Comparing Grado GH1/G, GS1000e (250+ hrs), and HP1000; effect of GH1000e burn in
I have been nursing along my GS1000e purchased new in mid March, 2015 (over 13 months ago), observing that its sound improves, though VVEERRYY SLOWLY, over time. At this point I have over 250 hours of use on it.
There is a GS1000i that I covet in my local audio store, conveniently located in the uppermost northwest corner of their showroom (really!), sitting neglected there for at least 3 years, waiting for someone to love it. I am that someone. I compared it here to both my GS1000e (with fewer hours) and the new GH1 and that GS1000i beat them all.
So I have been burning in my GS1000es, hoping that they will achieve the beauty that I heard in the GS1000i at the store. Here is what I wrote last August, comparing the GS1000i to the GS1000e:
Before that (May of 2015), I had compared my GS1000e to my PS1000 and HP1000s, here:
As shown (higher numbers are better), the GS1000e had an overall score in third place, with the HP1000 in second place and the PS1000e.
Today, nearly one year later, I wanted to again compare the GS1000e to the HP1000, as well as to the GH1, which as described above, is my bellwether for approaching the desirability of the GS1000i.
Here are the headphones (all mine... ALL MINE!!!):
From top, Grado GH1, GS1000e, and HP1000 used in comparison.
I used the same music and test procedure as described
here. My source was the PC outputting to a SONY PHA-1 DAC, then feeding a Joseph Grado HPA-1 headphone amp and then the headphone.
Here is what I found today.
It appears that the GS1000e is moving up in the world. In May, 2015, the GS1000e was 1.5 points below the HP1000 in total score (16.5 vs. 18.0). Today, for the same headphones, but with perhaps 250 more hours of use on the GS1000e, it leads the HP1000 in my scores by 3 points, and it ties the GH1 (though excels in different areas - GS1000e best in preserving the high-frequency harmonics that determine the pitch of a bass note, and wider sound stage and associated positional resolution, than the HP1000. The HP1000 provides more of the very deepest bass (< 100 Hz) and preserves the sound of the pluck of a finger on a bass string better than the GS1000e.
To ease comparison, I place the GS1000e vs. HP1000 comparisons side by side (two columns from the first colored matrix and from the one):
As regards the GS1000e vs. the GH1, the total score is tied at 21. However, the transparency of the GH1 (and of the GS1000i) is more important to me than its importance to the score - it contributes but 10% of the total score, but it accounts for 30% - 50% of my listening pleasure. In addition, though it does not show up in a score, the mid bass of the GS1000e sounds congested and muddled, "tubby" in the parlance of my earlier comparison quoted above.
So there does seem to be a long-range improvement with burn in of the GS1000e. However, despite the equal score to the GH-1, I still prefer the GH1 (and GS1000i, which I preferred to the GH1 in an in-store listening test) to the GS1000e. The fact that each of the 10 factors is not of equal importance to listening, though it is to the total score, underscores the fallacy of trying to equate total score with headphone listening quality.
