[sling5s]

Okay so I got the vintage model then. Plain RS2 model, thanks

There is a thread dedicated to the classification of Grado RS.
According to the thread:
It has button, but round rod and rubber tip so it’s the classic version. Vintage has button and also square rods and metal tip.

 

[mikey1964]

Some people do really like sharp highs. I am fairly sensitive to them. I will probably go for the Rs1x like I planned. Thanks.

I'm something of a treblehead, not full blown hardcore, but yeah, hence my liking of cans with more sparkle. I'd initially gotten the GS1000i when I was more or less discovering what I like in terms of sound profile, the sparkle and sublime bass on the GS1000i took my breath away. Now, it's found a permanent place in my collection of cans which I'd never sell (see pic below), I use either my Oppo HA-1 or iFi Micro iDSD BL or Fostex HPA4 to drive my cans.

 

[iFi audio]

I'm something of a treblehead, not full blown hardcore, but yeah, hence my liking of cans with more sparkle. I'd initially gotten the GS1000i when I was more or less discovering what I like in terms of sound profile, the sparkle and sublime bass on the GS1000i took my breath away. Now, it's found a permanent place in my collection of cans which I'd never sell (see pic below), I use either my Oppo HA-1 or iFi Micro iDSD BL or Fostex HPA4 to drive my cans.

That's a noble collection right there and even Dharmas managed to get on board. What you did to preserve pads on your can's is a very cool idea and I suspect that your micro iDSD BL works particularly great with D1000, AKGs and Senns

 

[sling5s]

I'm something of a treblehead, not full blown hardcore, but yeah, hence my liking of cans with more sparkle. I'd initially gotten the GS1000i when I was more or less discovering what I like in terms of sound profile, the sparkle and sublime bass on the GS1000i took my breath away. Now, it's found a permanent place in my collection of cans which I'd never sell (see pic below), I use either my Oppo HA-1 or iFi Micro iDSD BL or Fostex HPA4 to drive my cans.

how do the mids of the gs1000i compare to hd800 mids? are the gs1000i mids recessed as they say?

 

[Stevko]

At the Hi-Fi shop

The big fat jack was nice. Only offered for the GS series?

 

[Elijah Baley]

how do the mids of the gs1000i compare to hd800 mids? are the gs1000i mids recessed as they say?

Does the GS1000e apply here as well? I have the GS1000e and the HD800 and can answer that if it does.

Cheers!

 

[438555]

Does the GS1000e apply here as well? I have the GS1000e and the HD800 and can answer that if it does.

Cheers!

 

[Snowpuppy77]

Yes please. Would love to see your comparison. I also have the HD800S.

 

[sling5s]

Does the GS1000e apply here as well? I have the GS1000e and the HD800 and can answer that if it does.

Cheers!

Sure that would be appreciated. I guess I would then need to know how the GS1000e and GS1000i compare to extrapolate from there.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

@mikey1964 , do your Grado GS1000 have L bowls rather than G Cush as pads? Looks like it in the picture. I bet they’d sound different if tried with the G Cush as they originally had.

 

[mikey1964]

how do the mids of the gs1000i compare to hd800 mids? are the gs1000i mids recessed as they say?

You may have to wait a while as I'd have to change the earpads on the GS1000i to the G Cush, as I'm using the smaller L Bowl earpads (experimenting with the L Bowl first), then I'd have to get reacquainted the the GS1000i as it's been in its box for quite a while. I've been using the HD800, but rarely and only when I'm in the mood for orchestral pieces (which is not that often). I have more than 10 pairs of headphones, including three HFMs, so once in a while, I'd do a check on my cans to see if earpads or, worse yet, headbands are flaking and need to be replaced.

@mikey1964 , do your Grado GS1000 have L bowls rather than G Cush as pads? Looks like it in the picture. I bet they’d sound different if tried with the G Cush as they originally had.

Yep, when I found that the replacement earpads I had on it had started to disintegrate, I'd gotten a G Cush and L Bowl earpads to replace them. Replaced the earpads with the L Bowl, checked that it was working just fine before I.....well, put it back in its box, stored it, and.......promptly forgot all about it. I only took it out recently to take a group shot pic with my other cans for a thread in another forum about collections of stuff.

 

[ekolite]

Do any of you have a method of getting the Grado pads soft and comfy? I usually always put a little dish soap on the outer edges, where your ears touch. Rub it in with water, let sit a few minutes. Turn them over and rinse thoroughly. Getting some new ones soon and I thought I would just let them get softer naturally this time if I can handle it. L pads usually get to me but I generally wear my Grados up to 15 hours a day.

 

[Stevko]

Tried GS1000e last weekend. It is good. But is it much better than the new rs1x/rs2x? Worth the extra money?
new rs1x use the new 50mm x-driver. rs2 use 44mm

 

[ekolite]

If I was after the gs1000 and I had to have a new Grado I would probably get an x series now then save up and they the gs1000x when it releases.

 

[Elijah Baley]

Sure that would be appreciated. I guess I would then need to know how the GS1000e and GS1000i compare to extrapolate from there.

Hello!

The GS1000e is an interesting headphone. The 'mids' are rather smooth and noticeably free of grain. Their sound is less dependent on the quality of the recorded material and/or the codec used, certainly when compared to the HD800, but they are not unobservant either. So, the better the recording, the better they will sound. One thing that I think contributes to this 'character' is the transient response. If you listen to something with faster pace, they will keep up but with certain musical genres just barely. This 'feature' means the movement of the diaphragm doesn't correlate to the music signal so the diaphragm sometimes 'lags' and therefore creates something of an interpolation to the intervals in-between the actual notes. I think this is what gives them their 'liquid' character. In contrast, the HD800 benefits greatly from higher quality codecs used. They are very articulated in that sense.

If we're talking about balance, I'd say the GS1000e does sound a bit withdrawn in the mids. When I say 'a bit', that's precisely what I mean – a tiny bit. This is somewhat reinforced by the fact that the upper bass is elevated and in my opinion, too much. I'd say at least 6 dB. That being said, take this with a grain of salt because I have not yet connected the headphone to the main HIFI system. In contrast, the HD800 sounds flatter in the mids, more truthful.

If you were to listen to radio broadcasts like radio dramas or talk shows, you'd notice the speech intelligibility is really excellent. The thing is – it is easy to underestimate the transducer's ability to sound realistic with human voices when all you are listening to is the music you already know well. When you listen to something for the first time, with no lyrics, then you can sometimes struggle to distinguish the words, especially if they are in a different language. With the GS1000e, I was able to discern the words with ease and confidence. Though I wouldn't necessarily use them for speech transcription (they're much too expensive for that), they would certainly serve their purpose and are as good as the HD800 in that regard. To correlate this to a technical specification, I have often found that intelligibility translates to square-wave response at half a kiloHertz. So, the GS1000e is probably good in that region, not that it should take away anything from the headphone if it isn't.

Now onto the conundrum...

People often discuss 'timbre' and if what they're listening to sounds natural or not. Though I didn't choose to pursue a career in music, I was a professional musician for more than ten years and played in all sorts of places, from small venues to open city squares and big concert halls throughout Europe. But all of that is really not necessary to know a natural timbre when you hear one. I would be last to blame anyone but it is strange how people tend to believe what someone has said rather than to trust their own feeling. More or less all of us have been born with the same auditory system and you just 'know' when something is a 'reproduction' of an actual music event instead of a real live event. My concern is that even the reviewers have never been to an opera house or a music theater, if nothing, just to enjoy the music, let alone to try to distinguish a violin from a viola. In a nutshell, the GS1000e has a very realistic timbre and with good recordings, it sounds convincing to me.

I would also like to point out that the harmonic structure on the GS1000e sounds rather lovely. I could not hear any harsh odd-order harmonics and it sounds to me the 5th and the 7th harmonic was under control. For those who would like to know – the 5th and the 7th and to an extent, the 9th, can be rather disturbing as they are rather a consequence of an imperfection in a musical instrument or a playback device. It might also interest you to know that pianos have been constructed to naturally dampen these harmonics for over a century. As you can imagine, they might not have known the science behind it back then, but they too trusted their ears. So, all of us should do no less.

We could talk about the rest of the sound but the question was specifically about the mids so I don't want to ramble. It feels as though I've reambled too much already!

In any case, I hope this helps.

Cheers!