What's your take on the RS-1?

[postjack]

Did anyone here get those cheap RS-1's at audiogon?

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrmoni&1173925789

he never responded to my email, says "sale pending" now.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

That used to be the regular price for used ones.

And there was always a guy on ebay selling new ones for $500. The good ol' days hehe.

Biggie.

[hirsch]

The ad copy states the zap uses transistors and not op amps.

This is not necessarily wrong. An op amp is a circuit. While it's commonly mounted on a chip, there's no reason that an op amp can't be built from discrete components. Note the early op amp at the beginning of this article:

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/741/741.html

[postjack]

Larry at Headphile as a pair of old-style darker wood RS-1s for sale for $445. No box or anything, but these really are attractive headphones.

I am toying with the idea of picking them up, but I just don't think I'm ready yet.

[postjack]

they look just like the GoRedWings pair i'm borrowing.

How are you enjoying them?

[909]

I like the RS-1s, but the lack of soundstage is a pisser. I used bowls so possibly flats might be different. Also, Grado's current RS-1 woodwork and wood selection isn't as good as it was about two to three years ago and on the previous RS-1s.

[deepak]

I like the RS-1s, but the lack of soundstage is a pisser. I used bowls so possibly flats might be different. Also, Grado's current RS-1 woodwork and wood selection isn't as good as it was about two to three years ago and on the previous RS-1s.

I know even the salesman at NYC's Sound by Singer commented that the new ones were yellow compared to their old gold letter demo RS-1.

[postjack]

I like the RS-1s, but the lack of soundstage is a pisser. I used bowls so possibly flats might be different. Also, Grado's current RS-1 woodwork and wood selection isn't as good as it was about two to three years ago and on the previous RS-1s.

About one listening sessions every few weeks I am enjoying listening to my SR225s. The lack of soundstage is a bummer, but that comes with Grado territory. A quick grado-fix always cures my Sennheiser blues when I start growing weary of the HD650 sound. I'm listening to the SR225 right now, and no doubt tomorrow night I'll be back to the Senns and be just a pleased as punch with them.

I've done lots of listening with the bowls, ttvj flats, and quarter-hole cut reverse HD414 yellow pads. To my ears, the bowls are just the best. I like the Grados for the sparkley highs, and the flats make them fat bass machines. The HD414 is the most comfortable pad, and sounds good, but the bowls just sound better.

[deepak]

I've done lots of listening with the bowls, ttvj flats, and quarter-hole cut reverse HD414 yellow pads. To my ears, the bowls are just the best. I like the Grados for the sparkley highs, and the flats make them fat bass machines. The HD414 is the most comfortable pad, and sounds good, but the bowls just sound better.

If you think SR-225 + flats = bass machines, you should hear HF-1 + flats (I use bowls too)

[postjack]

Well I went ahead and bought them. We'll see how that works out.

[postjack]

IMO the RS-1 is the best current production dynamic headphone provided you have the money and patience to build a system around them. Problem, your PPX3 Slam ain't gonna take them anywhere near their full potential, it's gonna sound a fair bit better than your 225's but not $400 better. They need a ridiculously overpowered tube amp to sound their best, think power tubes such as EL34's or 300B's on the output as opposed to driver tubes like 5687's or 6SN7's.

But if you get it right it's magic, it plugs you right into the music and emotion and you end up not really caring about colourations, neutrality and all that other audiophile stuff.

Aerius, in your opinion, what headphone amp has the juice to bring the RS-1's to their full potential? I'm a total tube amateur so I can't think off the top of my head what amp uses power tubes like the EL34's or 300B's.

[deepak]

Aerius, in your opinion, what headphone amp has the juice to bring the RS-1's to their full potential? I'm a total tube amateur so I can't think off the top of my head what amp uses power tubes like the EL34's or 300B's.

The Extreme can use 2 6080s

[postjack]

i think the 5687 has plenty of power to make the RS-1 sound great.

The SR225 certainly sounds good with the 5687s, to these ears anyway. I was just hoping to hear aerius elaborate on his statement. When the RS-1s get here I'll do a bit of A/Bing with the SR225 and then sell one of them. I'm hoping the RS-1 will offer me significant benefits over the SR225. One thing is already certain: the RS-1 is better looking.

[postjack]

The Extreme can use 2 6080s

Is there anything it can't do? The Extreme is certainly the wonder amp of the moment. Actually I do believe the hype on this one, I am sure it is a totally kick ass amp. It will be interesting to see how time treats it, and how it holds up against the super secret mystery amps coming soon from SP.

[deepak]

Is there anything it can't do? The Extreme is certainly the wonder amp of the moment. Actually I do believe the hype on this one, I am sure it is a totally kick ass amp. It will be interesting to see how time treats it, and how it holds up against the super secret mystery amps coming soon from SP.

I would actually really like to hear the RS-1 + Extreme. I somehow doubt it would be lacking in power.

Another amp that you should consider is the Melos SHA-1. One on Audiogon right now for $500. But I've seen them sell for as little as $250.

[909]

I'm hoping the RS-1 will offer me significant benefits over the SR225.

I've owned both and the RS-1s are easily better. I would have kept the RS-1s, but for the wood selection and wood workmanship issues were too much for me. The older RS-1s are far superior, IMO, and not just cosmetically either.

I

[postjack]

I would actually really like to hear the RS-1 + Extreme. I somehow doubt it would be lacking in power.

Another amp that you should consider is the Melos SHA-1. One on Audiogon right now for $500. But I've seen them sell for as little as $250.

The first time I have ever done any research into the Melos was today. The most immediate downside I see is that they break, and there is no one immediately available to fix them. But hell, if I could get one for $250 and get a few years out of it... regardless, more research/reading to do, I know almost nothing about it except it was designed as a preamp, but it has a headphone out that people say is kickass with the RS-1. Also I heard it eats tubes up.

I've owned both and the RS-1s are easily better. I would have kept the RS-1s, but for the wood selection and wood workmanship issues were too much for me. The older RS-1s are far superior, IMO, and not just cosmetically either.

I

[aerius]

Aerius, in your opinion, what headphone amp has the juice to bring the RS-1's to their full potential? I'm a total tube amateur so I can't think off the top of my head what amp uses power tubes like the EL34's or 300B's.

As far as I know, there is no commercially available headphone amp which does so you're probably looking at a custom job. The SinglePower Extreme looks quite promising but I haven't heard one yet so I wouldn't know.

Biggie's amp uses push-pull EL34's and a transformer output and a friend of mine has an amp that uses push-pull 2A3's, also transformer output. Those two are the best RS-1 amps I've ever heard, they're a few levels above everything else, with the 2A3 amp having the edge.

i think the 5687 has plenty of power to make the RS-1 sound great.

To me it's good, but not great. Dynamics, weight, and control aren't as good as the amps listed above. Slap an output transformer on it and it gets better, but still not as good as a triode wired 12W6 or EL34, which in turn isn't quite as good as a 2A3.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

melos + rs-1 is meh sounding.

Biggie.

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Biggie's amp uses push-pull EL34's and a transformer output and a friend of mine has an amp that uses push-pull 2A3's, also transformer output. Those two are the best RS-1 amps I've ever heard, they're a few levels above everything else, with the 2A3 amp having the edge.

Thats an amp I would be interested in hearing. ^^

When I first called about a custom amp I asked about getting a 2a3 based amp, but asl didn't make a push pull 2a3 so I was swayed to the el34. I've got no complaints about the sound though.

Biggie.

[aerius]

Thats an amp I would be interested in hearing. ^^

When I first called about a custom amp I asked about getting a 2a3 based amp, but asl didn't make a push pull 2a3 so I was swayed to the el34. I've got no complaints about the sound though.

Biggie.

Unfortunately my friend's in Alberta doing work for the oil & pipelines industry and I don't know when she'll be back in the Toronto area again, I'm guessing Christmas but who knows, I'll definitely let you know if I hear any news. You'll probably want to hear her CD player too, it's an Audio Aero Capitole. I was like "how the hell do you afford that?", then she told me how much they were paying her and I almost shit myself. Damn Waterloo engineers...

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

Unfortunately my friend's in Alberta doing work for the oil & pipelines industry and I don't know when she'll be back in the Toronto area again, I'm guessing Christmas but who knows, I'll definitely let you know if I hear any news. You'll probably want to hear her CD player too, it's an Audio Aero Capitole. I was like "how the hell do you afford that?", then she told me how much they were paying her and I almost shit myself. Damn Waterloo engineers...

Who made her amp?

Biggie.

[recstar24]

I absolutely love my RS-1's with my moth s2a3. 2a3's are very sweet tubes. I am picking up some RCA biplate 2a3's soon which should add some of their magic to the sound as well. The moth s2a3 runs the headphone jack right from the transformer outputs which are big electraprint TM-3's, very high quality iron. However, the moth doesn't teleport you into the music like the Zana does, the Zana simply transports you to another level.

BTW - I have the older NOS RS-1's, with the brown headband. To my ears and comparing them to various sets of new version RS-1's, and they are considerably smoother, not as peaky in the upper midrange, and don't have anywhere near the upper bass bump that the newer RS-1's have. This gives the impression that the older RS-1 has tighter deeper bass, more akin to the HP-1000 than the newer black headband RS-1.

[deepak]

The first time I have ever done any research into the Melos was today. The most immediate downside I see is that they break, and there is no one immediately available to fix them. But hell, if I could get one for $250 and get a few years out of it... regardless, more research/reading to do, I know almost nothing about it except it was designed as a preamp, but it has a headphone out that people say is kickass with the RS-1. Also I heard it eats tubes up.

I greatly prefer the darkened wood look, which is why I ended up springing for the pair Larry had. The wood on the newer RS-1s is just kind of lemony looking. I don't know if there is any difference in the drivers or the performance, but I know that older style is more appealing to me aesthetically.

Hmm... I don't know if the RS-1 is kickass with the Melos. After all the Melos was designed with the HP-2 in mind. And to these ears the two sound very different. I just mentioned the Melos since it's actually pretty cheap if you're patient.

I know I've spoke to a few people that I really trust at the NY Headfi meet and most of them agreed that the RS-1 + Melos does nothing wrong, it's just not the eargasm you get with the HP-2/SHA-gold/1

[humanflyz]

Does the Zana use OTL or OPTs?