warm to me is coloration. to me the grado 225 was bright, and the 325 was a cold cold fish. cold to me is the high frequencies with the coloration taken out so much that it's lifeless. my ms-1 was warm. that means the high coloration is there, but there are definitely some parts of the freq that are just absent - that's just due to the limitation of the can. the 225 gives you those highs, but it's still a bit bright. i'm looking forward to the MS-2s giving me the full upper range like the 325, but with some warmth/coloration. heck, that combo i would give a new definition - shimmering. the 225 isn't shimmering, it's a bit too hard-edged - "Grato" or "scratchy" to some.
dark is like the opposite of cold. a big black hole where the bass is present, but it doesn't "do" anything for you. sound wise i guess it would be "ZMMMMM." again, the MS-1 is warm with a bit of punch. sound wise it would be "Boom." 225s do bass great - "POW." 325 is a "BRRATT." not nice. Flabby bass like MS-1 before burn in and flats would be "PBBBTT." I'm looking forward to the MS-2 being that "POW" sound with shimmering highs...ah yes.
but the RS-1 was just great across the board. The bass was warm and punchy - "BOOM." The highs were not shimmering, but not bright either. Not sure how to explain it - it's like a clarinet in the upper registers, a pleasing organic trill. I'm guessing the MS-2 will be not as organic - it's metal after all.
The MS-pro? who knows, I never heard them, tho I'd love to.
Those are some of the expressions I would use, I hope that helps define things. But ultimately all descriptions fail in the light of listening for yourself, if you can.
