Hello all. I was the first on the loaner list and wish to thank Todd for the opportunity. I'm going to give my impressions in a somewhat different manner than I am used to. I will provide my notes as I took them - a stream of conciousness. admittedly it will be somewhat less organized and maybe even repetitive but I think it will provide better insight into my analysis of the ps2ke.
looks - a matter of taste. i personally prefer the ps1ke chrome look. this ps2ke is defintely a finger print magnet.
heavier than other grados. from recall, feels heavier than ps1ke too but I could be wrong. once on head, comfort is fine.
design doesn't strike me as significantly improved. rods still slide on their own. why not provide a better or enhanced mechanism for this cost?
overall, enjoyable listen.
tight, clean, crisp, somewhat analytical sound. musically engaging, though not especially so.
bass is fast and tight, possesses good depth, but lacks heft and quantitiy in lower bass frequencies
nice overall tonal balance though not neutral. there is a definite bias towards upper frequencies ...specifically upper midrange which seems a bit emphasized and peaky, though not as much as my gs2ke was in stock form when it was new
i'm not one who likes overly warm sound, especially in vocal range, but the grado ps2ke could have used a touch more lower midrange in this regard. vocal can be transparent, but lack of mids can create a slightly recessed sound. this is not always noticable. it depends on the music, but while there is defintely a lot of upper midrange, I feel mids and lower mids could have used a bit more volume. on second thought, I think I would refrain from saying the midrange is recessed. a better way would be to say it is less bold, less vibrant, and less initimate than I prefer.
piano and trumpet sounded a bit thin and not fully fleshed out. same with snare drum hit - lacks ultimate realism due to tonal balance of headphone
smooth overall sound. microdynamics are reasonably good; good impact on snare drums. impact comes from upper frequencies, rather than bass or midbass. speaking of bass, I do think the midbass has the right amount and is good quality. in this regard, the ps2ke betters many other grados which can sometimes be a touch lacking and/or loose in the midbass area - thinking speciifcally of my gs1ke.
headphone is extremely position sensitive. more so than most other headphones I have experienced. rocking headband further back is less desirable to me than making sure headband sits squarely atop the middle of my head. basically, moving headphone more forward on ears produces a more vibrant mid, though still not perfect.
one of the better grados, though I haven't heard all of them obviously
as mentioned before, some of my grados, even higher end ones like gs1ke, have a truck-like midbass, not this grado. that said, even though midbass is well balanced you won't feel it
respectable flagship - warmer than gs2ke in stock form, though the gs2ke does have more lower midrange which I liked
at times when comparing to utopia, it made the utopia sound soft and warmer; but the utopia was able to equal the overall clarity of the grado. ...more on that later
i liked the soundtage width, but precision of imaging did not impress me
to this point, I have been critical of the ps2000e but please understand I found it a very enjoyable listen, as I said at the beginning.
brief informal comparison to hifiman he1000v2 - geado was more vibrant, brighter in upper midramge, had better clarity and microdynamics. it was more forward than he1kv2. he1kv2 was more bland, more neutral, and more refined. he1kv2 was more mellow had more bass. 2 of 3 listeners felt the he1kv2 had a blacker backgriund and overall better sound. he1kv2 background did not interfere with foreground ...grado can bring background into foreground due to emphasis of certain frequencies. also note, guitar on grateful dead's workingman's dead cd revealed slight harshness on grado; he1k also did better job of portraying venu/space of environment.
ps2ke vs akg 812 - akg more mellow ,more recessed in midrange; akg 812 more comparable to he1000v2 than grado. just a different sound, not better or worse. would depend on preferences.
more impressions from later listening sessions (not in comparison to akg)...
too much upper mids
defintely bass lite, even lighter than utopia
just right upper midbass
lacking a little lower midrange
good sense of air and space, overall
too sharp (not referring to clarity alone) - clarity, in combo with crispness, and glare in some vocals and other instruments creates this undesirable sharpness
listening to a song, (which I didn't make note of) I noticed a tap dance portayed accurately in utopia sounded like a stick hitting a block in the grado (ps2ke). needless to say the ps2ke was less accurate. utopia more accurately represented the sound of feet hitting the stage.
in ps2ke, vocals airy, makes them super clear and signature is appealing but emphasis in upper frequencies of vocal becomes fatiguing and less than natural
utopia more soft and rounded but more realisim; Grado clarity and sharpness achieved through its slightly unnatural tonal balance and yet the ps2ke slightly lacks microdynamics compared to Utopia when midbass a factor
ps2ke vs gs2ke
ps2ke is the better sounding headphone to me, especially when both in stock form ...but the gs2ke is more natural tonal balance. more lower midrange and less brightness in upper mids (when using my ear zonk pads or ps2ke ear pads on the gs2ke). unfortunately the gs2ke is not a technically superior product, so even though I may prefer the tonal balance the overall sound quality isn't as good to me.
lower midrange of gs2ke- better quantity but looser; ps2ke more punchy, not in midbass sense but in terms of better microdynamics
my gs2ke has ear zonk pads - don't like gs2ke headphone otherwise; i swapped with ps2ke and results were interesting; are the ps2ke stock pads really the same as gs2ke stock pads? the ps2ke stock pads to me and based on recollection, made gs2ke sound better than I recalled when usng the gs2ke with its stock pads. i could just be nuts or maybe gs2ke has broken in since my initial impressions.
in stock prefer ps2ke to gs2ke
some more general ps2ke comments...
volume plays a key; glare requires lower volume on ps2ke; slighlty recessed mids, close to nuetral but certainly not forward; at lower volume vocal can actually appear less emphasized or aggressive and softer than utopia but this is not surprising because volume is lower
something i do like - grado can strip warmth sometimes surrounding vocal; adds clarity and transparency but not accurate; but appealing
grado really lacks bass impact
people who didn't like grado won't like this ps2ke. people who are fans will probably really like ps2ke.
compared to ther C 1.1
ether c 1.1 more intimate; less air and separation; ether c bolder and more vibrant; makes ps2ke sound recessed; but ps2ke sounds darn good. guitar teble sounds thinner, less
full bodied, more thin and brittle - preferred ether c1,1
preferred utopia to ps2ke
when just relaxing, playing at 70-75 db and not paying attenion to sound quality ps2ke has very nice sound that does not call attention to itself
at times, (though infrequent and when utopia and ps2ke at lower volume) vocals on ps2ke can sound slightly better than utpoia when clarity comes and separation come into play, but only when music allows for grado peakiness to not be an issue
so would I buy ps2ke? no. if i didn't have other flagships, then perhaps. i think it defintely competes against other high-end flagships. but for me (this is defintely a personal decision) it's not worth the money. in fact, I may prefer the ps1ke which to me had more euphony in the midrange - from memory of about 1 year ago when I owned ps1ke. that said, I probably would still consider the ps2ke technically superior for its tightness and overall improved midbass quality.
in summary, I find the grado to be an excellent headphone worthy of the flagship label. it has excellent clarity, and despite the emphasis in upper midrange, I do find the overall tonal balance to be pretty pleasing. i wish for a slightly more vibrant midrange but that's a matter of taste, Also, towards the middle and end of my 1 week review period I listened exclusively to the grado - no compares. the experience left me quite satisfied and some of the knit picks above (like lack of lower midrange and emphasized upper mids and lack of overall neutrality) became less apparent. todd said the headphone had 100 hours of time on them before I received them. i suspect brain burn-in accounts for the fact that I had a more favorable view over time, rather than actual burn-in accounting for this. I only ran the headphone when I was listening so probably about 20-25 hours. and at the end when comparing to the utopia, some of my knit picks did resurface.
i am sorry for the less than organized thoughts, but it has been a week and I wanted to get my impressions out there. also, one more matter to address. I used lots of equipment during my review including sony bluray, oppo bdp 105d bluray player, Tidal, chord mojo, microzotl headphone amp, woo wa5le, gs-xmk2, and schiit jotunheim. i listen to most genres - everything from easy listening, to jazz, classic rock, and heavy metal, and orchestral. i listen from 75 to 85db, typically.
