sound, comfort

house mate and i have more headphones then spoons in the top draw.


stax, senns, grado's, koss, some old philips.


The comfort and sound one perceives from headphones is a very personal thing. To me, the grado's have a horrid fit (i've a big head) and they sound very average, with a rising frequency response. To others they sound really nice. Ones ear shape plays a large role in the headphone/ear interaction.

I'd rank the grado rs1 below the koss ur30's that i own and love. Best fitting, almost best sounding headphone i've ever owned (koss ur30's that is).

All our headphone listening is done with eather a current feedback solid state amplifier, or a valve headphone amp. (farch designs)

If your looking for headphones, there is no other way but to try them all and come to your own decision.

Mark hathaway

Similar Products Used:

senns, koss, stax

discussed below

discussed below

I cannot recommend these headphones. I own both the RS-1 and the Sennheiser HD-600. I drive them both with the Grado RA-1, using an AMC CD8b cd player as source. Also note: I listen mostly to symphonic, choral, piano, some techno, Eno and those he's produced, Hendrix, and other classic rock standards.

I find the Sennheisers superior in almost every sound-category, on all the above mentioned groups of music.

The Senns have a full, rich sound that spreads over a vast, recreated, soundstage. Details are all there, crisp and tight. They also have superb dynamic punch.

Now...for the RS-1. In comparison to the HD-600, The RS-1 sounds congested and overly bright. The RS-1 sound lacks dimension -- it's as though music eminates from a plane, rather than real space. This annoyed me deeply, especially with symphonic classical music. And the in-your-face brightness of these headphones makes certain, already bright instruments unbearably painful, like bagpipes (which sound great on Senns). (note, I broke the Grados in for 100+ hours).

Regarding detail...I have read again and again that the Grado's have detail superior to that of the Senns. To my ears, you can't have detail if you don't have a soundstage. Sure, with the grados you can hear fingers squeaking across strings on close-miked acoustic recordings, but with classical, you can't pick out the oboe from the mass of strings. You lose detail and sound-texture. With the Senns, each instrument has abundant space around it, thus wonderful detail. I think discussion about detail is frivolous without consideration of soundstage and transparency.

I very much wanted to like the Grados...they're made by a small, friendly, American company (and I paid $650!), but brand loyalty goes only so far. $650 (or the full $699) is way too much -- I wonder what Grado's profit-margin is on the RS-1. They are good headphones, sure. But the Senns are superlative and can be had from a German ebay dealer, "Hans der Bar", or something like that, for $200 + shipping. If you still think you'd prefer Grado, e-mail me...if I can't return the RS-1, I will happily sell them.

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser HD-600, Grado SR-60.

Fabulous sound. Just fabulous. Needs a good amp and a few months to break in.

Horrible construction. The hot-glue is already starting to come away inside, so I'm betting I'll be sending these ones back to be fixed. Again. Just like the last ones.

No wooden box, boooo.

Fatter ear-pads, yaaaaaay. Still hurt after an hour or two.

Full-range. Doesn't flutter or crack like the Senn-600s do. Very accurate mid-range. Awesome detail and coherency, better than any amplifier I have available. Works great with the Creek h'phone amps.

Coloration is minor, enough to move the image around a bit, which increases apparent detail and depth. So no bad thing.

I am very irritated with the poor construction. A blob of heat-glue is not sufficient to prevent wires from flexing and breaking away. Thus my rating. In audio terms, the best dynamic headphone. No question in my mind.

Similar Products Used:

Grado - various. Sennheiser - various dynamic.

amazing soundstage, makes music seem very alive, great bass, great detail

what weaknesses?

I was delaying posting a review, but feel I must now to offset the recent and somewhat shady "reviews". These are absolutely amazing headphones. I own the ER-S which have a very neutral sound, with an accurate yet small sounstage. I also own the Grado SR-325, which, to me sound a little bright and fatiguing. So I wanted to purchase something with a little more warmth and lushness in the sound. I also wanted a large soundstage, with good bass and detail. I found all of these things in the Grado RS-1. The music is slightly warmer than the 325s, without sounding dark or muttled. Instruments and separate notes seem to have an infinite amount of space between them. Every last bit of detail within the music is there. The bass is amazing! It's tight and controlled and goes very low, while remaining not too strong nor too weak - perfect! The music sounds more alive to me through these than the 325s. All in all they present a thouroughly enjoyable and absolutely enveloping sound that I have yet to be able to stop listening to. You owe it to yourself to seriously audition these!

Similar Products Used:

Grado SR-80, Grado SR-225, Grado SR-325, Etymotic ER-4S, Sennheiser HD-570

clarity, warmth, smoothness, bass quality, inner detail (not too much and not overemphasized), voice reproduction, etc.

I wonder how much 100-year-old Louis cognac Remy Martin would sell if they discontinued the Baccarat crystal decanter.

I am impressed with the sound of these headphones. Unfortunately, I have no frame of reference for comparison or evaluation. The last 'cans' that I listened to were Sennheiser HD414s (I think) many years ago. I didn't search out the HD600s for comparison, because all of the reviews that I read described the Grado sound as what I like. I am not sure if my RS1s would sound a lot better if I got a dedicated (outboard) headphone amp. I am using them into a Sonic Frontiers Line 2, that has a Headroom processing circuit, then to an SFCD-1. They sound better on a lot of music than my power amp/speaker assisted system that comprises a Pass Aleph 3 and Dynaudio 1.3 Mk.lls. Speaker cable and interconnects are all silver over copper.

My only caveat is that they no longer come with the packaging that they, and the owners, deserve. I don't know why this is; it doesn't change their sound quality, which is excellent, but it does give one a little more pride of ownership.

I give the Grado RS1s five stars for sound quality, looks and build quality. I give them 4 for value because they no longer come in the Mahogany box.

Despite their rather high price in Germany, I purchased the Grado RS1 headphones. The thing I've always liked about this phone is that it sounds more like speakers than any other. It provides a warmth in the sound and a handling of bass and spatial elements that is fantastic. With regard to chamber music, the RS 1 gave special pleasure, with superb separation of the parts and a heightened feeling of intimacy. I can only say: have a look at, and a listen to, the Grado Reference Series RS1

For starters: (if you're using a headphone amp), Grado headhones ment to be driven by the Grado heaphone amp!
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I own Grado's Statement and Sonata cartridges, RA-1 headphone amp, RS-1, RS-2, SR-325 and SR-125 heaphones. They are amazing products. But to review the RS-1, i ment to say only one thing: No pair of speakers in a world will bring you the presence of music the Grado RS-1 /RA-1 combo does.
(I use a conrad-johnson PV-10 preamp as signal for the headphone amp, and I own no speakers.)

Similar Products Used:

Grado RA-1 headphone amp

Sound is pure heaven.
Exquisite build quality... a work of art.

Some would say price, but they are worth every penny for the enjoyment they will provide to you.
I really would have loved a mahogony box for these, like they used to come in. These headphones deserve it.

This is sort of a compliment to my review of the AMC CD8 Cd Player. As I stated there, about 6 months ago I decided I wanted to try and experience the audiophile life and put together a really good system (As opposed to the "good" Best Buy Yamaha and Sony components on my home theater system). Due to my needs, desires, and budget I decided on a good headphone listening setup (I wanted to listen to music and relax before turning in for the night, without disturbing my family). So after perusing this site and others extensively, I purhased a Grado RS-1 headphone, an RA-1 Amp, a set of Cardas 300b cables, and an AMC CD8 single disc player.
I cannot imagine anything sounding more beautiful than these headphones and generally this setup. Pure satisfaction. I love the Grado story... family owned company, been around seemingly forever, handbuilt, etc. The craftmanship on the cans and amp are awesome. They are as much a work of art as they are funtional units. I don't like to toss around complicated descriptions as some audiophiles do... let me just say once again that I honestly cannot imagine a more detailed, smooth, true, and relaxing representation of a peice of music as these Grado's will give you. After a listening session I feel completely at ease with the world... and isnt' that the whole point? Spend the money and buy them. You won't be disappointed.

Similar Products Used:

Mass market Best Buy Koss and Sony's

I purchased my Grado RS1's about a year ago and drive them with a Melos SHA1headphone amp. First off, the look, smell, and feel. These headphones are probably the finest looking pair on the market with a rich brown leather headband and nice finished mahogony earphones. The smell is very pleasing mixture of leather and freshly finished wood. They are okay in the comfort department. Not as comfortable as Sennheiser's, but I can live with this.
Now let me describe the sound. The overall impresssion of the sound is warm, and rich, with incredibly deep bass; kind of dark, but very enjoyable and addictive. They sound best with rap and new age jazz. They are less satisfactory on rock music. Still, these are these headphones are a a treasure.

Definitely the most musical experience you can get with headphones, lovely warm midrange, nice treble with absolutely zero rolloff while retaining from tizziness, just perfect, the bass is tight and smooth and never boomy, they look and smell amasing, very comfortable never cold sounding, simply the world´s best headphones i even compared them to my parents Dynaudio Evidence and i chose the Grado´s over them, by the way i am using the donut pads

well, the price, in germany it is a bit more expensive (about $1000) but definitely worth it, my parents spend almost $100,000 on speakers that sound no better to my ears.

Well let me tell you how a normal smooth jazz sounds on these, because it is amasing... Earl Klugh´s plucked guitar sounds like it is in the chambers, and the music in the "background" is present, yet not overpowering....... wonderful. Boney Jame´s saxophone sounds like the RS-1´s transform into a mini sax and play for me while hanging on my ears... YES, it´s THAT good! Now onto other music... Techno and trance.... ahh the wonderful beats of the club, they also make you sound like you are dancing, and i know because i go to clubs often. Bass is very strong when needed, but never bassheaddy and TIGHT. Metal sounds like you are at a concert, god i love these things, turn them up and i don´t have to feel bad about missing a concert!

Similar Products Used:

Sennheiser HD600, AKG K501, Grado SR325, SR80(own all)