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Post by dc on Dec 6, 2007 12:37:55 GMT
well i took delivery of a pair of Grado HF-1s today.
let me first of all say this is my first Grado headphone, the MS-1s I owned for a few months when I first started out in this hobby don't really count
the first thing I thought after listening to these was OMG THE TREBLE
to bring down the treble to an agreeable level meant that the phone was at such a low level i could barely hear mids/bass. yowzers, i wasn't expecting this...
from my research i've basically come to the conclusion that the grado rs-2 and hf-1 are the least trebly phones from the Grado range... but these certainly push my limits, I'd hate to hear what a bright Grado (SR-325) sounds like...
anyway I whipped out a few recent rock tracks to run her through her paces and basically, my opinion remains unchanged...
this is running from my G&W AT-F100 (fully discrete SS class-A MOSFET amp) that is pretty straight forward amp with to my ears fairly little colouration, but i decided to warm up the bottles on my MC66-AE (12AX7 + 6N6P Class A transformer coupled tube amp)
Ahhhh, much better, I could keep listening at lower volumes but now the mids and bass were fleshed out and the trebles were slightly rolled off too. Very enjoyable listen overall, I can see why the favourite Grado amps (MAD EAR and Melos SHAs) are tube amps, certainly a much more balanced sound.
In my opinion you shouldn't have to change amps to make up for deficiencies of a can and to me this killer treble is a deficiency in terms of tonal balance.
These cans are certainly made to ROCK and bring out the HF detail but to me cans like the K701 and DT880 bring out just as much HF detail but don't slam it down your earlobes with a knife. I may be a bit too sensitive for now who knows. The mids are good and textured and the bass is tight and kickin, but the treble arrrrgh the treble! Maybe when I'm older and my higher frequency hearing begins to fail I will enjoy these more... maybe... maybe...
So just for kicks I straight afterwards put on the darkest phones I could find, my Sennheiser HD580s and it was like hello?? does this thing even have treble??? and the AKG K701 made everything all better again...
I'll report more in coming days, I'll probably keep these phones for now but this definitely isn't one of those WOW at first listen moments, which is a shame, I've been having those with just about every new piece of equipment
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Post by minivan on Dec 7, 2007 9:18:38 GMT
so dc, this is a keeper right? u will need it when u get old i had a brief listening to some1 rs-1 , to me it sound like an airy and much refined koss ksc75. the ksc75 is my first entry level audiophile headphone. i really enjoy it at that time, but after getting used to the like of k701 and w5000, i thought the ksc75 sound very har
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 7, 2007 9:21:36 GMT
How are finding them comfort wise, dc? These are the limited edition SR-225's right?
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Post by dc on Dec 7, 2007 14:02:39 GMT
I don't know whether I want to keep them. I need to downsize my headphone collection as it is
Yes, I certainly think older people with HF hearing loss would like these...
Comfort-wise I still like circum aurals, these are more supra aural and sit on the ear and is taking me a while to get used to it as I can't make it too loose or it will fall off my head, but theyre very light weight and unobtrusive whereas phones like the K701/DT880 and to some extent the Stax are big, pretty heavy and you can feel them there, but it's a good feeling and comfortable so you don't mind it
yeah, these are Grado SR-225s with wood chambers and wood button, I think all up there were 482 made to raise funds for h43d-f1
I'm slightly warming to the sound, but only with certain music (pop and rock) and most definitely with tubes. Just seems like a high maintenance phone. I did a back to back with the K701 and it's no contest in just about every regard. The treble presentation in the K701 is much clearer without being fatiguing. Has nothing on either of the Stax for detail and separation, but that goes without saying.
edit: i will say that the bass is very impressive on these though, there is lots of bass but remains fast and tight. never misses a beat, very punchy and slammy. i haven't heard such high amounts of bass with such high quality (DT770-Pro-80 had bucketloads of bass but it was terrible)
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Post by bozzy on Dec 8, 2007 13:59:06 GMT
DC
Do you have any AT cans, particularly AT W1000? I'd really like to hear any comparison you can offer against the Stax ES units. I've searched the forums and can't find many reviews or impressions of Stax at all.
BTW there are a pair of Grado HF1's on Ebay UK at the moment - starting at USD600....
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mrarroyo
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Post by mrarroyo on Dec 8, 2007 15:03:35 GMT
IMO spending $600 for an HF-1 is a mistake. Although the HF-1 are very nice you will spend much less for an RS-2 which can be bought for about $400 including S&H. Hell an RS-1 can be bought used for $525 or so.
Not only does the RS-1 and RS-2 sound better (IMO) but if you decide to sell it you will have a larger audience to sell it to. Good luck.
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Post by dc on Dec 8, 2007 15:27:32 GMT
the only AT i've heard is the ATH-AD700
it was ok but it was a long time ago, actually it was my first high quality phone...
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 8, 2007 20:56:51 GMT
Any new thoughts on these dc?
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Post by dc on Dec 8, 2007 22:31:29 GMT
Nigel: haven't had a chance to listen since... but I did add a little note at the end about their bass
Mate's wedding yesterday so still recovering from that =)
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Post by Nigel on Dec 9, 2007 1:31:07 GMT
I was reading an old review of the Grado SR325i from Hi-Fi World (April 2006). The journalist concluded that they could be too revealing for budget or bright systems. Some interesting comparisons against his then reference HD650 / Cardas combination. He used the Naim Headline 2 / NAPSC or Creek OBH-21SE as amps. The Grado's received the maximum five stars.
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Post by dc on Dec 9, 2007 10:29:12 GMT
I don't know how credible that reviewer is, but exaggerated brightness must not be confused with supposed detail
the K701 is clearly more detailed without being anywhere as coloured in the treble region
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Post by dc on Dec 9, 2007 11:59:09 GMT
Also, I just thought of the perfect analogy for what I think this Grado sounds like.
It reminds me when you have a graphic EQ and you slide every single notch to maximum. It makes it sound exciting, punchy treble, strong mids and fat bass, even when you turn the master volume down it still has that edgy sound on it.
That to me is what this grado sounds like. It comes at the expense of micro detail and also dynamics, as every sound be it quiet or loud just sounds LOUD, like it's shouting. Badly recorded rock and other such music sounds fantastic and hard and heavy, but I can't stand it for anything else.
More comments to come over the next few days...
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mrarroyo
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Post by mrarroyo on Dec 9, 2007 12:38:40 GMT
I actually enjoy my RS-1 out of a tube amp (Mapletree) for Jazz!
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 9, 2007 13:48:48 GMT
Yeah, keep us updated. I'm especially interested in how you find the 'involvement' factor. Does music you love engage you more via the Grado's? Forget about the actual sound, what about the emotion?
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insanitybeard
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Post by insanitybeard on Dec 10, 2007 1:27:05 GMT
Funny, I've just been thinking that I wish the top end in my GSthous would calm down a bit........ I kinda hoped they would be less harsh once fully burned in but it guess it may never happen..... I like the sound and detail, infact, the sibilance is my only real concern. I even bought an earmax tube amp thinking it would calm the Grado brightness but it doesn't really, but then it doesn't have enough juice to drive a set of 32ohm headphones.
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 10, 2007 9:35:37 GMT
I bought a pair of SR-225's ten days ago on ebay. Still haven't arrived yet, hence my interest in this thread. I've always wanted to hear them & love the mission statement on Grado's web page, "The music is the most important element, and with the products we produce, your feet will be tapping and your head will be bobbing." I expect they will be something of a culture shock after using HD600/HD650 exclusively for the last few years. The 225's have always been the Grado's I wanted to hear though, especially after reading the posts by Ross on head-fi a while back. www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/grado-sr225-rs1-how-big-improvement-179502/index3.html#post2138563and www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sr225-vs-sr325-vs-sr325i-winner-115396/Having said all that, if they sound poor to my ears, they will be sent swiftly packing.
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 10, 2007 9:42:35 GMT
What's the score regarding the taped bowl mod? Is this simply putting electrical insulation tape around the edges?
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Post by dc on Dec 10, 2007 13:37:11 GMT
Yeah, keep us updated. I'm especially interested in how you find the 'involvement' factor. Does music you love engage you more via the Grado's? Forget about the actual sound, what about the emotion? Well, when it comes to music I'd consider myself easily pleased. I can have "moments" on the best of my headphones or over a shopping centre PA system if it's the right song and right day for me. That being said, I have found myself becoming quite engaged in the music, except when the treble becomes unbearable. In which case I'd cringe and physically start hurting regardless of how good the song is. To be fair, I've mainly been listening to rock and recent pop (some on badly encoded mp3s) and yes I would say that these phones have added an element of enjoyment as they sort of liven up the crappy mp3 compression and gloss over the bad production and lost detail. I cannot use them for any sort of jazzy or classical, even tubed. What's the score regarding the taped bowl mod? Is this simply putting electrical insulation tape around the edges? that's pretty much it. causes the bass to improve. easily reversible. although the bass on these are already pretty good i'll give that a try tomorrow actually... thanks for the reminder. let us know what you think of the SR-225s when they get in, from my understanding it's the best bang for buck phone in the grado line, embodying the "grado" sound in every way. don't let my comments dissuade you!
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 10, 2007 13:53:31 GMT
Will do dc. Reading the guys ebay feedback, he seems to just deal in all things Grado, it's anything from next day delivery, up to four weeks! I've already enquired as to where they are & he says he's waiting for extra boxes for secure packing. Sounds bull to me. I suspect he's waiting for the items from a US supplier myself.
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Post by dc on Dec 11, 2007 10:27:35 GMT
Will do dc. Reading the guys ebay feedback, he seems to just deal in all things Grado, it's anything from next day delivery, up to four weeks! I've already enquired as to where they are & he says he's waiting for extra boxes for secure packing. Sounds bull to me. I suspect he's waiting for the items from a US supplier myself. that's outrageous? surely he'd have stock before making a listing on fleabay... how can you possibly explain a 4 week wait time within your own country...
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 12, 2007 18:44:14 GMT
The Grado SR-225's arrived today dc.
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Post by dc on Dec 12, 2007 23:13:02 GMT
Well speak of the devil...
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Post by dc on Dec 13, 2007 7:17:36 GMT
Well, I received my HD414 pads today to try them on my HF-1 and I must say they bring great relief from fatigue both audibly and physically
The Sennheiser HD414 ear pads are much softer and are also good in that they smooth out the HF response a bit, however at the expense of bass slam. I'm undecided whether or not I prefer them over the stock bowls, but they're a nice change and much more comfortable.
They're worth a try anyhow, cheap as chips here - AUD$10 delivered
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Nigel
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Post by Nigel on Dec 13, 2007 9:23:06 GMT
Did you try the tape mod?
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Post by dc on Dec 13, 2007 11:05:48 GMT
blimey no i haven't. completely forgotten about that, will have to in the next few days...
how you liking them mate?
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