Blackmore
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2006
- Posts
- 5,720
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- 99
[size=medium]Just yesterday, I spend over 2 hours with PS1000 and HD800 as comparison partner. My dealer did order the demo model, which was totally beat up by the way, but may burned enough as well, so, the alu look didn’t show me the best, but do they show me the sound? [/size]
[size=medium]In one word, YES.[/size]
[size=medium]System wasn’t an real success, however Arcam CD17 player was used as transport only and Music Hall 25.3 DAC/Headphone amp was trying to do the rest. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice DAC, probably very competitive, but headphones amp is not the one to have around if you own PS1000 only. It did better job with HD800, but to say it’s the right choice, no. But that’s all they have, so, I sit and made a best of it, at least I think I did.[/size]
[size=medium]Music was from Patricia Barber, Liquid Trance, Acoustic Folk, Classical to Deep Purple and Metallica.[/size]
[size=medium]PS1000 are much fuller and intimate sounding than GS1000 and the mids and lower end are the reason. This is pretty obvious that John finally did it, he putted the intimacy of classic RS1, punchy bass of PS1 and airiness of GS1k all together and PS1k were born. Of course, it’s probably more than just that, but I don’t want to make things more complicated that they are, so, take it not to literally please.[/size]
[size=medium]To me, they still kept the possibilities of natural presentation and image forming, like at live concerts, musical, but with much more intimacy at the same time and that’s a huge step ahead from what GS1k do, however I always found GS1000 very natural and musical headphones, but their big depending of amps that do mids great made them the most criticized flagship around, but after many years you just move and do not argue anymore, because it’s not the way to make things work, so, I leave it there again.[/size]
[size=medium]What now? Now we have a differ player around, but still criticized, include me, for their price tag mostly, however after some time spending in this hobby, I understand that this is not always a good reason to base your opinion / decision on. Personally, I made my choice and went back to K1000. Was it cheap to build a system around them? Hell no! But what should I do now, after I tried PS1000? Should I go for it, buy them used in US and enjoy all together with my lovely AKG or, if I decide to buy them locally, would that be a much logical step to buy a pair of nice monitors / speakers? Right now, the second choice is what I am thinking of, but a very good friend of my just wrote me some interesting thoughts, which brought me to thinking again.[/size]
[size=medium]Suppose, you buy speakers. How big the possibilities that you use them much often than your headphone rig? Can you use them at the right volume to get the same intimacy? And, what about the sound sig? He simply stay the same and fixed, but with different headphones you have more flexible choice. Of course, you can say, well, why not the same with speakers, just use several differ pairs, done. True, but here comes the price tag on picture again, but even much harder than the MSRP price of Grado PS1000 up here, so, where we are now?[/size]
[size=medium]Thing is, if you put all such things together and compare the investment, maybe their price tag will make you smile after all. [/size][size=medium]Personally, if I am going to calculate the total damage I already have, building K1000 rig I mean, it would be not that painful at all, talking about the price tag of 300B valves only make the things much simply right away.[/size]
[size=medium]So, before any criticism, people should start thinking and take a good look what make them do any statements, but that’s the ideal situation, but whats the reality?[/size]
[size=medium]The reality is. I liked them and even through that poor amp they deliver enough goods to get a good impression of them. The final touch was when I tried them from out of my iAudio X5L, that’s it, I knew that these babies can deliver. Don’t get me wrong, they do show you the bad if it’s bad, but if its good, they pumping out the very best out of it and let you enjoy.[/size]
[size=medium]THX[/size]
[size=medium]In one word, YES.[/size]
[size=medium]System wasn’t an real success, however Arcam CD17 player was used as transport only and Music Hall 25.3 DAC/Headphone amp was trying to do the rest. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice DAC, probably very competitive, but headphones amp is not the one to have around if you own PS1000 only. It did better job with HD800, but to say it’s the right choice, no. But that’s all they have, so, I sit and made a best of it, at least I think I did.[/size]
[size=medium]Music was from Patricia Barber, Liquid Trance, Acoustic Folk, Classical to Deep Purple and Metallica.[/size]
[size=medium]PS1000 are much fuller and intimate sounding than GS1000 and the mids and lower end are the reason. This is pretty obvious that John finally did it, he putted the intimacy of classic RS1, punchy bass of PS1 and airiness of GS1k all together and PS1k were born. Of course, it’s probably more than just that, but I don’t want to make things more complicated that they are, so, take it not to literally please.[/size]
[size=medium]To me, they still kept the possibilities of natural presentation and image forming, like at live concerts, musical, but with much more intimacy at the same time and that’s a huge step ahead from what GS1k do, however I always found GS1000 very natural and musical headphones, but their big depending of amps that do mids great made them the most criticized flagship around, but after many years you just move and do not argue anymore, because it’s not the way to make things work, so, I leave it there again.[/size]
[size=medium]What now? Now we have a differ player around, but still criticized, include me, for their price tag mostly, however after some time spending in this hobby, I understand that this is not always a good reason to base your opinion / decision on. Personally, I made my choice and went back to K1000. Was it cheap to build a system around them? Hell no! But what should I do now, after I tried PS1000? Should I go for it, buy them used in US and enjoy all together with my lovely AKG or, if I decide to buy them locally, would that be a much logical step to buy a pair of nice monitors / speakers? Right now, the second choice is what I am thinking of, but a very good friend of my just wrote me some interesting thoughts, which brought me to thinking again.[/size]
[size=medium]Suppose, you buy speakers. How big the possibilities that you use them much often than your headphone rig? Can you use them at the right volume to get the same intimacy? And, what about the sound sig? He simply stay the same and fixed, but with different headphones you have more flexible choice. Of course, you can say, well, why not the same with speakers, just use several differ pairs, done. True, but here comes the price tag on picture again, but even much harder than the MSRP price of Grado PS1000 up here, so, where we are now?[/size]
[size=medium]Thing is, if you put all such things together and compare the investment, maybe their price tag will make you smile after all. [/size][size=medium]Personally, if I am going to calculate the total damage I already have, building K1000 rig I mean, it would be not that painful at all, talking about the price tag of 300B valves only make the things much simply right away.[/size]
[size=medium]So, before any criticism, people should start thinking and take a good look what make them do any statements, but that’s the ideal situation, but whats the reality?[/size]
[size=medium]The reality is. I liked them and even through that poor amp they deliver enough goods to get a good impression of them. The final touch was when I tried them from out of my iAudio X5L, that’s it, I knew that these babies can deliver. Don’t get me wrong, they do show you the bad if it’s bad, but if its good, they pumping out the very best out of it and let you enjoy.[/size]
[size=medium]THX[/size]