I brought my HF-1 with me now to compare them with the GS-1000 with this pad trick.
I can only test them with my OPA627 and ALPS pot modded iBasso D2. I like its sound pretty much with Grados after all.
Oh and before I start I'd like to mention once more that both headphones are headphiled. The HF-1's are woodied and recabled with BlackSilver, while the GS-1k's have BlackGold cables. So YMMV if you have unmodded versions.
I listened mostly to Rock and Metal now, as this is where the other Grados are supposed to be better than the GS-1000's.
First was "The Mantle" from Agalloch. This is some kind of Atmospheric Black Metal but its sound is to be compared to (well recorded) Rock, because of the heavy use of acoustic guitars. It has some nice vocal effects which need a large soundstage to be fully appreciated. There's also plenty of clear vocals that have beautiful timbre that can send a chill down your spine if your headphones have full and detailed mids. Both, the HF-1 and GS-1000 sound nice here. The latter gives more power to the drums though (which also have a nice sound on this album) which leads to such a big, speakerlike presentation. The GS-1k also have a better instrument separation which is important here because of the multiple acoustic guitar layers. These also give a nice sense of headstage. The vocals also sound a bit thicker and more detailed with the GS-1000. All in all I would say that the HF-1 (!) lack some midrange (especially lower midrange) and bass on this album. It's just such a pleasure to hear - no... to _feel_ the vibrations, the body of the guitar strings with the GS-1000 on this particular album (which is one of my favourite btw.).
Next was Jeff Wayne's legendary "The War Of the Worlds". It's already obvious with the GS-1000 that this recording has no pounding, deep bass. There are some nice bass guitar lines though and the overall dynamics are good. There's also plenty of layering and lot of effects going on. GS-1000's provide a nice soundstage, a full, warm sound... really nothing to complain here. The HF-1's are almost disappointing here though. They sound thin and are lacking bass completely. There seems to be almost no soundstage and there's lack of micro details. They don't handle this record well. It's not horrible though and I wouldn't take them off after 5 minutes, running hysterically through my room and screaming for the audio goddess to redeem me. I just don't enjoy this record fully with the HF-1's after listening to it with the GS-1000. I hope you get the point.
Then there was time for some "Black Ice" from AC/DC. Still with the HF-1's on my had I started tapping my foot almost instantly. Yeah, they sound much better here
. Now let's switch over to the GS-1000. As I already assumed they sounded "bigger". The soundstage was larger, while the sound was still thicker and the drums sounded just incredibly well and powerful again. I also noticed the bass guitar as soon as I started listening to this album with the GS-1k's. Checking back to the HF-1 it's still there but less powerful. So they're lacking some lower mids/bass again. Still they are both very enjoyable here.
What followed next was "Hope Vol.2" from Apocalyptica... OK that's a bit unfair probably. Anyway, the HF-1 provided some nice bass in the beginning. The vocals sounded a bit distant but the overall presentation was OK. Soundstage wasn't too big... but as I said that's a bit unfair for the HF-1's here.
At the beginning of the song, where the HF-1's provided some nice bass, the GS-1k's had some more mid-bass on top of that. It's again like you could feel the body of the instruments here. The vocals are again a bit thicker and not so distant and the soundstage is of course larger. All in all the HF-1 performed better than expected here, but still had no chance against the GS-1000.
Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" (the album) was next. The GS-1000's sounded bigger again with their soundstage and thicker mid-bass. You could also hear more details (in fact: recording faults
) with them. The HF-1's sounded a bit thinner and distant but all in all both sounded very enjoyable here. In no case the GS-1000's sounded inappropriate though (as one would expect). I would say that they are even more enjoyable with this kind of classic rock than the HF-1's.
The next album I listened to was "In Luft Geritzt" from Dornenreich, which initially were an (Austrian) Progressive Black Metal Band. Any of their releases sounded differently though and they evolved to some kind of Atmospheric Rock (on their "Hexenwind" album). Their following release incorporated some Ambient and also some very tiny bits of their Black Metal time. Their latest album "In Luft Geritzt" is something completely different (while still the same in the core). It consists of only an acoustic guitar, a violin, vocals and very light and rare percussion. The sound is well recorded, very organic with nice and warm timbre. These songs are pure magic... so powerful and at times even aggressive, while it's main instrument is only the violin.
With the headphones it's basically the same image as before. The GS-1000 sounds bigger (but it's less obvious here because of the few instruments incorporated). The HF-1's are missing some lower midrange again, which should make you "feel" the instruments. The violins and guitars have so much power to them in this recording and the GS-1000 are capable of perfectly capturing it.
Further I listened to "Incorporated" from Grip Inc. The HF-1's sounds a bit muddy/thin and more soundstage would be cool here too. The bass of the drums sounds a bit off. It seems to be some really deep bass here which they don't seem to handle well or there's something weird about the recording itself (compression!?).
Next was "The Latter Rain" from In Vain. This is some Norwegian Extreme Metal with lots of different influences, lots of different instruments and musicians incorporated. The main ingredient would be some well produced Black/Death-Metal with some parts that sound like 70s Rock, Blues (just listen to October's Monody... Cash would definitely love the middle part of the song), Jazz (in "I Total Triumf" you can find one of the best Jazz moments ever!) and so on.
All in all it's the same thing again: GS-1000's sound bigger and smoother. HF-1's are a bit thin in comparison and don't handle some complex parts that well.
Bourbon Princess' "Dark of Days" was next, which is some kind of bluesy, jazzy Rock. It's a well produced album with very nice bass guitars (the GS-1000's produce best again). This record needs quite a big soundstage, while still providing enough midrange to produce the right timbre of the instruments and her thick, beautiful vocals. I think I don't have to tell much about which one wins here. (Just a side note: the K240 Sextetts really, really shine on this album! They have the perfect smooth and thick midrange for these vocals and instruments.)
I listened to many more songs right now (Katatonia, Tool, Porcupine Tree, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Angizia...) but to bring this to an end now, I would like to bring you to the one that was the biggest surprise for me: Led Zeppelin - Kashmir.
This song sounded almost like a live concert (minus the noise of the audience) with the GS-1000. The reverb of the vocals, the positioning of the instruments... just incredible. The HF-1's did a well job too though. They didn't have this big "live" feeling to such an extent and they were less airy but it was still very enjoyable. It's just that you have a big grin on your face after you put the GS-1000 back on your head
.
In conclusion the GS-1000 with this pad mod "rock" the HF-1's away easily. The GS-1000 definitely have a thicker midrange, more bass, more mid-bass, more details and a larger soundstage. Don't forget though that (especially with Grados) these characteristics depend a lot on the positioning of the headphones on your head. For instance putting the GS-1000 more up- and backward makes them brighter with a smaller soundstage, while moving them forward and down makes them darker and expands the soundstage. Cables, source and amplification can and (especially for the GS-1000) will also influence these characteristics.
Further on I also read several times on Head-Fi about the relatively thin midrange of the HF-1.
So from testing and comparing the GS-1000 with and without this mod, I would say that this is the sound signature they (probably) are supposed to sound with proper amplification. So if you own an amp/source that doesn't bring out the mids on the GS-1000, this could be a solution to make them more enjoyable.
I think I should trade my HF-1's with some RS-1's someday to see if the GS-1000's really can keep up with them in Rock and Metal or if the exact opposite occurs... who knows.
Looking forward to some more impressions.
