[Norway]

Hi,
I own a pair of Grado PS 1000 and don't know if it's my ears, my preferences or something with my setup, but the sound in these are awefully thin.
 
My system is Windows 7 64 bit. I own both Grace Design m903 and Xonar Essence STX (sound card). The results are the same for both sources. I've tried running bit perfect using WASAPI and ASIO through both using foobar2000 but no improvement.
 
I bought these in late October 2011 and they have been running for 500 hours max. Since I don't like the sound I've only used them for about 100 hours. The rest of the time they've just been laying in a towel in hopes of them burning in.
 
Is this a miss match of amp & headphones, some wrong settings in Windows or what can it be?

 

[carsany]

I would give some tube amps a try, I just picked up a set of PS500's and felt the same about the sound with my SS amp.  It improved greatly on a WA2 setup with a good DAC.

 

[Norway]

Yeah, this is really weird. I've read so many positive reviews about them, so they're poor performance was quite a shock to be honest. I've tried both Xonar Essence STX, Grace Design m903, the onboard sound card in my desktop and laptop in addition to my phone.
 
They just don't have any depth at all, and it sounds very hard, light and metallic. My pair of Beats by Dr Dre Pro and Koss Porta Pro sounds better for heaven's sake.
 
Sounds like there might be another problem, as m903 should be great for these. Is it possible that the drivers might be blown or damaged in any way, and is there anything I could do to check if this is the case?

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Yeah, this is really weird. I've read so many positive reviews about them, so they're poor performance was quite a shock to be honest. I've tried both Xonar Essence STX, Grace Design m903, the onboard sound card in my desktop and laptop in addition to my phone.
 
They just don't have any depth at all, and it sounds very hard, light and metallic. My pair of Beats by Dr Dre Pro and Koss Porta Pro sounds better for heaven's sake.
 
Sounds like there might be another problem, as m903 should be great for these. Is it possible that the drivers might be blown or damaged in any way, and is there anything I could do to check if this is the case?

 Yes something is not quite right there - my pair are some of the richest sounding cans I've heard this side of an LCD-3
 - light, thin and comparable to a Dr Dre Pro they are certainly not

 
 I will say this though - if you're even half a believer that no two cans are alike, then the PS1000 would be a contender
 for this theory - you may just have a dud pair,.
 

 

[BotByte]

Have wiggled your cables?
Tried just straight from the source?
 
The PS1000 has the perfect sound signature (TO ME) so it's not their problem
 
Now, I run a cable to my chair from my receiver so it's easier to have headphones and earphones right next to me. The adapter I have is crapty. So, sometimes I need to wiggle it and for some reason the sound comes back
 
It almost sounds like you're listening through a tin can, right?
 
Otherwise, you might have blown them. Grados are made to be highly efficient and don't need any fancy amount of power to sound great. So just a little bump in volume or a click could blow them.

 

[Norway]

 
Quote:

Have wiggled your cables?
Tried just straight from the source?
 
The PS1000 has the perfect sound signature (TO ME) so it's not their problem
 
Now, I run a cable to my chair from my receiver so it's easier to have headphones and earphones right next to me. The adapter I have is crapty. So, sometimes I need to wiggle it and for some reason the sound comes back
 
It almost sounds like you're listening through a tin can, right?
 
Otherwise, you might have blown them. Grados are made to be highly efficient and don't need any fancy amount of power to sound great. So just a little bump in volume or a click could blow them.

No, both cans and cables looks as if they were new. I've been extremely careful with them. The amp is sitting on my desk right in front of me, so I don't need to use the extension cable.
 
Yes, it sounds like I'm listening through a tin can, the sound is light, one dimensional and outright annoing.
 
I've been careful with the volume and they've sounded like this all the time. I can't imagine I've been so unlucky to blow them... If that is the case I'm going to hang myself.
 
Does my problem with the "tin can"-sound make you think they're blown?
 
 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 
I'd be sending them back to Johnny G for inspection - hopefully you bought them an official reseller.

 

[Norway]

No, unfortunately not.
 
Tomorrow I'm going to a local store to listen to one of their pairs to compare. If mine are blown they're going in the bin with a force so strong that even Newton wouldn't be able to calculate it.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

No, unfortunately not.
 
Tomorrow I'm going to a local store to listen to one of their pairs to compare. If mine are blown they're going in the bin with a force so strong that even Newton wouldn't be able to calculate it.

 I'd sell it if that's the case - John G does cover non-genuine sales by charging a heap for service. Someone will take you up on the offer.

 

[mikiphile]

Quote:

 
No, both cans and cables looks as if they were new. I've been extremely careful with them. The amp is sitting on my desk right in front of me, so I don't need to use the extension cable.
 
Yes, it sounds like I'm listening through a tin can, the sound is light, one dimensional and outright annoing.
 
I've been careful with the volume and they've sounded like this all the time. I can't imagine I've been so unlucky to blow them... If that is the case I'm going to hang myself.
 
Does my problem with the "tin can"-sound make you think they're blown?
 
 

I am not very experienced with Grado, however I do own a pair of somewhat bright sounding headphones (AKG K701) , and I think I know what you mean.
 
People often describe the sound thin if they have never heard a bright sounding can. However, it really depends aswell on recording quality, file quality, dac and amp quality. Now they dont need a lot of power, from what I know, but they need an amp to create a good tonal balance.
 
Normally, a damaged driver (if that is what you mean by blown) sound very harsh and intolerable. Maybe you should give them some love (listening time) and see what happens then.
 
I repeat, not very knowledgable with Grado, however I am planning to get some in the future.
 

 

[Norway]

Thanks to all of you who have helped me this far.
 
I'm not sure if they're blown, not burned in yet or whatever. I will try another pair tomorrow and decide how to go about it. If they're broken I'll ask John G. what he wants to fix them. If it's not worth the price I'll buy one of those Ω-shaped headphone stands and just keep it as decor to remind me never to buy anything from ebay again.

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Tomorrow I'm going to a local store to listen to one of their pairs to compare. If mine are blown they're going in the bin with a force so strong that even Newton wouldn't be able to calculate it.

I would bring your own PS1000s and your m903 so you can compare both phones and amps... this does sound like they need a stronger amp. Like any Grado preferably tube.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

I would bring your own PS1000s and your m903 so you can compare both phones and amps... this does sound like they need a stronger amp. Like any Grado preferably tube.

 They can sound a little sibilant and nasty out of an iShuffle, that's been my experience, but you'd think the Grace M903 would be more than capable of driving
 them.
 

 

[priest]

If you bought them off ebay do they look genuine? Were they sold at a large discount? I would think it would be relatively easy to mill a housing that looks like the PS1000, stick a crappy driver in there, and solder on some cables. What a huge margin on fake headphones. I hope that's not the case, but the question has to be asked.
 
If you were used to something with a thick, compressed sound, the expansive soundstage of the PS1000 might strike you as very different and perhaps not even to you liking, but probably not defective as it seems to be striking you. Of course, that is also a possibility. Are the Beats and the PortaPro your only other headphones? If so, that's a pretty unusual trio.

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

If you bought them off ebay do they look genuine? Were they sold at a large discount? I would think it would be relatively easy to mill a housing that looks like the PS1000, stick a crappy driver in there, and solder on some cables. What a huge margin on fake headphones. I hope that's not the case, but the question has to be asked.
 
If you were used to something with a thick, compressed sound, the expansive soundstage of the PS1000 might strike you as very different and perhaps not even to you liking, but probably not defective as it seems to be striking you. Of course, that is also a possibility. Are the Beats and the PortaPro your only other headphones? If so, that's a pretty unusual trio.

 This scenario did cross my mind, perhaps not a full blown clone - but perhaps a damaged and repaired PS1000 auctioned off eBay that now finds itself with a twin
 pair of cheapo generic drivers in the housings :-/