Sennheiser HD 800 VS Grado PS 1000 - Page 3

PS1000's are physically heavy and may not be the most comfortable. Depending upon your head shape, the top of the headband can hurt you over long listening sessions. If you want bass the PS1000s certainly have it.

The HD800s are light weight and comfortable for most people. They can lack bass and sound thin and bright - at least on most setups I've heard them on. If you are willing to mod this headphone, you can tame the treble down quite a bit, which does bring the bass out a bit more. The HD800s are hard to drive. It's more difficult to get bass impact and dynamics out of them; they are laid back by nature. The PS1000s are easy to drive. You can get good impact and dynamics out of them from modest setups.

I've owned the PS1000 and the HD800s are my primary headphones. I still like both for their good qualities.

As a few people have said above, your answer is "neither" for your requirements.
Edited by purrin - 9/1/11 at 10:15am

the sennheisers but im an audiophile too and i would of said listen first which ones did you get in the end.

Pay careful attention to amping the HD-800. It's important.

As for the PS-1000, I didn't spend much time with it, but it left me cold. There was nothing that appealed. I got the feeling that it was the equally-ignored GS--1000 drivers dropped into aluminum cups "just because" and tuned a little differently with the enclosure. The HF-2 was fun and groovy, with character. I like my pair.

Also, it never seemed to gain much traction here. The HD-800 generates thousands of posts and much interest. Not everyone likes it, of course, but lots of people do.

I still think the RS-1 is the Grado flagship. The GS-1000 was a big FOTM, then completely disappeared. I haven't seen a thread on it or a recommendation for a long time. The PS-1000 got a cooler reception and while it has some sincere fans, is infrequently discussed or recommended.

The T1 and LCD2 were also mentioned here. I've heard both and liked them enough to buy them. I haven't since I'm generally happy with the HD-800 and use my speakers a lot. They'd be a couple thousand sitting in boxes.

What  I prefered even 225 over HF2 and you prefer HF2 over GS/PS. Strange hard to believe, my pair of HF2 was mmm very very bassy in my eyes. Thanks god everyone have own ears

This explains the point pretty well. Given how much more talked about is Lady Gaga than Anna Netrebko, most people should point Gaga as the better singer. The minority who knows Netrebko find it obvious that there are things that Lady Gaga simply couldn't do with here voice. The same is Sennheiser HD800. Silver painted plastic easy to scratch, delivering impression of transparency to people who hear so much for the first time right from them. At this point I would even say that defoamed and recabled Sennheiser HD565 delivers more natural presentation.

Sennheiser HD800 and Beyerdynamic T1 stop scaling up with the equipment at some level which is still no limit for the Grado PS1000 or the Ultrasone Edition 10. Include the AKG K1000 here. My friend and I made a comparison between the T1, K1000, PS1000 and ED10, and the T1 was the only headphone that showed its limits - mainly in the soundstage presentation and dynamics. HD800 behave in a similar way but their sound contains more curiosities which I mentioned previously.

I would like to echo the comment about the PS1000 not being the most comfortable pair of headphones to wear. It's huge and heavy, and can easily slide off one's head if you move about too much. It has a great soundstage, but can be unforgiving in terms of presenting detail. Whatever one may say about it, it still has that bright Grado signature. Listening to a live recording of Beethoven's 9th for instance I can hear every cough and nose blown and can tell you the seat number of the offending party (OK I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture.) Details that tend to be glossed over in slightly "veiled" and "laid back" cans like the HD650 / K702 are presented in their full glory in the PS1000. Which is why I hardly use it to listen to classical. But the bass definition is absolutely magnificent. Ditto low volume listening. The effect is visceral rather than intellectual. If music for you is all about the journey then get the HD800. If it's all about the end result, then the PS1000 is the way to go.

 

After listening to the HD800, the PS1000 was a slight disappointment.

 

After listening to the HF2, The PS1000 was a real eye-opener. It did everything the HF2 did and much more.

 

Compared to these cans mentioned, the GS1000 sounds like cheap cardboard.

 

 

 

 

I totally agree with this point. While the HD800 and LCD-2 trounce the PS1000 in the measurements department (yes, it isn't close), without having prior experience it is hard to say what you may or may not like best. Not everyone prefers a flat measuring phone. We all have our own preferences and without knowing you and your tastes it's hard to say what your sonic preferences might be.

 

I'll offer my own experience as an example. After spending years running my old Senn. HD600 straight out of the headphone jack of my computer, the PS1000 was my first "summit-fi" headphone purchase. Now don't get me wrong... I really enjoyed the PS1000, but I still found myself listening to the HD600 quite a bit. While the PS1000 is more "fun" and "euphonic" and has a bass quantity that the HD600 can't touch, I still found myself coming back to the "neutral" and "accurate" sounding HD600 as it sounded more faithful to the recording.

 

Eventually I got around to hearing the HD800 and other top-of-the-line models at a meet. What I learned was, for me, I liked phones that are fast, detailed, and transparent. I found, and I'm sure that others will agree, that the HD800 sonically represents a more refined version of the HD600. For the most part, what the HD600 does well the HD800 does better. For me the HD800 represented more of what I was looking for sonically than the PS1000. After that experience, I sold the PS1000 (at a major haircut :[ ) and purchased the HD800. I haven't regretted that decision. After the HD800 my own tastes eventually lead me to the dark side (electrostats), but I wouldn't recommend that route unless you know for a fact that that is what you are looking for.

 

The point here is that you really have to determine for yourself what you are looking for sonically. If you wan't accuracy and detail, the HD800 can't be beat. If you wanted accuracy and more bass than the HD800 with a bit "warmer" sound I'd recommend the LCD-2. If you are looking for something that isn't quite as accurate but is really fun and euphonic, then give the PS1000 a spin.

 

Finally, if you are unsure about your choice, I can't say enough good things about buying used headphones from the for sale forums. Lets face it, there is a chance that you'll eventually hear something you like better than the headphone you purchased. If that happens you'll probably want to sell the headphone you have to get the new one. If you bought used and took really good care of it, you'll most likely be able to turn around and resell the headphone you bought for almost the exact same price you paid for it. Essentially, buying a headphone used at the prevailing price allows you to do an extended audition and then resell it if it isn't what you thought it would be. 

Edited by TMoney - 9/2/11 at 7:06am

Check out the LCD-2. I am newer to headphones, but my experience with planar phones has been mind-opening. I got a pair of Yamaha YH-100's orthodynamics, a planar style phone that are hard to find, and I can't stop listening to them. In fact, I crave them like a cigarette. Those LCD-2 are beautiful and classic looking. They are easier to drive than my Yamahas. The materials are top-notch expensive. My only issue with these type of phones is their sensitivity to the elements. I have no business owning them because I live in the country and dust. The only thing I can say about the planar phones is "THOSE DID THAT!"

All this talk....aya...just get the HD800 for your birthday, and the PS1000 for Christmas, whichever comes first

It hasn't disappeared from my collection , I listen to it alongside the K-1000 and HP-2 and have had it since it first came out. It has a romantic sound that isn't replicated by any other headphone including the PS-1000. I sold my RS-1 a long time ago after owning both for a year.

 

Which brings up a good point that was stated earlier to the OP, part of the fun of being an audiophile is listening to the headphones in your system and deciding based on your preference and not a general consensus.

 

 

 

Blade, I agree that good headphones should perform well with all music, but unfortunately, headphones are flawed devices, even the best.  You have to decide what you care about most and what you are most willing to sacrifice.  That's why people talk about genres because they don't know how to describe what sound they want, or don't know what they want at all so they use music genres as a half-assed way of deciding what kind of sound they want.  ex/ rap needs bass, classical needs "air", whatever

 

Try to think about the headphones you have now and make a list of pros and cons.  The SR60 is a great one to do that with because a lot of people have heard them.  That will give people a lot more to help you with than just "which one is better".  All you've said so far about SQ is that bass is important to you, but that could mean a lot of things.  Most people would mean that they wanted bass to be present and of high quality.  The HD800 has quality bass, but it's very light, not what you probably want with rap. 

 

I honestly think that listening to rap with the HD800 might be worse than listening to classical with Beats, assuming you liked both genres equally and were equally in the mood for both.  Unless you listen to rap analytically, which I can't really imagine. 

Edited by rhythmdevils - 9/2/11 at 5:35pm

 

rhythmdevils, this sentence deserves icon status...