[Quint]

Though I'm not the biggest fan of the Grado "sound," I must say, the GS-1000s intrigue me. But I already own a pair of balanced Ultrasone Ed9s, and I wonder if it would be largely a sideways move if I picked up a pair of the Grados. Anyone with any experience with these two cans care to comment on their similarities and differences? Many thanks!: rs1smile:

 

[vcoheda]

i am interested in this as well. people who have owned both. please give us your impressions.

 

[Piotr Ryka]

The System

Source – modified Cairn Soft Fog V2.

Mine is modified with a 2-nd transformer, LC Audio clock, Black Gate and OsCon capacitors instead chip stock ones, better RCA and power connectors and silver fuse. The results make it comparable to the Meridian G08. I did a direct comparison with the G08 and the sound of the Meridian is a little more sweet. The highs are not as sharp as my modified Cairn, which in my opinion, is what makes its tone more mild.

Amplifier – modified Antique Sound Lab Twin-Head Mark III. Modified in this case with gold-ceramic tube sockets instead of plastic originals, DACT stepped potentiometer instead of the original Alps Blue, 4 Auricap capacitors in bypass tribe, again better RCA and power sockets, also silver fuse and better set of tubes. Originally there are only Sino's and NOS Russian 6N23/ECC88. Current set is: 2 x M8137-ECC83 Mullard, 2 x 350B Valve Art, 2 x 5AR4/GZ34 RCA “Big bottle”, 2 x CCa Simens & Halske and 2 x 2A3 Emission Labs “mesh”.

I had them both (E9 and GS-1000) through four days. Only the last day GS-1000 were tolerably heated. They need 400 hours, not even one less, to plays good.
Conclusions:

Ultrasone Edition9 advantages
-Sweet to neutral kind of presentation.
-Spread of sound range.
-Its power.
-Its 3-dimensional shape.
-Perfectly clear articulation.
-Incredible amount of details.
-Not fatiguing realism.
-Smooth highs.
-Bass like from rock-man sleepy dreams.
-Perfect for all kind of music.
-Pro-healthy construction.
-Good look and good materials.
-Made in Germany.

Weaknesses
-To small soundstage.
-Some limitations connected with close construction, like lack of free outside propagation of sound and impression of some its importunity, especially for someone don’t unappreciated with this headphones.
-Sometimes too smooth sound, devoid of specificity.
-Not comfy.
-Poor cable.


Grado GS-1000 advantages
- Phenomenal sound naturalness level, particularly phenomenaly realistic human voices.
- Wonderful, three dimensional and unusually big soundstage.
- Fantastic sensitiveness, i.e. nothing of music aspects and tastes you lose.
- Not fatiguing kind of music presentation.
- Also very wide spread of sound spectrum.
- Also very detailed.
- Easy way for sound waves; in effect – naturalness of sound.
- Very comfortable.
- Nice smell.

Weaknesses
-A bit too sharp highs.
-Not as powerful and massive sound as with E9.
-Lack of lowest bass.
-Very noisy for environment.


In effect Grado are better for opera, Ultrasone for rock and symphonic music. The rest is the matter of taste.

Forgive me my English.

 

[vcoheda]

great impressions. thank you. nice mods on that equipment too.

 

[Jazic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotr Ryka /img/forum/go_quote.gif Grado GS-1000 advantages - Nice smell.

Sold! Ordering a pair now!

Seriously though, good question and response. Hopefully someday soon I'll be blessed with some GS1000's to grace my ears. Until then i'm cursed with stinky KSC75's!

 

[MaloS]

I am going to try and compare that to whatever possible extent at the nor-cal meet, hopefully others can pitch in here after that.

That looks like an excellent comparison Piotr, very neat and straightforward. The treble with GS-1000 did not bother you, did it... (That was my grudge last time I listened to it).

 

[robm321]

Thanks for the comparison Piotr!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaloS /img/forum/go_quote.gif The treble with GS-1000 did not bother you, did it... (That was my grudge last time I listened to it).

It seems like it did according to his disadvantages. I agree with the need for lots of burn in to sound it's best. But after burn in the narrow treble spike is still going to be there as it is with mine.

It's really only a problem with badly recorded music, however, and can be dealt with by turning the volume down so the peak won't punish you only on those bad recordings

 

[Piotr Ryka]

I think that GS-1000 are really great. That level of realism is just tremendous. And with my tube amplifier the quality of tubes is crucial. When I use good tubes and particularly when I apply 350B as 6L6, this higs are always acceptable. Its slightly sharpness – this is the price you must pay for realism, for that variety and naturalness of sound. Yes, with bad discs that is some problem, but what to do?

 

[Mindless]

I had trouble with the highs at first but they have settled down considerably now with some two hundred hours of burn in.

I have to agree with robm321 though. Very much of it depends on the recording. Some records still sound bright with GS1000, but they sound bright with other headphones too, so I don't believe it's a problem with the headphone itself in most cases.

 

[mrarroyo]

Unless the GS1000 have changed since they were introduced they are IMO very bad. The GS1000 have a lot of bass and a lot of treble but no midrange. I let mine burn in for over 300 hours and still the sound was not as good as my RS-1. I much prefer the sound of the RS-1 or RS-2 to that of the GS1000.

 

[Torula Yeast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotr Ryka /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice smell. Forgive me my English.

Piotr, that gave me a good laugh! They *do* smell nice! (And your English is pretty damn good, as well.)

I was burning mine in at the office (yes, I'm one of those heathens that listens to his headphones as they get burned in), and I kept wondering if someone in the office was wearing some Aramis or Gucci cologne, both of which smell much like wood. Finally, I realized it was my mahogany Grados.

I nominate the Grado Statement and Reference series as the best smelling cans ever.

 

[Piotr Ryka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unless the GS1000 have changed since they were introduced they are IMO very bad. The GS1000 have a lot of bass and a lot of treble but no midrange. I let mine burn in for over 300 hours and still the sound was not as good as my RS-1. I much prefer the sound of the RS-1 or RS-2 to that of the GS1000.

I cant agree. I have compared GS-1000 (after 400 hours of playing) with RS-1 side by side and in my opinion GS-1000 are definitely better in every aspect. But two things:
1. they need very good comparison
2. before 400 hours of playing they are really nasty.

 

[Mindless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unless the GS1000 have changed since they were introduced they are IMO very bad. The GS1000 have a lot of bass and a lot of treble but no midrange. I let mine burn in for over 300 hours and still the sound was not as good as my RS-1. I much prefer the sound of the RS-1 or RS-2 to that of the GS1000.

I guess much of it is personal preference. To me, the midrange is forward and well pronounced. The bass to me is a bit leaner than what has been said around here, but it surely has alot of impact.

Saying no midrange is a exaggeration. That would mean volcals, etc. would be unaudible.

 

[Quint]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotr Ryka /img/forum/go_quote.gif The System Source – modified Cairn Soft Fog V2. Mine is modified with a 2-nd transformer, LC Audio clock, Black Gate and OsCon capacitors instead chip stock ones, better RCA and power connectors and silver fuse. The results make it comparable to the Meridian G08. I did a direct comparison with the G08 and the sound of the Meridian is a little more sweet. The highs are not as sharp as my modified Cairn, which in my opinion, is what makes its tone more mild. Amplifier – modified Antique Sound Lab Twin-Head Mark III. Modified in this case with gold-ceramic tube sockets instead of plastic originals, DACT stepped potentiometer instead of the original Alps Blue, 4 Auricap capacitors in bypass tribe, again better RCA and power sockets, also silver fuse and better set of tubes. Originally there are only Sino's and NOS Russian 6N23/ECC88. Current set is: 2 x M8137-ECC83 Mullard, 2 x 350B Valve Art, 2 x 5AR4/GZ34 RCA “Big bottle”, 2 x CCa Simens & Halske and 2 x 2A3 Emission Labs “mesh”. I had them both (E9 and GS-1000) through four days. Only the last day GS-1000 were tolerably heated. They need 400 hours, not even one less, to plays good. Conclusions: Ultrasone Edition9 advantages -Sweet to neutral kind of presentation. -Spread of sound range. -Its power. -Its 3-dimensional shape. -Perfectly clear articulation. -Incredible amount of details. -Not fatiguing realism. -Smooth highs. -Bass like from rock-man sleepy dreams. -Perfect for all kind of music. -Pro-healthy construction. -Good look and good materials. -Made in Germany. Weaknesses -To small soundstage. -Some limitations connected with close construction, like lack of free outside propagation of sound and impression of some its importunity, especially for someone don’t unappreciated with this headphones. -Sometimes too smooth sound, devoid of specificity. -Not comfy. -Poor cable. Grado GS-1000 advantages - Phenomenal sound naturalness level, particularly phenomenaly realistic human voices. - Wonderful, three dimensional and unusually big soundstage. - Fantastic sensitiveness, i.e. nothing of music aspects and tastes you lose. - Not fatiguing kind of music presentation. - Also very wide spread of sound spectrum. - Also very detailed. - Easy way for sound waves; in effect – naturalness of sound. - Very comfortable. - Nice smell. Weaknesses -A bit too sharp highs. -Not as powerful and massive sound as with E9. -Lack of lowest bass. -Very noisy for environment. In effect Grado are better for opera, Ultrasone for rock and symphonic music. The rest is the matter of taste. Forgive me my English.

Thanks very much for the very informative comparison. I listen primarily to rock, and the 9s excel with that genre—though they’re certainly no slouches with jazz or other, more subtle genres, IMO. I think I’ll stick with them and my Sony R10s as my two cans.

BTW, your English is perfectly fine . . . probably better than mine, and I've lived in the U.S. all my life.

Thanks again!

 

[Piotr Ryka]

If someone has autorization to get pictures I can send him graphs of sound this two headphones.