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Listen carefully … and you’ll hear the popcorn popping throughout Headphonedom.“Tyll’s going to talk about Grado headphones in his blog!!! And he’s doing it in the “World’s Best Headphones” section!? Oh, this is going to be good.”
You see, I’m not a Grado fan, it’s not a secret, and I’m not alone. There’s a big bunch of headphone enthusiasts that can only shake their head and wonder what all the Grado fuss is about. On the other hand, there are just as many headphone enthusiasts that love Grado headphones and are rabid fans of the Brooklyn headphone maker. Simply put, there is no other brand of headphones that divides the headphone world so clearly and strongly as does Grado.
Fundamentally, I see this schism arising from the Grado design philosophy of designing by ear, rather than through an engineering process. Me, I’m the technical type; I like to see charts and graphs; I believe the job of a headphone is to be a straight pipe. For me, there’s no need for the gear to editorialize; creating the sound is a job for the artist and producers in my view.
This objective way of thinking has some strict limitations however. What happens, for example, if you listen to a lot of old and poor recordings? Is it really best to focus on fidelity when this is the case? Is Muddy Waters on a boom-box any less art for the poor reproduction? And is there anything wrong with audio gear that tries to make the sound better? No, there is plenty of room to argue that audio gear that colors the sound has an appropriate place in audio … even high end audio.
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The GS1000 is smooth and lush; inviting and warm; it bounces along merrily tickling at your eardrum for attention; and all day long I just smiled and bobbed my head as the music played. The PS1000 is a quite similar listening experience, but brings a bit more detail and resolution into the picture. Both are just lovely to hear, and both made everything I listened to a complete joy.
The GS1000 is also very comfortable to wear. Many complain that Grado cans are uncomfortable. I’ve found that by simply bending the metal headband to conform to my head and to create just the right clamping pressure Grado headphones can feel fine. But the GS1000 with its large bowl pads are supremely comfortable and light. The aluminum PS1000 is significantly heavier, and while the music was a bit cleared and more articulate, the increased weight was a bit bother some compares to the GS1000.
The PS stands for professional series and the GS for Grado Statement. I have to say that because they are a colored headphone whose strong point is to make everything sound good, I don’t believe the PS1000 is a good headphone for professional use. In those cases I recommend the Sennheiser HD800 or Beyer T1 for open cans, and the Denon D5000 for sealed cans. And the added weight of the PS1000 did get in the way of long listening sessions for me.
But the GS1000 is certainly a strong statement from John Grado that he has a vision and an ear for lovely sounding headphones, and that he’s not afraid to make it. My statement in return is, “Well John, I think you may have won me over on this one.”
Oy vey, I think I’m going to have to go buy a Grado t-shirt.
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