Grado RS-2i Review

[onepixel]

These Grados are my 1st serious headphones. I have a Koss Pro-4 AAT, had some Pioneers back in the late 70s and everything else were from various portables (Walkmans, iPods etc.).


Cosmetics and Feel
They are very light. The mahogany wooden chamber is real pretty. Nice, but thin adequate leather head band. The cables are heavy and solid, may even be heavier than the phones themselves. Everything else seems kinda flimsy and cheap, especially the plastic parts. Drilled out anodized aluminum, carbon fiber or even more wood would have been nicer. But I guess that would increase the prices considerably. Future tweak? The round foam ear pads are more comfortable than I expected.

The Sound
Gear used: Marantz 4140 integraded, Cary Audio SLP-50B tube pre, Yamaha CDP, Entech DAC. Not what you call "audiophile" but I'm working on it.

Music: Dire Straits - ST, Diana Krall - Stepping Out, Beth Orton - The Other Side of Daybreak and Superinkymandy, Horace Silver - Six Pieces of Silver, Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here and Schiller - Voyage.

Straight out of the box I can hear a big improvement over the Koss. Considerably more bass extension, but not very tight. Decent highs, but not very inspiring or sparkly. The mids are wonderfully full and ripe, but a bit murky. I'm expecting/hoping the sound overall sound will clean up after break in and or with the right amp. The soundstage and depth is vast and open. I like that! BTW... I listened to all those CDs and there was no listening fatigue.

The RS-2i headphones are also quite revealing of my gear's inadequacies. Lots of floor noise, which I was expecting. So I had already started building a new headphone system from the wall outlet up. But that's another story. I also tried the Grados straight out of the Yamaha CDP. Woah... the bass disappeared and it sounded tinny and harsh. Sounded like the woofers were cut out in a pair of 3-way speakers. The sound from a Sansui 9090DB didn't sound any better, but with the tone controls got manageable. I'll try them out with a Sansui AU-DII integrated and Marantz 2250B receiver to see if the warmth and bass are still there.

Having the Cary tube preamp and Entech DAC in the mix does wonders. Otherwise I would've been quite disappointed. I'll try it out, with them separately and by rolling tubes. I think having a dedicated headphone amp should make a big difference so I have a Pro-ject Head Box II on it's way. Also, I will try and build a Millet Starving Student Tube Headphone Amp.

So far the Grados have only seen about 10 hours of break in time. I'll post another review in about 100 hours and with the Head Box which should be here by then.

 

[thedelihaus]

Nice review.

I too, wonder if a headphone amp will help.

What's the ohm rating on these?

 

[Redboy]

Aren't most Grados around 32ohms?

Looking forward to seeing your Millet amp, Carl. I think that would be a good one, and might have to try my hand at one someday.

Thanks for the review. Give them a bunch of break in time before passing final judgment.

:thmbsp:
Nate

 

[onepixel]

I think most, if not all the Grados are 32 ohms. The RS-2is are 32 ohms.

The Millet amp will be my first real DIY project so it might take awhile. I need to learn how to properly read a schematic and practice soldering. I haven't decided on a case yet, being an artist that's going to be the most fun in the build for me.

 

[Boonaroo]

Thanks for your review. I have been wondering what the improvements are other than the slight estetics.

I think that you will find that they clean up considerably with usage. Let them play for about 100 hours at more than moderate undestorted levels and you will be amazed at the clarity of the highs and strenght of the bass.

I have owned both RS 1s aned RS 2's at the same time and kept the pair of RS 2's. There was a slight difference in the highs that I prefered with the RS 2's. Good choice on both of our parts.

I use mine mainly with my Bryston/Rega system. The headphone section of the BP 25 is more than I will every need to prove that these are some serious cans. I would like to know how a tube headphone amp would work tho.

Thanks again for the review.

 

[onepixel]

Hey Boonaroo,

Your welcome. Hope my review was informative. It's great to know that these headphones will clean up considerably with use. So far about 15 hours into them.

I'll post, if and when I get the tube headphone amp going.

Cheers!

 

[onepixel]

It's been about 100+ hours.

The overall sound has tightened up considerably, the Grados are starting to sound more like my speakers. I can hear more clearly the thump and twangs of the strings on the stand up bass. The cymbals are starting to shimmer. I can't tell if the mids have thinned out a bit or that everything else is now more pronounced. The mids still sounds pretty good, but not great. Vocals seems to have been pushed back some by the more fuller and tighter bass. Initially I thought the mids sounded the best.

I'm hearing detail I never knew was there. In an acoustic piece I could hear string buzz on slightly missed fingering on a chord and the pick strumming across the individual strings. That split second sound of the pedal as it hits the bass drum. A little to much of what's going on inside of Diana Krall's mouth. The moisture in her mouth and on her tongue as she takes a breath... woah.

I liked my Cerwin Vega AT-15s with LOUD rock because when cranked it was like being slammed with a big blunt object. Cranking the RS-2is with rock is a little to much. There is to much detail that it's almost overwhelming and it's going to take a bit of getting used too. I've listened to 5 or 6 CDs loud and no fatigue.

So far I'm quite pleased. The Pro-ject Head Box should be showing up in a couple of days. Look forward to giving that a play. The SSTHA is still in pieces, I did get the plate all drilled up and will start soldering soon.


How I broke in the headphones using slight louder than average levels.
30 hours of rock
20 classical
20 rap... I figured the bass thump would be good for something.
20 pink noise
10+ misc.

 

[onepixel]

Got the Pro-ject Head Box II yesterday. Plugged it in along with the Cary tube pre-amp. The Head Box is super quiet. It brought the mids/vocals back up front, which in return filled in the soundstage and lost some of that airiness that I like. I'll try it without the tubes and DAC later.

The Grados sound wonderful, just a little more fine tuning.

 

[dBfreak]

Nice review. I'm sure you will hear a totally different headphone (for the better) after 100 plus hours break in.

 

[zenith2134]

Hi onepixel, glad to hear that you're enjoying the Grado sound. I sure do (sr325i) I also have a Headbox MKII .... I concur that noise levels are nonexistent. It's also very neutral IME.

I accidentally busted the volume pot on mine a while back, and am now using it as a power amp (removed the pot. and jumpered the board) in conjunction with an old PS Audio Linear control center preamp. It is excellent at driving Grados although the guys at head-fi sure like to bash it. To each his own.

 

[onepixel]

I was going to get some SR-80s, and work my way up and try other brands and models. But after intensive research on headphones I decided on the new RS-2i model. Also I figured I wouldn't end up with a bunch of extra stuff I didn't need or use and would cost less in the long run if I just got some good stuff to start!

 

[Mr. Lin]

It is excellent at driving Grados although the guys at head-fi sure like to bash it. To each his own.

Then they've probably never heard it. I have a Grado RA-1 headphone amp, slightly modified, and one of the original black Headbox SE headphone amps. Frankly, the Pro-Ject is a little better, though now that I've upgraded the RCA sockets and re-wired part of the RA-1, it's close, and the Pro-Ject is being loaned to a friend.

Onepixel you probably made the best decision just getting the highest model you would eventually buy anyway. Never heard anything past the 325i headphones I use, but based on those I'll bet your RS2's are pretty darn nice! Also based on my experience, as you've already heard, Grado headphones need time to break in. Nothing wrong with doing this by simply listening to music, but if you want to speed up the process there are free downloadable "burn-in" files, mostly consisting of various frequency sweeps, white noise, pink noise, etc. I cycled through the files - but - I would advise against leaving your headphones like this for more than a couple hours at a time, or you could risk overheating the voice coils or otherwise damaging the diaphragm. Just don't put something on, walk away, and forget about it for 10 hours.

I was about to hit "reply" and tell you how critical an independent headphone amp is, but now you know. Some higher-end components have decent headphone amps built in, but you should use a separate one. Are you going to try any of the Little Dot headphone amps? I am, soon.

Dave

 

[onepixel]

Hi Mr. Lin/Dave,

It was one of your post that help me decide on the Pro-ject. Thanks! Almost bought the Grado amp. There are a lot of inexpensive DIY clones of the Grados and after seeing a pic of what's inside that tipped the scale.

I did break the headphones by leaving them on a couple days for close to 10 hours. But most of the time, 4-6 hour at a time. Various types of music to cover the spectrum. Over heating did occur to me, so I didn't over do it. I also used my EQ to generate pink noise, but didn't want to leave the amp and EQ on for extended periods. So I found a short mp3 file of pink noise. I put it on the iPod and looped it. The headphones have broken in very nicely.

I saw the thread where you were looking into the Little Dot. Lot of guys have wonderful things to say. I'm very tempted. But I wanted a DIY project so I considered the C-Moy, but instead went with the Millet Starving Student tube headphone amp. I'll let you guys know if I can get it to work!

Look forward to your impressions on the Little Dot.

Cheers,
Carl

 

[Mr. Lin]

Hi Mr. Lin/Dave,

It was one of your post that help me decide on the Pro-ject. Thanks! Almost bought the Grado amp. There are a lot of inexpensive DIY clones of the Grados and after seeing a pic of what's inside that tipped the scale.

I did break the headphones by leaving them on a couple days for close to 10 hours. But most of the time, 4-6 hour at a time. Various types of music to cover the spectrum. Over heating did occur to me, so I didn't over do it. I also used my EQ to generate pink noise, but didn't want to leave the amp and EQ on for extended periods. So I found a short mp3 file of pink noise. I put it on the iPod and looped it. The headphones have broken in very nicely.

I saw the thread where you were looking into the Little Dot. Lot of guys have wonderful things to say. I'm very tempted. But I wanted a DIY project so I considered the C-Moy, but instead went with the Millet Starving Student tube headphone amp. I'll let you guys know if I can get it to work!

Look forward to your impressions on the Little Dot.

Cheers,
Carl

I'm glad my comments were useful to you Carl. I think leaving the headphones on for a long time with regular music is probably not as potentially dangerous for the headphones as leaving them on with a pink noise file might be. In any case, it's over now so you don't need to worry about it. I've seen the sites that show the insides of the Grado RA-1. It's disappointing to see that there's really not much to the actual circuit that's hidden underneath the capacitor. Had I known that then I wouldn't have bought it, however, it's actually a pretty good headphone amp, and with a little work the sound is quite pleasant.

You can bet you'll hear my thoughts on the Little Dot when I get it (probably going to order in about a week). I've always wondered if I should eventually upgrade to the Grado RS models, wish there were a dealer nearby.

 

[Dr. Music]

Another thumbs up to buying what you want the first time around rather than working your way up. If you're a headphone lover then you might as well start at least halfway up the food chain, higher than that to be honest, otherwise you're likely to get on the upgrade wheel and keep throwing money at one set after another until you get to where you want to be - in the end it usually amounts to paying twice what you would have paid by getting a good pair to begin with.

It's been my experience that once you have a great set of headphones, your others just sit and gather dust. When I got my HD600s last year I was hesitant to throw the cash at them, but knew that if I went with a lesser model I'd wind up sending the same money two or three times, and have a few sets of headphones sitting around that I never listen to.

 

[onepixel]

Impression update. It's been over a month with these Grados.

The past week or so I was having an uneasy feeling that the sound was starting to sound thin with vinyl. Mids and bass weren't quite there, especially at low listening volumes. I was thinking about getting a warmer cart. Then listening to CDs I noticed the same thing. I started wondering if I screwed up the drivers by having them cranked. Swell...

So today I checked all the connections and made sure the gear was in order. Then I went back to the music I used for my initial review. Everything sounds great.... phew!

The RS-2i headphones not only pointed out the inadequacies in my gear, it found less than stellar, wimpy recordings.

 

[onepixel]

Well, it's been a year since I got the Grado RS-2is and I'm still extremely pleased with their performance. I was also considering getting the AK-701/702s and Sennheiser HD-650s, but it's hard to imagine needing additional sets.

My dedicated headphone system now consists of the Cary Audio SLP-50B tube pre-amp, Sansui SR-838/AT-15Sa, Yamaha CDP, Entech DAC along with the Pro-Ject Head Box II and Pro-Ject Phono Box II. I tried the Bellari VP-129 tube phono/headphone pre-amp with the stock Bellari and Mullard tubes, while it sounded great I went back to the Pro-Ject combo. I think the Bellari in combination with the Cary gave it a wee bit to much warmth for my taste.

I really like the over the ear, open air design of these Grados. They really give a wonderful sense of space and have a well balanced sound. For the most part the highs have a sparkle and shimmer, the mids rich and warm. The bass depends on the type of recording and format. Rock on CDs sounds perfect, some older "mellow" type of music on vinyl the bass is a wee bit thin. Probably has more to do the recording than the headphones. They've also held up quite well and still look brand new.

These RS-2i headphones also sounds very good with my other integrateds, receivers and makes the iPod sound ridiculously good.

 

[thedelihaus]

Great review, and one I blame on forcing my hand to grab a set for myself.

Well, this review, speaking to you on the telly about it, and my experience at a hifi store testing the 225is and 325is, then the RS2is.

In the end, it was a business deal that got me headphones for graphic work, and I walked out with a pair of 225is, RS2is, and AKG K702s.

I have spent very little time with all three, due to a heavy workload and a busy schedule of home repairs, but even auditioning them at the hifi store, the 225s were wonderful, but the RS2is? Fantastic!


Everything the lower model Grados do, but with an increase of warmth, airiness and delicacy to detail. Clearer, improved accuracy, deeper detail retrieval, and overall performance level that raises the benchmark for what a good 'phone really is.

I still blame you.

 

[thedelihaus]

PS- Maryanne Faithful in "Girl on a Motorcycle"?

The S/T has been re-released- I picked it up, along with my two (different cover) original releases. Good stuff from Jack Cardiff.

 

[onepixel]

Great review, and one I blame on forcing my hand to grab a set for myself.

Well, this review, speaking to you on the telly about it, and my experience at a hifi store testing the 225is and 325is, then the RS2is.

In the end, it was a business deal that got me headphones for graphic work, and I walked out with a pair of 225is, RS2is, and AKG K702s.


I still blame you.

hehe... why waste time and money slowly working your way up?

So how do you like the K702s and how do they compare to the RS-2is? I guessitmated that the Grado has a more extended high, while the AKG has a slightly fuller bottom end. And congrats on your headphones!

Yup... that's Marianne all right!