High-end headphones

I always notice in these threads that there are a group of people who will say "Get Sennheiser!" and another group who say "Get Grado!". There are a couple of things that go un-mentioned: both of these style of headphones have VERY different sound signatures. In the end, pick based on what kind of music you listen to. Sennheiser 'phones tend to put you in the audience of a concert hall. Classical music is supposed to sound AMAZING with these. Grados on the other hand, put you right ON the stage, and rock music is just that: rockin'. And, the higher end Sennheiser headphones will generally sound like CRAP out of a portable player or receiver. 'Headphone amplifiers' are something most people into casual listening will read about, turn around, and run away.

I only have Grados so I can only comment on those. The brightness problem is easily fixed with a change of pads. Those Senn. HD-414 replacement pads can be modified to fit on Grado headphones and they tone the high frequencies down a good bit. Or you can do what I did: buy the limited edition HF-1 Grado, made specially for the Head-Fi forums. I believe there will be one more sale before they are discontinued, so you'd have to head over to the forum and check it out soon. The drivers of these are enclosed in wood, similar to the RS-1. Their sound signature is much warmer, less bright, less edgy, compared to the other Grado at the same price point (SR-225.)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by JasonTerminator

They are pretty ugly though.

Some of us like the retro look.

Of course, any mod work done to Grados by headphile.com is stunning & beautiful. Wood is awesome.

http://www.headphile.com/page9.html

There's nowhere I can't reach.