singular
Head-Fier
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- May 1, 2009
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So my HF-2's finally arrived this morning after a long flight over, a spell in customs and payment of an extortionate duty charge. Nevertheless, so far it seems to have been worth it. I've been running through a variety of stuff this morning to see how they fare. Most of my comparisons are against my RS2's.
Another pair of wood bodied Grados, why? Well because I could and and was sure they would be nice. And very nice they are. As you'd expect, it's not a night and day difference between the two, but I'll try to elaborate a little here.
Firstly physical aspects.
The important bit, how do they sound?
I don't have a huge amount of experience with a wide range of headphones, but I will try to offer what I can based on my subjective assessment. For reference I am using as source my 5.5Gen iMod and Pro-ject turntable both running through a Mapletree Ear+ Purist HD2 amp. My listening preferences tend toward folk, jazz, blues, acoustic rock, with occasional forays further afield into classical in one direction and heavy rock in another.
The first thing I listen to with any new piece of musical equipment is Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain. A classic album with a broad range of sounds, range and frequencies. The HF2 came out very well. Very clear, pure representation of sound, deep and even bass, quite forward mids. The whole presentation is quite forward and involving, this really manifested itself in the brightness of the top end. It definitely comes through a lot stronger and sharper than with the RS2's, but not necessarily in a bad way. I listened to a bit more jazz, some Coltrane, then one of my favourite albums of recent years, Chick Corea and Bela Fleck's The Enchantment - and these impressions were only strengthened. There is definitely some more detail than the RS2, but not such a warm rounded sound. For jazz generally I think in future I'll primarily stick to the RS2's.
So the morning was wearing on and I hadn't heard anything a bit stronger, so kicked off with some Zeppelin, into some Sabbath, then took things a little more modern with some Tool, Primus, and Clutch. Wow, this is where these phones really started to strut their stuff. Great bass, very fast and clear. Sometimes the RS's feel a little slow and muddied when they going gets really fast and hard,
Thoroughly woken up and after my mid morning coffee (and the sun had gone and it looks like raining now) time for a bit more mellowed out bluesey acoustic-ey stuff - which is what I've been listening to a lot of lately. Songs:Ohia first up, then a little Boo Hewerdine, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nick Drake. The experience was similar to that with the lighter jazz albums, very strong an forward presentation, perhaps a little too much so for 'easier listening'.
So in short, I'm not getting rid of the RS2's any time soon, but for some harder rocking sessions the HF2's will definitely get the nod. I guess they may mellow a little over time, and deeper pads could also make a significant difference.
Another pair of wood bodied Grados, why? Well because I could and and was sure they would be nice. And very nice they are. As you'd expect, it's not a night and day difference between the two, but I'll try to elaborate a little here.
Firstly physical aspects.
- They are beautiful - I'd seen pictures so I was expecting this but in the flesh they really look fantastic. The aluminium bodies are stiking, and the lower profile (compared with RS2's) looks very (relatively speaking) sleek.
- They are heavy! Really noticeably quite a bit heavier than the RS2's.
- They feel very 'solid' in construction, mostly because of the weight, but they do not seem in any way flimsy.
- Feel on the head is surprisingly different from the RS2's. One thing is the weight, the other is the depths of the ear cups. I have very small ears, so much so that the RS2's are essentially circumaural for me. The HF2's press my ears much flatter - on inspection the pads themselves seem shallower than the RS2's. I think I will try to source some of the deeper type pads.
The important bit, how do they sound?
I don't have a huge amount of experience with a wide range of headphones, but I will try to offer what I can based on my subjective assessment. For reference I am using as source my 5.5Gen iMod and Pro-ject turntable both running through a Mapletree Ear+ Purist HD2 amp. My listening preferences tend toward folk, jazz, blues, acoustic rock, with occasional forays further afield into classical in one direction and heavy rock in another.
The first thing I listen to with any new piece of musical equipment is Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain. A classic album with a broad range of sounds, range and frequencies. The HF2 came out very well. Very clear, pure representation of sound, deep and even bass, quite forward mids. The whole presentation is quite forward and involving, this really manifested itself in the brightness of the top end. It definitely comes through a lot stronger and sharper than with the RS2's, but not necessarily in a bad way. I listened to a bit more jazz, some Coltrane, then one of my favourite albums of recent years, Chick Corea and Bela Fleck's The Enchantment - and these impressions were only strengthened. There is definitely some more detail than the RS2, but not such a warm rounded sound. For jazz generally I think in future I'll primarily stick to the RS2's.
So the morning was wearing on and I hadn't heard anything a bit stronger, so kicked off with some Zeppelin, into some Sabbath, then took things a little more modern with some Tool, Primus, and Clutch. Wow, this is where these phones really started to strut their stuff. Great bass, very fast and clear. Sometimes the RS's feel a little slow and muddied when they going gets really fast and hard,
Thoroughly woken up and after my mid morning coffee (and the sun had gone and it looks like raining now) time for a bit more mellowed out bluesey acoustic-ey stuff - which is what I've been listening to a lot of lately. Songs:Ohia first up, then a little Boo Hewerdine, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nick Drake. The experience was similar to that with the lighter jazz albums, very strong an forward presentation, perhaps a little too much so for 'easier listening'.
So in short, I'm not getting rid of the RS2's any time soon, but for some harder rocking sessions the HF2's will definitely get the nod. I guess they may mellow a little over time, and deeper pads could also make a significant difference.
