HD600, DT880(250Ohm), AKG K701, RS-1

[tassardar_ 0]

Just finished my NS and all thus finally decided the buy the last headphone I can afford with the allowance + some money I gotten from some work.

 

Brief Summary of the headphones:

 

AKG K701: Owned it for more then a year. Gave me some problem and had to actually return it for repair twice. Fantastic headphones though with its all rounding soundstage and excellent vocals. Probably the headphone with the highest clarity that I have. The rest sound abit veiled compared to it.

 

DT880(250ohm): Got it second hand. This is the older 2003 version so you can guess its quite old. The widest soundstage among the 4. Build wise its also the most comfortable and durable with metal constuction and rugged plastic. It has the strongest base but not tend to be less impactful if compared head to head.

 

HD600: Got it like 5 months ago. This headphone to me is like the average of the other 3 headphones. Controlled yet powerful bass, wide soundstage and clarity all in the mix. Its abit on the dark side though as such some genra of music just probably dont go with it.

 

RS-1: Got it brand new thanks to Aron from Stereo for a nice pricing + entertaining my testing for all the expensive headphones =3 This headphone is just engaging. It has this bass thats very well controlled and vocals that are really sweet. Its abit bright though but the most fun to listen to on most music.

 

All this headphones listed are pretty good and was once flagships for the brands (except for K701 which is still the flagship). DT880 being the cheapest while RS-1 being the most expensive. However price really isnt the biggest thing when it comes to this headphones which are all equally fantastic stuff. I will just give a low down on my impression of this 4 but in the end you really have to test them all to know which is best for you.

 

 

Setup:

 

Marantz CD5001

Argento Silver Interconnect RCA

Stello HP100 Amp

 

The songs I used are Japanese songs that I love so its really base on my taste.

 

Clarity/Separation: First we will talk about clarity. This is what the K701 excel against all the headphones. Its really clear in that you can hear almost anything thats in the recording. RS-1 is in second place with HD600 having a slight veil and DT880 having the least. DT880 is the lowest probably cause of more powerful bass which tend to drown some of the details away. Separation is something I feel goes with clarity as a strong veil pretty much mixes the separation in a music. RS-1 in this field excels over k701 in this aspect in almost most music I tested it against. The only time it lost is when theres alot of loud and higher pitch instruments in the mix. At times like that, the brightness of the grado family sets in and mixes the separation.

 

Soundstage/Air: I do not know what is the audio term for having more air in the music so I will lump it together with soundstage as it seems pretty near. Soundstage in terms of widest goes to the DT880. It is really wide gives you the feeling of a really huge hall. However all the headphones gives slightly different feel in their soundstage. K701 gives the singer is really near you while you are in a big hall effect, DT880 gives a you are in a big hall watching a concert from the audience while HD600 is a all encompassing in the hall with sound from all side type. RS-1 on the hand is pretty different, it gives this very airy feeling in the sound that first gave me this feeling of a big soundstage. When I compared it to the rest, its not really soundstage but a very good gradual decay of sound giving a soothing "Airy" effect to the voice and instruments. RS-1 has the smallest soundstage of the 3 but the most soothing airy effect that makes vocals very enjoyable. K701 comes second in that aspect with DT880 on third and HD600 on last. That said, all are pretty enjoyable in this aspect.

 

Bass: This is very tricky. Like I explained above, HD600 has one of the more balance with strong bass while still remaining impactful and not so muddy. DT880 has the strongest bass on my opinion but results in muddiness (when compared to the other 3) and tends to cover up some details. That said again if you really love strong and overpowering base DT880 is the best. RS-1 on the hand has a very well controlled, fast while still retaining its impact. This is one of the qualities that make the RS-1 fun to listen in my opinion. K701 on the other hand has slightly lower then normal bass. Its bass its very well controlled but lack impact on most occasion. This lead to a slightly "Cold" music and makes it more precise when it comes other sound. That said k701 still does a good job if a music is heavy in bass as every beat can actually be listened and enjoyed.

 

Vocals: RS-1 and K701 is my favorite in this. RS-1 is fun and engaging coupled with nice decay, the voice is just sweet. K701 on the other hand brings the voice upfront and with its unique soundstage makes vocals fantastic and gives the feeling of immersion into the song. HD600 and DT880 is neutral for this aspect. As I do not listen to classical music or instrumentals, this is the most important aspect to my listening enjoyment as such I favor the 2 over the others. However sometime songs due to their instruments and nature, the other 2 may come into the picture. Especially when I am listening to My Chemical Romance, the HD600 trumps over all in their music.

 

Highs: K701 and HD600 does well here. K701 is never to bright even if its loud and high pitched instrument in the mix. HD600 due to its darker nature in sounding I feel tend to have a better roll off effect and with its more even take on sound across the spectrum, makes music with any mix with highs and low sound fantastic. RS-1 can be bright at times while DT880 powerful base takes some of the highs away. This is one area I am not very good in explaining and appreciating so others may have other opinions on them.

 

Build Quality: In terms of looks and the feeling of "this is good craftsmanship" RS-1 beats all of them hands down. Kuddos on Grado for the RS-1 looking and feeling special to the person that owns it while still retaining is good build and toughness. On the hand, ruggedness and ability to withstand abuse goes to DT880. All metal construction with hard plastic just makes the DT880 look like it will last for many years to come. HD600 I do not have much comments on it. It looks good and tough. K701 ranks lowest in this aspect for me though. Its all plastic build really dont impress me and due to some experience, it really makes me wonder what is the people and AKG thinking when they were building it. It should at least have some metal construction or at least use real metal for its grills. My grills actually broke due to some repair fault at the Distro and seeing it all plastic dont really make me feel comfortable for something that high priced.

 

Comfort: This is where K701 redeems itself. Despite lowest for the 4 headphone in build, it has the best design for comfort partially due to its super big cups and headband design. Have to say though after more then a year of usage, the spring used to hold the headband is kind of loose now as such the headphone tend to droop at times. Still better then a clamp on the head though. HD600 and DT880 are pretty much the same with the DT880 slightly better due to a softer padding. Both covers the full ear and rest nicely on the head. The clamp design do take sometime to get use to and after some time will loosen up. RS-1 on the other hand is a mix bag. Its the lightest among the 4 as such doesnt place much stess on your head (at times when u turn your head, the other headphones reminds you through their weight more then often). However the clamp design and resting on the ear for the cups do make long hours of listening at the start where the band is still tight abit uncomfortable. After sometime after loosening up, it becomes better but no where as comfortable as the rest. Use to own a MS2i and heavy headphones + clamp headband is really a bad combination for comfort.

 

This comes to an end of my long comparison and review for the 4 I owned. Do keep in mind what I said at first that all of them are really top grade stuff for their brand and very recognized for their ability to produce good music. It boils down to personal taste unless you can afford to buy them all. For me it took sometime before I could do that and somehow audio attract me to spend more money then even photography No intention to upgrade to something of similar class though like hd650. I tested a GS1000 before buying a RS-1 and I told Aron that somehow it doesn't leave me a significant impression of it when compared to RS-1. That said its still best to go down to any of the shops like stereo to audition them before buying.

 

If anyone has any views that disagree with mine do post on as it will give a different take on the headphones as each person ability to understand the sound differs. In the end this is just a opinion of mine and having more opinions will be better for those who intend to get the same or similar things in this class.

Edited June 28, 2008 by tassardar_

[sghound 0]

brilliant writeup, i have all the cans u've mentioned except the RS-1 coz grads and my skull shape dun agree, plus i'm allergic to the brightness fatigue.

 

other than that, your description fits mine exactly.

[tassardar_ 0]

RS-1 still carries Grado famous brightness but it is significantly more controlled and better then the rest below it. I auditioned a RS-2 side by side at stereo and RS-1 just blew it out of the water in almost all aspect. I do think that if one cant stand the brightness yet still want a grado, the Alessandro series is best. MSPro had a totally different sound compared the RS-1. More controlled and neutral nature. Its like a K701 with boosted bass and less soundstage.

[Huma Dragonbane 0]

I agree with your sentiments of the RS-1 over the GS 1000. I'm looking to buy the senns hd 650 myself. Purely because it's the most comfortable pair of headphones I've worn and the sound is pretty good to boot. Can't wait to get it at the end of the year. Will most likely hooking it up to my notebook + creative xmod + atl mghead headphone amp. (probably switch it around with my hifi for more critical listening)

 

Anyway I have to point out something, I've used the marantz cd 5400 and have tested the cd5001, I would have to say your source is seriously lacking. The difference I experienced when I switched to my NAD C542, from these two players was like night and day! I can only imagine how much better your phones will sound like with an even better source!

 

Hope I don't get flamed for that, just my opinion from personal experience.

 

On a side note, I've tried A LOT of players from $300 to $1.8k and it looks like if I want anything better for the music I listen to, I can forget about changing my nad unless I seriously invest a lot of dough. Any suggestions for cd players? Or heck maybe even a dac that I can hook up to my NAD?

[tassardar_ 0]

Hehe I dont upgrade my source cause I usually dont use my CD player as the main source of output. It still sound better then my X-Fi though as such I dont really have a reason to upgrade it yet. If anything I am actually considering a DAC as it will work for both my PC and from the Marantz Optical out. 2 birds with 1 stone ^^.

 

Other then that the next headphone I wanna try is a Ultrasone Edition 9 hehe. Budget is the limitation and probably take me a year to save that amount. Been sometime since I used a close design headphone.

[nakedtoes 0]

very good review...

[mimi 0]

Thanks for the long and detailed writeup. I'm curious about your comment about the DT880s having the widest soundstage. My experience was that the DT880s still gave me a in-your-head sound while the AKGs were much more spacious and airy.

Edited June 28, 2008 by mimi

[tassardar_ 0]

Its a different type of soundstage. DT880 will give you this wide soundstage where you are like watching a concert from some distance away in a big hall. K701 on the other hand produce a you are next to the singer, he is singing in a large hall effect. As such unless if you compare them side by side, DT880 sounds like it has a smaller soundstage as the sound has less "Reverb" effect to it.

[yotiao 0]

Nice review, attached to sticky articles.

[tassardar_ 0]

Just a minor update after burning in my RS-1 for some time.Theres certainly more Air now and its getting less bright then it was before. Some interesting stuff though, there was a song that I always loved with my K701 as it gives this dream land type of effect on me. I decided to use RS-1 to listen to it to see how it will sound like and am I surprised. The song totally different now. From dream like to sounding fast pace and "fun". It was certainly entertaining to listen to the song. Guess it was a right choice for me to take RS-1 so that I can experience something different. Next up a tube amp or some better source before going to my next headphone!