Given all the love for the Senns on this forum, I thought I'd have a listen, comparing them to my Grados. If the difference had been large I might have switched, but it was more mixed than that.
Hooked up to a Chord Mojo, both were very impressive, although quite different. The Senns were warmer and more delicious, bringing a great sense of balance to the music. The Grados were a little more lean (although they have warmed up a lot since new), perhaps more clean and rhythmic. On this brief test, I would've perhaps plumped for the Senns, although it would have been very close.
Hooked up to my own AQ Dragonfly 1.2 and Jitterbug, the Senns didn't perform quite as well. Whereas the Grados sounded almost as good as before, the Senns seemed more affected by the lower-quality DAC, and became a bit soft. Again, both were very good, so this is fine margins.
Conclusions? Perhaps the Senns are better with better DACs, and the Grados more forgiving? Not sure. Something still makes me think that, for my long-term listening, the Grados would win. I also thought the Mojo was excellent for the money . . . tempting for my office set-up.
All tests conducted with my Macbook and a mix of music: Talk Talk, Joanna Newsom, Spiro, Bob Marley and Prince.
Posted on: 30 June 2016 by Guy007
Solid Air, I own HD600 and Grado RS1 + Dragon 1.2 and Burson Conductor SL.
I concur that different music sounds better on the different phones.
From my personal observations, the Grado's win in Rock, Pop, Electronic. The Senn's in Classical and Jazz, partly as it reduces the 'hiss' of older recordings. Also of note, the Grado's are easier to drive, I always have to turn the volume up a notch when plugging in the Senn's. Both enjoyable headphones though.
Posted on: 30 June 2016 by patk
Hi Solid Air. Regarding the DragonFly, likely it was the amp, and not the DAC, being the limiting factor with the Sennheiser 600. They require a bit more power to drive than the Grados as Guy007 mentions.
If you are able to keep both, I think they would complement each other well. You would be able to take advantage of their particular strengths.
-pat
Posted on: 30 June 2016 by NickSeattle
Same here. My Senn HD650 sounded virtually the same as lesser Senns when plugged into a Mac. Added a very modest USB DAC/amp and the 650s justified the price gap.
I have always admired Grados, but not my cuppa. Traded my Senns for AKG 701 eventually. Changes in my ears are more responsible than absolute abilities of either, I think.
Nick
Posted on: 30 June 2016 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Bear in mind the Grado SR1/SR325 and the Sennheiser HD600/650 have very different impedances and so need to be matched to your headphone amp. The Grados are 32 ohms and the Sennheisers are 300 ohms. This makes the Sennheisers 'easier' to drive but the amp does need to be set with jumpers or manage these very different impedances or there will be a SQ penalty. My Dragonfly DAC/Amp seems more optimised for low impedance phones and I felt my Sennheisers sounded lack lustre on it, but get a dedicated amp optimised for the easier 300 ohm load such as the modest Little Dot mkIII and the Sennheisers sound superb.
Overeall I prefer my Sennheisers HD650 to my various Grado phones, as I find the presentation more natural and less etched or magnified. However an overly warm recording can have a bit of sparkle added by using the Grados.
