Grado RS1's VS Grado PS1000

I've only heard them at meets, but I thought they sounded very different. The PS1000 is the only Grado I've heard that I like - it didn't sound as closed-in with a narrow soundstage as the RS1s I've heard (with part of that surely attributable to the fact that the PS1000 had bowls and I've usually heard RS1s with flats). The PS1000 also wasn't as meaty in the midrange as the RS1 - not in a bad way, I just think that the RS1 is heavily biased towards information in the midrange, while the PS1000 was a little more balanced (hopefully I'm not just talking out of my behind...)

The RS1 may be great for the 60s era rock, but I definitely think you should shop around a bit - I think you can likely do better for jazz and classical. If you're thinking about adding another headphone to your collection and not necessarily replacing the RS1, why not try the HD800 or T1?

I owned the RS-1s and had a good listen to the PS1000s at Canjam. I found the PS-1000s similar to the PS-1 which i owned at the same time as the RS-1s.
The PS Series bass is more substantial than the RS. In my opinion it went deeper and was more prominent. The PS series add a warmth/colour to the music which i personally liked at the time. The thing i didnt really like about the Ps-1000s was that they lost the intimacy i enjoyed with the RS-1s and PS-1. Vocals sounded a little recessed and blended into the music more. For me this lost some of the Grado house sound. (Upfront and in your face)
Unfortunately the warmth added by the PS series started to annoy me after a year or so, i found alot of my music started to sound the same, so i changed to a more precise/analytical system which was a nice change.
If you find your missing bass with the RS-1s go for the PS-1000s, im sure you'll like them. If you like the way the vocals sound on you RS-1, id stick or change brand.
Best of luck
Pete

finally,the comparison I have been waiting for. I also LLLLove my RS1 and wonder how the PS1000 sound compare to them. more bass is already a positive thing for me,the RS1 are too bass shy...at least my pair.

My thoughts...

The RS1s (and HF2s for that matter) are the best representations of the classic Grado in your face/on stage rock sound. They have incredible timbre, fast with good slam and effect.

The PS1000/GS1000s are very different beasts. They offer more sound stage, clarity, bass and sound really good at lower volumes. But IMHO, they are not as well suited for rock/metal for the reasons noted above. They are trying to compete with the other flagship cans from Sennheiser and beyerdynamics, but in the end come up short.

Just my two cent...

...which exactly what Reduces my desire to get them. this,and the price ofcourse I really like the RS1 in your face signature,but looking for improvement. probably the HF2 because the stronger bass will be good for me.

Have you tried them with the flats yet?

RS1 with flats have obvious soundstage and highs disadvantages, but I like the fact that it gives me even MORE in your face midrange presentation plus much better bass. I'd be surprised if HF2 had more bass than the RS1 with flats, in which case it'd probably be too much for my liking anyway.

I found the flats to be nice change from the bowls. they DO change them a lot, the treble is greatly reduced...too much,they don't sound like a grado anymore, and the bass is too muddy for me, and this is coming from my relatively analytical sounding headroom stack,not even tried to listen with the earmax and tubes. it is amazing how much change is caused only because of the pad, I bought them because I wanted the change but I was very much surprised to see just how much they change them.
anyway,I truly preferred the bowls by a big margin.
I am guesssing that the HF2 are like the RS1 with flats only less muddy and with more open sugnature because of the bowls pads?

Actually, I did find that stock flats made things too muddy as well. I'm actually using slightly modified pair of flats which allows more upper midrange detail and tighten the bass compared to stock... veil completely disappears with this mod with the only drawback being bit too much upper mid peak in some songs. But the problem is that most people probably wouldn't be willing to put knife to their expensive flats...

We've got to take into account differences between RS1 versions too I guess. You have the pre-i buttonless version, IIRC? I have the old classic B, so there could be some differences there as well.

Most of the comments above are spot on. Tight, well defined bass, that goes low, really low. To my ears the bass is leaps ahead of my HF2, in terms of definition. Bigger soundstaging (but not as big as the Grado GS1000), which is a departure from the Grado house sound that one gets with their other cans. Listening to classical, for instance, the front / rear separation of instruments is superior to anything else I've heard. Mids are not in your face, and blend in with the music, given the larger soundstaging. For low volume listening, it has very few peers, and in this case the PS1000 is extremely linear and scales well. The visceral impact of the bass can be experienced even at low volumes. Overall presentation is very, very liquid and textureless. It retains the warm overall Grado sound signature, and I'd be brave enough to say that it's a laid back pair of cans, for a Grado that is. Does it do everything well? Probably not, but it's a great complement to the RS1i (or HF2) if you're not planning to go to Team Sennheiser. If you're more of an analytical listener, stay away from these cans!

The Salad Bowls...

The "salad bowls" of the GS1000/PS1000's seem to place the sound to distant for me - they sound much better to me, if you compact them by pressing them against your ears a bit. Then they sound much more like the RS-1's, which I much prefer.

So... if you like a more distant sound... you might like them... but... I didn't. And... I didn't want to have to press the drivers to my ears to get the sound I was after. Who knows... with time... they may compress and fit more closely... but... I didn't want to wait for that... considering their lofty price.

I think the RS-1 and PS1000 are different seatings at the same concert.

liked the metaphore

Vocals on the PS1000 can be made much more present by swapping out the bigger salad bowls with L-cushions; it instantly re-equalizes the sound and gives a gently downward sloping frequency response that to my ears sounds pretty darn good (the highs are just a few db shy of optimal--or maybe that's just an illusion due to the more "closed in" sound). Regardless, they sound much more RS1-like.

Doing it in reverse (using salad bowls on RS1) seems to produce a gently upward sloping frequency response that sounds borderline anemic to my ears. Given these observations, I think the PS1000s are more flexible than RS1s since they can convincingly achieve both seats at the same concert depending upon your mood.

In other words:
RS1s with L-cushions: 10
RS1s with G-cushions: 4
PS1000s with L-cushions: 8.5/9
PS1000s with G-cushions: 12! ;-)

Happy listening!