[pbui44]

Here are my impressions and overall review of the Grado GS2000e:

This headphone works best for me when my ear is exactly center of the ear pad, so that my ear has room and sound going around it. The GS2000e will work with any source or amp, though higher quality works best. My CEntrance DACmini CX with 1 ohm HP output mod worked best with the GS2000e, providing a clean signal with very little distortion. This was good, as the treble was unforgiving with more powerful currents, not just bad/worse recordings. BTW, I loved the headband, which is the most comfortable stock Grado headband I have worn on my head.

As for the music, the GS2000e will compete with many "all-rounder" headphones up to $999, though it is not the best value at $1,399. However, any rock/alternative or anything acoustical will make its value really worthwhile, as no headphone does better in these genres in musical enjoyment than the GS2000e. Any stringed instrument will play nicely, even in symphony orchestra, without need for lots of power. Radiohead's "The Best Of" album has all the bass rifts and synthetic drops bring out the jazz-inspired moods Thom Yorke sings. Vampire Weekend's "Contra" album portrays their American-university-or-college-inspired tongue-in-cheek humor to its outer-limits, while their "Modern Vampires of the City" album brings a more American-culture-inspired story line to its inner-limits. Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's "Safe as Milk" album centers your mind back to the mid-to-late 60s with their trippy-dippy All-American stories and moods.

Why am I not naming any specific song? The GS2000e takes the entire album and makes that "specific song" emphasis become the specific album by making each song play its specific instruments and vocals with its own character, like it was a chapter from a book. I say this because the musical enjoyment for each album I heard was raised to the point that new reference standards were heightened and my expectations enhanced. After using the GS2000e, I also had to name these albums because I want to hear the newer stuff from each artist. I know this is supposed to go with the Grado house sound with these genres, but when compared to other Grado models, not only is the soundstage larger, but the imaging in the soundstage is better that what I heard from the GS1000i a couple of years ago.

When compared with the Sennheiser HD800S, the Grado GS2000e eventually falls short in accuracy and versatility, but makes up for it in stringed-instrument musicality. The Sennheiser HD800S needed so much more power than the GS2000e, and when the HD800S got that extra power, the "Safe as Milk" album just sounded too intentional in euphonic tones and was too fatiguing to listen. In fact, it was so fatiguing that I did not want to hear songs without lyrics from the accuracy. Granted, the HD800S did sound better with EDM and classical music...but that was surprisingly it. The HD800S is much more comfortable than the GS2000e as well. For rymd and longer listening sessions, his glasses could not fit in the G-Cush bowls with his ears protruding more than others.




For my ears, the GS2000e fit fine and sound decent-to-good with everything, but really shine with genres that have stringed-instruments. Also, if you do not want a discrete portable or desktop DAC/Amp with your TOTL purchase, the GS2000e is a wonderful way to go. Oh yeah, it is also the only Grado to have 4-pin-XLR connector on its stock cable. It would be a perfect match with a balanced-capable-DAP and you would not event have to stack the DAP, either. Thanks Todd for providing the loaner from your TTVJ store. I did my best to demo it as much I could.

 

[Allanmarcus]

so, where are the headphones now?

 

[Daeder]

  so, where are the headphones now?

I believe they are heading my way now.

I received an email from Todd asking if I'm ready to receive them.

 

[Allanmarcus]

Come on guys. @pbui44 wrote up impressions at the end of August and it's now October. Where are the impressions? Where are the headphones? Let's move this along.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

Come on guys. @pbui44 wrote up impressions at the end of August and it's now October. Where are the impressions? Where are the headphones? Let's move this along.

Ditto!  I kept blamng @Allanmarcus as the person immediately ahead of me on the list for holding them up!  

  Looks like the bottleneck is further up the list.

 

[pbui44]

Wow, I didn't know my GS2000e impressions would leave everyone speechless for this long.

I would like to know how it sounds on a balanced amp, and the amp does not have to be fully balanced.

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

Come on guys. @pbui44 wrote up impressions at the end of August and it's now October. Where are the impressions? Where are the headphones? Let's move this along.

Ditto!  I kept blamng @Allanmarcus as the person immediately ahead of me on the list for holding them up!  

  Looks like the bottleneck is further up the list.

 
 

 

[Todd]

Hi All,
 
I am trying to keep this headphone moving and see some of the reviews that are part of the deal when you sign up. My computer crashed late last week and I am trying to rebuild the oaner list. Who has it right now??? Please emaill me so i can get this flowing like it should. The rules state 1 week with the headphones and write a review in this thread...
 
Todd

 

[kpfeifle]

I just received an email from Todd yesterday, so I guess they might be heading to me soon.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

 

[Oteil]

Review for Grado GS-2000E
 
 
 
First off, sorry for the delay. Todd was gracious enough to loan the headphones and I have definitely slacked in getting this review done. I have never written a formal review before so these are just some thoughts and feelings I had while auditioning the headphone. 
 
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the views of Grado or Head Fi- members 

 
 
 
A little background when it comes to this headphone, I am a bit of a Grado head. I just love their headphones and I always have. Could there be improvements? Yes of course, but I feel the sound quality to be just superb. I have been a musician most of my life and frankly the Grado’s are the only headphone in my opinion that come close to reproducing live instruments. I am going to be honest and say I really could care less about measurements when it comes to headphones. I only care how they sound to me and Grado’s always sound so “right” to me. Are they colored? I imagine so, but they are colored to my liking. IMHO, there isn’t a headphone made today that isn’t colored in some way, the trick is finding the one that you like the most. 
 
I currently own the PS-1000,GS-1000i,RS1i, and theSR-225e. To say that I like Grado headphone’s is a bit of an understatement. I love them all and I was very excited about the GS-2000e release. I was hoping to get rid of my GS1000i and enjoy the new model. Well, it turns out that I was a little premature. It does a lot of things well just not as well as my GS1000i.
 
The GS-2000e is a great headphone. It is just not as fantastic as I was hoping. If you have never enjoyed an expensive Grado then it might be what you are looking for but it just doesn’t do anything better for me. The top end is smooth and natural, the mid-range is good but the bass is pretty non-existent. The lo-mids are really pretty thick on this headphone. It  can almost comes across muddy sometimes but I have a feeling it is what makes the electric guitar sound so good too.The bass is there, but there is not much impact in my opinion.I realize that Grado’s are not known for a ton of bass but this is pretty weak.  The mid-range is where this headphone kind of comes alive and shines. Electric guitar sounds amazing and acoustic music as always sounds great. The soundstage is also fairly congested for a headphone this expensive and with the G-cush pads. It is just seems to me to be an awfully expensive headphone for what it does well.
 
When comparing GS1000i to GS2000e, I find that the everything just sounds better on the 1000i. The soundstage is much wider, bass impact is improved, mids are just presented to my liking better, the highs could be considered more strident on the 1000i but that is only if you are turning the headphone up too loud. Imaging to me is also better on the 1000i. This is not to say that the 2000e is bad it just doesn’t do it for me. The soundstage is definitely smaller on the GS2000. I also even prefer my RS1i over the GS2000.  The GS2000e is pretty balanced and I can see why people that really like the HD 800 might like the GS2000. Don’t get me wrong, it is not a bad headphone but for the money it just doesn’t really do anything that my other Grado’s don’t do better. 
 
 
Equipment used:  Amplifier = Woo WA6-SE    DAC = Meier Stage DAC
 
Marantz HD DAC1
                            
 
I would just like to thank Todd again for giving us the opportunity to audition the headphone. It was very kind of him. 

 

[ruthieandjohn]

  Review for Grado GS-2000E
 
...
I currently own the PS-1000,GS-1000i,RS1i, and theSR-225e. To say that I like Grado headphone’s is a bit of an understatement. I love them all and I was very excited about the GS-2000e release. I was hoping to get rid of my GS1000i and enjoy the new model. Well, it turns out that I was a little premature. It does a lot of things well just not as well as my GS1000i.
 
...
When comparing GS1000i to GS2000e, I find that the everything just sounds better on the 1000i. 
I would just like to thank Todd again for giving us the opportunity to audition the headphone. It was very kind of him. 

To me, the above constitutes a crucial nugget of information.
 
I have done formal comparisons of multiple combinations of my 26 Grado headphones, and the RS2e and GS1000i have come up as the highest scoring of the Grado on-ears and over-ears, respectively (outscoring the RS1i, HP1000/HP1, and Bushmills, and PS1000, PS1000e, and GS1000e (respectively)).
 
The one area that my GS1000i is weak on (as are all Grados) is bass.  An earlier review of the GS2000e said its bass was stronger/better than the GS1000i, so I figured that if the GS2000e did everything as well as the GS1000i except better bass, it would outscore the GS1000i.
 
This indicates that it won't.  It is the first direct comparison I have seen of the GS1000i to the GS2000e.
 
I look forward to getting the GS2000e when my turn on the tour comes up and comparing it, formally and directly, and reporting here.

 

[Allanmarcus]

To those that have posted reviews, thanks.

When you post a review, please also indicate the equipment used for the review. I'm not all then concerned with cables, but amps and dacs would be nice to know.

 

[kpfeifle]

The GS2000E has arrived! Going to do some serious listening this week and then write up my review.

 

[Daeder]

My short review on the Grado GS2000e
 
I do apologize for the delay. I was gathering my thoughts on the headphones and I do have some impressions on the GS2k.
 
I would also like to say, that the Grado GS2000e are the "most expensive" headphones I have used although I haven't seen a lot of headphones throughout my time being a head-fi'er. I do own the RS1e and I really do love the sound of them and while using the GS2000e, I get the same joy and feeling that I do from my RS1e. I've been wanting to get a higher end RS1e with improved technicalities, so when I heard the GS2000e, I knew these might be the answer.
 
I might agree with Oteil on his statement that if you have never enjoyed an expensive Grado, that the GS2k might be what you are looking for. This would be my first taste of an expensive Grado and these might be what I'm looking for.
 
Being on the Oppo tour a few months ago, I can recall the PM-1 having really good impact and upon hearing the GS2k, I knew it had this weight to it that made the sound pleasing to the ears. It was quick and snappy, yet it wasn't forceful with no signs of rigidity. It was simply musical and when listening to orchestras, it was probably one of the best experiences I've had and that was something I've been wanting to achieve. To get a headphone that would be able to transport me closer to the music when hearing a classical piece. Without having ever heard the HD800, I feel that the GS2k might be the solution but that also brings me to PS1k territory which is something I'm looking into as I'm already amazed at how my Grado RS1e can reproduce vocals.
 
When it came to the bass, I thought anything more than the RS1e and I would be a happy camper. There was much more of it and it felt deeper and more extended in comparison to the RS1e. Again, there was also that impact and I definitely felt it with the drums. For the highs, they are detailed and it made listening to the GS2k the more enjoyable. The dynamics on these headphones are amazing and so I was able to easily hear the rising and falling of notes as they transition with unbelievable fluidity.
 
Playing some tracks from the Alison Krauss album Forget About it, I was perplexed at it's ability to reproduce every note and nuance of that album. To me, it just sound so good. I only played a few tracks but I knew that the GS2k was something special.
 
 
This is my short review of the GS2k and now I am looking forward to hearing Grado's flagship, PS1000. I would also like to leave a note that I could not spend as much time with the GS2ke as I previously thought I would be able to in the time I had with them.
 
 
Equipment used: Chord Mojo
 
 
I would like to thank Todd for opening this loaner program up to us, so that we may be able to audition the GS2000e.