grinch
Cognac....icky.Scotch....icky.Vodka....
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2002
- Posts
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- 13
this week i received my grado ra-1 from fellow head-fier chriscu1 (hope you can rebuild your collection soon) and really got to test it out. the first time i ever saw/heard this little block of wood was at the new york stop of the headphone world tour and i was impressed. i had heard so many posts about how simple the circuitry was and even seen the pictures proving so, but as i was walking around plugging my er-4s into every amp i laid my eyes on, i was pleasantly suprised at the time. that's about all i really remember, but when it came up for a decently-under-retail price, i snatched it up.
of course, the second i received the package i ripped it open and looked at it. it's just pretty. the construction is unique to say the least and simple in all the best ways. little thumb screws hold the plate that covers the battery compartment and there is a small but able switch on the pack and a small but easy-moving knob on the front for volume. a tiny led completes the deal.
i was at work when i first got the package, and couldn't help but hooking it up to my crappy soundcard in my workstation (which usually is connected to my mg head). i just threw on the hd580's (as they work well with the mg head, the only damn phone that seems to) and gave it a test. i knew that this wasn't the optimal phone to test it out with, but i keep my grados at home so this was what i had to work with.
testing with the hd580
one word comes to mind: smooth. that's the first thing that popped into my head as i recalled reading a post by kelly saying that he was "amazed by how smooth it sounded with the hd600 although the highs and lows weren't quite there as there probably wasn't enough power to drive them properly" (paraphrased). this pretty much fulfills my feelings on the matter. the hd580 sounded so smooth, i was in love with it. i can understand how people could use this amp to drive their hd600s and live happily with doing so.
testing on home rig
despite what some head-fiers think, the rega planet 2000 is one madman of a source. i love it. one day i a/b'd my new sony ns500v against it and it was night and day. of course, the planet costs approximately four times as much, but still.. it just sounds great. it had dynamics and great air and separation of instruments, in my opinion. i haven't heard that many sources though, so don't go running out and buying one just because i say so.
i ran my rega planet 2000 into the ra-1 with my dimarzio m-path 1m interconnects (thanks headroom!). i ran through a few cds and plugged in the rs-1. i figure if i'm going to test this amp, might as well test its matching wood counterpart. suffice to say, i was impressed. it sounded gorgeous and led me all night to believe that less is more. the amp didn't color anything, just gave the rs-1's some volume. the grado punch was there, just waiting to satisfy me with each slam of the drum. i was listening to tom waits's latest "ass-scratching"
(read this month's stereophile to get that one..) blood money and the rawness of his voice was all there. the pump of the saxophones, the glory of the pianos, everything. i was astounded at how glorious a sound i could get from such a modest little amp. tom waits HAD to record that album fully analogue, because i just felt it all night long. everything was there like i was in the damn studio. i loved it. for songs like "lullabye" and "coney island baby" i could almost feel the four-packs-a-day-for-the-last-century rawness of waits' growling in my ears. it was quite amazing to say the least, from such a small and inexpensive (when compared to the rest of my collection/obsession) amp.
next i threw on a cd i hadn't really spent any time on yet, which i found out to be a damned atrocity. i bought it from mapleshade a few months ago after reading a thread talking about how great their recordings are: the j street jumpers - is you or is you ain't my baby? . man was i impressed by this label the second i put this album on. i pressed play and instantly though wait, something doesn't sound right.. is this digital? upon flipping open the book, i find that this album was mixed/recorded live with two mics into a fully analog mixer with minimum cabling. it even went through the detail to describe the interconnects they used when doing the a/d conversion! i was amazed. you would never believe how great an eight (or nine, can't remember) piece swing band sounds when recorded how they're meant to sound: in a room with a couple mics in an audience-like configuration. i dunno about you guys, but i always imagine someday seeing a swing band and the setup being exactly like that dance scene with big bad voodoo daddy in the movie swingers. a stage and me sitting at the bar with a martini and a smug look.
anyway, enough about the recording. the thing sounds damn analogue and it sounds good; that ladies voice is quite provocative. i listened to this whole album playing through my new ra-1 and was nothing short of amazed. i love every minute of it, even when i started switching headphones..
my hd600 with clou red sounded just as the hd580 did (of course) with extreme smoothness and some diminished highs and lows. this wasn't necessarily a really bad thing, it sounded damn good. if i didn't know any better, i wouldn't thought this to be really great in my former days..
the biggest shocker of the night was when i plugged my k501's into this wooden block of ingenius. i was amazed to find that it actually sounded good! damned decent even! i couldn't imagine anything short of a nuclear reactor running some torroidal power supplies to get that person k501 off its ass, but low and behold the dual 9v batteries did it! i was pretty amazed, but getting such a kick out of the rs-1's at the time that i didn't spend more than a few minutes with this configuration going. the k501 is great and all, nice sound stage and mids/highs but i don't care when you bass-haters say.. they're light in the bass. sometimes they just get a bit boring to me. especially when i know they sound a lot better from the sugden headmaster..
brought back down to the ground
which comes to my last and final point. after a night of joy with the ra-1, i unclipped it and ran my m-paths back into my old faithful: the sugden headmaster. this amp has astounded me for months with its ability to just sound great with any of my headphones. i love it. i don't plan on ever selling it, it's just that wonderful. the bad news was, i tried out my rs-1 through them and realized that the sugden is just that much better. it powers the rs-1 better and the sound was more dynamic and had better separation and air. just amazing. this kinda took the wind out of the ra-1's sails.. but boy was it a fun few hours before that.
no doubt, i love the ra-1 and i am definitely keeping it and i'm all for batteries and its neutrality but.. nothing i have owned so far drive the rs-1's as well as my sugden headmaster. it just has the power and goes with it. the hd600's prove to fall to the same phobia, less smooth and faster response, along with my highs and lows back again.
in the end, the ra-1 gets my thumbs up. even at the retail price of $350, it's an awesome starter amp. it being bested by the sugden is only rational, considering the fact it costs three times as much. i haven't owned anything that bests it yet for that price range.. but my meta42s are on the way so we shall see what we shall see! also, i didn't a/b my porta corda with the ra-1 because i couldn't have used the same interconnects and although my kimber mini-to-rca 1ft interconnect sounds great, i don't think it's worthy of competing with my dimarzio m-paths.
although, i find myself here at work listening to some mp3 cds (self-encoded, always) and hating my damned self for not bringing in the ra-1 for some smooth lovin' with the hd580's.. oh well, there's always tomorrow. wait. screw that! there's always tonight!
of course, the second i received the package i ripped it open and looked at it. it's just pretty. the construction is unique to say the least and simple in all the best ways. little thumb screws hold the plate that covers the battery compartment and there is a small but able switch on the pack and a small but easy-moving knob on the front for volume. a tiny led completes the deal.
i was at work when i first got the package, and couldn't help but hooking it up to my crappy soundcard in my workstation (which usually is connected to my mg head). i just threw on the hd580's (as they work well with the mg head, the only damn phone that seems to) and gave it a test. i knew that this wasn't the optimal phone to test it out with, but i keep my grados at home so this was what i had to work with.
testing with the hd580
one word comes to mind: smooth. that's the first thing that popped into my head as i recalled reading a post by kelly saying that he was "amazed by how smooth it sounded with the hd600 although the highs and lows weren't quite there as there probably wasn't enough power to drive them properly" (paraphrased). this pretty much fulfills my feelings on the matter. the hd580 sounded so smooth, i was in love with it. i can understand how people could use this amp to drive their hd600s and live happily with doing so.
testing on home rig
despite what some head-fiers think, the rega planet 2000 is one madman of a source. i love it. one day i a/b'd my new sony ns500v against it and it was night and day. of course, the planet costs approximately four times as much, but still.. it just sounds great. it had dynamics and great air and separation of instruments, in my opinion. i haven't heard that many sources though, so don't go running out and buying one just because i say so.
i ran my rega planet 2000 into the ra-1 with my dimarzio m-path 1m interconnects (thanks headroom!). i ran through a few cds and plugged in the rs-1. i figure if i'm going to test this amp, might as well test its matching wood counterpart. suffice to say, i was impressed. it sounded gorgeous and led me all night to believe that less is more. the amp didn't color anything, just gave the rs-1's some volume. the grado punch was there, just waiting to satisfy me with each slam of the drum. i was listening to tom waits's latest "ass-scratching"
next i threw on a cd i hadn't really spent any time on yet, which i found out to be a damned atrocity. i bought it from mapleshade a few months ago after reading a thread talking about how great their recordings are: the j street jumpers - is you or is you ain't my baby? . man was i impressed by this label the second i put this album on. i pressed play and instantly though wait, something doesn't sound right.. is this digital? upon flipping open the book, i find that this album was mixed/recorded live with two mics into a fully analog mixer with minimum cabling. it even went through the detail to describe the interconnects they used when doing the a/d conversion! i was amazed. you would never believe how great an eight (or nine, can't remember) piece swing band sounds when recorded how they're meant to sound: in a room with a couple mics in an audience-like configuration. i dunno about you guys, but i always imagine someday seeing a swing band and the setup being exactly like that dance scene with big bad voodoo daddy in the movie swingers. a stage and me sitting at the bar with a martini and a smug look.
anyway, enough about the recording. the thing sounds damn analogue and it sounds good; that ladies voice is quite provocative. i listened to this whole album playing through my new ra-1 and was nothing short of amazed. i love every minute of it, even when i started switching headphones..
my hd600 with clou red sounded just as the hd580 did (of course) with extreme smoothness and some diminished highs and lows. this wasn't necessarily a really bad thing, it sounded damn good. if i didn't know any better, i wouldn't thought this to be really great in my former days..
the biggest shocker of the night was when i plugged my k501's into this wooden block of ingenius. i was amazed to find that it actually sounded good! damned decent even! i couldn't imagine anything short of a nuclear reactor running some torroidal power supplies to get that person k501 off its ass, but low and behold the dual 9v batteries did it! i was pretty amazed, but getting such a kick out of the rs-1's at the time that i didn't spend more than a few minutes with this configuration going. the k501 is great and all, nice sound stage and mids/highs but i don't care when you bass-haters say.. they're light in the bass. sometimes they just get a bit boring to me. especially when i know they sound a lot better from the sugden headmaster..
brought back down to the ground
which comes to my last and final point. after a night of joy with the ra-1, i unclipped it and ran my m-paths back into my old faithful: the sugden headmaster. this amp has astounded me for months with its ability to just sound great with any of my headphones. i love it. i don't plan on ever selling it, it's just that wonderful. the bad news was, i tried out my rs-1 through them and realized that the sugden is just that much better. it powers the rs-1 better and the sound was more dynamic and had better separation and air. just amazing. this kinda took the wind out of the ra-1's sails.. but boy was it a fun few hours before that.
in the end, the ra-1 gets my thumbs up. even at the retail price of $350, it's an awesome starter amp. it being bested by the sugden is only rational, considering the fact it costs three times as much. i haven't owned anything that bests it yet for that price range.. but my meta42s are on the way so we shall see what we shall see! also, i didn't a/b my porta corda with the ra-1 because i couldn't have used the same interconnects and although my kimber mini-to-rca 1ft interconnect sounds great, i don't think it's worthy of competing with my dimarzio m-paths.
although, i find myself here at work listening to some mp3 cds (self-encoded, always) and hating my damned self for not bringing in the ra-1 for some smooth lovin' with the hd580's.. oh well, there's always tomorrow. wait. screw that! there's always tonight!