Torula Yeast
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2006
- Posts
- 164
- Likes
- 10
Quote:
I've been too tardy in doing this, but here are my thoughts.
The first pair I rec'd fell apart the moment I first lifted them from the box, but I jerry-rigged the woodies to audition them for the 30-day trial period, since I knew they'd have to go back anyway.
That they sounded different from the 325i's was readily apparent; my question had to do with was the $600-ish price difference worth it? I find the 325i's competent, and mated with the GS1k's salad bowls (I'd ordered an extra pair), the SR's were competetive in detail and soundstage. But the GS's trumped the 325i's in presenting a crystal-clean sound and, no minor point, ear-quakin' bass (to be fair, the salad bowls on the 325i's do diminish their bass presentation, but we're still talkin' apples to oranges in difference in presentation).
Ultimately, the 1k's won out, and during the week or so it took to replace the defective pair through HeadRoom, I genuinely missed them.
To those who offer that the 1k's are brutal in presenting source weakness, I would offer this counterpoint. Yes, I can more readily hear the artifacts of a poor recording, but to my ear, the 1k's know how to make the most of a glass half full. Mated with my amp, they bring out the most fun in my 128k downloads (mostly '80s pop and new wave).
So far as file size, I have tried (and tried, and tried, and tried -- and tried!) to hear the diff between 256k and lossless with the woodies, all to no avail. Maybe if I listened to 'em loud, I'd hear something (like how a digital photograph breaks down the more you zoom in on it), but the 1k's not only are best for low-volume listening, but cranking them up creates near-instant listening fatigue. They just offer too much detail to swamp one's eardrums with at high volumes, IMHO. Not that I find that a weakness; I'd rather not be tempted to listen at unsafe levels.
Now, as to getting a DAC (which I guess would mean listening from my computer, and here I don't know if my Toshiba's stock soundcard would make a diff when I'm doing the converting outboard, as I still have much to learn about DACs), I will have to wait a while before I can think about this new expense. But in the meantime --- yes, I feel I've made a good investment in this, my most cherished hobby. Even if I never move beyond the iPod, I shan't be giving up my GS-1000's until they've been pried off my cold, dead ears.
| Originally Posted by unclejr /img/forum/go_quote.gif Congrats! Make sure to report back on your thoughts! |
I've been too tardy in doing this, but here are my thoughts.
The first pair I rec'd fell apart the moment I first lifted them from the box, but I jerry-rigged the woodies to audition them for the 30-day trial period, since I knew they'd have to go back anyway.
That they sounded different from the 325i's was readily apparent; my question had to do with was the $600-ish price difference worth it? I find the 325i's competent, and mated with the GS1k's salad bowls (I'd ordered an extra pair), the SR's were competetive in detail and soundstage. But the GS's trumped the 325i's in presenting a crystal-clean sound and, no minor point, ear-quakin' bass (to be fair, the salad bowls on the 325i's do diminish their bass presentation, but we're still talkin' apples to oranges in difference in presentation).
Ultimately, the 1k's won out, and during the week or so it took to replace the defective pair through HeadRoom, I genuinely missed them.
To those who offer that the 1k's are brutal in presenting source weakness, I would offer this counterpoint. Yes, I can more readily hear the artifacts of a poor recording, but to my ear, the 1k's know how to make the most of a glass half full. Mated with my amp, they bring out the most fun in my 128k downloads (mostly '80s pop and new wave).
So far as file size, I have tried (and tried, and tried, and tried -- and tried!) to hear the diff between 256k and lossless with the woodies, all to no avail. Maybe if I listened to 'em loud, I'd hear something (like how a digital photograph breaks down the more you zoom in on it), but the 1k's not only are best for low-volume listening, but cranking them up creates near-instant listening fatigue. They just offer too much detail to swamp one's eardrums with at high volumes, IMHO. Not that I find that a weakness; I'd rather not be tempted to listen at unsafe levels.
Now, as to getting a DAC (which I guess would mean listening from my computer, and here I don't know if my Toshiba's stock soundcard would make a diff when I'm doing the converting outboard, as I still have much to learn about DACs), I will have to wait a while before I can think about this new expense. But in the meantime --- yes, I feel I've made a good investment in this, my most cherished hobby. Even if I never move beyond the iPod, I shan't be giving up my GS-1000's until they've been pried off my cold, dead ears.
