I mentioned it in purrin's hp1000 thread but that foam mod really makes a positive improvement. That glare on high pitched vocals that exists with the stock headphone is not a desired response. It's a resonance that obscures from the recording.

Putting in the foam gets rid of it. It doesn't make the midrange wimpy or weak. It just removes that glare, reduces the slightly bloated midbass of he stock phone(very subtle change) and, by direct extension, makes the soundstage feel a bit deeper and more immersive as light, subtle backgriund sounds have a bit more prominence.

I have no idea how much better or different Joe's $1300 mods are but I am thrilled with the results of using 4 dollars of foam (and around 45 minutes of my time).

@devouringone3
 
At least, I got the Germany correctly
 
Thank you for the info, very interesting fact.

Quote:

shimmer n roar said:

so i see.

i still haven't got around to comparing john grado's current top three. do you have a preference between joe's hp1000 and john's ps1 and ps1000? do they share much in common?

Click to expand...

Out of the three my pick is HP1000 (I only have the modded versions now). followed by PS1000 and then PS1. 
All Grados are based on the design of HP1000 but you can tell these three apart quite easily, especially if you put on their "default" ear pads.
I don't really spend time comparing any headphones these days, it gets in the way of my listening to the music. 

Quote:

pcf said:

Out of the three my pick is HP1000 (I only have the modded versions now). followed by PS1000 and then PS1. 
All Grados are based on the design of HP1000 but you can tell these three apart quite easily, especially if you put on their "default" ear pads.
I don't really spend time comparing any headphones these days, it gets in the way of my listening to the music. 

Click to expand...

 
In this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/262950/grado-hp-1000-vs-ps-1 that asks you to vote for your favorite one, nine people (having owned both) preferred the HP 1000 and ten the PS-1. With your opinion it's a good 10/10.

Quote:

pcf said:

Go for it! I will be interested to hear what you think.

Click to expand...

You asked for it
 
 
Some thoughts on the HP-1 (HP1000) after a little over a week of ownership. This is a long one. Grab a beer. I had one while writing this.
 
 

 
 
I should note that all my comments below are based on the modded version with foam lining inside the cups from purrin’s instructions. it reduces midrange glare and shoutiness, reduces some treble glare, removes a small bit of lower midrange bloat and slightly expands and moves the soundstage forward. The sound is still similar, but the foam lining is, imo, necessary to push these headphones far enough in front of current Grados and other, more easily available TOTL cans to be worth their inflated collector’s pricing. 
 
I’ve gone through many high end headphones in the past couple years. I like comparing the different sound signatures and, early on, it was very important for me to figure what I actually like and dislike from the headphones. So now I have a better idea of where the HP1000 fit in.
 
The HP-1 does the most “right” of all the headphones I’ve yet heard with their faults being mostly trivial for my tastes - specifically lack of bass extension and soundstage height/width. It’s my favourite headphone that I’ve tried. I won’t try to say it’s technically the best at anything but I find no obvious faults with it and I think I may keep these for a long while, unless I am shocked by an LCD3 which is on its way to me.
 
The basis for this praise is that the HP-1 has the most natural and most even frequency response I have ever heard (even before the mod but especially afterward). Everything sounds balanced in harmony and no one frequency band obscures another. There’s no sharp ridge in the treble that can be pesky on some female vocals. there’s no bass bloat that obscures the mids. The tone and timbre of instruments feels more correct and true than any other headphone I’ve tried. This may sound simple and trite but every other headphone I’ve heard has some sort of deficiency in this key area that had bothered me.
 
Regarding details and speed, I put them up there with my memory of the HD800, GS1000, PS1000 and Stax. I don’t have a trained ear to notice tiny differences in detail retrieval from one headphone to another. Once we get up to this level of technical refinement, detail retrieval all sound about the same to me.
 
Can I hear the slight brushing of fingers of a guitarist off to the side of the stage? yes.
 
Can I hear the barely audible triangle being played in the orchestra and can I tell when it’s being struck more forcefully or at double time? yup.
 
Do I hear people clearing their throats (at different tables) and clearly pick out bits of conversation in the audience of a live jazz recording? sure
 
On electronic music, are there incredibly rapid beats that sound distinct instead of a blurred whole? yes
 
I can’t hear more detail than that. Once I got into headphones costing multiple hundreds of dollars, they all seem to be able to do this. The ones that have issues here, in my experience, are the ones with sound signature issues where, for example, a D5000 bass bloat will obscure background details. Not because the transducer isn’t capable of rendering the detail, but because they’ve tuned the thing to explode so much bass in your face that you just can’t hear the lower volume subtleties.
 
Soundstage on the HP-1 is not incredibly tall or wide but I am impressed with the depth and forwardness of it. It is layered and precise in the way the Stax O2 was. It can’t match the HD800 for width or height. However, what I like about the HP-1 that I don’t get from many headphones is that the soundstage feels more forward and out of the head. At one point, I thought I had enabled the cross feed function in the Fidelia music player, but it was just the natural soundstage portrayed by the headphones. I thought that was pretty impressive. it’s not a miracle, out-of-your-head experience but it does feel a bit more natural than other headphones that put singers between your ears instead of slightly closer to your nose.
 
Some more direct comparisons of headphones which I hope some might find useful.
 
GS1000.  I just sold these so I remember their sound very well. The GS1000 have powerful, speaker-like bass but they do it by having a mid bass boost like other modern Grados - only more powerful. There is more impact on the GS1000 but those crucial mids are thinner, the treble is peakier than the HP1 and the tonality suffers unless you EQ it. 
 
Stax O2. It’s important to note that I never wanted to spend the extra 5 or 6 grand needed to get this headphone working on a powerful amp that would inject a bit more bass impact or reduce lower midrange bloat. I used a GES and 323S. Before the HP-1, the O2 was my favourite headphone as it had tonality nailed down mostly to my taste and had the perfect sized soundstage. But the dynamics and impact never matched other, lesser dynamic headphones. It always felt a little weak down there when a big drum solo would come on. The HP-1 is about the same sound signature (slightly less dark with the equipment I’ve used) but gives me the bass impact I need without having to spend 5K on an amp and then wait 12 months for it to be built by hand. The HP-1 isn’t the best at bass impact but it’s good enough for most of my music.
 
The HP-1 can also sound almost as good straight out of an iPod, so there’s that, too. Bass impact, convenience and required monetary investment are the reasons why I prefer the HP-1 to the O2. But I don’t want to pretend that the HP-1 is a superior headphone under all circumstances - only my limited experience.
 
HD800. The HD800 have the widest, tallest, most out-of-head soundstage of any headphone I’ve used and that sounds awesome on about 1/3 of my music collection. But on the other 2/3 of my music, the distant soundstage makes the songs seem less involving unless the volume is cranked way up. The HP-1 achieves a better balanced soundstage for the majority of my music. It’s good enough for the classical and some jazz (mainly because of that forward nature that pushes the image out a bit in front of the ears) but I don’t need to reach for another headphone when I want to listen to something more immediate. In addition, the HP-1 doesn’t have that 6kHz treble peak. that treble peak wasn’t a big problem for me but it’s nice to not have to worry about any treble peaks now when increasing volume on songs.
 
Grado PS-500. I like these a good bit but the HP-1 are just more realistic in tonality and have no nasty glare on any higher frequencies. The PS500 have GS1000 like massive bass that doesn’t bloat into the midrange (which is nice - the D5000 are brought down by this tendency) but I know that this comes from artificially boosting the mid bass. Still, the PS500 is very good and shares more in common with the HP-1 than the RS1, SR325, etc. 
 
Magnum V4. I also got these back from Symphones a few weeks ago. With flat pads on -  and before the foam mod to the HP-1 - these sounded similar on most songs in my library. Not the same - but similar. There was still more glare with the Magnums than with the HP-1 but the difference wasn’t as large. And they both had the classic thick lower midrange and compressed soundstage you get with flats. But the improvements to the HP-1 with the foam mod improved the soundstage and lower midrange sound to the point where the Magnum are left farther behind. Magnums with bowls sound a bit too thin without enough bass for my taste. 
 
Older headphones had other issues (i’m only listing negatives here). the Denon D5000 bass bloat hurt the midrange. The LCD2 had no comfort, no soundstage, and no treble energy at all. The PS1000  sounded good to my ears, but were very heavy and had peaky treble The HE-5LE were impossible to drive with authority and didn’t fit my head. The Stax 407 had no dynamic impact.
 
I prefer the HP-1 to all of these.
 
So there you have it. The best dynamic headphone I’ve used and my favourite headphone that I’ve yet tried also happens to be around 20 years old and is almost impossible to get serviced if anything happens to it. lucky me
 
Its charms kind of creep up on you. It’s not an immediate “whoa” sensation like when you hear classical on an HD800 for the first time, or some bass heavy electronica on an LCD2 but it strikes a more perfect balance for my tastes than these other headphones. 
 
But I try to stay pragmatic about all this and not get too attached to physical objects. I still want something a bit better for a similar cost if it exists. I would still like better bass impact and real sub bass. I’d like a larger soundstage. 
 
Which is why I ordered an LCD3 and will be comparing these two head to head in around a week or two. Should be fun.
 
 
 
Equipment: My amp is an ALO Amphora. DAC is an HRT MS2. Although I also used a Yulong D18 for a little time. Music files were mostly 320 kbps MP3 from iTunes with a few FLAC files in Fidelia.

Quote:

stacker45 said:

I'm not sure,but i think they look very spectacular in chrome.
 
On a different note, i think that the HP-1000's are overrated,don't get me wrong,they sound very good,the mids are very naturals,and the bass is taut,i mainly use them for Jazz and female vocals,but in my opinion,the PS-1000 sound better,they have more bass and treble extension,while the mids sound just as good as the HP-1000,so needless to say that since i got my PS-1000,i rarely use the HP-1000,next week i'll order a pair of the ''improved'' flat pads for them,i can't wait to see if they'll make a significant difference.

Click to expand...

 
For me HP-1000 drivers > Magnum drivers > most of John Grado drivers and I hope John Grado won't take too long to catch up to the Magnum's grade.

Quote:

lcfiner said:

You asked for it
 
 
Some thoughts on the HP-1 (HP1000) after a little over a week of ownership. This is a long one. Grab a beer. I had one while writing this.
 
 

 
 
I should note that all my comments below are based on the modded version with foam lining inside the cups from purrin’s instructions. it reduces midrange glare and shoutiness, reduces some treble glare, removes a small bit of lower midrange bloat and slightly expands and moves the soundstage forward. The sound is still similar, but the foam lining is, imo, necessary to push these headphones far enough in front of current Grados and other, more easily available TOTL cans to be worth their inflated collector’s pricing. 
 
I’ve gone through many high end headphones in the past couple years. I like comparing the different sound signatures and, early on, it was very important for me to figure what I actually like and dislike from the headphones. So now I have a better idea of where the HP1000 fit in.
 
The HP-1 does the most “right” of all the headphones I’ve yet heard with their faults being mostly trivial for my tastes - specifically lack of bass extension and soundstage height/width. It’s my favourite headphone that I’ve tried. I won’t try to say it’s technically the best at anything but I find no obvious faults with it and I think I may keep these for a long while, unless I am shocked by an LCD3 which is on its way to me.
 
The basis for this praise is that the HP-1 has the most natural and most even frequency response I have ever heard (even before the mod but especially afterward). Everything sounds balanced in harmony and no one frequency band obscures another. There’s no sharp ridge in the treble that can be pesky on some female vocals. there’s no bass bloat that obscures the mids. The tone and timbre of instruments feels more correct and true than any other headphone I’ve tried. This may sound simple and trite but every other headphone I’ve heard has some sort of deficiency in this key area that had bothered me.
 
Regarding details and speed, I put them up there with my memory of the HD800, GS1000, PS1000 and Stax. I don’t have a trained ear to notice tiny differences in detail retrieval from one headphone to another. Once we get up to this level of technical refinement, detail retrieval all sound about the same to me.
 
Can I hear the slight brushing of fingers of a guitarist off to the side of the stage? yes.
 
Can I hear the barely audible triangle being played in the orchestra and can I tell when it’s being struck more forcefully or at double time? yup.
 
Do I hear people clearing their throats (at different tables) and clearly pick out bits of conversation in the audience of a live jazz recording? sure
 
On electronic music, are there incredibly rapid beats that sound distinct instead of a blurred whole? yes
 
I can’t hear more detail than that. Once I got into headphones costing multiple hundreds of dollars, they all seem to be able to do this. The ones that have issues here, in my experience, are the ones with sound signature issues where, for example, a D5000 bass bloat will obscure background details. Not because the transducer isn’t capable of rendering the detail, but because they’ve tuned the thing to explode so much bass in your face that you just can’t hear the lower volume subtleties.
 
Soundstage on the HP-1 is not incredibly tall or wide but I am impressed with the depth and forwardness of it. It is layered and precise in the way the Stax O2 was. It can’t match the HD800 for width or height. However, what I like about the HP-1 that I don’t get from many headphones is that the soundstage feels more forward and out of the head. At one point, I thought I had enabled the cross feed function in the Fidelia music player, but it was just the natural soundstage portrayed by the headphones. I thought that was pretty impressive. it’s not a miracle, out-of-your-head experience but it does feel a bit more natural than other headphones that put singers between your ears instead of slightly closer to your nose.
 
Some more direct comparisons of headphones which I hope some might find useful.
 
GS1000.  I just sold these so I remember their sound very well. The GS1000 have powerful, speaker-like bass but they do it by having a mid bass boost like other modern Grados - only more powerful. There is more impact on the GS1000 but those crucial mids are thinner, the treble is peakier than the HP1 and the tonality suffers unless you EQ it. 
 
Stax O2. It’s important to note that I never wanted to spend the extra 5 or 6 grand needed to get this headphone working on a powerful amp that would inject a bit more bass impact or reduce lower midrange bloat. I used a GES and 323S. Before the HP-1, the O2 was my favourite headphone as it had tonality nailed down mostly to my taste and had the perfect sized soundstage. But the dynamics and impact never matched other, lesser dynamic headphones. It always felt a little weak down there when a big drum solo would come on. The HP-1 is about the same sound signature (slightly less dark with the equipment I’ve used) but gives me the bass impact I need without having to spend 5K on an amp and then wait 12 months for it to be built by hand. The HP-1 isn’t the best at bass impact but it’s good enough for most of my music.
 
The HP-1 can also sound almost as good straight out of an iPod, so there’s that, too. Bass impact, convenience and required monetary investment are the reasons why I prefer the HP-1 to the O2. But I don’t want to pretend that the HP-1 is a superior headphone under all circumstances - only my limited experience.
 
HD800. The HD800 have the widest, tallest, most out-of-head soundstage of any headphone I’ve used and that sounds awesome on about 1/3 of my music collection. But on the other 2/3 of my music, the distant soundstage makes the songs seem less involving unless the volume is cranked way up. The HP-1 achieves a better balanced soundstage for the majority of my music. It’s good enough for the classical and some jazz (mainly because of that forward nature that pushes the image out a bit in front of the ears) but I don’t need to reach for another headphone when I want to listen to something more immediate. In addition, the HP-1 doesn’t have that 6kHz treble peak. that treble peak wasn’t a big problem for me but it’s nice to not have to worry about any treble peaks now when increasing volume on songs.
 
Grado PS-500. I like these a good bit but the HP-1 are just more realistic in tonality and have no nasty glare on any higher frequencies. The PS500 have GS1000 like massive bass that doesn’t bloat into the midrange (which is nice - the D5000 are brought down by this tendency) but I know that this comes from artificially boosting the mid bass. Still, the PS500 is very good and shares more in common with the HP-1 than the RS1, SR325, etc. 
 
Magnum V4. I also got these back from Symphones a few weeks ago. With flat pads on -  and before the foam mod to the HP-1 - these sounded similar on most songs in my library. Not the same - but similar. There was still more glare with the Magnums than with the HP-1 but the difference wasn’t as large. And they both had the classic thick lower midrange and compressed soundstage you get with flats. But the improvements to the HP-1 with the foam mod improved the soundstage and lower midrange sound to the point where the Magnum are left farther behind. Magnums with bowls sound a bit too thin without enough bass for my taste. 
 
Older headphones had other issues (i’m only listing negatives here). the Denon D5000 bass bloat hurt the midrange. The LCD2 had no comfort, no soundstage, and no treble energy at all. The PS1000  sounded good to my ears, but were very heavy and had peaky treble The HE-5LE were impossible to drive with authority and didn’t fit my head. The Stax 407 had no dynamic impact.
 
I prefer the HP-1 to all of these.
 
So there you have it. The best dynamic headphone I’ve used and my favourite headphone that I’ve yet tried also happens to be around 20 years old and is almost impossible to get serviced if anything happens to it. lucky me
 
Its charms kind of creep up on you. It’s not an immediate “whoa” sensation like when you hear classical on an HD800 for the first time, or some bass heavy electronica on an LCD2 but it strikes a more perfect balance for my tastes than these other headphones. 
 
But I try to stay pragmatic about all this and not get too attached to physical objects. I still want something a bit better for a similar cost if it exists. I would still like better bass impact and real sub bass. I’d like a larger soundstage. 
 
Which is why I ordered an LCD3 and will be comparing these two head to head in around a week or two. Should be fun.
 
 
 
Equipment: My amp is an ALO Amphora. DAC is an HRT MS2. Although I also used a Yulong D18 for a little time. Music files were mostly 320 kbps MP3 from iTunes with a few FLAC files in Fidelia.

Click to expand...

Nice write up!  Thanks!

Quote:

lcfiner said:

Regarding details and speed, I put them up there with my memory of the HD800, GS1000, PS1000 and Stax. I don’t have a trained ear to notice tiny differences in detail retrieval from one headphone to another. Once we get up to this level of technical refinement, detail retrieval all sound about the same to me.
 
HD800. The HD800 have the widest, tallest, most out-of-head soundstage of any headphone I’ve used and that sounds awesome on about 1/3 of my music collection. But on the other 2/3 of my music, the distant soundstage makes the songs seem less involving unless the volume is cranked way up. The HP-1 achieves a better balanced soundstage for the majority of my music. It’s good enough for the classical and some jazz (mainly because of that forward nature that pushes the image out a bit in front of the ears) but I don’t need to reach for another headphone when I want to listen to something more immediate. In addition, the HP-1 doesn’t have that 6kHz treble peak. that treble peak wasn’t a big problem for me but it’s nice to not have to worry about any treble peaks now when increasing volume on songs.
 
Grado PS-500. I like these a good bit but the HP-1 are just more realistic in tonality and have no nasty glare on any higher frequencies. The PS500 have GS1000 like massive bass that doesn’t bloat into the midrange (which is nice - the D5000 are brought down by this tendency) but I know that this comes from artificially boosting the mid bass. Still, the PS500 is very good and shares more in common with the HP-1 than the RS1, SR325, etc. 
 
I prefer the HP-1 to all of these.
 
So there you have it. The best dynamic headphone I’ve used and my favourite headphone that I’ve yet tried also happens to be around 20 years old and is almost impossible to get serviced if anything happens to it. lucky me
 
Its charms kind of creep up on you. It’s not an immediate “whoa” sensation like when you hear classical on an HD800 for the first time, or some bass heavy electronica on an LCD2 but it strikes a more perfect balance for my tastes than these other headphones. 
 
Which is why I ordered an LCD3 and will be comparing these two head to head in around a week or two. Should be fun.

Click to expand...

 
To me the HP-1000 are excruciatingly detailed. I take a fully silent amp, crank up the volume moderately and on every music that isn't electronic or synthesis I find background noise, hisses, errors, and many artifacts of the mixing and production that the engineers missed because their audio set-up maybe isn't as resolving as my headphones. None of my other headphones are resolving all of those either.
 
Not many will notice, but on most of James LaBrie singing on "The Answer Lies Within", Octavarium album, Dream Theater band, there is some kind of flying bug stuck in the microphone (metaphorically), and it gets excited when James is singing. You need to crank the volume moderately, but it's very audible. Although I think that it has a lot to do with the HD414-bowls I'm using, they reduce bass prominence and unveil a lot of micro-details.
 
I also love having the transducers closer to your ears, to make up for a more intimate experience. Sound Stage is "closer". Grado gives me that. I like how you bring that point when comparing the HP1 to the HD800. I have felt exactly the same when I reverted to bowls from my HD414-bowl sandwich pads on my HP1. HD414-bowl sandwich pads gives the HP-1000 a big soundstage but you need to crank the volume more, and you loose the intimacy (but gain air).
 
HP-1000's treble is SO GENTLE, I agree with you on that one too. It's fully there but it never grows out of proportion when leveling up the volume.
 
The vintage Grados are also considered to have more in common, in terms of sound signature, with the HP 1000 than the nowadays Grado.
 
Am I the only one to dislike the HP-1000 with flats? I like bowls, but I use my own "custom pads" (they're not a big deal) most of the time.
 
You can still get it serviced... it's 600$ for a replacement of the drivers by Joseph Grado... otherwise you hunt down the SR1-2-300-25 with HP-1000 drivers in them for 800 - 1000. These are no MDR-R10.
 
Personally I don't even think the HP-1000 drivers are close to dying from age. And the enclosure for them is indestructible, so as long as you care for them a least, it's a non-issue.
 
I'm very happy you found yourself a new favorite headphone! thanks for talking to us about it and your experience. You're helping to keep the HP-1000 alive on Head-Fi .
 
MuppetFace thought the same of the Fostex TH900, you should try it : "Charms that creep up on you" "not an immediate whoa" but does everything finely and no contrasting faults. She has put that headphone and the HP-1000 in her list of current favorites.

Quote:

devouringone3 said:

 
In this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/262950/grado-hp-1000-vs-ps-1 that asks you to vote for your favorite one, nine people (having owned both) preferred the HP 1000 and ten the PS-1. With your opinion it's a good 10/10.

Click to expand...

 
I enjoy listening to the PS1. I like their smooth mids  but could never get used to that over powering and slight soft bass. which makes the whole presentation a little off balance. 

I love the HP1000 with flats. at least, these modified HP-1 that don’t have that thicker lower midrange with flats. there’s a hint of it - enough to give mids some richness - but it’s not overbearing or bloated. And I’m getting some nice air and soundstage with these flats so I’m not concerned about the increase I would get with bowls.
 
With the Magnum, I kept switching from flats to bowls. the flats have a little too much, um, lower mids creaminess and the bowls suck too much of it out (and reduce the bass impact a ton). It’s hard to figure out what to do. Maybe 414 pads? (I have some lying around)
 
On the other side, the PS500 use the bowls and are tuned to that sound. I tried them with flats and the bass/ lower mids bloat was worse than the D5000. With bowls, the PS500 midrange is very clean and clear. the bass only jumps in when needed.
 
In general, I like how Grados are so simply designed to swap bowls and pads. It doesn’t always result in great combinations but it’s a cheap, quick way to modify the sound and experiment.

Quote:

lcfiner said:

With the Magnum, I kept switching from flats to bowls. the flats have a little too much, um, lower mids creaminess and the bowls suck too much of it out (and reduce the bass impact a ton). It’s hard to figure out what to do. Maybe 414 pads? (I have some lying around)
 
In general, I like how Grados are so simply designed to swap bowls and pads. It doesn’t always result in great combinations but it’s a cheap, quick way to modify the sound and experiment.

Click to expand...

 
414 pads doesn't have that lower mid creaminess :/. They are a good in-between of bowls and flats in terms of frequency response balance but they have all the air and most of the thin-ness of the bowls :/. They would need to be more rugged like the flats, and a bit thicker, to act better like "flowls" (flats-bowls in between).
 
Yes, and sometimes it's fun just to change pads, for a change in the flavor.
 
 

pcf said:

I enjoy listening to the PS1. I like their smooth mids  but could never get used to that over powering and slight soft bass. which makes the whole presentation a little off balance. 

Click to expand...

 
Some people have tried to imbue so much hype to that "special" bass by the past... saying it was the best of the best in dynamic headphones.
 
I have decided to stick to my vintage RS1, by reading your "unhyped" impressions of the PS-1. You made me save 2-3k dollars, thank you

Quote:

pcf said:

Out of the three my pick is HP1000 (I only have the modded versions now). followed by PS1000 and then PS1. 
All Grados are based on the design of HP1000 but you can tell these three apart quite easily, especially if you put on their "default" ear pads.
I don't really spend time comparing any headphones these days, it gets in the way of my listening to the music. 

Click to expand...

 
that's a compliment for the ps1000.
 
Quote:

pcf said:

 
I enjoy listening to the PS1. I like their smooth mids  but could never get used to that over powering and slight soft bass. which makes the whole presentation a little off balance. 

Click to expand...

 
the ps1000's bass has been described in similar terms.

One week ago I really thought (by reading impressions of the people on Head-Fi, from 2004 to 2012) that the PS-1 was considered way better than the PS-1000. But I take everyone's impression and pcf's ones are among the least biased and hyped ones, he doesn't need tons of "IMO"s and grains of salt everywhere.

Quote:

devouringone3 said:

One week ago I really thought (by reading impressions of the people on Head-Fi, from 2004 to 2012) that the PS-1 was considered way better than the PS-1000. But I take everyone's impression and pcf's ones are among the least biased and hyped ones.

Click to expand...

You will get many different opinions on this one so don't take anyone's word for it( including mine). 
Mind you, I am very often wrong but at least you know I don't defend headphones just because I own them or paid a fortune for them. 

I have to admit that since i got my PS-1000 a couple of months ago,my HP-1000 aven't seen much action,but after reading a few posts where peoples were saying that they sometime have an annoying ''glare'' in the mids that's especially noticable with female vocals,i tought i'd get them out and try and look for it myself.
 
I did my listening on my very humble 2nd system,wich consists of a restored vintage Yamaha CA-610II from 1978 and a Yamaha DVD-S1800,my HP-1000 are stock of course and for now i'm using the L-cush,the headphones where plugged directly in the integrated amp.
 
I used,'Best audiophile voices VOL VII' cd,wich are,for those not familiar,a series of compilations cd's of mostly female vocals.
 
I listen as hard as i could for that glare,but couldn't find it,all i got was a very natural sounding midrange,the sound never got steely or agressive,even on Eva Cassidy's version of 'Tennesee Waltz',i guess it's one of two things,either my hearing's going bad,or,the synergy between my old geaser of an amp and the HP-1000 is very good,i'm glad i used the HP tonight,because i was starting to forget how good they sound,especially with female voices recordings.