

FWIW, even just a soldered termination needs break-in time. I didn't expect this. In my initial listening, I heard a lot of glare, minimal bass, and simply could not hear details that are expected in my audiophile reference song list. The sound improved after about 10 hours in, but until then I had some panicked "OMG - what have I done???" moments.

TL;DR: balanced improves everything that the RS1x is already good at and especially mitigates its weakness. Specifically, the RS1x was already open, textured, and layered, but with XLR, these traits stuck out all the more. The soundstage didn't necessarily open up, but the images became more stark within the layers. I would chalk this up to higher resolution. If you appreciate these traits like I do, this will put quite the smile on your face.

As an example, Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is one of my reference songs. I have heard it more times than I can could count, but I had never heard Stevie Nicks faintly humming the song's melody at about 12 seconds in. Nor have I heard Mick Fleetwood's drums have as much texture as they now have.

I didn't hear any difference in tonality.

Bass definitely improved. This had been the RS1x's biggest weakness. I was actually able to bump up the bass via EQ another 2 decibles - which made a meaningful difference. I now don't feel like I am missing anything across most genres of music. This probably still isn't the best headphone for Synthwave or Downtempo Electronica, but the lack of bass no longer stands out (e.g., Thievery Corporation sounds fantastic). But the RS1x survived torture tracks such as Claptone's No Eyes. And I was able to hear sustained sub bass on tracks such as Sonique's It Feels So Good (at 1:36), or Mesa from the Bladerunner 2049 soundtrack. Previously all I got was distortion without actually getting the sub bass. Bass impact was also improved - e.g., the drums at the beginning of Joy Division's Atmosphere have never sounded more jarring.

My experience with balanced amplification is that you get the effect of greater volume, but without the sound getting louder. This allows me to hear deeper into the music. The only downside with the RS1x is that I prefer a more distant presentation, but now the perspective sounds a bit physically closer to the performance.

If you already have a balanced amp, I highly recommend this mod. You can always use an inexpensive adapter to plug into single ended sources. In terms of ROI, this was $12 (from Amazon) very well spent. I don't think I have ever heard this much sonic improvement for such little money.

I am still tempted to have a 3.5mm jack installed on each headphone so that I can use my aftermarket XLR cables. My experience is that with higher end cables (more complex geometry, better metal such as UP OCC/single crystal copper, etc.) you get even more of a boost in soundstaging, imaging, layering, and textures. But for now I will just enjoy the boost I am getting...

Thanks for sharing. I'm curious now.

Wonder whether it would make sense to terminate to a balanced 3.5mm jack?

Would that mean it could be used both balanced (e.g. with a 3.5mm to 4.4 / XLR adapter), or single ended if the amp lacks balanced output?

 

[majo123]

Thanks for sharing. I'm curious now.

Wonder whether it would make sense to terminate to a balanced 3.5mm jack?

Would that mean it could be used both balanced (e.g. with a 3.5mm to 4.4 / XLR adapter), or single ended if the amp lacks balanced output?

Yes with the right adapter...3.5 mm share ground anyway it's the other way round that can be a danger i.e balanced need seperate ground.

 

[TheRealDz]

First thoughts: This RA-1 is incredible. It may have preceded the RS-1x by a decade and a half or more but it sounds tailor-made for the RS-1x. I have been alternating between RA-1 and the Violectric V200 on the RS-1x on jazz tracks that I know well. With the RA-1: more air, clarity, depth, hall size, reverberation AND low-level detail! There is a background quietude at a deeper level here - no ‘AC->DC conversion “haze”’ with battery power. The RS-1x bass response seems extended or, if down a few dB at 50 Hz, comes through more clearly & forcefully due to background inertness & silence. It will be a while before I pair the other Grados with RA-1. There is too much honest-to-God music here / now to pass up!

I would imagine that due to its simplicity, the amp should be pretty easy to duplicate as a DIY project. Has anyone ever seen anything like that?

 

[jonathan c]

I would imagine that due to its simplicity, the amp should be pretty easy to duplicate as a DIY project. Has anyone ever seen anything like that?

I have seen on Aliexpress etc circuit boards based on (copied from) the RA-1, chassis available separately…

 

[Stevko]

Mmm, should I buy it?

https://earmen.com/index.php/products/earmen-angel

 

[carboncopy]

I have seen on Aliexpress etc circuit boards based on (copied from) the RA-1, chassis available separately…

And none of the copies sound remotely like the original. Magic, i know, but that's my experience.

 

[dynavit]

I own the earman TR and can recommand it especially here in the Grado thread. It has a very analog sound, less sharp than some of the ifis. Can't find any mistakes. Plug it in and play my music. Prefer it with the GH4 and the 3000.
Only the very old RS1 matches best with RA1, as others quoted too. Don't know how RA1 does it - I mean, when you look inside, it looks like the biggest crap. But....

 

[carboncopy]

I own the earman TR and can recommand it especially here in the Grado thread. It has a very analog sound, less sharp than some of the ifis. Can't find any mistakes. Plug it in and play my music. Prefer it with the GH4 and the 3000.
Only the very old RS1 matches best with RA1, as others quoted too. Don't know how RA1 does it - I mean, when you look inside, it looks like the biggest crap. But....

We have to disagree on the compatibility. I had an RS1 Classic too, but the best match so far for the RA1 is the GS3000e to my ears. HEMP for example no good at all. HP2i was also nothing special. GS1000i was okay. The RS1 Classic was indeed very good, the second best match.

 

[qua2k]

Mmm, should I buy it?

https://earmen.com/index.php/products/earmen-angel

An Angel must have read my post a few pages back, haha. This is exactly what I was looking for last year.... but I love my C9 too much. How much is the Angel?

 

[majo123]

An Angel must have read my post a few pages back, haha. This is exactly what I was looking for last year.... but I love my C9 too much. How much is the Angel?

Tr amp balanced..

 

[dynavit]

TR amp balanced ? No, chinch in or USB (and any digital signal is singleended only)

@carboncopy : My GS3000e has a balanced cable and I prefer it on my big system with Paltauf ESD and DAC.