[chry5alis]

hello everybody, just joined up and wanted to share my day with you all, first of all lets get this first bit out the way..
 
1.  I am a total n00b at this, so please be kind and any advice given will most definately be taken gladly
2.  I'm never the most active on forums so please forgive me if I dont reply straight away.
 
So then, my introduction to this baffling, opinion-centric imaginarium known as head-fi, and the ultimately rewarding world of the audiophile.  I am guessing that this thread will become more confessional on my part than conversation, given that I've kept this secret from my significant other for the time being.  Im sure she knows anyway as shes rather smart that way.  My first flirt with this temptuous vice began with a simple email about massdrops akg k7xx thats most recently shipped.  I hummed and I hawed, did my research, ordered and cancelled, did some more research, ordered then cancelled again, and then finally ordered.  I was in!!
 
Well actually I wasn't.  After more deliberation (the wait time for shipping was absurdly long) I realised import charges to the UK were pushing the value of the headset up to the same price of the Fidelio X2's.  I've some previous with the fidelio x1, so with a mixture of instinct and emotion, I cancelled the akg's to go for the x2's.
 
What a good choice chry5alis I'm hearing you all agree.  The x2's are a marvellous set, well actually they are.  Ive been listening to them all day.  I should add that I live on a remote scottish island so my only way to audition 'phones are by getting them sent out so I can compare.  And I have.  Today I have been comparing a pair of previously unboxed fidelio x2's purchased from amazon warehouse for £180 against (and I now wish Id never seen these) a pair of Grados GS1000e also purchased from amazon warehouse £580.  At that price I couldnt resist and had to try them out.  I'm adding now that I'm listening to flac files from a laptop connected to a sound blaster x5.  Hardly premier league I know but thats the level I'm operating at.  Oh, and a healthy serving of bowie, motown, floyd and hendrix.
 
And herein lies my problem.  I'm new at this, and its proving harder than I thought.  On paper I thought the grados should clearly see them off.  A white wash.  But not today.  My mammoth listening session has been like watching the well paid stars of an oligarch's football team go against lower league opposition, it's Glasgow Celtic vs Hibernian and we're being matched ball for ball, kick for kick, punch for punch.  The football meanwhile is immense.
 
The Fidelios are good.  I mean Really good.  Comfort is not an issue with either set.  Soundwise, the grados were behind at first, the fidelios seemed more complete, with a warm and full sound yet still refined and never seemed to over reach.  The grados however seemed light by comparison, and although I was willing them to be better, I couldnt really take to them.  I listened to 10cc's Not in Love and it all seemed over.
 
But an odd thing started to happen.  My foot was gradually tapping more with the grados.  Well it bloody well should be taking price into account, but victory in this gauntlet will be won by performance not price.  And the Fidelios are putting up such a hard fight.  The grados however, well they always seemed *ever so slightly* more detailed and perky, but now the bass that was lacking before seems to be catching up.  More importantly though, is that my music comes over better *ever so slightly*.  It embiggens me to say that it took some hendrix before I really started to notice this. 
 
The Grados are making me smile.  They are making me fall asleep.  They are whisking me off, just for a short while, and planking me back on my chair just as I realise there is a competition going on here.  This contest isnt a whitewash, but I knew a while ago how it was going to turn it out.
 
Perhaps I should delete this review and entitle it "£1k headphones triumph over £0.2k headphones shocks no one", but to do so would belittle the performance of the fidelios.  They are a cracking set of headphones, each time I come back they seem better at every turn, apparently they are burning in just as well as the grados, unfortunately just not quite as much. 
 
Therefore I think this contest must go to the GS1000e's.  Do you feel my dilemma?  Have you ever watched a boxer, highly rated yet unfancied, give it his all against a higher opponent?  Who despite his better ability is made to sweat and fight, he's almost losing, has to fight back hard, thinking 'wait a minute, what is this guy doing to me, he shouldn't even be in the same ring'. 
 
We all love an underdog.  And I'm currently listening to Pink Floyds 'Us and them' on the gs1000e, a £1k headset, as the philips fidelio x2 at a fifth of the uk price hits the canvas for the last time. 
 
 
 
Feel my pain then dear reader,
as I swap headphones once more,
repeat track,
and count to ten.

 

[Me x3]

Hey, diminishing returns strikes hard over 300 dollars. That said, it takes quite a lot of time to our mind to become comfortable with a new sound signature.
 
Burn-in is a myth. What's not a myth is our mind getting used to a certain sound signature. Our hearing is not a perfect analytical tool as many would want, there's a good bit of subjectivity in our perception of sound.
 
My advice would be to use the Grados and only the Grados for 20-30 listening hours or so, maybe a week or more. Put the Fidelios back into the box for week. Then, and only then, go back to the Fidelios.
 
Best Luck!

 

[chry5alis]

Thanks x3.  I am quite ready to agree with you with regards to our perception of sound.  I spent a full day yesterday hopping between both sets of cans and it was interesting to note how I took different revelations from them each time.  How the same song could translate differently.  As the day wore on it was the grados that kept on surprising me, thats not to say the fidelios were lame by comparison though. 
 
What inspired me to write this post was how little I could find online on these particular headphone comparisons, outwith stats and numerical data.  Unfortunately the fidelios are now boxed and on their way back to the supplier, so I cant do as you suggest.  They were superb, I wish I could have spent more time with them but time constraints dictated that I had to make a quick decision.
 
I am now looking forward to many hours of enjoyment from my new set of GS1000e's, and a wallet-emptying hobby of high def audio fidelity!

 

[Thenewguy007]

Did you feel the Grados sound was worth nearly triple the price of the X2s?

 

[Me x3]

  Thanks x3.  I am quite ready to agree with you with regards to our perception of sound.  I spent a full day yesterday hopping between both sets of cans and it was interesting to note how I took different revelations from them each time.  How the same song could translate differently.  As the day wore on it was the grados that kept on surprising me, thats not to say the fidelios were lame by comparison though. 
 
What inspired me to write this post was how little I could find online on these particular headphone comparisons, outwith stats and numerical data.  Unfortunately the fidelios are now boxed and on their way back to the supplier, so I cant do as you suggest.  They were superb, I wish I could have spent more time with them but time constraints dictated that I had to make a quick decision.
 
I am now looking forward to many hours of enjoyment from my new set of GS1000e's, and a wallet-emptying hobby of high def audio fidelity!

You're welcome! Happy Listening!
 

 

[chry5alis]

Did you feel the Grados sound was worth nearly triple the price of the X2s?

Thats a tough one. In the end I kept the grados so the answer must be yes. Had they been full price (x5) then I doubt I would have gone near them.

Looking ahead I will be gradually upgrading my other listening gear, and its at that point I hope to get more out of them than I would the fidelios

 

[chry5alis]

"Yin and Yang"
 
It fills me with some amusement revisiting this thread.  I wrote the OP nearly a year ago during a quiet day to myself - just me, some headphones, and some wine.  I hadn't heard of soundstage back then, or many of the other terms used to describe and compare headphones.  I just knew and sought for what sound I preferred over the other.  I didn't realise I was actually trying to compare chalk and cheese!
 
 
I now know that both these headphones are what you would describe as 'coloured'.  And a match from further opposite sides of the spectrum you probably can't find. 
 
 
The grados are said to be light on bass, strong on mids, with an accent on the treble.  I can agree with this, but not so light on bass as some would say.  What places the GS1000e apart for me, and what won me over in the first place, is the clear, crisp imaging.  I have seen it described as 'stax-like'..  I cant go that far, but there is a sharpness and, delight, that I get from my gs1ke's, definition that includes me in the music.  Its a strange feeling to be whisked away and yet the grado gs1000e continue to do it time after time.  An 'involving' soundstage is where they excel and its an awesome feeling to hear music feeling like you are the centre of it all.  I still can't recommend these headphones enough.  I'm a fan.
 
 
The x2's.  I had always kept an eye on them as I felt I had unfinished business with them.  I snagged a pair back again last xmas and what can I say?  Two words, Amazing bass.  Properly driven that is.  Driving these on a soundblaster e5 and I find them warm but slightly sibilant.  Straight out an ipod and I find them unlistenable!  But running through a schiit gumby and cavalli liquid fire and very quickly they become a major player.  The 'V-shaped' sound is more rounded out, but the bass is still thick and strong and present.  The x2's have detail, width, soundstage, and attack..  without excelling they have no real weakness to my ears and still they maintain that big booming bass.  I listen to psy-trance music often and I genuinely feel there's not another open headphone that make this genre sound so good.  For electronic dance music there is not a better open headphone than the fidelio x2s.
 
 
So my Yin and Yang.  My audio journey is over right where it began.  Expensive headphones are getting ridiculously expensive, and unless I go for electro-stats, which I'm not, I feel I have the best for what both worlds have to offer.  My gs1000e are for hendrix, floyd, bowie, just about anything I can throw at them that I want to be in the middle of.
 
Until..  I want some beats some techno something dark, and then its the fidelio x2s that I reach for.
 
 
As always,  YMMV