I ordered a pair of RS2Xs a few weeks ago, because I really wanted to try a pair of wood Grados, preferring one of the models that people say has more bass. I was certain this would cause a pair of GH2s offered to ship from the US to appear on the classifieds in short order. Of course, it did, but it took less than two hours, which was even faster than I expected
.
Coming from the SR325X and GW100X, the RS2X is just what I was hoping for with its stock L pads, which is a pair with solid low end (at least, within the world of open-back dynamic headphones) and with more of the airy treble that Grado is known for. Something that surprised me about the RS2X is that, from what I can hear, there's a pretty strong emphasis around 3 kHz, right where a lot of measurement-focused headphones put their pinna compensation. My preference is normally for a sound with a lower bass shelf than Harman by a few decibels, and also with a decibel or so less in the pinna region than Harman. So, for me, the bass and upper mids in the RS2X sound close to neutral, and the treble adds exactly the airy and spacious sound I wanted from them. I'm not sure whether these would be a "reference" headphone for
most people, but within the scope of Grado headphones, I have to say this hits all the right notes in the frequency response.
The stock L pads are about as comfortable for me as the F pads, which is to say that they take some getting used to but aren't uncomfortable. I also tried the RS2X with the F pads from my SR325Xs, as well as with a pair of S pads that I'd picked up for experimentation. On the RS2X, I think the L pads sound the best, but the S pads are more comfortable and still offer a good sound. The F pads sound muddy to me, and don't offer enough of a comfort advantage, so I don't expect to use them on the RS2X. I'll normally put the S pads on for something like gaming, where the overall frequency response matters a little less than comfort. On the SR325X, I think the F pads sound the best, with the S pads also a close second, and I don't like the excessive treble that the L pads give to the SR325X.
In the end, I moved the SR325Xs to live with the system downstairs, where I do less headphone listening and when I do I look for a more boring and neutral sound, and I'll keep the RS2Xs with the headphone system here upstairs, where I like more variety and a more interesting sound.
On my headphone system, I used the SR325Xs on either a Magni Piety or Lyr+, both on their low gain settings, and the same amps seem to be the best fits for the RS2Xs. I would definitely recommend either one to Grado X-series users. I haven't spent much time with either the SR325X or RS2X on my SW51+, but its low-Z output also worked pretty well with Grados when I tried it. I am a little interested in trying an OTL amp with a low enough output impedance to match my sound preference for Grados, but I'm plenty happy with the amps at my disposal in the headphone system so it'll probably be a long time before I get around to that.