[sling5s]

Hello!

The GS1000e is an interesting headphone. The 'mids' are rather smooth and noticeably free of grain. Their sound is less dependent on the quality of the recorded material and/or the codec used, certainly when compared to the HD800, but they are not unobservant either. So, the better the recording, the better they will sound. One thing that I think contributes to this 'character' is the transient response. If you listen to something with faster pace, they will keep up but with certain musical genres just barely. This 'feature' means the movement of the diaphragm doesn't correlate to the music signal so the diaphragm sometimes 'lags' and therefore creates something of an interpolation to the intervals in-between the actual notes. I think this is what gives them their 'liquid' character. In contrast, the HD800 benefits greatly from higher quality codecs used. They are very articulated in that sense.

If we're talking about balance, I'd say the GS1000e does sound a bit withdrawn in the mids. When I say 'a bit', that's precisely what I mean – a tiny bit. This is somewhat reinforced by the fact that the upper bass is elevated and in my opinion, too much. I'd say at least 6 dB. That being said, take this with a grain of salt because I have not yet connected the headphone to the main HIFI system. In contrast, the HD800 sounds flatter in the mids, more truthful.

If you were to listen to radio broadcasts like radio dramas or talk shows, you'd notice the speech intelligibility is really excellent. The thing is – it is easy to underestimate the transducer's ability to sound realistic with human voices when all you are listening to is the music you already know well. When you listen to something for the first time, with no lyrics, then you can sometimes struggle to distinguish the words, especially if they are in a different language. With the GS1000e, I was able to discern the words with ease and confidence. Though I wouldn't necessarily use them for speech transcription (they're much too expensive for that), they would certainly serve their purpose and are as good as the HD800 in that regard. To correlate this to a technical specification, I have often found that intelligibility translates to square-wave response at half a kiloHertz. So, the GS1000e is probably good in that region, not that it should take away anything from the headphone if it isn't.

Now onto the conundrum...

People often discuss 'timbre' and if what they're listening to sounds natural or not. Though I didn't choose to pursue a career in music, I was a professional musician for more than ten years and played in all sorts of places, from small venues to open city squares and big concert halls throughout Europe. But all of that is really not necessary to know a natural timbre when you hear one. I would be last to blame anyone but it is strange how people tend to believe what someone has said rather than to trust their own feeling. More or less all of us have been born with the same auditory system and you just 'know' when something is a 'reproduction' of an actual music event instead of a real live event. My concern is that even the reviewers have never been to an opera house or a music theater, if nothing, just to enjoy the music, let alone to try to distinguish a violin from a viola. In a nutshell, the GS1000e has a very realistic timbre and with good recordings, it sounds convincing to me.

I would also like to point out that the harmonic structure on the GS1000e sounds rather lovely. I could not hear any harsh odd-order harmonics and it sounds to me the 5th and the 7th harmonic was under control. For those who would like to know – the 5th and the 7th and to an extent, the 9th, can be rather disturbing as they are rather a consequence of an imperfection in a musical instrument or a playback device. It might also interest you to know that pianos have been constructed to naturally dampen these harmonics for over a century. As you can imagine, they might not have known the science behind it back then, but they too trusted their ears. So, all of us should do no less.

We could talk about the rest of the sound but the question was specifically about the mids so I don't want to ramble. It feels as though I've reambled too much already!

In any case, I hope this helps.

Cheers!

Wow! Thanks for that nuanced thoughtful review/impressions.

 

[Elijah Baley]

Wow! Thanks for that nuanced thoughtful review/impressions.

You are quite welcome!

I joined HF just the other day and I am having a blast. Cheers!

 

[Elijah Baley]

If I was after the gs1000 and I had to have a new Grado I would probably get an x series now then save up and they the gs1000x when it releases.

Sure. But where I live the prices have gone up dramatically. For example the SR-60i was 75€ and the new SR-60x is now 135€. So, from an affordable headphone it has become much less affordable and I can only imagine the top end models will cost an absolute fortune. I envy the folks in the America because the prices are much, much lower over there. If I'm lucky, what costs a hundred dollars in the US will cost only a hundred Euro but usually, it costs 140 Euro or more.

Cheers!

 

[Stevko]

Crazy prices on Grado in europe.
325x =555$
I bought from amazon ,383$ ink VAT and freight.
This is not good for the grado fans in europe

 

[ESL-1]

Tried GS1000e last weekend. It is good. But is it much better than the new rs1x/rs2x? Worth the extra money?
new rs1x use the new 50mm x-driver. rs2 use 44mm

I have to admit that the GS1000
Series never was my cup of tea but to be fair I have not heard one in quite a while.

In the meantime I think I would actually prefer the RS1x, the midrange sounds more natural to me. Great that you did get your own listening in, that is what counts.

Good Luck & have fun.

 

[ekolite]

Wow I had no idea about the prices that have become in Europe!

 

[Elijah Baley]

Crazy prices on Grado in europe.
325x =555$
I bought from amazon ,383$ ink VAT and freight.
This is not good for the grado fans in europe

Wow I had no idea about the prices that have become in Europe!

Yes, unfortunately, the prices are very high and this is mostly due to the greed of the distributors. There is no other explanation for it.

The SR-60 used to be a top candidate in that price bracket but now at 135€, I'm afraid that's not the case any longer.

Cheers!

 

[Stevko]

Yes. They are greedy.
Already told Grado about that craziness. They don’t care.
If I buy beyerdynamic, The price is the same in europe/US
Sr60x = 150 euro. Not so crazy as 325x

 

[ekolite]

Well no wonder you guys are into the older models in the used market. I can understand that.

 

[Elijah Baley]

Yes. They are greedy.
Already told Grado about that craziness. They don’t care.
If I buy beyerdynamic, The price is the same in europe/US
Sr60x = 150 euro. Not so crazy as 325x

Well, to the manufacturer, the end consumers (in other words, us) are nothing. Their costumer is the distributor/importer who buys dozens or hundreds of headphones at a time and then resells them to us. The thing is though, being a privately owned company and not a large conglomerate, they should care more. Because if you and I don't buy the stuff, the distributor will no longer order the stuff from them and then they'll be done and over with. That too would be a shame.

Well no wonder you guys are into the older models in the used market. I can understand that.

Well, I have had my share of misfortunes with used gear and let me tell you, if there is a 'lemon' to be had like the Americans say, that is precisely what I will get. That is my luck! So I stick with the new gear and the explicit instructions for the salesperson that the gear must be new, in box and never opened. Otherwise I don't buy it. But yes, it is perfectly understandable that someone should want to buy a used pair of headphones. I just checked the local ads and there are several Grado models and even the cheapest used ones cost more than what they cost new a few years ago.

Cheers!

 

[rasmushorn]

Crazy prices on Grado in europe.
325x =555$
I bought from amazon ,383$ ink VAT and freight.
This is not good for the grado fans in europe

Agree. But isn't it like that with all types of products? If you know someone who travel to the US sometimes, they can bring the goods home to you... if they can get it past the customs in the airport.
But that is also the reason one can only dream of the new RS-1X or some og the GS-versions.

 

[murphythecat]

anyone compared RS1x vs RS2x?

 

[DTgill]

Look at what the mail lady just delivered

 

[ekolite]

Wow look at the headband on those bad boys.

 

[punkmanmatthew]

anyone compared RS1x vs RS2x?

These two compared and hemp would be nice to see.