[Gwarmi]

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Nice. Not sure about cleaning things up, but it looks cool.

 
 Sure does - I'm keen because the entry level Nordost Blue Heaven was very blah - but this one has been revised so
 will see what happens - rig should be transparent enough to benefit from a bit of Nordost power goodness,.

 

[musiclover666]

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 New toy for the PS1000 today - the new Nordost Heimdall Revision 2 power cable with Furutech ends - man have I waited long for this puppy.
 
 Hopefully cleans up a thing or two
 
 
 
 

 
That sure is a purdy cable. 

 

[francoamerican]

3 points I like to make:

 1- Grado designed their headphones using ears not measurements. So to judge their products based on measurements is kind of pointless.
 2- Please don't knock the GS1000 & PS1000 until you actually listen to them for an extended amount of time.
 3- It's spelled SUPRA AURAL.

I think that's all fair enough. I agree there's no reason to prejudge the gs or ps1k vis a vis the rs1i in particular because the rs1i doesn't measure well either! I would definately like to hear them though and I have an open mind. I wonder how different technically those are. The g Cush is just an interesting twist to me to the grado history - but I should check out a ps1000 some day.

The fact that the ps500 measures well (primarily lower distortion and better square waves) probably wasn't an accident though. Maybe that was a marketing compromise. At the end of the day all I really should say is that I find the ps500 fascinating. I dont think uneven frequency response is a negative at all and appreciate the art of "voicing.". Theoretically I'd like low distortion, fast response and little to no ringing. I can't see how those qualities would NOT be desireable.

 

[devouringone3]

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I think that's all fair enough. I agree there's no reason to prejudge the gs or ps1k vis a vis the rs1i in particular because the rs1i doesn't measure well either! I would definately like to hear them though and I have an open mind. I wonder how different technically those are. The g Cush is just an interesting twist to me to the grado history - but I should check out a ps1000 some day.
The fact that the ps500 measures well (primarily lower distortion and better square waves) probably wasn't an accident though. Maybe that was a marketing compromise. At the end of the day all I really should say is that I find the ps500 fascinating. I dont think uneven frequency response is a negative at all and appreciate the art of "voicing.". Theoretically I'd like low distortion, fast response and little to no ringing. I can't see how those qualities would NOT be desireable.

 
I would want no distortion at all please, lol.
 
Sorry but I'm definitely thinking that a better square wave response could, indeed, have been accidental, lol.
 
You said superaural instead of supra-aural because you speak French right? I know for one that super- or supra- are sometimes used indifferently in French lol.
 
It's true though, with Grado, measurements should be accounted for even less than a in-person listening test, which isn't as true for other headphones. I had never thought of it this way lol.

 

[Focker]

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I think focker might be able to chime in on this one because he has both the 325i and the ps500!

 
 
I won't go into the whole long story, but I've been without my 500s for the past week. When I first got them, my first thought was, "wow, the 325s are really good cause they sound almost as good as these 500s!"  But now that I have lived with the 500s and been in position to go back to the 325s temporarily, it's clear to me that the 500s are very clearly better than the 325s. I would definitely save a bit more and go for the 500s. I'm glad I have the 325s and have no plans to part with them, but I really miss the 500s and cannot wait to get them back!

 

[Focker]

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 You don't realise how average the RS1i and PS500 sound compared to the PS1000 (assuming the track has soundstage and space) until you have all three in
 front of you.
 

 
 
DAMMIT Gwarmi!!!!!  LOL

 

[Focker]

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I no longer have my PS500, but I recently acquired a new pair of MS2i for $235. In my past experience with Grado, if 225i was 0 and PS500 was 10 on a scale, MS2i would be 8.......and that's good enough for my Grado fix, and it allowed me to pick up HE-400 which is my goto can.

 
 
Hopefully Boss429 will see this post, too

 

[shimmer n roar]

Quote:

 
3 points I like to make:
 
 1- Grado designed their headphones using ears not measurements. So to judge their products based on measurements is kind of pointless.
 2- Please don't knock the GS1000 & PS1000 until you actually listen to them for an extended amount of time.
 3- It's spelled SUPRA AURAL.

 
Quote:

I think that's all fair enough. I agree there's no reason to prejudge the gs or ps1k vis a vis the rs1i in particular because the rs1i doesn't measure well either! I would definately like to hear them though and I have an open mind. I wonder how different technically those are. The g Cush is just an interesting twist to me to the grado history - but I should check out a ps1000 some day.
The fact that the ps500 measures well (primarily lower distortion and better square waves) probably wasn't an accident though. Maybe that was a marketing compromise. At the end of the day all I really should say is that I find the ps500 fascinating. I dont think uneven frequency response is a negative at all and appreciate the art of "voicing.". Theoretically I'd like low distortion, fast response and little to no ringing. I can't see how those qualities would NOT be desireable.

 
i take notice of headphone measurements but they are no substitute for auditioning a headphone in my experience. i would never buy or disregard a headphone based on measurements alone.

 

[Focker]

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The ps500s are good for dance music aswell unlike other grados that are more for rock music!

 
Great call, OM....I totally agree. The added extension of the 500s is very nice and allows it to become more of an all-rounder than the prestige line.

 

[Focker]

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 Just chiming in on the goodness above - I *finally* did manage to get my hands on a pair of PS500's for the evening.
 
 So here's a really short and sweet comparo' with the RS1i :-
 
 Bass :-
 More mid bass impact on the PS500, definitely agree with Martin that this new-ish Grado is the first one to break out
 on the dance floor, I'm more of a jazz man these days but this trait did jump out on a few electronic ambient tracks.
 Bass timbre is the difference between the two, the PS500 has a small sub like quality to it whilst the RS1i has
 a deeper, less impactful type of wooden Hi-Fi bass - which is better? You decide
 
 Mids :-
 You don't realise how forward the RS1i sounds until you have a PS500 on hand, there is nothing distant about
 vocals or other middle frequencies on the PS500 but everything sounds a good row or two more forward on the
 Reference Series 1 - this in itself might the single deciding trait that makes the PS500 appealing to folks who
 at heart are not total Grado aficionados. I find the RS1i more intimate but that's my subjective preference,
 I can recommend and could certainly live with the PS500 presentation here.
 
 Highs and sizzly treble :-
 This is perhaps where I really do prefer the RS1i - it extends into those saxophone highs with aplomb and
 control, the PS500 rolls off a tad and in some cases can exhibit a little smidge of glare by comparison - again,
 nitpicking here and you would really only notice with a headphone such as the RS1i or Shure 1840 that by
 comparison do a slightly better job.
 
 Imaging :-
 RS1i again for me - it surely must come down to the cup size and venting - there is certainly more
 volume in the all-wooden cup, my reference for an imaging test is The Doors - The End (Heart of Darkness edition)
 at the beginning a sweeping tone images from left to right and then back again - the PS500 does a great job
 but to my ears it does not manage to make too many gains from the 325i in this respect - there is more air
 and spatial sense with the RS1i.
 
 Overall? There is no winner - RS1i would be a recommendation for someone who really wants the most forward
 mids in the business, fancies jazz, female/male vocals - no electronic or dance or anything top #40 really.
 The PS500 is perhaps the more complete listen, its not as bright overall - has a more relaxed presentation
 and is ultimately more conducive to modern releases.
 
 Focker mate, if you're reading this - I know you still have your eye on the RS1i - my advice? It's not going
 to be a $695 leap, I know you're a progressive bloke who is happy to take the small differences but my advice
 is that for exactly the same cash - live large, carpe diem - seize the day and just offer up that some money
 for a barely used GS1000i - reasoning? SR80i, SR325i, PS500, T1 - are excellent cans in their own right
 but where is the sonorous soundstage and dramatic big bass? GS1000i

 
 
Great read, Gwarmi!  Your advice does make very good sense...and it seems that the GS1ks keep popping up in the discussion so that says something for sure. I do love the 500s quite a lot, in fact I can now say that they are my favorite headphones even (just a bit) over the T1s....and that's saying a lot cause my love for the T1s has done nothing but increase since I purchased them. I do like the idea that the GS1ks will offer a bit of a different presentation than my other Grados, and also the T1s....and that hand-tooled mahogany....beautiful!

 

[Focker]

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i take notice of headphone measurements but they are no substitute for auditioning a headphone in my experience. i would never buy or disregard a headphone based on measurements alone.

 
 
Agreed x1000.  Vincent B. of Totem Acoustic, one of my favorite speaker manufacturers, also uses his ears to fine tune his products just as John Grado does. Sometimes when this is the approach, they may not measure out as well as other products.  I always take note of graphs since I want to know as much as possible about a headphone or speaker before purchase, but what matters most, by far, is the way it allows me to enjoy the music. The same is even true with the speakers I love the most - Magnepans. I don't remember the last time I saw graphs on them, but IIRC they don't measure all that flat either. Yet since 2005 from the very first minute I played music through some Maggie MMGs, I've been totally hooked. Maggies have given me hundreds of  hours of enjoyment and a few years from now I'll be able to say the same thing about Grados.

 

[MuppetFace]

You know, this is kind of comical. As I sit here listening to the HP1000 I realize this headphone was made by a small family startup business operating out of a house in the 80s, and yet its sound absolutely destroys this pair of Sennheiser HD700 with its ridiculous upper-end peakiness and flat un-involving midrange, a pair of headphones made by a company with the most sophisticated laboratories in the business, a fleet of engineers, and cutting edge equipment and technology at their disposal.

 

[Focker]

Quote:

You know, this is kind of comical. As I sit here listening to the HP1000 I realize this headphone was made by a small family startup business operating out of a house in the 80s, and yet its sound absolutely destroys this pair of Sennheiser HD700 with its ridiculous upper-end peakiness and flat un-involving midrange, a pair of headphones made by a company with the most sophisticated laboratories in the business, a fleet of engineers, and cutting edge equipment and technology at their disposal.

 
 
I'm glad you mentioned that....I recently contacted Grado labs because I really wanted to learn more about what sort of R&D team they have in place and how they are able to compete in terms of technology given the resources of a Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, etc.  The first thing that was clear was that John Grado is very well respected in the music industry. They did a small bit of name dropping (Billy Joel, Ringo Starr), but apparently JG has a lot of close friends in music. They said that they employ a very dedicated team of engineers and scientists to handle the technical side of things, but that at the heart of the Grado was the approach that music is art. Apparently one of their top executives is associated with the Juliard School of Music, and they really seem to focus on music as an art form and think outside of just the technical aspects of music reproduction. Personally - and I fully admit I'm becoming a Grado homer - I love the fact that they view things this way.  The way I became a fan of music during my life is very consistent with the "music is art" approach, so I found what they said very interesting. I give a lot of credit to a girl I dated back in my early 20s. She was a classically trained opera singer and a student at the Eastman School of Music (which is in the same league as Juliard). I recall going to visit her during rehearsal and getting to hear the amazing vocals along with the interaction of the symphony. I love the more "wholistic" view that Grado takes and learning more about John Grado and the company in general has just fueled my love for these products even more.

 

[the fool]

What is your build up system for your HP1000 and HD700 respectively? I am curious because you use the word "destroy". MuppetFace.

 

[pcf]

Measurement is very important. Our hearing is not always 100% reliable. Joe Grado didn't make his headphones based on his ears alone ( which is what some people seem to imply). His approach is very scientific and precise. When he does use his ears though, he has a better chance of getting it right since the source material is all opera recordings that joe either recorded with his own microphone or even his own singing. How many others have that luxury?
I guess one thing that goes against him these days is his age! How long can he keep his hearing?