ruthieandjohn
Stumbling towards enlightenment
(Formerly known as kayandjohn.)
Originally Posted by Darksyde /img/forum/go_quote.gif
...
All I need to know:
Is it worth it? Hype aside, are the GH1s really that good? And do they lose any of the magic of the RS2es in terms of liveliness and vocal presentation?
Thanks!
Mark
Summary:
- I already own the PS500 and RS2e, having originally intended to sell one of them
- I like different things about both
- The GH1 is supposed to be mindblowingly good and the best of both. Is it worth the premium?
GH-1 vs. GH-1 w/G-Cush vs. RS2e
Prompted in part by @Darksyde 's question above, and partly by the fact that for months I have had on my "To-Do" list to compare these three headphones using my 10-feature 3-way method (described in more detail here), I stepped up to meet my awesome responsibility as a 22-Grado owner to compare these headphones (because I COULD!).
I compared the GH-1 with its stock L bowls, the GH-1 with the over-ear G-Cush replacing the on-ear bowls, and my own highest-scoring Grado headphone, the RS2e. Here are the three headphones. As you can see, I drove each with the Joseph Grado HPA-1 headphone amp, and I used CD-quality source material as described in the more extensive post referenced above.
Here is what I found. Each row in the following table gives a rank order of each of the three headphones on a particular test... if it scored the best of the three on "transparency," it received a 3 and its cell was colored blue; 2 for second place (red), and 1 for third place (yellow). Ties for first place are 2.5 and purple (blue + red) and ties for second place are 1.5 and orange (red + yellow).
Since this comparison is relative rather than absolute (i.e. first and second place are always one point apart, regardless of whether the difference is great or small), it is worth commenting that all headphones were very good and nearly all differences were small.
The RS2e clearly had the greatest transparency, a "you are there" feel free of any veil, around-the corner muffling, or the like. The GH-1 with G Cush clearly had the largest sound stage, and in fact that large soundstage also translated to a higher positional resolution. The GH-1 without G Cush (i.e. with L bowls) had the strongest sub-bass response.
There was a clear improvement in the GH-1 comparison score to the RS2e when its pads were switched for the G Cush.