Grado RS1e Reference Series Open Backed Headphones

Product Information

These are keepers in my book... I will update my impressions this weekend when I have some time with a well used RS1i So, now it's time for a headphone I've been wanted to hear ever since I started reading Head-Fi. The RS1. Everybody know them. Many own them. Many love them. And the RS1 is probably the reason why I decided to sit down and share my experience with head-fi. The foam ear pads can be removed for cleaning and they appear to hold the drive unit in place, which is loose in its cavity. This may make repair easy if a lead is yanked out by accident, since there was no cable clamp. SOUND QUALITY The RS1 absolutely decimates the competition when it comes to delivering an intact, integrated, & participatory musical experience. I've heard many headphones so far, and none come close to the RS1's sense of life and energy. This headphone swings. It grooves. It dances. It excites. It throws down. It's the freakin' life of the party and it makes you want to MOVE! There are headphones where you want to sit down, close your eyes, and listen - and most headphones are best heard that way. The RS1 is the anti-thesis of those kinds of headphones - this is one best heard NOT sitting down. It has an inner spark that makes it sound alive with a ghost-in-the-machine kind of effect - and with the right music, it makes you want to stand up and groove! There are no strain reliefs on the cable where it meets the headphones, so just ensure your foot is not on the cable when you stand up.

Grado has seen to it that you have one. It's the kind of listening experience that earns the accolade 'memorable'. Now I don't want you to think that, historically-speaking, we're talking about something as earth-shattering as the original Quad ESL, the Decca Gold or your first orgasm. The Grado RS-1 ain't that good. But the first time I heard an RS-1 prototype through a Headroom amplifier, with a signal feed straight from the CD player, in the midst of a crowded room at a hi-fi show, I knew that I was in the presence -- in being the operative word -- of something which would soon possess a devoted following. If I were grading the RS 2, I’d give it a “V” for vividness. When I listened to music through these ’phones, I sometimes had the uncanny sense that my brain had been magically hard-wired straight into the mixing console. The glory of this headphone is its pure, ultra-lucid midrange sound, which sweetly melts upward into silky smooth, finely textured highs. Bass is taut, dynamically alive, and offers a good measure of natural warmth, but is somewhat reticent relative to the mids and highs. This is a highly detailed headphone, though never in a showy, “hey-look-at-me” sense; instead, small textural and transient details just happen—without undo effort, drama, or sonic histrionics. This is said to offer the clearest transmission and lowest coloration possible. Smoother, cleaner and more dynamic sound is also suppose to be a direct benefit. Each headphone driver is pair matched for exact imaging. Drivers feature low-mass polymer diaphragms, neodymium magnets, and UHPLC (ultra high-purity, long crystal, oxygen-free copper) voice-coil wires. Comfort is quite good by Grado standards: the wood is lighter than the metal in the other Grados I've used (325, HP-1, PS-1), and although the flat pads sit on the ears and feel a little abrasive at first compared with non-Grados, I find them quite comfortable, or at least not uncomfortable, to wear pretty much all day.First impressions were of surprising degree of warmth in the sound and a handling of bass and spatial elements that was more like listening to loudspeakers than headphones. This was a good start and encouraged me to play through a wider selection of 'test pieces' and favorite music than I normally do - and to continue listening to longer extracts.

The RS-1 are wonderful headphones provided they are equipped with flat pads, which is what they were originally shipped with and presumably designed for. They now ship with bowl pads, and I found that these made the sound too harsh and thin. With flats the sound is warm and detailed with good fast bass and a fabulous midrange that excels with vocals and guitars and the like. The highs are also good though slightly hazy or grainy at times. Grado are not too enthusiastic about discussing the secrets that lie within the RS-1, although Audio Imports, the local distributor, informs me that Grado advise that the RS-1 utilizes the SR325 as its floorplan, but has improved upon it. Despite my preference for the flats, the bowls made the RS1 sound more balanced, and repeated listening on all the amps made it pretty obvious that they're probably tuned with the bowls - they gave the most consistent musical sound. Pulling everything we can from the new 50mm X Driver, our signature sound is brought to new heights when combined with maple, hemp, and cocobolo. Maple takes care of most of the work, hemp smooths out top and low ends, while cocobolo adds that extra punch. Together the sound the woods produce, when combined with our special processes, are full-bodied, dynamic, and truly defined.

The good news is that the RS1 doesn't really sound like any of the models below it - it's one of the most balanced Grados I've heard, with a comfortably straighforward mid-range (not too much warmth there), close-to-flat & extended treble, and a good rounded bass component. Compared to the lower-end Grados, the RS1 also has the biggest soundstage - well, for a Grado at least. Like the other ones it too throws you on the stage with the band but unlike them it allows you to hear the spatials of a room and get an idea of how big it is, and it presents some depth too that can show where performers are located relative to each other. The RS-1 also beat out the older Grados in the low end, with deeper extension and better definition through the bass range. Basslines jumped out of the mix with much more power than the older phones, and bounced along with an agile, firm grip on the bottom end. Most open-air phones sound really thin and wimpy, but not the RS-1s -- few conventional loudspeakers at any price can claim such powerfully extended, undistorted bass response. more than a few times, I found myself marvelling at a really bitchin" baseline on a CD or record I've listened to dozens of times without really hearing them. Even on the MCA -- remastered Jimi Hendrix Axis: Bold As Love CD, I heard cool little bass riffs and funky embellishments I never really noticed before, even on the HP-2s, and I've been listening to this record since I was knee-high to an Olsen twin! And inside the RS-1s which would look like the top of the Prestige series range, the SR325's, if not for the wooden enclosure that is substituted for the metal frame which encases the 325. Sonic improvement requires these changes. The Grado RS1 is a suburb headphone, fully in line with it's premium price. With the closing of Stax phones, this headphone may well be the heir apparent.

Wood enclosures are a rare sight on headphones, although they have been used previously by other manufacturers-also on their reference headphones. The RS-1 follows the same retro styling as the Prestige series, including utilizing the same design for the headband. Finished in suede, rather than the usual leather, you either will enjoy the way it sits on your head or you won't. Regardless of what you listen to and where you listen out, the RS1s perform the simplest of tasks: sprinkling the best chocolate on top of your music and making it sound awesome. Aside from the most luscious midrange I have ever heard, it possesses the deepest low-frequency response and the ability to sparkle high enough never to miss a single beat. Aggressive, but smooth. Very textured, detailed, very extended but not harsh, clean and nearly free of grain. We dig out a pair of first-generation RS1 and, as expected, are treated to an open, forward and insightful sound. Switch to the new RS1x, however, and the presentation is not only clearer and notably more transparent but also faster and livelier, making the veteran pair sound somewhat ponderous in comparison. The extent of the RS1x’s fleet-footedness has us drawing similar comparisons with rivals such as the Beyerydnamic T1 (3rd Generation), even if they chalk up points for their greater solidity, refinement and deeper bass. We commented on the new driver’s punchy nature in our SR325x review, and that talent certainly manifests in these Reference Series headphones too.

How Was the RS1x Tested?

To sum the overall presentation up I would describe the overall presentation as warm, sparkly, and on the edge of bright without ever being painful....Euphoric, but detailed. Fast but with natural decay. But wait! What if I put the GS1000 earpad on the RS2? Yup, the RS2 suddenly have the soundstage of the GS1000. With the same pad, the RS2 sounds unbelievably similar to the GS1000. The biggest different is that the details doesn't come out as much, thanks to the mroe limited frequency response and the added distance from your ears. The bass is a little softer too. But I can assure you, these two headphones have the exact same sound signature. I believe most people that listen to music while they work will not hear the difference, unless your music is very bass heavy (or unless your work is to listen to music, duh). Even as long-term Grado users, it takes us a while to get used to them due to their thinness and overall shape, but it’s worth persisting. A few days of acclimatisation makes us more kindly disposed towards them, particularly as the new earpads cause a subtle shift to the balance of the SR325x’s sound, making them a less demanding listen. When you think you've heard everything on a recording, then you are ready for these Grados. With their firm yet feather-light feel, the music was like a warm sunny day, when a slight haze suddenly drifts by. Voices became effortless, humanly round, and instruments stretched around me in a cascade of sparkling details with a wonderful accuracy of timbre. They handled every kind of music with warmth, transparency and coherence. They just sounded and felt so right.

Beyond that, without knowing what you want or not, what brands (or custom manufacturers) you like, etc - the closest parallel I can think of is when I tried different woods on the same model ZMF headphone. It changes the sound noticibly, but not so much that I would confuse say an Auteur for a Verite Closed or Eikon or other factors such as the chain itself or the pads you use will get drowned out. There is also some degree of interaction - different woods of the same ZMF model may sound better with different pads / chains / whatever. And of course, personal preference. The RS1x is the first headphone to be built with the larger 50mm X Drivers. Specifically tuned for the tri-wood RS1x, this new speaker design features a more powerful magnetic circuit, a voice coil with decreased effective mass, and a reconfigured diaphragm. Reengineering these components for our 50mm drivers improve efficiency, reduces distortion, and preserves the harmonic integrity of your music. Other niceties which allude to its exclusivity are the driver matching to 0.05dB (yes, point-oh-five), vented diaphragms and something called "UHPLC" copper for the voice coils and connection cord. Think up your own meanings for the acronym. What's important is that the RS-1 is so comfortable that you'll soon forget you're wearing a pair. What you'll never forget is sound that's so smooth, coherent and palpable that you might even think about forswearing speakers, except for multi-listener sessions.The Sennheisers clearly revealed the analog origins of "Third Uncle" by passing through tape hiss undiminished. It was barely audible through the Grados. The Grado RS1e is one of these, with mahogany earcups and a very retro headband which makes us think of radio operators during World War II. Had their headphones sounded this good at that time, would the Allies have still won? It’s a real enigma. Pros: The RS1i phones do an excellent job from a spatial perspective, though I have heard greater soundstage depth from the more expensive Audeze LCD-2 and HiFiMAN HE-500 planar magnetic headphones, and the AKG K702s (which were my long-term headphones until they mysteriously disappeared from a hotel room in 2009). Since the RS1 e ( reviewed here), Grado has gone to a larger 50mm driver, which is different than the 44mm drivers on the RS2X and down. There once was a time when all Grados including the RS1* were 44mm drivers. Grado now differentiates their TOTL RS1 series with the larger driver. The X model here is a reformulation of the 50mm driver on the RS1e. From what I'm hearing, this could be their most resolving driver yet. The difference was quite discernable going from an SR325X to the RS1X. The RS2x’s new aesthetic is a little more striking and eye-catching than the more traditional-looking RS2 models that preceded it, but it’s still 100% classic Grado - no doubt about it. Gone are the old engraved model designation and maker’s mark on the outer side of the cups - the RS2x appears to be emblazoned with laser-etched writing which firmly marks it as a member of the esteemed “Reference Series”.