i am the holder of the 3-book bonanza, if you ask a question you will get an answah
for this comparason i used an OLD McCormack signature cd player as a source, and one of my melos "eargasmatron" amps to rock the grados. the melos is a sha-1 and has v-caps between the tubes and the mosfets, and black gates on the LV suply. it sounds pretty good
the tubes are the "stock" sovotek's. i have nicer tubes, but the melos is the bottom step of my zigurat of power, so they dont get rolled often. the zigurat of power weighs 80-lbs or so....
the HF-1 is stock, and has bowls. the SR-200 is a "real" sr-200 with real sr-200 drivers (not to be confused with hp1000 drivers in a cheap plastic shell...) "headphiled" with black wood, is running the flats, and a black-silver cable. for "reference of flat" where necessary, i will use my hp2 because it is the daddy of all (flat pads/ultrawide cable).
sting: fields of gold
when we dance: the wood block sounded more realistic on the sr200. on the hf1, it was a bit "tighter" and had a sharper decay.
fields of gold: they are close. there wasnt much difference here, the same guy was playing the same wood-blocks. the room efects were both about the same.
fortress around your heart: i think the HF-1 "won" this song. there is a very jambled overlapping part with all the instruments mixxed. they both sound largely the same EXCEPT the sr-200 has the bell wayy off seperate from the rest of the instruments.
englishman in ny:
picking differences in these cans is toooo tough for me here. they are a solid match.
the ofspring: greatest hits:
come out and play (keep em seperated): i think the hf-1 NAILED the guitar in this. the sr200 did it well, but just missed the solo riff (the stollen one....) by that litttle bit that seperates these 2 cans.
self esteem: both headphones do GREAT by this track. the guitar is difernt from come out and play. i think the hf-1 has a tinny edge here too. the vocals were "better placed (imho) slight forward of the instruments. BIG point for the hf1. the sr-200 was closer to my hp1000 (the equaliser) though.
why dont you get a job?: HA!! a fault on the sr-200. the bass on this track "meshed" with the vocals in a most unplesant way when played on the sr-200, it didnt on the hf-1. the hf-1 kept the 2 seperate here.
the fairfield 4 "i couldnt hear nobody pray"
these bones: for note: this cd seemed to go back and forth from mikhails singlepower stuff to ray's emmeline stuff. i heard it both places, and the vocals on the album are outstanding, this track specfically showcases some WILD ranges. i liked it so much i bought a copy the monday after the meet. onto a review: the sr-200 take my pick here. both cans are similarly detailed, but the sr-200 puts all of the singers in a straight line side to side where the hf-1 has them staggered with the guy with the "very deep" voice behind them. both headphones show off the "fog-horning" of this deep bass voice, you hear both what he is singing and a bit of the air coming out of his mouth. very cool.
to sumarize:
Both headphones here have similar detail, and extension from what i heard. the seperation comes in the sr-200 being a bit flatter in the mids than the hf-1. on some music, i think the slightly forward vocals on the hf-1 could be an advantage. this was shown clearly on the ofspring, where this brought the vocals out of the muck on the disc.