Grado PS1000 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 23 Dec 2014 10:49:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Grado PS1000 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Abyss 1266 Headphone Review https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/abyss-1266-headphone-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/abyss-1266-headphone-review/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2014 19:35:57 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=227670 If you were given the task of creating the world's best headphones how would you do it? American cable experts JPS Labs proposed the same question but took it a stage further by taking the lofty challenge head on. Targeting the wealthy audiophile audience, money was firmly a secondary factor for consideration. After many years …

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If you were given the task of creating the world's best headphones how would you do it? American cable experts JPS Labs proposed the same question but took it a stage further by taking the lofty challenge head on. Targeting the wealthy audiophile audience, money was firmly a secondary factor for consideration. After many years of research and development their planar magnetic Abyss 1266 headphones are the end result.

Just be sure to check your bank balance beforehand, because the price of admission is a heart stopping £4,254 inc vat.
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The Abyss 1266 are not a new headphone, they have been on the market now for more than a year- however I have spent a long time testing them with a variety of sources and amplifiers. Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

For most of my life I have been chasing the ‘perfect' sound, only to find it always just a little out of reach. In recent years I moved most of my audio hardware from loudspeaker oriented configurations to headphone related systems. Any free time I get from managing the KitGuru website and team, I will often be found in the corner of a room, sitting behind a wall of sound, lost in the music. It is a stressful life at times, and this is my chosen form of release.

For most ‘normal' people, the Abyss 1266 will remain firmly out of reach. If I told you they cost £4,254 inc vat (UK), I can picture the response. It has happened every time I have mentioned the price to colleagues, friends and fellow enthusiasts. People give me a look of horrified amazement – I am confident if I said I was going to give birth to triplets, the reaction would be similar.

There is no doubt it is a lot of money, but many audiophiles (I hate this term, it just sounds so self indulgent) have spent upwards of £100,000 on source, amplifier and speakers over the years. Let's not even get into the subject of cabling and isolation surfaces, thats a whole new subject for a different day. Suffice to say it is a painful, expensive hobby and often the rewards are not even close to the money invested. Achieving perfect audio reproduction is a life long dream for a very small percentage of people, myself included. If you don't fall into this category consider yourself fortunate.

Before I progress any further into this article, I would like to thank my good friend Gary Penska over at Analogue Seduction. Gary has often been on hand to let me trial and test amplifiers, headphones and source hardware. Gary doesn't advertise on KitGuru, so I feel ethically just giving him a shameless plug here. You can buy the Abyss 1266, along with the best audio hardware available, over here.

JPS Labs are an American company who have for years, specialised in high end audio cables. This move into headphones was seen at the time as a rather unusual decision. Abyss owner Joe Skubinski and his son Eric developed the AB-1266 from the ground up over a period of almost five years. This has been a long project driven by a desire to create something truly special. We would imagine to maintain long term funding of the 1266, they had to sell a lot of cables. Skubinski held a previous job as the service department manager in Bowers and Wilkins – a respected company renowned for high grade loudspeaker development. His pedigree isn't really in question.

The Abyss do not use a traditional ‘dynamic' driver. The planar magnetic driver consists of an exceptionally thin, almost film like planar membrane covered with a specific pattern of very thin conductive metal traces. These metal traces handle basically the same role as the voice coil wires will do in a traditional dynamic driver.

This membrane is formed to a fine tolerance of tension and then attached to a perimeter frame. This has the affect of positioning the diaphragm and the conductors into a finely tuned alignment with the array of magnets. When an audio signal is sent then the entire membrane structure is attracted to, or driven from the magnet array. This subsequently moves outward or inwards in reaction to the signal.

Other companies who have great success with planar drivers to this point, are Audeze and HiFi Man. I love the Audeze LCD3/LCDx headphones and the HiFi Man HE-6 – both class leaders at their respective price points. Along with the Sennheiser HD800, I could think of no better way to spend around a grand. An interesting point to make is that Magnepan, a US loudspeaker manufacturer use similar planar driver technology.

The Abyss 1266 are not an extremely difficult headphone to drive – unlike the iconic (and wonderful) STAX 009, which require special electrostatic capable amplifiers. There is a caveat however, as I will detail later in the review … while the Abyss can be driven by many cost effective amplifiers, they only sound at their best with a select few.

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Best Headphones money can buy – 2014 https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/best-headphones-money-can-buy-2014/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/best-headphones-money-can-buy-2014/#comments Mon, 05 May 2014 13:33:32 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=191147 KitGuru invest plenty of time into analysing and reviewing headphones, but they are generally ‘gaming grade' products, priced between £30 and £100. But what if you have a lot more cash on hand and want a set of headphones that will reveal every single detail from your precious vinyl, compact discs or high resolution audio …

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KitGuru invest plenty of time into analysing and reviewing headphones, but they are generally ‘gaming grade' products, priced between £30 and £100. But what if you have a lot more cash on hand and want a set of headphones that will reveal every single detail from your precious vinyl, compact discs or high resolution audio files?

Buying a set of ‘audiophile' grade headphones can be a very expensive undertaking. Not only do you often need to part with a grand (or more), but you need to ensure they are partnered up with serious amplification, otherwise it is a complete waste of time. We won't delve too much into dedicated headphone amplifiers today, but I will mention specific partnering equipment I have had great success with when talking about the headphones.
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Before I get into my top 10 headphones, I thought it would be worthwhile looking at a couple of pair of headphones which even today would challenge for the top position.

Gone but not Forgotten!

When I am not running KitGuru, I do take audio very seriously, I have probably spent hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years on audio equipment and have owned probably every single pair of exotic headphones you could buy, from the iconic Sony R10 to the Sennheiser Orpheus HE90. Both of these headphones actually make a serious claim to being THE best headphone ever made — however for the purposes of this article today, we have a problem – they are no longer in production.
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The Sony R10 headphones were based around a 50mm ‘Bio Cellulose Dome Diaphragm' and only 2,000 of them were ever made. At the time they cost £2,000 per pair, and prices now on the second hand market are often in excess of £5,000 – especially if the seller still has the original box and documentation. Sony tweaked the headphones over their short run period and owners have classified them into two categories. ‘Bass Light' and ‘Bass Heavy'. The headphone had real lambskin covered ear pads and the ear cups were made from aged wood from Zelkova trees. Sony did make other headphones with Bio Cellulose drivers, but the R10 are still seen as the best headphones they ever made. I own a pair of both bass light and heavy and while delicate to handle, they have a sound signature quite like no other.

I have had great success pairing these headphones up with the Ray Samuels Emmeline II B52 amplifier. They aren't particularly hard to drive, but will become more focused with well matched partnering equipment.
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The Sennheiser Orpheus HE90 is another headphone that is no longer in production. In the early 1990's Sennheiser asked their engineering team to create the best headphones they could – regardless of price. This is how the Orpheus HE90 came to life. Only 300 of these were ever made. At the time the asking price was around $16,000. I bought a pair of these for around £10,000 a decade ago and sold them two years later for £15,000. You may find a pair on ebay today for around £20,000-£25,000.

Each pair of He90's came bundled with a dedicated valve amplifier by Sennheiser – called the HEV 90. The amplifier had six valves, each protected by a steel casing.

This headphone setup apparently had a range of 7 to 100,000 hz, well beyond the rating of the human ear. There is a lot of debate on this subject, as many experts have argued that Compact Disc will never sound as good as vinyl due to the inherent roll off of red book digital discs at 20,000hz. Frequencies above this are argued to enhance the audio experience and this is part of the reason why a select audience still buy high grade vinyl discs. Super Audio CD has never really taken off, but I use a Cary CD303T SACD player and the difference between a standard CD and Super Audio CD is incredible. The only downside is the price of a SACD – they can often cost in excess of £50.

The Sennheiser Orpheus HE90 in my own humble view is the best headphone that money can buy, but like the Sony R10 headphones, it is no longer in production. If you listen to a complex, well recorded orchestral piece you could close your eyes and be transported to the actual event, when it was recorded. I don't think anything I have ever owned since then has came close.
grado HP1
Thanks to Joe for the use of his picture.

GRADO are a small family run business, who have a huge worldwide following. Before Joseph Grado handed over the company to his nephew John Grado, he created one of the best headphones that money could buy. The Grado HP1 is an iconic headphone that you may see listed on Ebay from time to time – as they are no longer made. They often sell in excess of £2,000 – depending on the condition.

Joseph Grado called these headphones ‘Professional Recording Monitor Headphones' and a percentage of them were sold to professional recording engineers and equipment designers who needed to analyse material they were mixing. Grado's design goal at the time was to control resonance which can plague headphones with a plastic housing. The earpieces are crafted from Machined Aluminum alloy parts, which are then brushed to improve the appearance. The company used a stainless steel spring rod which was padded with genuine leather. Every pair of these headphones were assembled by hand – by Joe Grado himself. At the time they cost $600 and their value has increased significantly.

I never found these headphones very hard to drive although as always, a high grade headphone amplifier would help to improve and tighen bass frequencies. They are a great pairing for rock and pop music and are very forgiving of poorly recorded material and compressed MP3's. The polarity switch was an interesting addition only featured on the HP1. The HP2 was the same headphone without the polarity switch and the HP3 was a lower grade version, not as closely matched.

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Grado PS1000 Headphones & Graham Slee Solo Super Ultra Linear Amp Review https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/zardon/grado-ps1000-headphones-graham-slee-solo-super-ultra-linear-amp-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/zardon/grado-ps1000-headphones-graham-slee-solo-super-ultra-linear-amp-review/#comments Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:48:10 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=36299 After our review of the GS1000i headphones we were inundated with emails, asking if we could review Grado's most expensive headphones, the elusive ‘Professional Series 1000' (PS1000). With a staggering retail price around £1,700 these are a serious purchase, for a very serious music lover. Grado headphones split opinion, some love the retro styling and …

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After our review of the GS1000i headphones we were inundated with emails, asking if we could review Grado's most expensive headphones, the elusive ‘Professional Series 1000' (PS1000). With a staggering retail price around £1,700 these are a serious purchase, for a very serious music lover.

Grado headphones split opinion, some love the retro styling and others just feel they look dated. At the end of the day however you don't buy a set of headphones to look at them, the sound quality is the all important aspect of a buying design.

Grado are a well known company who produce some of the finest headphones on the market. They hold 48 patents and Joseph Grado is credited as the inventor of the stereo moving coil phono cartridge and he is responsible for more innovations in phono cartridge design than any other person. He has been inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame. His nephew John Grado has taken control of the company and this is at heart a relatively small, family run business.

Their headphones are all a vented diaphragm design that incorporates a large air chamber. This design concept lowers the frequency reasonance (distortion) of the diaphragm and extends bass response. The diaphragm is made of a low mass polymer, carefully formed to broaden resonant modes to reduce their amplitude.

The PS1000 is their range topping headphone, and the only member of their ‘Professional Series'. It is a hybrid design which uses a specially selected series of hand crafted mahogany made using an intricate curing process. The outer coating is made of metal and is machined from a special non resonant, hard metal alloy which utilises a special processing and casting method to increase the porosity of the alloy. The combination of wood and metal is design to stop any ‘ringing' which can obscure fine detail and colour the audio. After much research and development Grado achieved a design which moves air without sound vibrations being affected by transient distortions.

The PS1000 also has a eight conductor cable design which incorpoates ultra high purity, long crystal copper to improve control and stability of the total range of the frequency spectrum. With the proprietary cushion design and reconfigured voice coil the headphones are said to produce the ultimate speed and accuracy response, while creating a musicality to make listening to music a pleasure.

Features:

  • Vented diaphragm
  • Hybrid air chamber
  • UHPLC copper voice coil wire
  • UHPLC copper connecting cord
Tranducer type dynamic
Operating principle open air
Frequency response 5-50
SPL 1mW 98
Normal impedance 32ohms
Driver matched db .0

Having an expensive set of headphones is pointless if the rest of the system build is incapable of delivering the quality of signal we need. This is where Graham Slee comes into the equation.

I have been using Graham Slee amplifiers for many years now, and when we reviewed the Grado GS1000i headphones, we used his excellent ‘Solo SRGII' headphone amplifier with upgraded ‘PSU1' power supply. His new flagship headphone amplifier is called the ‘Solo Ultra-Linear' and it has been designed by Graham himself to take all the good aspects of valves/tubes into the modern age. This amplifier is causing quite a stir among audiophile circles as Graham has created a completely unique design to mimic a warm valve sound.

“It's been my intention to recreate the (original) valve sound for years simply because I liked the valve sound of yesteryear, but as I didn't fancy high tension voltages up my arm developing the circuits, I wanted to do it in solid state. Most people would think that's impossible but it isn't as I'll explain, but first I'll tell you why it was worth the effort…

Those who can recall the valve sound, or who listen using what I term a real valve amp, will be able to relate to this…

Valves sounded warmer but not over-warm – they rendered the bass much more naturally in a much less restricted way than solid state.

The valve scored in the presence band (what's now called midrange) communicating the feel of the music so you didn't have to try to get into it.

The highs sounded much clearer – not edgy – so you could easily discern between similarly sounding instruments

But mainly they made music something everyone enjoyed – families would gather round the valve set, listen, hear and enjoy, but I never saw that with solid state. The main thing I recall is being drawn into the music and being able to picture the images being painted in my mind. The valve always “told the story” better!

Good valve amps are pricey but solid state can be made much more affordable – wouldn't it be great if we could make it work?

Various arguments have been put forth as to why solid state cannot do the valve trick and the internet carries numerous points of view – some quite forceful, but still no solution. However, we touched on it to varying degrees with our earlier phono preamps but didn't fully understand how. In a way the Era Gold V and early Reflex phono preamps were almost there, with customers and reviewers suggesting they had valve-like qualities.

The Ultra-Linear technology is the result of two years almost solid research, exhaustive development and testing. We researched how to mimic all the valve’s characteristics to improve our products. What we found was that a number of op-amps (integrated circuits) could be made to perform just like valves – discrete transistor circuits being far less predictable. Graham Slee's products with Ultra-Linear technology feature significantly wider bandwidth (they go to higher frequencies) before negative feedback is applied – just like the best valve amps. What a breakthrough – valve sound at less than high-end prices!

We call this innovation Ultra-Linear because that was the tag used to describe the great performance of the best sounding valve amps that first made their appearance in the mid 1940's. These techniques vastly reduce the phase modulation distortion and linearity distortions that are hard for solid-state audio designers to perceive let alone measure. Ultra-Linear technology will feature in our top of the line products like the Solo Ultra-Linear headphone amplifier. More products will benefit from this new technology including the Reflex, Revelation and Gram Amp 3 Fanfare phono preamps plus the Elevator EXP MC step-up amplifier.

Natural like a valve: solid as a rock!

Graham Slee”

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