Price Paid:  $495.00 from Amazon.com

Summary:
Look, I know I'm stepping into the lion's mouth with this one, but these headphones just aren't comfortible enough to be considered spectacular. OBVIOUSLY the sound is great, but a feature that is almost important as sound, when it comes to headphones, is comfort. After all, music is meant to be listened to through speakers, so if you're willing to strap those speakers onto your head, you'd better be able to deal with them on your head for an extended period of time.

I can draw an interesting analogy to the Playstation 3 here. People have been saying, for example, that with the PS3, Sony has put technology first and gameplay second. Likewise, Grado has - beyond denial - put sound first and the actual "headphone-ness" of the headphones second. I normally wouldn't have a problem with that if the headphones weren't distractingly UNCOMFORTIBLE, but the RS-2s are. The speaker is rock hard, and is pushed right into your ear. Additionally, unless your ears are circular (which, last time I checked, not many people's are), the earcups simply are NOT MADE TO FIT YOUR EARS. They are made to ACCOMODATE THE SPEAKER IN THE HEADPHONE. Add to that the foam earpads, and I found myself rather disenchanted. Put shortly, RS-2 simply feels unnatural on your head.

There are a thousand articles testifying to Grado's sound, and I'm not going to disagree with them. But when you get headphones, let's be honest, you're looking for more than great sound. Polk's LSi9's (by way of example) have great sound, but I'm not considering strapping them to my head. Likewise, Grado's have great sound - the bass is smooth, the highs are great, and the soundstage is rather large. But they just don't feel like a real headphone to me, and with many other comfortible, slightly less expensive, and virtually identical sounding high-end models out there, I'd advise looking in another direction.

Strengths:
Soundwise, these headphoens have so many strengths, it would be silly to list them all. PARTICULAR strengths are bass and soundstage.

Weaknesses:
Comfort. I've said it above, but these just don't feel like headphones. It's as if Grado said, "Let's make the best possible sound for anything you can strap on your head, but worry about what happens once it gets on your head later."

Similar Products Used:
AKG K701, Senn HD695, Senn HD595, Bose Quietcomfort2 (or as I like to call them, QuietDiscomfort2)

Price Paid:  $400.00 from eBay

Summary:
Simply......Perfect

What more can I say? The construction is superb. The entire Reference series are hand-made (unlike the prestige series). The sound is U.N.B.E.L.I.E.V.A.B.L.E.
The instruments are crisp and clear, the midrange is flawless and the bass id so freakin defined (not exaggerated or boomy).

This is not a headphone for teenagers. This is strictly an audiophile headphone. If you teens want crazy bass go to best buy and get some junky Bose or $30 Sony's.

For those debating between the Sennheiser's and Grados read this:
There are 2 kinds of music playback: The Grado style and the Senn style. Its really up to your ears to decide. AUDITION AUDITION AUDITION.

The Grados are perfect for Classical, Rock, Jazz etc whereas the Senns are better to watch movies on and Rap music because of the punch its got and less detailed quality. Dont get me wrong, Grados are awesome too, but I would prefer the Senn's for movies. But then again, what audiophile listen's to Rap all the time or watching movies on their headphones?

Also consider this: YOU THINK YOUR SAVING MONEY BUYING THE SENNHEISER'S???

The Grado RS-2 is 30 ohms while the Senn's are 300 ohms !!! Thats a lot of power so you'll definetly need an amplifier to power it. A simple receiver can easily power the Grado's. So breakdown.....

Senns + amp-------$450-$600
Grado RS-2--------$-$450

My thoughts exactly.

Strengths:
Your kidding right? THE FREAKIN SOUND!!!! Like beautiful music flowing into your ears.

Weaknesses:
uncomfortable for first 2 weeks
If your gonna pass these babies up, just because of comfort YOU WILL BE MAKING A HUGE MISTAKE. Trust me, after a week . Now its perfect.
or two it'll be perfect.

Similar Products Used:
Sennheiser HD-497, Graso SR-60, Grado SR-80, Grado SR-125

Price Paid:  $350.00 from E-Bay

Summary:
These are great sounding headphones whose performance almost fully justifies high price. Compared to Grado SR225 sound is slightly fuller/richer with more apparant 3D soundstage and better bass, although the SR225 have slightly sharper more detailed treble. Overall the edge goes to RS-2, but the difference is nowhere near the amount the price would indicate, making SR225 a much better value.

Sound is slightly lean compared Senn HD580 which has a fuller almost laid back sound which many people like, but the RS-2 is more detailed without being overly aggressive.
It would be hard to choose between these two if price were the same, each has its strengths.

To improve comfort, get comfy pads and modify with hole in center, also apply some foam/rubber to underside of headband to increase comfort.

RS-2 sounds good powered directly by portable, but I usually use with Grado RA-1 amp and this combo produces beautiful music, as sound opens up more and becomes even more deatiled/dynamic.

Strengths:
Very detailed/dynamic sound, very musical

Weaknesses:
Best comfort of any Grado, but still needs tweaks to improve

Similar Products Used:
Grado SR-225, Senn HD580/Blue Jaspis Cable, Sony MDR V900, Senn 495, Others

Summary:
Grado RS-2 is a great sounding set of cans exhibiting very good detail and blending in well with all freq bands. The RS-2 throws a rich quality sound that sounds good on all types of music. Classic rock fans will like the RS-2s. Guitar has good bite and just the right amount of punch from percussions with good dynamics. I use the RS-2 with the Grado RA-1 amp running thru a Classé ssp-50 preamp with a Classé CDT-1 transport using the high quality dacs inside the ssp-50 (basicly a dac-1) into the Grado RA-1 amp. This combination throws a smooth lovely sound that is spooky good with well recorded music that can sound lush but with good dynamics and quick response. Crisp transient attacks hit quick and tight with proper strenght. Bass is good not exceptional with texture and blends well with the exceptional mids. All in all the RS-2 (RA-1) is without a doubt an audiophile product, you get what you pay for. If any interest i paid 675 incl ship for the Grado RS-2/RA-1 combo from Quest for Sound www.questforsound.com, questforsound@aol.com 215-637-3263 Stephen the owner is a great guy with great prices and service.

Strengths:
great detail freqs blend well nice midrange

Weaknesses:
can be more comfortable, this can be fixed with compy pads and cuting out the center of the new pads

Price Paid:  $245.00 from Audio FX

Summary:
As you can see from the above, I have owned a number of Grado's and the RS-2's are by far my favorite, even over the Sennheiser 580's. They have a clear, precise, and detailed sound quality which does improve a tad with break-in. They have a richness and natural quality to the upper bass and to string instruments which I'm sure comes from the use of mahogany for the driver chambers. This quality was pointed out in a Stereophile review also. They really excel with piano and string based recordings, and impart a nice feeling of space around the individual instruments.
The comfort is by far the best of the Grado's I have used, and is in no small part due to their light weight and slightly padded and wider headband. (Still not as good as the Sennheisers however). I am, for the record, using them with a Creek OBH-11 headphone amp. But they sound great stright out a portable cd player also.
They are a bit costly, and cd's which are bright to begin do not improve through these phones, but I don't regret the purchase one bit. All in all, a super sounding set of cans.

Strengths:
Superb detail, rich controlled bass,good soundstage,comfort. comfort.

Weaknesses:
Can be a bright in upper mids on some recordings, price.

Similar Products Used:
Grado SR-80, SR-225, SR-325, Sennheiser 580, AKG K340-owned.