[robm321]

The flats are bass heavy and lacking in treble
The bowls are Treble heavy and lacking bass? (a little) but too bright (or agressive for those that won't admit that it's bright).
The HD414 is just strange sounding and unfocused.

Yet they draw me into them (i wear flats but miss what bowls do) more than the Senn.

Are the flats and bowls the 2 best focus points of the RS-1, or is there an ideal distance where you can have bass and treble evenly?

Considering all the money we spend, someone has tried this haven't they?

 

[Jahn]

have you tried the Headphile C-Pads? not too many folks talk about that combo with RS-1s, but if you haven't tried it yet, what harm could it be to give it a go, right? Personally I have C-Pads on my HP2 and love em.

 

[braillediver]

Do a search for Crushed Bowl pads.

Originally posted by JoeLongwood aka "Keeper of the Phones".

They're half way between the Bowls and Flats for sound.


Mitch

 

[Jahn]

also, try putting scotch tape around the edges of the bowl pads - that will give some bass without losing the airiness of the treble.

 

[jbloudg20]

Have you given the reverse bowls a shot? Should be somewhere in the middle of flats, and bowls.

 

[kramer5150]

wash your bowl pads in hot water and baby shampoo a couple times.
They are burned in... right? I found their upper mids and treble to tame down considerably at the ~100 hour mark.

Are they amped properly?... they need large doses of current to respond to bass dynamics and transients.

They are an aggressive sounding headphone. But I would stop short of calling them harsh, MDRV6 fits that description a little better iMHO.

IMHO they are VERY sensitive to source material. My live Eric Johnson and SRV recordings are fat and SWEET. Some of my Queensryche recordings are PIERCING and sound kind of stale.

The bowl tape-mod might suit you.

 

[saab]

On the grados that I have heard, my favorite pad was a reversed 414 pad. This seemed to be the best comprimise between a bowl and a flat pad for me.

-John

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robm321 The flats are bass heavy and lacking in treble The bowls are Treble heavy and lacking bass? (a little) but too bright (or agressive for those that won't admit that it's bright). The HD414 is just strange sounding and unfocused. Yet they draw me into them (i wear flats but miss what bowls do) more than the Senn. Are the flats and bowls the 2 best focus points of the RS-1, or is there an ideal distance where you can have bass and treble evenly? Considering all the money we spend, someone has tried this haven't they?

edit: what braillediver said

Squish your bowl pads so they are flatter. This gives less less bass then flats and less treble then bowls. Costs 0 money to do.

Biggie.

 

[Patu]

To my ears, reversing the bowls was completely useless. I had hard times hearing the difference in sound and comfortability just got much worse.

Flats were nice otherwise but they totally kill the already narrow soundstage. Resolution got worse also.

Bowls were the best after all.

Try C-pads.

 

[robm321]

Thanks! I'm going to try the different combos you all mentioned. I guess I'll get some C-pads as well.

I don't mean to imply that the bowls are unlistenable. I think they sound amazing, but trumpets, violins, mediocre recordings, etc. can really feel like an ice pick to the brain. On decent recording or "softer instruments" it is heaven.

Flats do everything well, but no soundstage and bloated bass (not bad but not tight either). I'll try some of the compromises with the bowls as well.

My main headphone rig is a K1K, but the one thing the K1K can't do is the smooth somewhat lush and addictive sound of the RS-1 regardless of pads.

It's definately not the amp. I use the RA-1 which betters almost anything for the RS-1. Synergy!