COMPARING THE SENNHEISER HD 800, THE GRADO PS1000, AND THE GRADO RS1i
Introduction:
About a year ago, I developed a set of 10 features, associated with 4 recordings, and used them in comparative listening tests of 3 headphones at a time. I performed 10 such 3-way compares, each with its own post detailing the work, and summarized in the table here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/723136/battle-of-the-bassys-beats-pro-yamaha-pro-500-and-beats-studio-2013-compared#post_10634722
Since then, I have acquired several top-end headphones, so I thought I would apply that same comparison method and post my results here.
Test Method:
I used four songs, all encoded in Apple Lossless Format at CD quality (I actually bought the CDs and ripped them... no internet download involved) and played by my Apple iPod Touch 5th Gen (this particular Apple player has an unusually low output impedance and unusually high quality for a portable system):
- "You're Going To Miss Me When I'm Gone," by Band of Heathens, from their album One Foot In The Ether (used for fidelity of drum sound, positional resolution of two vocalists, and ability to discern pitch of string bass passages);
- "Spanish Harlem," by Rebecca Pidgeon, on The Ultimate Demonstration Disc of Chesky records (used to assess female vocals, transparency, the attack of finger on bass string, and high resolution discrimination of differences in shaker shakes);
- "Symphony No. 3 in C Minor Op. 78 (Organ Symphony) - IV" by Camille Saint Saens played by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony (used to assess the "ripping" sound of well-rendered lower brass and organ reed pipes, and the ability to hear a very small entrance amidst a bombastic chord of orchestra and organ at full tilt);
- "Throwback" by B.o.B. on Underground Luxury (used to assess ability of a bass tone, specifically lowest C on piano at about 32 Hz, to pick me up by the throat and shake me!)
The 10 tests were as follows:
- Transparency: What is between me and the music? A felt cloth? A "Sennheiser veil?" A frosted window? Dirty window? Clear Saran wrap? or nothing? At its best, makes me forget I am listening on headphones and am in room with musicians.
- Width of sound stage: How far to the left and to the right, (yes, AND up and down in best cases) does it seem the musical sources are arranged?
- Positional resolution: Can I distinguish a difference in position of two singers in Song 1?
- Bass visceral: Does the bass in third verse of Song 4 actually shake me? Or do I just hear it?
- Drum "twang": At start of Song 1, do the bass and tom tom drumhead have a tone and a pitch, rather than just a thump?
- Bass pitch perception: For the complicated bass runs in Song 1, do I hear a pitch with sufficient accuracy to sing or transcribe the part?
- Bass finger pluck: Do I hear the actual impact of fingers on the bass string just before hearing its sound on Song 2?
- Shaker variation: In Song 2, verse 3, do the various shaker shakes sound a bit different from each other, as they should?
- "Ripping" of organ / brass: In Song 3, is there the sensation of hearing each vibration of the French horn and low organ reed tones (sort of the tonal counterpart to hearing a "pitch" from a drumhead in Test 5);
- Discern added chord: About 1:38 into Song 3, after the full orchestra and organ hold a chord at the top of a passage, can I hear a small number of orchestra instruments join in, as sort of an echo, in the second measure of that chord?
These tests generally emphasize what I find most pleasing in a headphone, namely high-frequency-related features including transparency, upper harmonics of sounds from drum-head, brass, organ pipe, and string bass, and high-resolution effects such as fine detail of each shaker sound and the finger on the bass string. Only one test (#4) appeals to my emerging "bass-head" nature -- hence bass response is under-represented in these tests.
For each of the 10 tests, I ranked each headphone against the other two, operating two at a time and repeating comparisons on each test and each pair until I could either rank order the three headphones as first place, second place, or third place, or determined that I could not rank two (a tie) or sometimes, all three (a three-way tie). I assigned 3 points for first place, 2 points for second place, and 1 point for third place. If two headphones tied for first place, I awarded each 2.5 points and gave the lowest-performing headphone 1 point, and if two headphones timed for second place, I award the top scorer 3 points and the two ties 1.5 points each, thereby preserving the fact that each total across headphones was kept at 6 points (1 + 2 + 3 = 2.5 + 2.5 + 1 = 1.5 + 1.5 + 3 = 6). Likewise, if all tied, I awarded all 2 points (3 x 2 = 6).
In the comparison chart that is below, I also color-coded each headphone for each test by blue ("first prize" = 3 points), red (second prize = 2 points), or yellow (3rd prize = 1 point). Ties for first place are shown as light purple (red + blue, 2.5 points); ties for second place are orange (red + yellow, 1.5 points).
Headphones Tested:
I tested the Sennheiser HD 800, driven by the Sennheiser HDVD 800 DAC/amp, the Grado PS1000, driven by the Joseph Grado Signature Products HP-1, and the Greado RS1i,driven by the Grado RA-1 amp. Hence, each headphone is driven by an amplifier from its manufacturer, presumably well matched to its respective headphone.
More pictorially, here are the headphones and amps:
Sennheiser HD 800 headphone driven by Sennheiser HDVD 800 amp.
Grado PS1000s driven by Joseph Grado HPA-1 amp.
Grado RS-1i headphones driven by Grado RA-1 amp.
Results:
The Sennheiser HD 800 distinguished itself by its larger sound stage. One had the impression when putting the HD 800 headphones on of poking one's head up through the stage in the center of the musical ensemble, surrounding one with music. It was also the most comfortable of the headphones. However, in side-by-side comparisons with the two Grados, it clearly had a less transparent sound, almost as if one were listening to the HD 800 through a speaker cloth that was removed for the two Grados. The HD 800 had the most palpable sub bass (Test #4), though the PS 1000 and RS-1i were tied and not far behind.
The Grado PS1000s were significantly more transparent than the Sennheisers. They had just as much detail and a very large sound stage, almost but not quite as large as the HD 800s. They were comfortable, but not quite so much as the HD 800s. However, for very low and powerful organ notes such as the first chord on the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony (song #3 above), they had an odd distortion in the low notes, almost as if the signal were clipping. I never noticed that before, and I actually switched amps to be sure it was not an artifact of the HPA-1 amp... it wasn't.
The Grado RS-1is were even more transparent than the Grado PS1000s. This helped it win out on several high-frequency-related tests, including transparency, perception of the actual pitch of a bass note, and to tie on high resolution tests with the PS 1000s. It was the least comfortable on the ears, though also the lightest (not a scoring point in the table below) and it had the smallest sound stage.
(click on table to render it legible!)
It is most illuminating to look at each feature to compare the three headphones; however it is most tempting to add up all the scores to see which headphone came out "the best."
Differences of fewer than three points are insignificant. With the HD 800 scoring 20, the PS 1000 scoring 19, and the RS-1i scoring 21, each headphone's total score is essentially equal. Had I chosen a different mix of 10 tests, for example put in more tests of bass power at the expense of several treble-related tests, the totals would change. If soundstage is important to you, it should contribute more than one out of 10 criteria. So each total is just an equal weighting of the particular features that I chose as important to me, and have no significance beyond that
