Grado GS1000e, GS2000e and PS1000e headphones offer the discerning audiophile a prestige choice in high-end headphone listening.
Grado: a name in audio which goes back some 70 years. Founded in 1950 by Joseph Grado, a watchmaker at Tiffany, the family quest to produce some of the world’s greatest high-end transducers continues unabated to this day. Just like the very first phono cartridge (built on the kitchen table by Joseph Grado in 1950) all Grado Headphones and Cartridges are hand-built by the Grado Family in Brooklyn, NY.
Today on The Audio Affair Blog, we look at three of their offerings in the world of high-end headphone design, and assess which pair is the perfect fit for your head…
Grado Statement Series Headphones
Grado’s Statement series headphones owe much to John Grado’s “Eureka Moment” of 1994; faced with falling sales of their phono cartridges in the late 1980s, Grado branched out into making high-end headphones, with legendary results. John Grado’s spark of innovation was to use tonewood in the construction of headphones…
Tonewoods are prized by instrument manufacturers for their particular tonal and transient qualities; just like a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, the Grado Statment series headphones use a combination of maple and mahogany. Maple is a traditionally bright and “tight” sounding wood, whereas mahogany is famed for its warmth and tonal depth.
By using maple for the inner driver core, and mahogany for the outer driver enclosure, Grado create a beautifully balanced and hugely rewarding set of headphones for the listener. Of course, not only does the wooden construction aid sonically, it also contributes to an aesthetically beautiful pair of headphones.
Grado Statement Series GS1000e
Grado GS1000e headphones present a unique blend of leather and wood, coupled with a very traditional headband design; this could leave the observer to wonder if they were made in 2017 or 1917! This is not to say they are in any way archaic, far from it; Grado is proud of the artisanal aspect of their headphone’s design and construction and their eschewing of design fads and fashions. A pair of Grado headphones is a lifetime investment, not a fashion statement!
The Grado GS1000e headphones are “over ear” open-backed headphones, featuring a large, 50mm driver which offers an impressively wide bandwidth of 8-35000Hz, with a high sensitivity rating of 99.8db. Over-ear, open back headphones are ideal for comfortable, private listening in low-ambient noise environments. Superb for those late night sessions where it’s just you, a bottle of musty old merlot, and that prized copy of “Dark Side of The Moon”.
Listeners will note Grado’s signature, open midrange with wonderfully extended and sweet frequency extremes and a sound which will be a revelation to anyone more accustomed to mass-produced, closed back headphones
Grado Statement Series GS2000e
The Grado GS2000e headphones are very much the “bigger brother” of the GS1000e, taking all of that headphone’s qualities and enhancing them with an expanded and enhanced design. For those demanding even higher performance than the already exceptional GS1000e’s provide, the GS2000e’s are the logical next step up.
The frequency bandwidth is truly astonishing, with Grado quoting an incredible 4-51000Hz response; one can equate it to having in-built super tweeters for enhanced detail and reproduction. For those who demand their headphones offer the option of balanced operation, the GS2000e’s can be ordered with an optional 4-pin XLR connection.
Grado PS1000e
Ready for The Ultimate? Looking for a pair of headphones which promise that mythical “acoustic window” into the original music, pure and uncoloured? The Grado PS1000e headphones may just be the headphones for you…
For the “Professional Series”, Grado took the approach of designing an ultra-low resonance, highly damped construction in the pursuit of absolute transparency. The newly reconfigured and enhanced 50mm driver is held within a mahogany enclosure which is then encased by a cast aluminium outer housing; the latter of which is cast specifically to be porous in order to reduce “ringing” and unwanted resonance.
The Grado PS1000e headphones offer an altogether extraordinary frequency bandwidth of 5-50000Hz, all from traditional moving coil transducers which are matched to within 0.05db. Unlike some planar designs, the PS1000e’s are also incredibly sensitive, with a sensitivity rating of 99.8db making them easy to drive.
Receiving “5 star” reviews and industry acclaim, the Grado PS1000e headphones lay claim, legitimately, to being one of the world’s finest headphones. Exceptionally demanding Audiophiles need look no further…