postjack

Update: The GS-1000 does club/dance music better then any can I have ever heard. Its too bad I don't listen to too much of this, because damn! Pounding bass and tons of air, stereo effects border on the eargasmic. Wow!

I want to see jpak's password!

I did try them with flats, and they aren't bright, but the bass is a little ridiculous.

Okay, this is based on just one night of listening, and during this night I kept switching back to the W5000 because I want to listen to it as well. This is the problem with buying two high end cans at the same time I guess. The previous owner claims to have about 3 hours on the cans, so after last night bring that total to about 5 or 6. I'm not a huge believer in burn-in past the 20 or so hour mark. On bright recordings, the GS1000 is sibilant. No way around it. Some people say that this is the case with "bad" recordings. Well I don't think say, the Depeche Mode SACDs are bad recordings at all, they are just bright. With the GS1000, Gahan's vocals get all slippery and fly up into the highs, and the result is sibilance. Now I know I've been talking about vinyl a lot lately, but with vinyl this is not so much of an issue, because vinyl simply cannot get as bright as redbook: too much treble and the needle would pop off the record. So I did a lot of listening with vinyl and the GS1000 last night. But this is not to say the GS-1000 is sibilant with all redbook. Lets talk about bass. I listened to Massive Attack's Mezzanine last night, and was pretty doped up by the bass response. Flowing, pulsing, and very alive sounding, but never once did I really feel the bass was "out of control". And while the highs were certainly bright, they did not approach sibilance. Vocals, both male and female, were smooth, lifelike, and imaged well. Tangent: One of the biggest differences between my current amps (Melos and Dynahi) and my old amp (PPX3 Slam) is the bass. The Slam really accentuated the bass. To illustrate, I rarely ever listened to the RS-1s with flats with the Slam, because the bass was so prevalent it drowned out any semblance of a soundstage. With bowls the bass was excellent. With the Melos and the RS-1, flats is definitely the way to go. With bowls the sound is a bit tinny and thin. With flats the bass is excellent. I really hate blaming amplification for what sounds like a headphone's inherent flaw, but basically thats what I'm doing here. I think reports of out of control bass with the GS-1000 could be more due to amplification not appropriate to Grados in general. Or it could just be my ears. End Tangent There was maybe one time on one album when the bass briefly sounded a little hokey and inaccurate, but I can't remember what recording that was. The much talked about soundstage is nice and kind of neat with a Grado. The midrange is not as recessed as I thought it would be, sometimes I still got a hint of that Grado midrange magic, but not nearly on the level of an RS-1 or HP-2. More listening is required to do a better evaluation. At least at this point, I do not think the GS-1000 does dynamics well. Earlier I talked about Gahan's vocals getting slippery and flying off into sibilant space. When a sound goes from one spectrum to another, especially when it is leaving the midrange and heads into the highs, it gets confused and sibilant. This could change with "burn-in", but again I'm not a huge burn-in guy. I found the GS-1000 is not a great straight rock can. It performed well with slower folky type rock (Wilco Sky Blue Sky: in general acoustic instruments have a nice timbre to them) and with more consistent electronic type fare (aforementioned Massive Attack) and with some 80s era type new wavish pop (Talking Heads, New Order). I haven't listened to any jazz yet. With some recordings I could crank up the volume comfortably, but with others the shrillness of the highs was simply too much. In short, the GS-1000 is a drastically different can then any other Grado I've heard before, which includes the SR60, SR225, SR325i, RS-1, and HP-2. The GS-1000 has some good things going for it. The bagels are ultra-comfortable, there is a rather nice soundstage that I think is unique in the headphone world, acoustic instruments and some vocals sound pleasant, and in my opinion, on my system, the bass is fantastic. Having said those nice things, the shrill and sometimes sibilant highs make me think that the GS-1000 just might be a fundamentally flawed can, which is a sad thing to say about a headphone that approaches a four digit MSRP. A bit more listening time will tell if this is the case.

Every time I go from a Grado or Sennheiser back to the W5000, there are always a few minutes of "what the hell is going on with this can"? Its just so different then anything else I've heard. But after a few minutes my brain settles in and I start tapping my foot and bobbing my head. Its a pratty and definitely exciting can. I can definitely see how someone could really fall for this sound; the only thing left for me to decide is if I'll fall for it. Again, vinyl sounds better with them then digital, but digital sounds better with them then it does with Sennheisers.

One and the same. First impressions: these cans smell amazing. Thats weird, I know, but they smell great.

There is an odd mark that looks like an imperfection on the wood that shows up under T in "statement" in a few of the photos. Can't for the life of me figure out what is causing that, because it definitely isn't there when I look at them. Impressions to come!

Interesting. Since I bought my HP-2 and Melos I've pretty much only used flats on the RS-1. I might try the crushed bowls someday, but I'm quite pleased with their current sound.

Why not just buy flats?

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Earl.

Closed Can Rule #1 - Ain't no sound comin' out the other end, its all going in one direction: your ears. Turn the volume down, boy. come over there and smack yer mouth boy...

Day 2: There is definitely something attractive about the W5000 sound. All day at work I was itching to get home and get the cans back on my head, even though the previous night's listening had been fatiguing. So far, I'm listening to Ryan Adams Cold Roses, a very warm, well-recorded acoustic alt-countryish affair. Lots of ballad type numbers, but the performances are intimate. The biggest difference between tonight and last night is I'm not cranking the volume to HP-2 or, even worse, HD650 levels. These cans are much, much more enjoyable at a more moderate volume. I'm not feeling the heat of the upper midrange at all now, really. This volume issue could be a closed can thing. The only other closed can I've owned was the DT770/80, and my time with them was very brief.

welcome to head-case kontai! i've still got the HD650s you sold me back in November. still some of my favorite cans.

or maybe its some kind of Grand Illusion? "But dont be fooled by the radio The tv or the magazines They show you photographs of how your life should be But they're just someone elses fantasy So if you think your life is complete confusion Because you never win the game Just remember that its a grand illusion And deep inside we're all the same. We're all the same..."

Ooh! Good idea.

Thats weird, I get the mapleshade catalog as well and I have no idea why. i don't think I've ever ordered from them.

I like looking at audio catalogs, like real tangible catalogs. So far I have received the Music Direct catalog (awesome), the Audio Advisor catalog (pretty good as well), and the Elusive Disc catalog (soooo crappy, just a black and white print out stapled together). Any other cool audio type catalogs you can recommend?

happy birthday! thanks for telling me about head-case.

Got a package from Israel today: Its hard to capture the beauty of the wood with my limited photography skills, but they really are gorgeous to look at. First impressions: yeeeeeouch! Man that is a loud upper midrange. \ Which is a shame because a) that is where a lot of my favorite vocals are, and obviously my preference for Grados shows I love a silky warm midrange, and because these cans get so much else right. Midbass (bass guitar) is wonderfully textured and natural sounding, drums have amazing snap & crack and are very lifelike. And actually the highest highs are sweet, not overly bright like the upper midrange/lower highs. The AT fitting system is very comfortable on my large head. I've done brief comparisons with the Melos and the Dynahi, initial impressions prefer the Melos, but I still want to do more listening. Can't say whether or not these are a keeper yet.

honestly I love the ksc-75 straight out of my iPod shuffle. the fit is great, and they stay put when I run. tough little buggers they are.

Its kind of hard for me to pick a favorite band anymore, but if I based this choice purely on the amount of music I own by a certain band, Depeche Mode would win. All the singles boxes, most of the albums on redbook, all of the albums on sacd plus the last two on preorder, a few of the full length albums on vinyl, and even more singles on vinyl. I just never seem to get tired of them.

i vote apache b/c it has teh cool naem its like an army airplane armyt hav waepons & blood fite

Received the expansion kit yesterday, installed it this afternoon. I also moved the rack into the adjoining room so that it would rest on a hard wood floor instead of a carpet. This was a good move, the rack is much more stable. This could also be due to the installation of the expansion kit. Installation was again pretty simple. I've read about other folks pulling their hair out trying to set these things up, but to me its very easy and calming, almost meditative. I see how it could be tedious for someone who hates putting things together, but come on, building things is fun. The metal Boltz look doesn't really jive with the rest of the stuff in my bedroom and office/listening room, which is all dark wood, but functionality and ease of use is high. And its definitely more attractive then my LP storage solution:

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina41.htm Of all the bullshit audio tweaks, this takes the cake. Of course, what do you expect from the makers of Magic Pebbles? "The Clever Little Clock is a small, battery-powered travel alarm clock that has been extensively modified using a number of highly-specialized techniques. The Clever Little Clock does not plug into the wall and has no direct or indirect influence on the "audio signal" per se -- not on house wiring, audio components, cables, interconnects, power cords or acoustic waves in the room. Yet the Clock has a pronounced affect on the sound heard by listeners in the room. In addition, any video systems in the house will be improved - the picture will be clearer, with better contrast and color saturation." So they are basically not going to even try to use a bunch of fancy language to explain how the Clever Little Clock works. To me, it sounds like the Clever Little Clock might have a Clever Little Hit Of LSD inside that the end user eats. That is the only way to explain its supposed effects.

Something is going on with your post there, DigiPete. I just bought last night: Country Joe & The Fish - Together Price: $3.00 Holly, Buddy - 20 Golden Greats Price: $3.00 Little Feat - Down On The Farm Price: $3.00 Little Feat - Sailin' Shoes Price: $3.00 Little Feat - The Last Record Album Price: $3.00 McDonald, Country Joe - War War War Price: $3.00 Fixx, The - React Price: $3.00 Hunter, Robert - Jack O'Roses Price: $3.00 Revolting Cocks - Live! Price: $3.00 Return To Forever (Chick Corea) - Musicmagic Price: $3.00 Weather Report - Mr Gone Price: $3.00 Weather Report - Sportin' Life Price: $3.00 Weather Report - This Is This Price: $3.00 I never thought I would own so many Revolting Cocks' albums, but now I own three full lengths and the "Beers, Steers, & Queers" single, all vinyl. I remember searching for these albums on CD when I was in grade school and high school.