PS1000 Appreciation Thread - Page 7

Quote:

Originally Posted by achristilaw 

 Their is many, many I have tried. I like the Shuguang...but I have found better. The Sylvania CHS-6SN7W (VT-231) is a gold metal based god-send. My favorite to this point!

 

  You need a couple hundred hrs. on the Shuguang before it can reveal it's true light. The best, most balanced and fully fleshed tonality is offered by the Sylvania however...and a bonus is the better, more uniform control of the bottom bump that the Grado is endowed with.

 

 Another wonderful match with the PS1K is the Mullard ECC32...very expensive however. The Tung-Sol "Black-Glass" VT-231 works well with the top Grado...just not my favorite. I like the 6H8C (Russian) with the HP-2....it's strong foundation really rounds out that phones performance. The Shuguang needs time..it is a nice offering.....and is much cheaper compared to the other elite offerings.

  

Thanks for your response. The Mullard ECC32s are too well known and pretty much un-obtainium now. I'll be scouring the Internet and eBay for any good deals and probably buy one tube a month for the next year. I guess the pay to play is part of the fun. At least I won't need to buy two.

hmmm.  the pix of the chrome ps1000 look very nice, but i'm pretty clumsy, so i think i'm better off with my duller finish.  didn't the very first ps1000s have yet another glossier finish (though not chrome) as well?

did grado give any advance notice that they were changing the cups?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 563 

did grado give any advance notice that they were changing the cups?

Have they ever done that on anything ?

You know, I've got HD800s (balanced), LCD2s (balanced), T1s, and the PS1000s, and somehow when it's time to choose one of these I keep coming back to the Grados.

They never shout at me with vocals or other things in the midrange even with the worst CDs, and that means a lot to me. And the bass isn't the tightest,

but it's big and friendly and transparent. They just create this big space that really makes me feel like they are speakers, not phones.

Nothing really sounds like these, even my old Grado RS1s. They are a unique take on things, like someone's (Joe Grado's ?) personal vision of what

headphones should sound like, not some Absolute Sound standard or any other standard.

And somehow they are addictive, like some old favorite candy.

They have lots of personality, maybe a little hashy, but in a nice tube-like furry-soft way, not buzzy or artificial.

And the highs are quite evident, but not steely or painful at all, again tubey-mellow, but all there.

But again, the best thing that seems to separate them from a lot of phones is that the central sounds of a song like a vocal or a solo instrument are recessed a bit so

they don't punch my ears out and make me cringe, even when a CD is trying to do this by some misguided equalization by some sound engineer who should find another line of work.

(Or maybe he was just following orders, more likely.)

So yeah, I'm making some excuses for the PS1000s, but they are just so much fun, and inflict so little of the pain I get sometimes with other phones with the wrong recording,

that I guess I actually love them.

They are indeed a lovely headphone. And Absolute Sound loves them too!

One other thing I would add to my PS1000 comments above is that I can turn them up to listen nice and loud because,

unlike other phones, the central image doesn't seem to shoot out from the center and make things painful.

Instead, the broad soundfield seems to get larger and ambiance increases, which gives more of a large concert hall

or theater feeling. The higher volume gives you a bigger space, and  higher sound levels comes from everywhere, with a kind of grandiosity, not a piercing point source.

The walls drop away and produce a live-event sound. This is great with rock, popular, or orchestral music.

They seem to me like the polar opposite of earbuds.

I enjoyed some of this affect with GS1000s I owned (and sold), but the GSs just didn't have enough saturation/density in the images for me.

In contrast, the PS1000s now have very good image texture, not too thin, not too thick, just right, so they seem like a much more perfected and refined version of the GSs.

If you liked the spaciousness of the GSs but didn't like other aspects (non-intimacy?) of the sound, I think the PSs are well worth a try.

Like with most phones, the PSs do best with tubes, but they also work well with better solid state amps.

(I have a Rudistor RP010B along with my B52).

The sound is more raw with solid state, but not annoying.

By contrast, the Senn. HD800s just make me nervous with solid state,

and I really need tubes to use them (and the 800s do sound great with tubes,  I have to say, as long as the recording isn't to tipped up to begin with),

and the 800s have a super rock solid well-defined bass that is very deep.

Thanks for reading my thoughts here.

I think your two reviews combined give the most accurate description of the sound signature of these headphones that I have ever read.

rgs9200m, since both of your amps can do balance, time to balance ps1000

Hey priest -- thank you very much for the kind words! Best to you.

fhuang -- Hi and thanks for the suggestion to balance them.

I have indeed been thinking about this, but I am kind of paralyzed thinking what kind of cable I would use and haven't

seen any reports on anyone's experience with this.

Anyone using the PS1000's with the Woo Audio WA6SE?

Does anyone have a problem with vocal clarity with the PS1000? I loved mine at first, but after using them for a while I just can't help but notice that the vocals, especially female vocals, don't have the clarity and crispness I desire. This is especially prominent coming from my Lambdas. I know those qualities are inherent in an electrostatic design, but I didn't think it would be this different with the PS1000. The vocals sound almost... dare I say, muffled on the PS1000? That's being a little bit too harsh, but they definitely don't sound anywhere near as clear as the lambdas. The bass section is nice, but I am still left desiring something when it comes to vocals. Now I'm wondering if I got a slightly defective pair because I remember reading a couple of people having very bad experiences with the PS1k, until they tried another pair. I don't know of any definitive way of testing this short of listening to another pair, but I don't know of any around where I'm located. What do you guys think is the best plan of action? I also find myself yearning to crank the volume with these to bring out the vocals, which seems at odds with most peoples observations that these are a lower-level listening can.

It could be I'm more of a 'stat guy and I should just buy an O2 already, but I don't think the PS1000 should sound like this. By the way, I have the chrome version. Also, I don't think there's any problem with my source or amp.. I use a gamma2 and Beta22 combination. Tubes might improve things, but I don't think they'd completely change the character of the headphone. Could be a good excuse to build a Bijou or something similar, though:)

I don't have any real experience with electrostatics for comparison purposes, but lack of crispness or clarity in this headphone sounds like something is really off. I also don't think most people think these are low-level listening cans. I know HeadRoom stated they excel at low-levels, but that does not mean that they are designed for that, or only good at that level. I do know that there are one or two haters on this forum who have tried to put this headphone in that box as a way of dismissing it. I listen to mine at what I consider to be normal levels at all times.

Quote:

Originally Posted by priest 

I don't have any real experience with electrostatics for comparison purposes, but lack of crispness or clarity in this headphone sounds like something is really off. I also don't think most people think these are low-level listening cans. I know HeadRoom stated they excel at low-levels, but that does not mean that they are designed for that, or only good at that level. I do know that there are one or two haters on this forum who have tried to put this headphone in that box as a way of dismissing it. I listen to mine at what I consider to be normal levels at all times.

Yes, I think something does sound off. I wrote it off as me not really liking them as much as I thought, and was about to sell them. Then I read music_mans post about his defective pair, and it got me thinking that something might be wrong with my pair. I think I might contact Grado and see if I can work something out with them. The main problem I forsee is I cannot concretely prove something is wrong. i.e. both drivers are working and making sound. It doesn't sound distorted, there's no rattling, etc. It just doesn't sound as good as I thought or as good as everyone seems to think. The soundstage isn't up to par either. Honestly, I think my D2000 are throwing more of a soundstage than these, which is quite annoying (granted, it might be due to amp synergy, but I still think something sounds off). I will have to try to see what Grado can do for me.

I actually enjoy relatively low-level listening, and spend most of my time listening at low volumes late at night, so that was a nice plus for me when I was debating my next headphone purchase. So it's also kind of weird for me that I feel the need to pump up the volume to get the vocal presence I'd like. The more I think about it the more it seems like there might be something wrong with my pair :(

Well you are coming from an electrostatic headphone and they do have unsurpassed clarity. It's possible that the PS1000 while being no slouch in that area, might not sound quite as crystalline as what you've been used to. Although having heard some electrostats and the PS1000, I honestly couldn't pick one over the other in that department.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbandstefanwich 

Yes, I think something does sound off. I wrote it off as me not really liking them as much as I thought, and was about to sell them. Then I read music_mans post about his defective pair, and it got me thinking that something might be wrong with my pair. I think I might contact Grado and see if I can work something out with them. The main problem I forsee is I cannot concretely prove something is wrong. i.e. both drivers are working and making sound. It doesn't sound distorted, there's no rattling, etc. It just doesn't sound as good as I thought or as good as everyone seems to think. The soundstage isn't up to par either. Honestly, I think my D2000 are throwing more of a soundstage than these, which is quite annoying (granted, it might be due to amp synergy, but I still think something sounds off). I will have to try to see what Grado can do for me.

 

I actually enjoy relatively low-level listening, and spend most of my time listening at low volumes late at night, so that was a nice plus for me when I was debating my next headphone purchase. So it's also kind of weird for me that I feel the need to pump up the volume to get the vocal presence I'd like. The more I think about it the more it seems like there might be something wrong with my pair :(

You can send your headphones to Grado for checking even if there is nothing wrong. I sent my PS1000 to them and they checked and returned the phones to me without charge. If there's something needs replacing, you might have to pay for it but I think the standard charge is relatively small. It is $100 for RS1 and maybe $150 for PS1000( I am not 100% sure, you have to check). That will include changing the drivers.

If your D2000 have a better soundstage than your PS1000, something is not quite right.