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Re: Grado HF-2 thread
Finally got a chance to hear the Grado HF-2 today at absorbine's when Beely brought his set to the meeting. Not only that, he was nice enough to loan them to me as well. Listened a bit at Mike's on the Zana, and my first thought was "whoa, this sounds pretty much like a PS-1", or as what Jim calls them, baby ps-1's.
Fired them up a bit on the moth this evening, and I am really really really impressed. I can't get over how much they remind me of the PS-1's, but the bass is not as big, which to my ears is a good thing. I have always listened to and preferred bowls on the PS-1's, but even then the bass can get a bit overbearing. With the HF-2 I found it to share the same fullness in the mids but slightly lesser bass which I find to be more balanced. The top end has a nice sparkle on top without the sizzle that plagues some of the John grados, and I do feel it has a similar cohesiveness, a liquidity that runs from bottom to top with a nice full sound, very enjoyable.
Other than the slightly less bass quantity, I found that the HF-2 did NOT have the upper midrange glare, what I call "shout" that I have heard on practically every John Grado can, including the post vintage RS-1's, PS-1, and GS1000. On first impression I find them even more balanced than the PS-1, the PS-1 was to me the most balanced and refined John Grado can though the bass being a bit too heavy and the upper midrange shout still present. The HF-2 to my ears doesn't have those 2 issues hence why I find them more balanced. I would be curious to hear the PS-1000's as Todd as described the HF-2 as a baby ps1000. All impressions are with bowls - the flats make them sound very weird to me, more closed in, the bass becomes muddy and congested, just like how the PS-1 sounds to my ears on flats, somewhat unlistenable to me past 5 minutes. Also it has been maybe a couple of months since I have had PS-1's in house so take the acoustic memory effect into...effect.
Build quality - at least on Billy's pair the glue on the rim of the inner wooden chamber to the outer aluminum chamber is done pretty nicely. I was surpised to see that the whole inner chamber, even the part that is within the outer enclosure, is wood, and it appears the aluminum is braced around a wooden chamber. Interesting. I wish the etching of the letters was maybe a bit deeper, but I don't feel like playing the les garten card either.
I am happy with my order with Todd, and I shall continue to bother Todd about shipment with a call tomorrow. I would also like to thank Billy for loaning them out to me, he probably was getting annoyed by how often I bug him about them
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Originally Posted by recstar24
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