Killercrush

Well, you can add riceboy to that list boomana hehe ! Oh and Ryan, take the HP1000, you know you want it.

Firstly I'll say one thing, the Joe Grado HP2 with the Reference cable are the finest headphones I've ever heard, my dream cans. The difference is quite neat to experience IMO, mainly because mostly only me can do it and the other HF'iers present who did. They have mostly the same balance, same drivers, duhhhh !!! Otherwise, everything on the HP2 is clearly more precise, accurate, focused, effortless & natural. They share the same quality that I like to call the ability to reconstruct the recording with everything in it's right place, at the right time, with the right tone . I can put it that way too, if my SR100 are too clinical, the HP2 are downright urgency room material. I don't know how to explain it but the HP2 are more laid-back than my SR100 but still manage to be more detailed & bigger sounding, you can really feel the instruments in the soundstage, the heart of the recording, something that's not even quite up there on my cans. The HP1000 drivers sure do sound better in an all metal enclosure but the modded SR325 housings did help to bring the Joe Grado Tonality a bit. I compared the 2 housings side by side and the ones from the HP2 were thicker, larger in diameter & deeper. They also has that strange brown tar alike substance, Joe Grado magic tweak. It really does take his old metal beasts to experience a full complete HP1000 journey.

Yep, those are vintage black SR325 regrilled/unbuttoned cups which replaced the stock SR100 ones. A Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable was also installed in place of the stock stiff unamed Grado Labs cable. I A/B them vs the HP2, no contest, the HP2 is still winning but the gap between them is way smaller compared to what was my SR100 before the mods.

Yeah, you gotta love this one Jin : http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i253/GPH03/2008/IMG_0795.jpg

Well, nice try, I'm already in...

Mine does come close, my SR100 is all black except for the silver letterings & the rods, it will only go blacker when I'll receive my black SR325 cups.

Isn't it Cantsleep's HF-1/SR100 ?!

Happy 50th Birthday !!! Hope you get a Zana deux... oh wait, you already have one !

His pair's not as good as mine cause it only has the SR100 drivers (Version 3 or 4). AFAIK, there was only 4 versions of the SR100 : 1 - Red letterings, metal mesh, HP1000 drivers & the Grado Signature Laboratory Standard Audio Cable 2 - Silver letterings, metal mesh & HP1000 drivers, never saw one like this except mine. 3 - Silver letterings, metal mesh & SR100 drivers 4 - Silver letterings, plastic mesh & SR100 drivers I had some SR200 with SR200 drivers and it was not worth $400 at all. I do feel that my pair with the HP1000 drivers is worth at least $500 to my ears. Better than RS2 for sure and about on par with the RS1 (Sonic preferences dictate which one you like best here), which I didn't like that much, actually preferred the GS1K to it, never heard a vintage RS1 though.

That's something I promised myself I would never do with my SR100 or the old SR200 I had... You want wood ? Go RS2, RS1, GS1K... HF-1, that's it. Also, Larry and Ken are out of the picture for me, not much other options out there except DIY.

Yep, I'll keep them for now and do some reversible mods to upgrade them to my likings. Some SR325/MS2 cups & a standard joe grado cable should do the trick, I want my poor's man HP1000 !!!

The leather handband looks cheaper to me than the older pairs.

The problem is, Joseph Grado is getting older and I think it's about time I get my pair to send it to him so he can perform his magic and get a pair of back-up HP1000 drivers. I just want to be done with open-air dynamic headphones choices.

That being said, I only heard the HP2 with the JGSUWBRC on one setup and that was : CEC CDP (don't remember it's name) > CEC DA53 > Melos SHA 1 & CEC CDP (don't remember it's name) > CEC DA53 > Unamped

Here's a few setups I tried them in : Melos DVT CDP > Melos SHA Gold Monarchy Audio M22 > Melos SHA 1 CI Audio VDA-2 > Purity Audio KICAS Meridian 508.24 > RSA B-52 / Apache Beresford TC-7510 DAC > Singlepower PPX3 Eastsound CD5 CDP > Lossless 2004 > McAlister Massive Attack Iriver HP-140 > HR Microdac > Millet Hybrid Sony D-303 > Larocco PRII They did reach full potential with the Meridian/Apache (not to my liking tough) or VDA-2/KICAS, anything above that, like the B52, was way overkill for them. They did showed me each system's signature and many higher-end setups highlighted the SR100 deficiencies. Because I took a quite nice listen to them in a very silent place and they blew away my SR100, even unamped. One thing I would like to do is compare my SR100 in a $1500 setup against an unamped HP2. I think I heard a million times that the transducers come first, upgrades will be more noticeable if you have an exceptional pair of cans than a mid-fi one. The HP2 is known to take the flavor of upstream components, why not make it the first step ?

I'm currently using my SR100 with flats directly out of my computer or pcdp, pretty minimalist crappy setup. I used to have a Melos but sold it due to not having a decent source to play with. I thought about getting a CI Audio VDA-2 with an Oppo as a transport paired with a fully discrete amp from Purity Audio, called KICAS. All of this is just pending in the air cause I don't know if I would stay with this rig for long cause my desire to get the HP2 grows stronger everyday. Basically my question is, should I spend $1500 on my favorite cans and build a rig slowly around them or build a complete SR100 rig right here, right now ?

There would be at least 100 people interested but Jin would get first dibs for sure. eBay isn't the right place for such cans, HC & HF it is.

Hi guys ! As you may know, I've always wanted a pair of HP2 but never got around to purchase them. I got my SR100 with HP1000 drivers and I'm wondering if I should sell them to fund a HP2 or just build a ~$1500 rig around my SR100 and wait till I have even more money to buy the HP2 without selling the SR100, I have always kept only the best headphone and sold the worst but in this case, it's harder to sell such a nice rare piece of gear that is the SR100. Any thoughts ?!

Which Zhalou is more neutral ?

'' I like prat, good extension in the frequency extremes with a flattish frequency response (no particularly onerous peaks or valleys), without loss of transient peaks.'' Talkin' about those HP2's ...

Until 2012.

A nice pair of vintage Grado SR-100 .

Aren't flagship SE/Balanced models more important than portable devices ?! I do think so but with all the waiting he has to source the fets, he does has some time to finish his last portable design... You should focus on a new source too hehe, well... me too I guess.

Justin, thank you for your fast response, I see there's some light at the end of the tunnel. Also, with the upcoming new modules, would it be possible to have a GS-1/X with black casings and silver faceplates and vice-versa as an available option ? (I saw one of your GS-X prototype in the So-Cal Meet and I must say it's a real beauty, much better than having it all black) Best regards, Julien

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