PS1000 Appreciation Thread - Page 20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwarmi 

 

 Assuming I roll a Sophia Princess 274B into the WA22, given one more single choice - would you swap the Sylvania 7236 in as the power tubes before the smokey

 RCA VT231's as driver tubes? 

 

 Quite keen to hear what the ol' WA22 can do, so far it's definitely been the most laid back Woo listen for me including the WA6 basic and WA6-SE.

 

The WA6/6SE are the most SS sounding Woos I've heard and they're not my favourite for that reason. I like a tube amp that sounds like a tube amp. If I wanted a SS sound, I'd go with a SS amp. Now amps like the MAD Ear+HD can be really, really tubey and pair VERY well with Grados IMO. The WA2/WA22 are more musical and tube-like in their presentation compared to the WA6SE. I don't see the WA22 in your profile so I don't know if you're running it with a balanced source (a real must for this amp)? But yes, the Syl 7236s and RCA VT231s would be a great step in the right direction.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwarmi 

 I also find that on certain recordings due to the PS1000's more distant presentation of the mids, it can be certainly more forgiving than other more

 forward sounding cans (particularly the 225/325), then again this occasionally contradicts itself with other recordings and everything is typically

 Johnny G, right up in your face - it's always a roulette wheel before pressing play with a new recording on these, impossible to presume what it

 will sound like - all part of the fun!

FWIW, I have never been a fan of the PS1000s. I wouldn't use a John Grado headphone to evaluate gear, way too coloured for that. Instead, I would look for synergy with John Grado headphones. Just my two cents.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacedonianHero 

The WA6/6SE are the most SS sounding Woos I've heard and they're not my favourite for that reason. I like a tube amp that sounds like a tube amp. If I wanted a SS sound, I'd go with a SS amp. Now amps like the MAD Ear+HD can be really, really tubey and pair VERY well with Grados IMO. The WA2/WA22 are more musical and tube-like in their presentation compared to the WA6SE. I don't see the WA22 in your profile so I don't know if you're running it with a balanced source (a real must for this amp)? But yes, the Syl 7236s and RCA VT231s would be a great step in the right direction.

 

FWIW, I have never been a fan of the PS1000s. I wouldn't use a John Grado headphone to evaluate gear, way too coloured for that. Instead, I would look for synergy with John Grado headphones. Just my two cents.

 

 I've got access to a WA22 at the moment so I've been spending time with it, bloke is not on Head-Fi but he was wondering

 whether to splurge on either the VT231 or Sylvania 7236 - not both for the time being, he already has a 274B ready to roll

 in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwarmi 

 I've got access to a WA22 at the moment so I've been spending time with it, bloke is not on Head-Fi but he was wondering

 whether to splurge on either the VT231 or Sylvania 7236 - not both for the time being, he already has a 274B ready to roll

 in.

 

 

 

Is it run with a balanced source? I would splurge on the power tubes first, then driver and finally the rectifier...in that order.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacedonianHero 

Is it run with a balanced source? I would splurge on the power tubes first, then driver and finally the rectifier...in that order.

 

 Audiolab MDAC which is an ok balanced source.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwarmi 

 Audiolab MDAC which is an ok balanced source.
 

 

With my WA22/W4S DAC-2, all of my headphones are very lively and musical (inclduing my Grado HF-2s).

Other driver tubes to consider that I find very dynamic are the brown base Sylvania 5692s. The red base RCA 5692s are fantastic, but uber pricey.

Guess I may as well weigh in for my annual recommendation:  the Cary Xciter amp and DAC match beautifully with my PS1000, serial number somewhere in the mid-100s.   Almost three years now and still love my PS1000!

 This one is good for a general yarn - I know this bloke who's a bit of a crazed audiophile to say the least, his current

 predisposition is headphones (he's not on here) but he's looking into vinyl more so these days, his current gear

 includes

 A Weiss HD202 DAC, SPL Phonitor, Edition 10's, Edition 8's, HD800, HD580 Jubilee, and a whole host of iems.

 Anyway, conversation turned to the PS1000 a few days ago and he mentioned an acquaintance of his back

 in Hong Kong who reportedly had a very early PS1000 model, he'd managed to hear them and thought whilst they

 were quite good sounding to his ears, the mid bass was overwhelming and vocals a tad distant.

 He wanted to see if anything had changed in between the early and later models, a quick audition with my

 pair (90hrs or so now) changed his tune, he claimed with somewhat distant audio memory that they were

 indeed different to his ears.

 There you go, one man's placebo or perhaps a suggestion that Johnny G has indeed fiddled with the PS1000

 over the course of it's production.

Nah!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 563 

Nah!

 

 What are the odds of getting more than 3 x PS1000's in the same room for a meet?

 More chance of organising a leprachaun rodeo over the rainbow. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwarmi 

 What are the odds of getting more than 3 x PS1000's in the same room for a meet?

 

 

 More chance of organising a leprachaun rodeo over the rainbow. 

Unless you do the meet in Grado Labs. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcf 

Unless you do the meet in Grado Labs. 
 

 

 Now there's a great excuse for a 2 day holiday in New York pcf :-)

 If only Johnny G was partial to these things, everything I've heard up until now suggests he's not a fan but I'd love to be proven dead wrong.

 Here's an interesting view shared by myself and a few other local Head-Fiers concerning the sound stage and imaging perceptions

 of the HD800 and PS1000 - they go about it in a very different way, the gong goes to the HD800 for sheer imaging accuracy in

 my opinion but the PS1000's presentation is rather special - I thought this very detailed image below gives a good graphical representation

 of how they present :-

Background instruments tend to sound smallish from a distance on the PS1000, as they move, there's a sensation of them getting larger and larger

as they approach the foreground - On the HD800, it's the opposite - the sonic landscape is already quite large, much like on the K701/702 and it appears

to funnel down as it comes forward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bozebuttons 

Quote:

 

The first 4 NY meets where held at Grado Labs starting in 2002 spring meet.
John opened up his doors to us .
Check out the meet archive impression threads.

 Thanks Boze, had no idea - I'll go have a dig now.

 Well this has been a surprising evening of PS1000 testing - had the chance to audition some Van Den Hul (Dutch) 'Surf' nickel/copper/silver

 cables in place of my usual all copper Chord Cobra Plus. Figured like all decent cables there's a small signature change but this 

 was rather dramatic.

 Went back to one of my reference performances - Sting (live) singing 'Roxanne' on his last 'Best Of' - gone was that overwhelming

 mid bass, as in an easy 30% of mid impact just vanished into thin air 

 Detail is pretty much spot on between the two pairs of RCA's but there's a good organic sound about these Van Den Hul's.

 The typical silver element of sibilance occasionally does rear it's ugly head though - interesting though, the PS1000 for

 tonight is no longer a mid bass monster. How bizarre.