Have been sampling the delights of a pair of Grado RS1 headphones for the last few days. I have also just bought a Music Fidelity X-Can v3 headphone amplifier which really makes them sing! I have it installed between my pre-amp and power amp of a Beomaster 5500 (You take the U connectors out!) and it drives all my headphones beautifully.

The RS1 is a wonderful sounding headphone if not as comfortable as my Sennheisers  but quite a bit more detailed. We will be testing these and the B&O range and publishing the findings. Lee is planning to stock Grados as he has been so impressed by the RS1s. I can fully understand why! A good pair of headphones can really make you hear things you have never done on a piece of music.

Will report on results! 

Meet the headphone fanatics:

http://www.head-fi.org/ 

 Great site for anything having to do with listening through "cans."

Congrats with your Grado RS1s. 

Hope you include the U70's in the mix, preferably connected to similar-vintage equipment?

 Another idea would be Dolby ProLogic headphones, fed from a 4-channel BeoGram 4002/6000... 

I have tried the U70s - now they do take some driving! Lacking in bass - made better by my pulling off the leather covers that I had put on! They do sound good but not a patch on either of the Grado or Sennheiser.

I'm afraid i'm really taken by the Grado's - even the bottom of the range ones are impressive, and due to their lighter weight they are even more comfortable than the RS1's (which do sound amazing).

Listening to Sacre de Printemps in Salonen's version with a pair of Sennheiser HD580s that I can't seem to be able to part with. Listening through headphones is very enjoyable, really lets you zoom in on details. Will check out the Grados again - used to listen to a pair, but found them too heavy on the top of my noggin. Great sound, though, keeps you awake.

Anyone have the GS1000s from Grado?
I have upgraded one of my DACs to the Grace m902 headphone amp/DAC. And it's supposed to go extremely well together with the GS1000s. 

I am too considering buying a pair of high-end headphones and, besides Grado and Sennheiser, have come across AKG K701:

 http://www.akg.com/site/products/powerslave,id,911,pid,911,nodeid,2,_language,EN.html

Does anybody have experience with these headphones?

They're excellent. Listened a lot to a pair last fall.

http://www.soundstage.com/allinyourhead/allinyourhead200607.htm 

The Grado's sound very interesting. I'm enamoured with my Sennheiser HD650's!
A noticeable step up from my previous mid range Sennheiser's. Fuller bass and more detail.
I use them with lossless Apple file format on a G5/itunes. I'd be curious as to whether a high
specced CD player with a headphone amp would improve the sound further although at this
point we'd presumably be talking about tiny improvements.
 

Using the Musical Fidelity with my G5, the bass seems better and you can get more dynamics - the only problem is the sound is better so you listen at a louder volume! I don't have my HD600s at present (swapped with Lee!) but when I swap back, I'll let you know. The HD600s seem to take more driving than the Grados so I would expect them to be even more suited to the headphone amplifier.

Reox:

The Grado's sound very interesting. I'm enamoured with my Sennheiser HD650's!
A noticeable step up from my previous mid range Sennheiser's. Fuller bass and more detail.
 

Yes. People say the HD650s are musical, and the HD600s are analytical. Curious about the 650, they are supposed to be very nice. I have used a pair of HD580 for years, and they remain a favourite.

as i am in the market for headphones... any news on the shootout? any thoughts on wireless -sennheiser, others?

I had a pair of wireless senhiesers and they were shocking!

more people love HD600 more. For the price level, I am sure sennheiser is an unbelivable one.

Also try some Grados. Having been using a pair of RS1s, they are more detailed than the HD600s and certainly worth auditioning.

bought some form1's to tide me over. they need new foam ear surrounds. anyone have a nos source for these / or aftermarket? 

burantek:

bought some form1's to tide me over. they need new foam ear surrounds. anyone have a nos source for these / or aftermarket? 

They are available from Lifestyle-AV.

perfect! thx so much! -exactly what i was looking for!

my form1's have arrived -now for the *stupid* question...

 the jack is apparently 3.5mm -what is the input size on the bm's? looks like 1/4"

i need to buy an adapter.

 
thx in advance
 

They usually come with one! Standard adaptor available though.

well, unless they are second-hand and also missing the earpads...

thx to lifestyle-av for the replacement foam!

 w/ regards to the adapter -the jack is 3.5mm, though a 1/8" --to--> 1/4" adapter will work.

so, the jack socket (at least on the older bm's) is 1/4"

just make sure that it is "stereo" to "stereo"

 btw, they sound great -looking fwd to the new pads.