[Ilomaenkimi]

A few comments:
1. With RS-1x, the listener is the prime beneficiary of necessary headphone break-in;
2. 18 hours is nowhere close to the time required by RS-1x for effective break-in: think 200 hours with music;
3. Replace the L-cushions with F-cushions. I could not stand the cupped, hollow, screechy sound (especially on saxophone) from the Ls. I have been a happy user of Fs for almost 1-1/2 years. They provide for me sonic impact, great imaging, wide soundstage…

Personally i think that i don't believe break-in, ears can "break-in" to the new sound, not the headphone.
If headphone would require break-in, it's sound would change endlessly?

My experiences with RS2x tells me that replacing L-pads to F-pads ruins RS2x almost totally; soundstage "dies"; airiness, size, 3D imaging, all gone. It collapses. Sound is very repressed with F-pads.
Also F-pads softens the sound too much, vitality suffers. Bass gets muddy and that fine articulation suffers.

Good points? Sibilance relaxes a bit, that is a good thing. Nothin else good i did not found of that pad rolling.

If person likes sound with F-pads i recommend Hemps.
Again: at Grado they know what they are doing, they put "right" pads for you at the factory.

 

[Plautus001]

Personally i think that i don't believe break-in, ears can "break-in" to the new sound, not the headphone.
If headphone would require break-in, it's sound would change endlessly?

My experiences with RS2x tells me that replacing L-pads to F-pads ruins RS2x almost totally; soundstage "dies"; airiness, size, 3D imaging, all gone. It collapses. Sound is very repressed with F-pads.
Also F-pads softens the sound too much, vitality suffers. Bass gets muddy and that fine articulation suffers.

Good points? Sibilance relaxes a bit, that is a good thing. Nothin else good i did not found of that pad rolling.

If person likes sound with F-pads i recommend Hemps.
Again: at Grado they know what they are doing, they put "right" pads for you at the factory.

90% agree, but I really do believe in break in for headphones and speakers.

I have tested new speakers next to a demo pair and bass was an easy difference to hear.

 

[Gippy]

Basically, I find the timbre of the RS1x so far off the mark that I don’t believe they could ever work for me.

It's not just you. I also felt the RS1x's timbre sounded off in a direct comparison against the rest of the x-series line (SR60x to GS3000x). All of the headphones were being fed into the same amp, and the RS1x was the only one that made me do a double take and wonder if something was wrong with it. I would take the SR80x over it regardless of price; it was just that bad to me. It's probably due to the fact that just like the contentious RS1e, the RS1x has a 50mm driver, which was originally designed for the larger cups, shoved into a smaller cup.

Plenty of people in here love the RS1x though so that's cool. It's just that I'd never recommend a blind purchase of it, even to Grado fans, and it absolutely needs to be auditioned first so that you know you're OK with its sound.

 

[Davidzak64]

How different is the RS1x from the RS1e? The e is perfect for what I use it for (Acoustic guitars) but everyone seems to hate on it.

I would like to know the difference also.

 

[ESL-1]

I've seen that site before, but I'm not sure where they source their components. Is it B-stock from whatever production run Grado takes its drivers from? Are they replicas? Are they the exact same parts as Grado parts?

The only drivers that are Grado are Grados. Grado does not buy drivers from a source and just plop them in to the cups. The tuning and modification of each model’s driver is an integral part of the overall design.

 

[Kerouac]

So, I've been away for a while, as quite some years ago I started listening mainly with IEMs.

Sometimes I still listened with my desktop set-up, but recently I picked up an AK ACRO CA1000 which made it possible to listen with headphones all around the house. And at that point my 3 headphones also seriously started to fight for attention again...


To my ears the good ol' PS500 (original) still came out on top of that => some wonderful synergy!


Let's just say that after all these years there's still a 'Whole Lotta Love' going on


Happy listening to y'all and good to be back in this amazing thread!

 

[rocketron]

The only drivers that are Grado are Grados. Grado does not buy drivers from a source and just plop them in to the cups. The tuning and modification of each model’s driver is an integral part of the overall design.

Totally agree that Grado tune the drivers they buy for each headphone.
They do this by differing materials ,air volume and damping.
They don’t manufacture the drivers same as 95% of other headphone companies don’t.

I wouldn’t expect them too considering the size of Grado as a company.

I have used several of the drivers available from that company and never had any problems.
Only thing is the shipping cost can be high.

I’m not a complete Grado fanatic but do very much appreciate their take on sound and love the fact that most of there models are light weight.
My only gripe is as always the cable but others love it.

Case in point yesterday I was using a set of Grado ish headphones completely happy from a £25.00 ddhifi dongle.
Utter bliss being able to walk around the house with a lovely warm sound and not have to worry about the weight of them.

Today same headphones fed from the XLR outputs of a Chord TT2.
Lovely.
Couldn’t do that with a standard Grado because of the cable.

As always others needs and wants will be different.
It’s about enjoying your music however don’t be afraid of experimenting making your own Grado ish headphones.

It’s far cheaper than buying the latest and greatest kilo buck flavour of the month stuff from other companies and you never know it might be come enjoyable?

Remember companies like Dan Clark and Torino labs started by modding and playing around with headphones like Grado.
Look we’re they are now.

One more big shout for that little ddhifi dongle adapter thing.

 

[shlabotnik]

It's not just you. I also felt the RS1x's timbre sounded off in a direct comparison against the rest of the x-series line (SR60x to GS3000x). All of the headphones were being fed into the same amp, and the RS1x was the only one that made me do a double take and wonder if something was wrong with it. I would take the SR80x over it regardless of price; it was just that bad to me. It's probably due to the fact that just like the contentious RS1e, the RS1x has a 50mm driver, which was originally designed for the larger cups, shoved into a smaller cup.

Plenty of people in here love the RS1x though so that's cool. It's just that I'd never recommend a blind purchase of it, even to Grado fans, and it absolutely needs to be auditioned first so that you know you're OK with its sound.

Thank you for this. I also purchased the RS1e last month from a dealer who still had one left. It, too, sounded odd to me but I never gave it a fair listen because the driver was rattling around in the left ear cup so I returned it right off. I’m not sure I’m ready (financially) to climb the ladder to the GS series, but there is a dealer with a 60-day return policy who still has a GS1000e. It is tempting.

 

[Spyronight]

Thank you for this. I also purchased the RS1e last month from a dealer who still had one left. It, too, sounded odd to me but I never gave it a fair listen because the driver was rattling around in the left ear cup so I returned it right off. I’m not sure I’m ready (financially) to climb the ladder to the GS series, but there is a dealer with a 60-day return policy who still has a GS1000e. It is tempting.

Any chance the RS1e you had had a black headband? Those are the troublesome ones. They apparently fixed all that was wrong with them on the ones with the brown headband which is the one I have.

 

[shlabotnik]

Any chance the RS1e you had had a black headband? Those are the troublesome ones. They apparently fixed all that was wrong with them on the ones with the brown headband which is the one I have.

It had the brown headband (which I quite liked).

 

[TheMiddleSky]

It's not just you. I also felt the RS1x's timbre sounded off in a direct comparison against the rest of the x-series line (SR60x to GS3000x). All of the headphones were being fed into the same amp, and the RS1x was the only one that made me do a double take and wonder if something was wrong with it. I would take the SR80x over it regardless of price; it was just that bad to me. It's probably due to the fact that just like the contentious RS1e, the RS1x has a 50mm driver, which was originally designed for the larger cups, shoved into a smaller cup.

Plenty of people in here love the RS1x though so that's cool. It's just that I'd never recommend a blind purchase of it, even to Grado fans, and it absolutely needs to be auditioned first so that you know you're OK with its sound.

I would be at your opposite side haha. Hard to enjoy any Grados these days, include most of X series ( I guess my preference simply change). However, I have soft spot with RS1x, and can easily enjoy it. Also, GS3000x hold the position as my best version of Grado headphone

 

[movinIron]

The only drivers that are Grado are Grados. Grado does not buy drivers from a source and just plop them in to the cups. The tuning and modification of each model’s driver is an integral part of the overall design.

The drivers SR80 - GS3000 are produced by a guy named Mark in upstate New York. The design/development is done by John Grado.
These are Grado drivers!

 

[monousa]

The drivers SR80 - GS3000 are produced by a guy named Mark in upstate New York. The design/development is done by John Grado.
These are Grado drivers!

I’ve bought a couple headphones from the site. Excellent.

 

[goldwerger]

Hi everyone,

I shared in the review below the Grado GS3000x design mods I made to transform them into very comfortable headphones . Sharing here in case anyone may benefit this:

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/authors/goldwerger.546676/reviews

 

[jonathan c]

Grado GH2 has been due playtime …. so, with Violectric HPA V281 ….

A great pairing! …. I wonder if Grado could bring out an all-cocobolo wood version of RS-1x (with an appropriately tuned 50mm driver) ….