[Bilavideo]

 

Bilavideo, I have a pair of your modded SR225s.  You can call me a "believer".  Yes, I've drank the Kool-Aid and I love it. 

Hey, that's cool!  Thanks for saying that!
 

 

[jeust0999]

To the person who made this thread: You have expressed yourself very clearly and honestly. I appreciate that.
 
To the guy who has Jesus "Freaking" Christ wearing Grado's as his logo: Different people have completely different tastes.
 
For example, I'm Buddhist!.... just messing with you.
 
When I think of a pair of
 
1. Bad-ass
 
2. Fun as hell
 
3. Quality
 
4. Beautiful, Wooden headphones
 
....I think of the Denon LA2000 "Lite", not the RS1.
 
 
 

 

[jeust0999]

I also wanted to add...
 
your HD650 vs D2000 review is a great contribution.

 

[Katun]

Quote:

I also wanted to add...
 
your HD650 vs D2000 review is a great contribution.

 
Thank you very much.

 

[Mercuttio]

Quote:

To the person who made this thread: You have expressed yourself very clearly and honestly. I appreciate that.
 
To the guy who has Jesus "Freaking" Christ wearing Grado's as his logo: Different people have completely different tastes.
 
For example, I'm Buddhist!.... just messing with you.
 
 

Uh, I'm not sure if you've read any of my posts? I'm not quite sure you get the fun of the avatar. I don't even have those headphones anymore, it's just kind of for kicks. 
 
Also, what's with the weird crack at Buddhism? If it is even a crack?
 
Sorry, I don't get what you're saying at all. 
 

 

[LugBug1]

Just posting my review on this thread aswell, as it seems relevant;
 
I've got nearly 30hrs on these now and so here is few first impressions and to be updated later.
 
My equipment is in my signature at the bottom, budget to midfi.
 
These are the most expensive Hp's I've bought or owned so my expectations are high. I got over the magic dust period pretty quickly and think I can now make a few objective impressions.
 
First appearance: They look pretty much what I thought they would, small, quirky. They are lighter than I thought they would be. The wood looks very nice and with the black grill its a pretty fab design. Quality control could be better, the occasional piece (although tiny) of excess plastic from the mold is still there. There is also a couple of pieces of string from the mesh hanging, again tiny but they really should have been removed. The cable is awkwardly twisted in places and this will even out in time but was never the case with my new sr225's.
 
Sound first listen: The first thing that hit me straight away and with aplomb was the attacking brightness and the huge bass. I've never heard bass like that from an open headphone. The detail, considering that they are straight out the box is staggering! I had been recently appreciating my new re-cabled 650's and thought they had detail, but not in the same league as the RS1's. These also are verging on being aggressive from the mids up, I'm going through a few old rock favorites and I can see how these are the ultimate rock headphone, they are soooo exciting! No matter how loud you have the volume, you feel a kick from the bass drum. Bass guitar just grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go..! I'm hoping the treble is going to calm down a bit as they are verging on the brittle side at the very top end. 
The sound-stage is on par with my 225's from the sides, top to bottom it is larger. The sound as a whole is denser.. more richer like going from milk chocolate to dark.
 
Sound 2nd day: The treble is calming down and I'm pleased. The bass is still  big but it is nice and I just know you would find it nice too! in fact I would go as far as to say, anyone who doesn't like these phones for what they do: doesn't like music. 
These are music friendly hp's. They are not clinical, they keep you focused on the music and not how good the recording is. I've been astounded on how they seem to calm down and smooth bright recordings, and at the same time brighten up warm recordings.. really! I've been playing recordings that I've known for the best part of my life and they've never sounded more alive. That to me is true resolving.
 
But it's still early days... Hope this helps anyone who is thinking about shelling out for these. I got a bargain, otherwise I wouldn't have them in the first place.

 

[wind016]

Quote: LugBug1

Sound 2nd day: The treble is calming down and I'm pleased. The bass is still  big but it is nice and I just know you would find it nice too! in fact I would go as far as to say, anyone who doesn't like these phones for what they do: doesn't like emphasized treble. 

Fixed it for you.

 

[jeust0999]

I'm obviously not a Christian. Otherwise, I wouldn't have blasphem-ly called him "Jesus F'in Christ". Nor a buddhist. Nor anything, really. Just a play on words, and religion. Carry on.

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Fixed it for you.

Thanks.

 

[wind016]

Quote:

Thanks.

No problem

 
BTW, have you tried running a linear phase equalizer to tone down the highs on the RS1? I always wondered if I would have liked it more if I had the chance to do that. I'm sure the peaks could be surgically reduced with something like the Voxengo Curve eq. I wonder how it would change the sound though.
 
 

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

No problem

 
BTW, have you tried running a linear phase equalizer to tone down the highs on the RS1? I always wondered if I would have liked it more if I had the chance to do that. I'm sure the peaks could be surgically reduced with something like the Voxengo Curve eq. I wonder how it would change the sound though.
 
 

The highs are getting smoother all the time (still burning em in), I'm currently listening to my 225's after a couple of days with the RS1's and the treble is much more emphasized on these, so this is leading me to believe that the RS1i's are a devleopment in the Grado sound... bigger bass less harshness at the top? 
 
The only Hp where I've had to tame to the treble with an eq was my D2000's, don't like using eq's only as a very last resort mate. 
 

 

[rds]

Quote:

Just posting my review on this thread aswell, as it seems relevant;
 
...

Thanks for the detailed review.  It hopefully brings a little balance to this thread.
 
Don't worry about people with a vendetta against grado or the rs-1i - they're fantastic headphones, and I've heard many.  Also keep in mind the frequency response shown on headroom clearly hasn't been updated for the rs1i.  The treble has been flattened significantly over older rs-1s (at least older recent ones - I haven't heard ones from the 90s).  They are the least treble heavy grado I've heard (except the hf2) and I've head the entire sr/rs lineup, as well as the gs-1000i which I owned for a year or so. 
 
The rs1i definitely have a mild "U" shaped frequency response, which I'm a big fan of as I don't listen to music at very high volume.
 

 

[wind016]

The highs are getting smoother all the time (still burning em in), I'm currently listening to my 225's after a couple of days with the RS1's and the treble is much more emphasized on these, so this is leading me to believe that the RS1i's are a devleopment in the Grado sound... bigger bass less harshness at the top? 
 
The only Hp where I've had to tame to the treble with an eq was my D2000's, don't like using eq's only as a very last resort mate. 
 

I'm a fan of linear phase EQing. Much better than the one provided on itunes. All the benefits of balanced sound with almost no distortion and phasing issues.

The RS1 i tried alwas an in store demo so I doubt there is a burn in problem. I also can't listen to a Grado quietly because the mids are recessed so I dont know how "quiet" people are listening.

 

[Katun]

I'll actually be burning these in soon, so I can ready for the comparison between these and Bilavideo's SR60.
 
We'll see if sonic impressions change any after some burn in, and also some more time with them on my head.

 

[tk3]

 
Quote:

Don't forget that Grados are made in Brooklyn.  Where are ATs, Sennheisers, et al made?  My guess is that the majority are made in China.  I would wager that if Grado outsourced their production, their prices would fall more in line with other brands.

 


Quote:

Brooklyn means nothing. Many ATs are made in Japan. Also, I'm not sure about the other brands but I don't understand your logic about Chinese production. Cheaper production means what? Lower quality? Hardly since Grado has some of the lowest quality control I've seen and some of the cheapest materials. So the argument "Grados are made in Brooklyn" simply makes Brooklyn look incompetent.

^Very true, especially when you look at the pictures of the Grado "factory tour" that was posted awhile back, the working conditions and treatment of parts was poor to say the least.
Seeing all those wooden cups stacked on top of each other in a cardboard box without anything separating them, no wonder people sometimes complain of getting brand new headphones with obvious scratches on them.
If they treated their parts in a more delicate manner and were more thorough with their quality control, it would be a good boost for their image.
 
I did own a bunch of Grados like RS1 and HF2, but sold them for various reasons.
Their sound signature was fine to me. I especially liked them for music heavy on electric guitar distortion, but I could never get used to their discomfort and because they leak like a sieve they were not suited for late night listening for me, as the walls are thin here.
If those factors don't bother you and you like their sound, I think they are a pretty good buy actually.