Grado (ish) RS-60 impressions thread

[nikongod]

A thread for impressions on the Grado RS-60, a hybrid of SR-60 drivers and an RS-1 made after the RS-1 drivers were destroyed in an accident.

[postjack]

tell me about this accident!

[Dominatrice]

I have the honor of being the first person to recieve the RS-60 for a test..

I have to admit...im pretty impressed with the difference. Its much deeper more umph to the bass...it does however give a tad too much to the mids, it doesnt smear it but its really, really close. I have a pair of real RS1 (classic and the difference is noticeable for sure.

More to come, just walked in and had to open them up for a quick listen...also will be posting pics.

[Dominatrice]

tell me about this accident!

Yes jack, i believe that NVT had them but they had 2 blown drivers...R E transplanted the SR-60 drivers into the RS1 housing/headband.

I will have pics shortly...

[Dominatrice]

well been listening on and off the past few hours...

im really diggin the RS60...its not to overly bright, but not really dull...the bass just sounds very deep, much deeper then i expected from the SR60 drivers.

Between the RS1 and the RS60 there is a noticeable difference in the overall sound...the RS1 is obviously much brighter...however, the bass doesnt bloat. It hits deep and accurate. Where you can really tell is in almost any type of guitar music. You can just tell which is the better one =) it has such a great tone for that type of music its unreal.

Where i couldnt tell was pretty much all my jazz...the RS60 produced some really fantastic and fun imaging. Its a bigger soundstage cause of the wood and its gives it a nice quality to high pitch/tone jazz music. Drums sound great.

Its really interesting how much these have changed the SR60...for those who think the SR60s are bass light, try some woodies =) I would love to see a company come out with a decent yet cheap option so people dont have to spend $100+ on a 60$ pair of headphones.

[MexicanDragon]

Oh. Impressions thread. Didn't know about this, sorry R-E.

I had these cans in my possession for round 2 of the loaner program. It's been a while since I listened to them (right at a month), so I just want to throw out some brief thoughts.

First off, thanks to Ari for the loaner program. It was a good Grado week for me as I got RS-60s 2 days before I got HF-2s. I knew they were in transit and I actually tracked down the mailman down the road as I knew I wasn't going to be home when he delivered. FWIW, he shouldn't have done that. Anyways...

First impressions were that they were airy. Very very airy. They were also a little on the thin side. This was with squished but very soft and comfy bowls. I wasn't impressed. FWIW, I've never heard SR-60s but spent many years with SR-80s and even wore them out, had them sent off for repairs and sold when I got my HF-1s. I'm a Grado guy.

So since Ari had thrown in a pair of flats I threw those on there (and could do HF-1 w/flats v RS-60 w/flats without swapping pads). It really brought out the good in these frankencans. I'm really thinking the cup/chamber depth changes Grados quite a bit, and deeper cups really helps. The flats made them much more listenable, and they were actually fairly enjoyable with these pads. I don't think the soundstage was WIDER than with the bowls, but I think it was more realistic and IIRC, the soundstage was wider than the HF-1s with flats. They really did sound good. Bass was decent (but all I had to compare them to were HF-1s and HF-2s... it's really not even fair, ya know), but definitely trailed the special edition cans in that area.

I can't remember much more about them. They looked cool. Brown leather headband, old style RS-1 housing, comfy, non-stock cable so you won't have friends complaining about the kink.

I also wonder what the damping was, and how much it affected the sound.

**BRENT**

[atothex]

So while the RS-60s are on their way to NYC, I thought I'd just share my impressions from the time that I had with them. I'm a rather shitty writer, so I'll keep this brief.

I've owned HF-2s for a while now, and they're my mains, so I'd say that's a fair reference point. I never bothered with any critical listening or any of my familiar test tracks. I did mess around with the pads, though. As expected, I stuck with the flats. Compared to the HF-2s with flats, they're not as dark and don't have as much midbass bloat. I don't feel comfortable saying the sound is more neutral or balanced; it's just different. Resolution is definitely better on the HF-2s, presumably due to tighter spec'd drivers. The RS-60s were no slouch, though. They really sounded good to me... maybe $200 good? Wish I had a pair of SR225s on hand to compare. I guess that's a testament to the Grado driver line, as well as the importance of frame and pad quality. Oh yeah, they were also significantly lighter and more comfortable than the HF-2s, which are significant advantages in my book.

I do kinda wish I had tried some critical listening, but that's really not something I like to do at home. I mostly just listened to shitty death metal as usual, and I had no real complaints tonally. I bet they sound pretty sick from a nice balanced rig.

[matt fury]

Sorry, I didn't know about this thread either. Due to some RL bullshit popping up during my turn, I was only able to casually listen and not do much comparative or analytical listening. But the end result was: I liked 'em!! Don't have enough experience with the rest of the Grado line to comment (plus it'd be bullshit without having both pairs to A/B), so no line-up. Definitely worth a listen tho if you like Gradoz.

[mrarroyo]

Wish I had seen this before, sure sounds like a fun can to listen to. Of interest to me is the damping used (if any). Also the differences due to pads, I never warmed up to the flats preferring the bowls on all my listening sessions. Would love to see pictures!

[HyperDuel]

Don't want to be rude guys but pictures please?

[The Monkey]

I have 'em now and will get some pics up soon(ish). Haven't had a chance to listen yet, but Mrs. Monkey digs the way they look. Impressions to come.

[HyperDuel]

I have 'em now and will get some pics up soon(ish). Haven't had a chance to listen yet, but Mrs. Monkey digs the way they look. Impressions to come.

Thanks for doing the pictures. Now I am wondering how the RS-1 was destroyed....

[nikongod]

Thanks for doing the pictures. Now I am wondering how the RS-1 was destroyed....

They were sold to someone who blew them up.

Kudos to Jim for taking them back and avoiding a scene even though it probably cost him a bunch of money.

link to FS thread with more details. I stand behind my guess for long term high DC offset. the RS-60 can lift a buisness card with low bass. Lay the RS-60 on a table flat, with a buisness card covering the port. Play a 40-60hz tone (or just play the first minute of prodigy "smack my bitch up") reallllllllly loud. If the buisness card did not lift off of the headphone you are not trying hard enough. Pray anyone cohabiting your residence does not come looking for your new speakers...

Sorry I didnt take photos of the insides of the RS-60 but my camera at the time could have sucked a golf ball through a garden hose, except it would probably have failed at that too.

They look pretty much like any other brown headband RS-1 from the outside, but do have a touch of cool on the insides. The drivers are still not glued in and should just shake out after pulling the pads off. Maybe push the cable into the cup an inch or 2 too.

[mrarroyo]

First I would like to thank Ari for the opportunity to listen to the "RS-60". Now, what the heck is a Grado "RS-60" you ask" Fair question, it is a hybrid concocted by our own nikongod, member of Head-Case. He had a vintage RS-1 (w/ the brown leather band) that somehow a person managed to blow the drivers off, so he transplanted a pair of SR-60 drivers into the old RS-1 frame creating the "RS-60" which I have had for about 10 days. Here is a picture with the RS-1 to the left and the "RS-60" to the right.

So, how do they sound? As you probably imagine a lot closer than expected, but there are differences such as:

1. The treble is more extended on the stock RS-1. I can see where those who do not care for the Grado top end would choose the "RS-60".

2. The "RS-60" plays louder at the same amp volume setting, this took me by surprise and others found the same.

3. The RS-1 has a wider sound-stage, while the "RS-60" although the sound stage is a bit narrower it has more impact.

4. The RS-1 has an overall clearer, more detailed presentation.

The above differences were consistent regardless of whether I used a SS or tube amp. I have been listening to the "RS-60" quite a bit and will go out on a limb by stating that if you you just want to listen to music then this may be more appealing than the RS-1. This because the RS-1 IMO demand constant attention while the "RS-60" allow you to simply immerse yourself in the music and have a good time. If on the other hand you will be comparing gear the RS-1 would be my choice since it is more revealing, has better micro-dynamics, better decay, and it is clearer. Note: These are not night and day differences.

Thanks.

[morphsci]

I also noticed that there was an intermittent rattle and "fuzziness" to the sound. This led me to coclude that there was also a slight loss of detail in the treble and lack of extension in the bass. After reading this thread it appears that may be a byproduct of the drivers not being glued in. Nevertheless, the RS-60's were extremely close in presentation compared to the MS-Pro. I noticed no differences in the soundstaging or headstaging between the two and other than the above the tonality was almost identical. This was using a GS-X and an AA HPA v.1.0 and always single-ended as the MS-Pros are single-ended.

[nikongod]

Thanks to everyone who participated in this little loan circuit! Im happy it sounds like most of you liked the headphones, good stuff.

I snapped some pics of the mods I did to the Grados.

I blacked out the mesh on the drivers least these fall into the hands of the enemy. Im not really sure who that is though.

The good stuff.

If you hold a Grado driver up to a good light source you can see that there are little circular vents under the black material. I arranged the little strips of dynomat so that they did not interfere with the vents. I dynomatted the back of the magnet, and dynomatted the magnet to the frame.

This probably didnt do anything. But I did it anyways.

[luvdunhill]

There's a nice quantity and quality of bass with these. Is that normal for a Grado?