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Which grado should i buy? RS1i?
No. Why? You should try SR 60 or SR 225 or RS2. People say that those three tend to color the sound slightly what gives "the unique Grado sound".
Sennheiser are very good but I do not like two things. First, they are close to AKG K701, that are kings of technical perfection (I call that "sterility"). Sometimes, imperfection is good because it is something like a unique character of sound. You might not love it. But I do.
Second what I do not like is that AKG 7xx and Sennheiser 6xx need BIG amplifier. That means that if you do not have strong and good amp you will not hear a "true potential of your headphones". Without a good amplifiication, Grado or ATH might give you better results and better clarity than Senn or AKG.
I was able to hear and compare AKG K701 with Grado SR225 on Matrix M Stage. AKG had superior sound stage but I used to have feeling that something was missing... In very demanding concerts with many instruments AKG muffled a lot. But not because itself, but because Matrix M Stage was "not enough good amplifier" and Matrix DAC too.. The same thing goes with Lovely Cube. With Grado things are different. Grado is not able to achieve such a big sound stage, and it is not so wide. But degradation is very low or almost close to none! Also, dynamic is better on more demanding music, because Grado is driven more easily. The same goes for ATH.
I always say, if someone has enough money for hand made (>2000 USD) amplifier (Not Lehmann or similar stuf, but REAL DIY amplifier) then AKG K7xx or Senn 6xx will reveal more details. But here we are talking about hand made amps that cost less than 300 USD!!! I know people (here in Croatia) who were making preamplifiers, DAC-s and cables on their own, and they say that headphones over 500-600 USD are so good that true potential can be revealed, only when entire system is carefully built (with carefully choosen parts - here we are talking about sky high 5 000 USD and more...) Also, recordings have to be the best. Not some Mp3 crap, or 100 times burned CDs.
Usually, the difference that we hear is only because the coloration made by our systems. There is no ideal system. And when I read something: "This headphones have flat characteristic. So sound must be perfect!" it reminds me how blind (deaf) can someone be. Because there is no flat characteristic. It does not exist! Especially when in that story are involved lots of components. It is not a point to have headphones with flat characteristic. It is a point to know what kind of characteristic will give you headphones with DAC, cables and amplifier together. And that information is reserved for people who have proper measuring equipment, witch price has many zeroes.
I thought when I get to buy, I'll just email the guy and tell him to upgrade x parts with y parts and install it for me. Like the OPA 627 upgrade for $12 option.
