[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhatfield /img/forum/go_quote.gif In five years, typical burn-in time for a pair of high end phones will take longer then an average human's lifespan. Sure, the purchaser won't get to reap the rewards, but his grandchildren will thank him for the tight bass and relaxed treble extension.

I'd say that a ten year old headphone that was never used would sound different from a new pair of same, simply because of aging, temperature variations, humidity, dust, etc. It will NOT be because you let them run in for 120 months. A few days of listening will do about all it's going to do as far as break-in goes.

I mean, let's be realistic. If break-in did not occur before 400 hours of listening had elapsed, what's to stop it from breaking in indefinitely, with the risk of you never knowing what the 'phones real 'sound' is? Horrors!

Extended break-in period is just for folks trying to convince themselves that it might sound good after all.

 

[Gradofan2]

I'm still amazed at the inconsistent, disparate views of the GS-1000's. It doesn't seem possible, unless some are not listening to phones that have been fully burnt in, or with sources / amps that don't mate well - not all do.

I found them to have refined detail, and to be very airy, with a great soundstage. They were not at all harsh, or sibilant - not even close - especially compared to the other Grados.

And they did sound, perhaps, a little better than my RS-1's... when... I pressed the front edges of their housing close to my ears - which improves their bass, and gives them a more forward, less distant sound - more like the RS-1's.

But... I thought they fit a little too loosely, and I didn't want to press them closer to my ears to achieve the sound I liked. Didn't try them with the smaller bowl pads before I gave up on them - probably should have.

But... I'm still amazed at the disparate views - no other phones seem to elicit such totally disparate views (that is, they generally agree that a pair of phones sound brighter, or darker - which they may not like - but, generally they agree that they're either brighter or darker).

I'm still betting Grado changed the drivers in mid-production.

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd say that a ten year old headphone that was never used would sound different from a new pair of same, simply because of aging, temperature variations, humidity, dust, etc. It will NOT be because you let them run in for 120 months. A few days of listening will do about all it's going to do as far as break-in goes. I mean, let's be realistic. If break-in did not occur before 400 hours of listening had elapsed, what's to stop it from breaking in indefinitely, with the risk of you never knowing what the 'phones real 'sound' is? Horrors! Extended break-in period is just for folks trying to convince themselves that it might sound good after all.

Seconded.

 

[Bluetick]

Well, I just bought my first real set of cans and I bought none other than the ones in question. Despite the wild opinions, and potential flames- I'm really excited!

For the most part, I agree with the positive praise these have recieved. Granted, I have yet to hear a lot of other high end cans, but they are keeping me happy! For the first time in a long time, I'm shopping heavily for more LP's and CD's. I can't wait to get home and fire them up again.

I have two ugly little DIY tube amps that I tried with them. The first one uses a pair of 12ax7's and the power supply was built with very good parts including a Plitron toroidal tranny, Nichicon "Great Supply" caps (poor man's Black Gate IMO), solid state rectification, and mills/holco/AB resistors everywhere. I have a nice ~matched pair of ecc83 Telefunkens from and old DYNACO PAS3 for tubes. It sounded very quick, lively, and forward with this amp, but my gut sank because I could hear the harshness everyone was bitchin' about. It was there.

My other amp is a bit different. It uses a triplet of 12aU7's in a cathode follower (no global FB) scheme. This is not a favorable layout by many "audiophile" standards for various reasons. The power supply is quite different from the other amp. This one uses a belled tranny, is dual regulated, and boasts an all OIL caps supply (CDE) (+ PIO caps in the signal path). The only electrolitic cap in the whole thing is a single 3300uF Elna cerafine and it is bypassed with a NOS CD PIO (0.001uF) cap for the filaments. The synergy of this amp and these cans is very very good. I will force myself to make the amp more presentable, and bring it to the DC meet and you can hear for yourself.

So, was the "harshness" I orginally heard the ELECROLYTICS??
Maybe they SUCK with a revealing headphone. (???). I am convinced that was what I was hearing. I will try to put these into a few different amps at the meet to see if I can identify exactly what it is, but my gut feeling is that these cans make no excuses, and if the source/amp isn't up to it- you'll wince (or adjust).


Regarding break in: I didn't even listen to these until I played them for 2 days through a local radio station. I liked what I heard (almost) immediately. I can not detect any change since then.

 

[augustwest]

"In five years, typical burn-in time for a pair of high end phones will take longer then an average human's lifespan. Sure, the purchaser won't get to reap the rewards, but his grandchildren will thank him for the tight bass and relaxed treble extension."

This quote is priceless, had me rolling over laughing!

- augustwest

 

[Bluetick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by augustwest /img/forum/go_quote.gif augustwest

Wharf Rat. 'Dead. ? Love that tune.