Grado GS1000 Review
The Grado GS1000, currently sporting the “i” as in “GS100i,” is Grado’s top of the line, and only product in their Statement series of headphones. It currently sells short of $1,000 dollars and is comparable (but not in price) with the AKG K 701 and the old Sennheiser HD 650.
6moons and Audiophile Audition did comprehensive reviews for the GS1000 so we’ll highligt the good and the bad, and throw in some opinions from personal experience.
What they had to say
“The new ear cushions and housings are completely different and the result of John & Co. going back to the drawing board and redesigning them from the ground up. This in turn has created a sound signature which I feel is radically different from the Grado house signature we have known and loved.”
“The first thing that struck me about the GS-1000 was the comfort level. …the GS-1000 is one of the most comfortable headphones I have ever tried. The pads are soft and wrap nicely around the ear. They hardly exert any pressure against the ears and head. Previous supra-aural Grados used more pressure.”
“Out of the box, the GS-1000s were very harsh especially on the top. They exhibited overwhelming bass response and the midrange felt very distant and foggy. I urge any potential buyers to demo a used set or take the time to run a minimum of 200 hours on these cans.”
“The first thing to really get my attention then was the level of detail retrieval. Various micro details within the recordings were brought to the foreground with a sense of focus and clarity that I am unaccustomed to.”
“The RS-1 bass response is far punchier in the upper part of the bass but not as accurate as the GS-1000 to make it harder to hear way down low due to the upper bass prominence.”
“For me, the new ‘GS’ might as well stand for ‘Grado with Soundstage.’ The huge soundstage with this can is what I feel truly makes the GS-1000 a statement product as well as contender for one of the best current-production cans on the market.”
What we have to say
The earpads of the GS1000 are definitely the most comfortable of the other Grado headphones that we’ve tried. In fact, we do not consider the other Grados remotely comfortable. What you would see in the construction of the Grados are evidences of it being hand made—not quite the mechanical consistency of other mass-produced cans, but based on Grado’s reputation for quality, we might not hear any complaints on manufacturing defects anytime soon.
What sets the Grado GS-1000 apart from other top-of-the-line headphones is the extra refinement and articulation in the quality of its sound. When you listen to them, you would not doubt that they are the best the company has to offer, much like other manufacturers’ best cans, but it’s you almost feel Grado’s love and passion every time you listen to some material. Much like a Honda NSX and a Ferrari 340—they might give you the same quarter mile times and performance statistics, but they are in very different leagues.
Is is worth the additional $500 in its price tag? For true audiophiles, with out a doubt, it is.
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