Can i do better for $700 than Grado RS-1?

Newmanoc,

I agree that The Senns 580, 600, 650 are what most people consider the best or one of the best headphones.

The HD 600 can be had for around $150 on the street, and I actually noticed only minor improvements if that going to the 650.In fact, I was ready to buy them, had the money in pocket, but felt like I would actually prefer my 600's to it. I walked away keeping my 600s.

The Grado's are clearly more musical (their strong suit), but they are pricier (by a wide margin), and bright with certain material unless you get flat pads.The Senns have a flat frequency response, but are considered analytical or boring to some people. Like I said I like both, but the Grado (musical - incredible transient reponse, and realistic sound of wooden instruments - because of the mahogany) will always be my choice.

In other words, don't just take our opinions or following what most people get (unless your a follower, then by all means).

Listen to the Grado's and Senns. The sound of both is sooo different.

Robm321:
I actually have owned two pair of HD 650's so far, as well as a pair of HD 580's, and I am quite familiar with their line. I am less familiar with Grado, but I have heard several of their cans (but only as high in the line as the SR 325) with the RA-1. For me they were just too warm, too far off an accurate representation of the music. Perhaps I would really like the RS-1 specifically, but given the Grado house sound, I suspect not. But that is just my taste, and I have no problem with you or anyone else differing. As I said, people who do like the RS-1s seem to like them passionately.

I agree that the Sennheisers are not without problem - I find them quite laid back, and for some people that can equate with boring if paired with the wrong amp and source. But I would stick by my recommendations for Overhang not to buy the RS-1 unless he has heard it and knows he likes it better than the much cheaper Sennheisers. This just makes sense, especially given that many people I know of who have heard both the RS-1 and the HD 650 prefer the latter. And if you buy the HD 650's for $300 new on ebay, you can unload them for $275 used on audiogon if you don't like them. I don't think the same opportunity exists with the RS-1. This is the jist of my argument for someone just getting into high end headphones.

Oh, to Overhang I would also say if you don’t buy the RS-1, then definitely look at some other headphone amp options. The RA-1 was designed to mate with Grado phones, and other amps do substantially better with Sennheisers, at least to my ear.

Thank You.
The problem is that i need a battery operated amp for porable use on the go.I intend on using it while commuting,travelling or just sitting in the park.

Newmanoc,

From my experience you are right on. It would be more reasonable to get a $300 650. It would allow some money for a cable upgrade also which would help give some more detail to the Senns. I use my Senn 600s with ASL MGhead (black plate tubes), and it has very good synergy. The RA-1 is a must for the RS-1.

But given that the 650 is so low in price compared to the RS-1 and a lot of people still will pay the money to move up to the RS-1, I think it's worth a listen at the very least. Whether you like the Grado house sound is a personal thing, which is why it's good to listen if you can. When I was shopping, I couldn't live without the more accurate Senns, and I couldn't live without the musical, toe tapping, Grados, so I bought them both and the appropriate amps for each and listen about 50/50, so I'm really a fense sitter, but if I had to give one up it would be the Senns.

Overhang,

How about looking into a Shure e4 and a portable amp from headroom? It would be easy to stick the whole setup in your pocket, and the sound is very good - on par with the headphones mentioned - minus the bigger soundstage.

Head over to Head-Fi.com for more info but the general consensus there is that

A large ammount of People listening to Rock/Blues/Jazz enjoy the Grado sound and the RS1 is the best they have

A large ammount of people listening to Classical/Jazz enjoy The Senn sound and HD650 is the way to go.

These are generalizations (you may prefer one sound to the other) but represent the jist of how many people feel. If you get Grado's you will want some upgrades (pads and such) probably.

Also a note on your ipod with lossless ...your battery life is going to suck ...instead of the ipod seeking and buffering 5MB songs it will be constanly accessing the disk (since your files will be ~50MB a song in lossless). This means the drive is always turning/wearing and the battery will get sucked down real quick.

Given the limitation of the ipod's internal dac/output and that this is a portable system I would say you could probably get away with 256/320 compression if you want to use the ipod.

The nano is all solid state and will actually get better batter liffe with lossless but you can only fit about 10 lossless albums