PS1000s shipping - Page 5

Originally Posted by Sanderman

OK, let's get this out of the way right up front - these are EXCEPTIONAL headphones.

Why do I say that? Well, in spite of limited burn-in they have quickly vaulted to best headphones in the house status. Before anyone accuses me of being a Grado fanboy, lets go through what the comment above really means. I own two pair of Grados - the original (typically called vintage) RS1s and a pair of GS1000s.

First the vs the RS1s - While I've owned the RS1s for what almost seems like forever, my relationship with them has been somewhat love/hate. I love their lively, organic nature but have always been frustrated by their "only sounds good with flats" nature. A limitation the PS1000s shred to pieces by making the RS1s sound downright closed in in comparison. It always seemed to me that to get the best timber out of the RS1 you have to use it with pads that collapse the soundstage severely. How severely, I didn't really appreciate until I put on the PS1000s immediately after listening to the RS1s. And while the RS1s could be a rollicking good euphonic ride, I'd never be tempted to accuse them of being particularly natural in terms of color or texture. Even with only 8 hours of burn in the PS1000 is wildly more natural in timber, tamber and texture. While still delivering the one charachteristic I've always liked about Grados - a non-mechanical, organic sound. The comparison between the two is quite literally a joke and I really doubt I'll be able to use the RS1s again.

Now compared to the GS1000s - I've owned the GS1000s for about a year now. I try to love them, I really do. And in one way I can. If I were to sum them up in one impression, they strike me as a cartridge designers homage to listening to British orchestral LPs from the 60s and 70s played back with a moving coil cartridge from the late 80s. A nice bass foundation for the hall and a shimmery tip to the top end that gives a sheen to strings on good old analog recordings, but a character that does nothing to flatter contemporary digital. Call it it midrange suck out. Call it boosted highs and lows. Call it it boom and tizz. But run 'em with tubes on old well mastered orchestral recordings and they can quite literally sing. It's just that I find they can't do much else. The PS1000s obliterate them. How? Mids. Texture. Mids. Warmth. Did I say mids? Just what the GS1000s lack.

So if i'm not the traditional Grado fanboy what else do I listen to? Denon 5000s and 7000s driven by A Moth Si2A3 with outboard power supply and dedicated heater trannies running RCA globe 45s, a Zana Deux, or a completely recapped ancient gold and chrome Cary CAD300sei runnning a mix of Tung Sols and Sylvaninas with WE 300Bs. Oh yeah - and electrostats. Stax 404s and a pair of 007A MK 2s driven by a Woo GES retubed with Sylvania black plate 5751s and Tung Sol 6S4s.

Compared to the Denons? - the Denons are fun cans. I love the 7000s, but dammit if the Ps1000s don't quite easily blow them away. How? Texture. Less hifi fun sounding and more like music. I really like the 7000s but they do just have a bit more emphasis on both the top and the bottom than the new Grados. And while I thought they were fairly revealing, the lie was given to that very quickly. The Grados simply unravel wildly more low level detail and spatial information. A bigger and more open soundstage almost goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway.

That brings us to the stats - I won't compare to the 404s as I have a really hard time taking them seriously, but compared to the 007s, things get more interesting. The big Stax phones have one enduring and endearing characteristic when coupled to the Woo GES. They simply sound natural. Timber, texture and lifelike color are the order of the day. It's almost like you are listening directly to things going on in your room. Their limitation? They have the dynamic contrast of an SET driving an 80dB sensitive speaker. Polite is the only kind way to put it. Dynamically starved is the harsh way. Now I'm not ready to say that the PS1000s match the 007As for low level effortless purity (yet), they sound more like them than any other headphone in the house in that regard. The new Grados, put huge amounts of low level info up for effortless display. Slap echo of the singers voice off the wall of a recording booth? Yep. Low level ambient decay in a concert hall? Sure. That peculiarly lifelike sense of of low level textural detail on voices you only thought stats did? Uh huh. Big difference though. They're dynamics and they can play LOUD. And they have a sense of weight and body on vocals I've never heard stats really be able to do. And all with absolutely no hyping of the highs. In a word? Impressive.

No doubt they still have long way to go, but a few things strike me about these phones right away. If you like the fun, rambunctious sort of undisciplined (though highly inaccurate) sound some Grados give you might be disappointed. These phones are far more accurate than the RS1s or GS1000s. But they retain the endearing Grado organic character (none of the synthetic Sennheiser 600 sound here). They really seem to benefit from the mass and rigidity of the aluminum driver housings - I think that must have something to do with the resolution of subtle low level ambient and textural information. Those traditional wooden Grado housings might resonate in fun ways but I suspect there is a price to pay in terms of not being a rigid springboard for low level detail. Voicing. These things are balanced with a warmth and body in the lower midrange that really lets voices bloom and sound natural. Combine that with an excellent sense of low level texture and vocals pretty mush reside in to die for territory.

Let's be blunt. I'm hearing the best performance I've ever heard out of a headphone this new out of the box. With 8 hours on them they pretty much wipe the floor with everything I've got to throw at them. I can't help but wonder how they will sound after 100 hours or so.

Joe

All impressions with lossless encodes off a Mac / Emperical Audio Off Ramp 3 / Audio Note DAC 2.1 Level C feeding the Moth Si2A3 via Siltech Compass Lake.

Originally Posted by xxxxxx

wooden box

Originally Posted by Sanderman

Now compared to the GS1000s - I've owned the GS1000s for about a year now. I try to love them, I really do. And in one way I can. If I were to sum them up in one impression, they strike me as a cartridge designers homage to listening to British orchestral LPs from the 60s and 70s played back with a moving coil cartridge from the late 80s. A nice bass foundation for the hall and a shimmery tip to the top end that gives a sheen to strings on good old analog recordings, but a character that does nothing to flatter contemporary digital. Call it it midrange suck out. Call it boosted highs and lows. Call it it boom and tizz. But run 'em with tubes on old well mastered orchestral recordings and they can quite literally sing. It's just that I find they can't do much else. The PS1000s obliterate them. How? Mids. Texture. Mids. Warmth. Did I say mids? Just what the GS1000s lack.

Joe

All impressions with lossless encodes off a Mac / Emperical Audio Off Ramp 3 / Audio Note DAC 2.1 Level C feeding the Moth Si2A3 via Siltech Compass Lake.

Originally Posted by zotjen

After seeing the pics I'm not crazy at all about the metal/wood combo. At least the wood is hidden by the pads. I see they have the same sloppy glue job as all other Grados. Hopefully the sound will make up for it.

Originally Posted by Grimspoon

Those looks awesome!

only gripe I can think of based on these pics is the holes in the cans where the wires exit aren't chamfered. Those edges look sharp! I can only imagine what that's going to do to the insulation over time... o.0

Originally Posted by Mercuttio

I'm pretty sure that someone with the cash to spend on a headphone this expensive is interested in audio first, and in a box to put it in distant third.

It's time to let this go.

Originally Posted by Blackmore

Not quite acceptable, to me anyway. I just don't buy this story so far. My first point is the new cable. Why? I tried some re-cabled GS1000 and the clarity, detail, soundstage and speed was not from this world, but the so called warmth was not there. But also to shrill highs with poor records, however what do you expect anyway. So, suppose you use other kind of cable and here we go much fuller/warmer sig, which comes from mids/midbass, isn't. The low level resistance on wood is just talking to the birds, cos when I compared GS1000 vs PS1, PS1 lost hands down, with their closer, warmer sound, but also aluminium housing, which seems not to helping them at all here. So, what that means? Once again, better cable, yes, must be, and, just guessing, putting slightly, I mean just a little bit closer the drivers to your ears will make the huge difference. Why? Just push your GS1k while you are listen to them and you hear that quite well. So, all by all, twicking them like that doesn't make them USD 1700 worth, cos the feeling of new creation doesn't getting me yet. And aluminium housing, hmmm, seems to be just for the looks so far...


We need more reality up here, cos if you calling GS1000 lacking on naturalness and musicality, well, not sure what you are talking about at all...

Originally Posted by Zuerst

and i thought they're shipping with wooden boxes?

Originally Posted by vvanrij

No offense here Blackmore, especially not since you are another dutch head-fi'er, but you keep commenting on it like a recabled DIY GS1000 with some metal strapped on it. Do you have any proof on how these are the same cans as the GS1000 whatsoever besides the outline shape?

Originally Posted by Drumonron

Yeah, you'd be wrong there....that wooden box is a 75.00 accessory if my facts are correct...oh, and I think if I received 1700.00 pair of Hps and they had nicks in them....they'd be headin' right back to the factory on Grado. Come to think of it, if I spent 1700.00 on a headphone and they came in that pizza cardboard box, then I took it out of the box and the item had nicks in it, I'd vomit....I'm just sayin'

All these statements should not be taken out of context...I love my GS1Ks...no treble spike to my ears and the RS-1s are amazing. Sure wish they had shipped these babies in the wooden box, though...this is amazing to me.