[ESL-1]

The GS2000e is less bright than the SR325i (I don’t have the GS3000e so cannot comment on that). The PS500e is generally the least bright of the Grado headphones.

I agree with Ruthieandjohn descriptions. I have the GS2000e and a GS3000e. Simply put I feel the the 3000e is fuller and slightly smoother than the GS2000e and quite a bit above the RS325e as well it should be for the price differential. If tempted finding a dealer who might allow you a trial period would obviously be best. I found they did certainly benefit from break in time.

Good Luck....

 

[zombywoof]

Hey guys.
I've owned the Grado 325i, and the Alessandro ms1 and ms2e. I've always found the highs on these models a bit harsh and too bright.

Would the GS2k or GS3k be a better bet? I do not have the chance to audition, but they're easily available via online purchase.

I think I have a decent line up of headphones so far, and have a ZMF VC on order. what would the Grado GS series bring to the table?

I can't speak directly to the GS2000 and GS3000. I have listened to them at a local retailer and offer my impressions of the GS1000 presuming that the progression of the presentation within the GS family is valid. I have the GS1000i and the SR325e, and the GS1000 is (as expected) a significant step forward. The sound of the GS1000 has a richness and fullness that the SR325 cannot match. While I never found the SR325 to be harsh, the highs are certainly more forward than the GS1000. Although I still occasionally enjoy, the SR325, I am reaching for the GS1000 far more often than any of my other Grado headphones. End game? Who knows. It took me a long time to get to the GS1000 but at the moment I am very satisfied.

 

[ParaLoganGrado]

I agree with Ruthieandjohn descriptions. I have the GS2000e and a GS3000e. Simply put I feel the the 3000e is fuller and slightly smoother than the GS2000e and quite a bit above the RS325e as well it should be for the price differential. If tempted finding a dealer who might allow you a trial period would obviously be best. I found they did certainly benefit from break in time.

Good Luck....

Can I trial your GS300e?

 

[headfry]

I can't speak directly to the GS2000 and GS3000. I have listened to them at a local retailer and offer my impressions of the GS1000 presuming that the progression of the presentation within the GS family is valid. I have the GS1000i and the SR325e, and the GS1000 is (as expected) a significant step forward. The sound of the GS1000 has a richness and fullness that the SR325 cannot match. While I never found the SR325 to be harsh, the highs are certainly more forward than the GS1000. Although I still occasionally enjoy, the SR325, I am reaching for the GS1000 far more often than any of my other Grado headphones. End game? Who knows. It took me a long time to get to the GS1000 but at the moment I am very satisfied.

The GS1000i, as far as I'm concerned, is a TOTL headphone and I don't think I'll ever
want anything better. I had the 325i and 325e, replaced the latter when it broke
for the second time with the SR225e, which I slightly prefer - similar
but highs somewhat smoother
- but both the 225e3 and 325e have almost the same sound in my opinion.

*****....please keep in mind that I listen mostly at lowish levels.*******

I would describe the GS1000i's sound as having a very realistic soundstage (whereas
the 225e has decent imaging but has a smaller and a somewhat flat soundstage), realistic imaging -
the shapes and positions of the images are life-like and a lot better -
the bass goes very deep (still benefits from a slight eq up in the bass IMHO,
as do most Grado's). Everything just sounds top quality, detailed and really musical -
more like listening to a pair of electrostatic speakers in a top quality system
- such as the Quad ESL speakers I heard at an audio show a few years ago -
than the typical sound from most headphones.
.

Although the GS1000i is superb, I find myself reaching for the 225e's more often.
Although they sound leaner, smaller sound stage, a bit of grain and imaging compression
I'm really pleased with their musicality, despite looking and feeling like a budget pair -
their musical quality on most recordings is great!

Also the 225e's are lighter and more compact (using with reverse cushion mod)
as well as much more efficient - so my dac/amp battery lasts longer. Musically,
very satisfying to me, on the majority of recordings that I listen to.

I've recently bought the GR10e IEM's after break-in am amazed at their sound and
musical quality. Like the 225e's they don't look or feel like much, but listening mostly to
high quality pop recordings I'm totally immersed in the artist's performance. I would
say sound-wise and musically quite a step up from the SR225e - which I still love and use
a lot - and not far from the GS1000i's. Also, the bass quality and detail I would say are
much better than the SR225e's (or from memory, that of the SR325e's).

I'm not interested in supplementing or replacing any of my Grado's and love having
each in rotation.


...my Grado's have a very special musical quality which I totally enjoy!.

 

[zombywoof]

The GS1000i, as far as I'm concerned, is a TOTL headphone and I don't think I'll ever
want anything better...

I'm not interested in supplementing or replacing any of my Grado's and love having
each in rotation.

...my Grado's have a very special musical quality which I totally enjoy!.

Nicely put, @headfry. I am finding that the Grado HF2 and GS1000i are the two that I am using the most. I have an old pair of SR125 that I have slowly upgraded over the years with rosewood cups, leather headband and new cables...I will probably never sell these due the emotional attachment...my first serious headphones. At the same time, I am not thinking I need to keep my RS2e now that I have the GS1000.

 

[mortcola]

Can I trial your GS300e?

I'm a broken record, but maybe I found a new groove. I think that for all the engineering creativity and chutzpah of the Metal/wood hybrid of the Professional series, the GS series are the superior musical instruments - I use that descriptor consciously. John G found his sweet spot in the Statement - the designation fits. I'm remembering my experience with the GS1000, and even though I was stunned at the precision of the PS1000e at the time, the GS1000 had "organic" rightness, a sense of conveying a musical event, and opening some sci-fi portal into the venue, that was simply new to me, after a life of shameless overspending on good audio.

The 2000 - definitely a more mature older brother to the 1000, but it didn't "capture" me the same way. But the GS3000e...my end game cans, in every respect, with the exception that the bass is merely excellent, rather than stellar, with respect to its frequency reach and dynamics. I'll save for one more non-Grado - Audeze, Hifiman or Focal flagship, whenever the pocket change adds up, the latter being described by a reviewer as technically superior but not as much fun. I don't think more sophisticated means more advanced or better. I had a college bio processor who specialized in parasites. He explained that living dinosaurs, like a white shark, or an alligator, or tapeworm, or spiders which have been around for millions of years, stayed as they were because evolution nailed the design early on. The basic Grado paradigm is primitive, in that sense...never needed to find the bells and whistles which would make it look contemporary. It ain't broke...and whatever little tweak JG made to the implementation of that design philosophy enabled a deeply arrogate and alive - and palpable - bass. The bass, more than on any of the other models, hits the body (through the skull - cool illusion) viscerally - I don't think anyone has FELT Grado bass before - dissenters? Throughly satisfying unless you're a music-deaf basshead (as opposed to someone who simply likes a more assertive low end, but knows what instruments sound like, and can respond aesthetically). I also keep using the word TEXTURE in my posts, but just listen to a cello, or a voice, or an acoustic guitar, or a snare drum - music as contact and resonance is revealed without superficiality, with the illusion of actual presence. Building on what made so many people fall in love with the GS1000.

Grado have nailed, I think, the one area they never quite mastered before - namely integrating depth and timbral/dynamic accuracy of bass below 50hz. Always more than good enough for me...but there is simply no sense of low-end-lack in my 3000e. Their undiluted musically-meaningful bass response goes down to 35hz at the very least based on test tones, and au naturale, hearing the fundamental on bottom string electric and acoustic bass, and organ on the Saint-Saens 3rd. To the point, the description of the GS3000e as fuller and smoother than the 2000 is an accurate statement. For anyone who has criticized Grado cans as making a listener accept lean-ness as the price of presence and clarity should find their objection substantially - or, as in my case, entirely - mollified. I'm becoming a hermit in the addiction to MORE MUUUSSSIIICCCC, to a greater degree, now at age 56, than ever, with this rig (the GH4 are my alternates, and they are FUN, lacking nothing, and having their own distinct signature, perhaps due in no small way to the use of lightweight (and pretty) pine wood. BTW - they also reveal the difference between TUBES in the Mjolnir2 more blatantly than I've heard before.

 

[Roasty]

Thank you, everyone, for your input!
I will try my hardest to audition the gs3000.

If I do like the sound, then in all likelihood, I may end up ordering from Moon Audio and have Drew recable them to either the Silver or Black Dragon cable (I need a 10ft length and 4 pin xlr)..

 

[Shane D]

Thank you, everyone, for your input!
I will try my hardest to audition the gs3000.

If I do like the sound, then in all likelihood, I may end up ordering from Moon Audio and have Drew recable them to either the Silver or Black Dragon cable (I need a 10ft length and 4 pin xlr)..

I came across the Moon site and the Dragon cables today. I got into a zone with my GH2's but I REALLY hate this cable.

Shane D

 

[elira]

I came across the Moon site and the Dragon cables today. I got into a zone with my GH2's but I REALLY hate this cable.

Shane D

What’s wrong with the cable?

 

[Roasty]

I came across the Moon site and the Dragon cables today. I got into a zone with my GH2's but I REALLY hate this cable.

Shane D

U referring to the stock grado cable right?

 

[Shane D]

What’s wrong with the cable?

It is thick, cumbersome and has a mind of its own. The only flaw in them. I am tempted to modify them, but I might want to sell them if I ever upgrade to the GS3000e's, which is a long shot.

Shane D

 

[Shane D]

U referring to the stock grado cable right?

Yes sir.

Shane D

 

[elira]

It is thick, cumbersome and has a mind of its own. The only flaw in them. I am tempted to modify them, but I might want to sell them if I ever upgrade to the GS3000e's, which is a long shot.

Shane D

I've a bunch of Grados and if prevent the cups from doing entire turns the cable behaves really well. Other than it being super tick I don't see many disadvantages. My PS500 have a 10ft black dragon cable, and that cable is harder to twist, but it's super thin, so it has it's advantages.

I think the main issue is that the cable is attached and the cups can rotate freely, which ends up tangling the cables if you are not careful.

 

[Shane D]

I've a bunch of Grados and if prevent the cups from doing entire turns the cable behaves really well. Other than it being super tick I don't see many disadvantages. My PS500 have a 10ft black dragon cable, and that cable is harder to twist, but it's super thin, so it has it's advantages.

I think the main issue is that the cable is attached and the cups can rotate freely, which ends up tangling the cables if you are not careful.

My ideal cable would be detachable, fairly thin and have a long V section.

Shane D

 

[ParaLoganGrado]

Testing out the durability of my GH2's drivers with my favorite band since I was a wee 6 years old in '92 and I heard "Jeremy" in my dad's P.O.S. Renault Alliance:



Can't believe this song never made it onto a studio album! This version is way better than the remixed one they put on the "Lost Dogs" compilation a decade or two later...