kpfeifle
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2002
- Posts
- 233
- Likes
- 95
Well here is my promised review...
Introduction & Associated Equipment - First I would like to thank Todd and his Company for making this tour possible. It is a very generous offer and a large part of what makes Head-Fi a community worth spending time at. I spent a little over 35 hours with the GS200e headphones in my time with them, so I believe I was able to get a decent handle on what they bring to the table. The packaging is the typical Grado pizza box, I don't think anything more is necessary or desired. The headphones themselves are also typical Grado. Large mahogany cups with an inside maple insert. I really like the metallic purple driver visible through the screens. The mahogany is a dense wood, with no really visible grain structure, it has what looks to be a light oil finish. The wire is thick, but with the usual Grado plastic coating and plastic Y splitter. It uses the standard G cush pads. This review model was the balanced version. Since all my equipment is single ended, I used the supplied adapter for all testing. It also included a nice matching heavy wire extension. After checking to see that it did not change the sound (it didn't), I used this for all testing as well. Overall, typical Grado look and feel. I do however think that for your $1400.00, they should have dressed it up a little; maybe a nice cloth wrapped wire and a wood splitter? Something to make it a little different then the normal models. The equipment I used for this review is: Woo Audio WA6SE (NOS International ServiceMaster 6EW7 & Emission Labs 5U4G), MAD Ear+ (NOS Sylvania 12B4A & NOS RCA 5751 Triple Mica Black Plate). Sources were primarily the Music Hall MMF 7.1 with Dynavector 10x5 & Musical Surroundings Phenomena II. Digital Source was a Auraliti PK100 driving a Schiit Bifrost upgraded to their newest Delta-Sigma DAC. I also directly compared it to my Grado HF-2, GH1/G & Homebuilt Mahogany Cupped Magnum V5 drivers headphones.
Music
Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat (LP): This is the boxed 45 RPM 20th Anniversary edition by Cisco Music. I consider this record to be the best recorded and mastered album in my collection. It sounded great and was very dynamic. In the live version of Joan of Arc, the audience noise was interesting. I could discern more of what they said then with the other 3 cans.
Counting Crows, August and Everything After(LP): This is also the 45 RPM version. The song Omaha starts out with a kick drum. It has a very well recorded dynamic snap to it. I was pleased to see that all three cans captured that dynamic feel, the you are on the stage with the band feel. I did prefer the GFH1 without the G pads for this, you doo loose bass with the bigger pads. Of course this is not the case with the GS2000e. The entire album sounded fantastic with the GS200e's, I had a lot of fun listening to it. Perfect Blue Buildings probably sounded better to me then any headphone I've tried, including my now sold Beyer T1's.
Conclusion - I really liked my time with this headphone. I'm not 100% sure it was fully broken in, but it sounded very good. It did everything better then my three other Grado cans, better bass and treble extension, and much better space around instruments. It also had a better soundstage, it always sounded more open and larger. In comparing it to the HF-2 (which I quite like), the typical Grado house sound was the same, but the HF-2 sounded more condensed and with a smaller soundstage. It was not at all subtle. This was also the most efficient headphone I tried (a good thing with tube amps), volume on both amps was well below 12 o'clock. Sound wise, I think the HF-2 gave about 85% of what the GS2000e produced. The Magnum was probably at about 80%, its sound is very similar, but a little darker. I think that the Magnum has the smallest soundstage of the three. And this is where you see the diminishing returns. The HF-2 was less then half the price of the GS2000e and the Magnum build cost even less. The GH1 was interesting, it had much of the same midrange tonality of the GS2000e. It was just cut off, it did not extend as high or as low. I think there are many good headphones in the Grado lineup, and as time progresses, I find myself more drawn to the Grado sound. There is no question that I will miss these headphone. I can't afford them now, but it is going to be something I think about purchasing for quite a while. They really are something very special.
Introduction & Associated Equipment - First I would like to thank Todd and his Company for making this tour possible. It is a very generous offer and a large part of what makes Head-Fi a community worth spending time at. I spent a little over 35 hours with the GS200e headphones in my time with them, so I believe I was able to get a decent handle on what they bring to the table. The packaging is the typical Grado pizza box, I don't think anything more is necessary or desired. The headphones themselves are also typical Grado. Large mahogany cups with an inside maple insert. I really like the metallic purple driver visible through the screens. The mahogany is a dense wood, with no really visible grain structure, it has what looks to be a light oil finish. The wire is thick, but with the usual Grado plastic coating and plastic Y splitter. It uses the standard G cush pads. This review model was the balanced version. Since all my equipment is single ended, I used the supplied adapter for all testing. It also included a nice matching heavy wire extension. After checking to see that it did not change the sound (it didn't), I used this for all testing as well. Overall, typical Grado look and feel. I do however think that for your $1400.00, they should have dressed it up a little; maybe a nice cloth wrapped wire and a wood splitter? Something to make it a little different then the normal models. The equipment I used for this review is: Woo Audio WA6SE (NOS International ServiceMaster 6EW7 & Emission Labs 5U4G), MAD Ear+ (NOS Sylvania 12B4A & NOS RCA 5751 Triple Mica Black Plate). Sources were primarily the Music Hall MMF 7.1 with Dynavector 10x5 & Musical Surroundings Phenomena II. Digital Source was a Auraliti PK100 driving a Schiit Bifrost upgraded to their newest Delta-Sigma DAC. I also directly compared it to my Grado HF-2, GH1/G & Homebuilt Mahogany Cupped Magnum V5 drivers headphones.
Music
Jennifer Warnes, Famous Blue Raincoat (LP): This is the boxed 45 RPM 20th Anniversary edition by Cisco Music. I consider this record to be the best recorded and mastered album in my collection. It sounded great and was very dynamic. In the live version of Joan of Arc, the audience noise was interesting. I could discern more of what they said then with the other 3 cans.
Counting Crows, August and Everything After(LP): This is also the 45 RPM version. The song Omaha starts out with a kick drum. It has a very well recorded dynamic snap to it. I was pleased to see that all three cans captured that dynamic feel, the you are on the stage with the band feel. I did prefer the GFH1 without the G pads for this, you doo loose bass with the bigger pads. Of course this is not the case with the GS2000e. The entire album sounded fantastic with the GS200e's, I had a lot of fun listening to it. Perfect Blue Buildings probably sounded better to me then any headphone I've tried, including my now sold Beyer T1's.
Conclusion - I really liked my time with this headphone. I'm not 100% sure it was fully broken in, but it sounded very good. It did everything better then my three other Grado cans, better bass and treble extension, and much better space around instruments. It also had a better soundstage, it always sounded more open and larger. In comparing it to the HF-2 (which I quite like), the typical Grado house sound was the same, but the HF-2 sounded more condensed and with a smaller soundstage. It was not at all subtle. This was also the most efficient headphone I tried (a good thing with tube amps), volume on both amps was well below 12 o'clock. Sound wise, I think the HF-2 gave about 85% of what the GS2000e produced. The Magnum was probably at about 80%, its sound is very similar, but a little darker. I think that the Magnum has the smallest soundstage of the three. And this is where you see the diminishing returns. The HF-2 was less then half the price of the GS2000e and the Magnum build cost even less. The GH1 was interesting, it had much of the same midrange tonality of the GS2000e. It was just cut off, it did not extend as high or as low. I think there are many good headphones in the Grado lineup, and as time progresses, I find myself more drawn to the Grado sound. There is no question that I will miss these headphone. I can't afford them now, but it is going to be something I think about purchasing for quite a while. They really are something very special.
