PS1000s shipping - Page 43

Originally Posted by Piotr Ryka

Today I have spend nice four hours with Grado PS-1000 (straight from the box, unfortunately), AKG K1000 and Ultrasone E9. Some impressions tomorrow.

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Do it - the PS-1000 at CanJam were definitely better than the GS-1000. The mids were much more vivid and clear, being the biggest difference to me.

Originally Posted by Snacks

It's a date, don't be late. j/k

I cannot wait to see what you write, as I've always been, a little, intrigued by both the K1 and E9.



I was in line for the PS-1000 and before that the GS-1000 made me want to give it a try; however, I'm definitely going to rent before I own either.

Thanks for the thoughts though.

Are you considering a purchase of either of the above (GS or PS-1000)?

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

At the price they want for the PS-1000 I am not buying them. The PS-1000 was a bit boomy in the bass, and slightly edgy in the highs, although the mids and soundstage were nice and I didn't find much in the way of other faults with them....
Maybe different tubes would tame the bass better.... ... I almost like the HF-2 better than the PS-1000, which had similar rich and juicy mids without being too forward, while at the same time sounding smoother without the overpowering bass....

Originally Posted by ical

How would you compare the GS1000 to PS1000 Sound?

PS1000 has a more forward mid, sweeter high and better bass. Will have to wait for it to burn in before any serious listening.

Originally Posted by kakapo

I have been reading this thread from day one. I started with the review Zanth wrote (the one on the Grado site) and would like to know if the production phones are just as good as the phones that were reviewed ?

A don't recall that being asked - can anyone enlighten me ?

Cheers

Originally Posted by kakapo

I have been reading this thread from day one. I started with the review Zanth wrote (the one on the Grado site) and would like to know if the production phones are just as good as the phones that were reviewed ?

A don't recall that being asked - can anyone enlighten me ?

Cheers

Originally Posted by robm321

I understand his business sense even though it seems crazy that you get the same packaging with a $1,700 headphone as you do with a medium $15 pizza.

Originally Posted by immtbiker

The qualias were delivered by a man wearing white gloves, and every week a "concierge" writes me and asks me if there is anything that s/he can do for me.

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 Piotr Ryka

Today I have spend nice four hours with Grado PS-1000 (straight from the box, unfortunately), AKG K1000 and Ultrasone E9. Some impressions tomorrow.

Originally Posted by kakapo

Thanks again for the confirmation that the production phones are the same as the ones you heard initially

After 3 months of wait #340 has made it to New Zealand, and the B22 is busily driving them. I haven't heard anything better than my RS1s (and the AKG 702s and Stax 404 that I sold a few months back) before so the PS1000s are a major step. So much more musical and realistic right across the spectrum.

They've got about 25 hours of actual use on them now, I'm using them rather than leaving them burning them in. The sound out of the box is fine, so it will be interesting to see if I can detect any improvement - might be too hard to remember exactly what they did to start with.