Grado | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Sun, 08 Oct 2017 08:38:44 +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 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Grado PS2000e Headphones giveaway winner announced! https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/grado-ps2000e-headphones-giveaway-winner-announced/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/grado-ps2000e-headphones-giveaway-winner-announced/#comments Mon, 02 Oct 2017 08:44:51 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=348460 We capped off our recent string of high-end audio giveaways last week with the Grado PS2000e. We put these £2,700 headphones up for grabs to readers worldwide. Thousands of you entered and now that we've had a chance to go through the entries, today we will be announcing the winner! The Grado PS2000e is the …

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We capped off our recent string of high-end audio giveaways last week with the Grado PS2000e. We put these £2,700 headphones up for grabs to readers worldwide. Thousands of you entered and now that we've had a chance to go through the entries, today we will be announcing the winner!

The Grado PS2000e is the company's first new flagship headphone in a decade, incorporating a brand new proprietary driver design to enhance the overall experience. We came away very impressed during our review, praising these headphones for their impactful sub bass and sound staging. Now, it is time to pass these headphones on to one lucky reader and hear their thoughts.

Without further ado, our winner is… Tarik Forren from Norway! We will be in touch with you shortly, so keep an eye on your email inbox. If you didn't win this time, then keep an eye out as we tend to run giveaways fairly often.

KitGuru Says: Congrats to Tarik! We hope you enjoy your prize.

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Win and review a pair of Grado PS2000e Headphones worth £2,700! https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/win-and-review-a-pair-of-grado-ps2000e-headphones-worth-2700/ Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:51:42 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=347292 Fancy getting your hands on an ultra high-end headphone? Then look no further!

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Earlier this week we began teasing another high-end audio giveaway. If you keep a close eye on the KitGuru front page, then you may have noticed that recently, we reviewed the Grado PS2000e – a flagship pair of headphones worth a whopping £2,700. Today, we are pleased to say that we are giving you the chance to win them, all we ask for in return is that you share your thoughts with us afterwards.

This is Grado's first new flagship headphone in a decade, incorporating a brand new proprietary driver design to enhance the overall experience. Needless to say, we came away very impressed during our review, praising these headphones for their impactful sub bass and sound staging.

So, how can you go about winning a pair of these ultra high-end headphones? In order to enter, all you need to do is send an email over to ‘competitions2017@kitguru.net', with the subject line ‘I want to win Grado's flagship headphone!'. If you have an email client installed on your OS- click the following link for autofill Email KitGuru by clicking here. In the email, please include a photo of your current pair of headphones, along with a link to your Facebook or Twitter page so we can verify you're a real person and not a bot.

Sorry to those readers without a Facebook or Twitter account, but we try to reduce the amount of people abusing the system and sending entries from multiple email accounts. If you do not send a Facebook or Twitter link to a live account page, your entry will be ignored.

This competition is open globally, although if you are outside the European Union we are not responsible any for customs fees you may incur. Please check with your country officials to get details on possible tariffs if you are unsure. We clearly mark the package as ‘competition prize'.

All entries must reach us by 11:59 PM (UK time) on the 29th of September 2017. Winners will be announced within 30 days of the closing date (although likely much sooner). All decisions made by KitGuru staff are final. There can only be one entry per reader.

KitGuru Says: Good luck!

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Grado GH2 Heritage Series £650 headphone winner announced! https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/grado-gh2-heritage-series-650-headphone-winner-announced/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/announcements/matthew-wilson/grado-gh2-heritage-series-650-headphone-winner-announced/#respond Wed, 20 Sep 2017 11:29:29 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=347139 A few weeks back, we decided to continue our series of high-end audio giveaways by offering you guys the chance to win the incredible Grado GH2 Heritage Series headphones. These are a £650 headphone and very limited edition, with just 1,200 being made in the world. We've had a chance to comb through the thousands of …

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A few weeks back, we decided to continue our series of high-end audio giveaways by offering you guys the chance to win the incredible Grado GH2 Heritage Series headphones. These are a £650 headphone and very limited edition, with just 1,200 being made in the world. We've had a chance to comb through the thousands of entries and today, we are happy to announce a winner. 

We posted a review of the Grado GH2 Heritage headphones in August, praising the beautiful wood finish and finely tuned sound drivers. These are excellent headphones and once they are sold out, it is unlikely they will pop up for sale ever again.

In order to enter this particular giveaway, all we needed was an email from you with a picture of your current headphones. Now without further ado, the winner of the Grado GH2 headphones is… Nils Hellstrom from Sweden! Nils was previously using a pair of Apple earbuds as his main set of headphones, so this will be quite the upgrade.

If you didn't win this time, then keep your eyes peeled later this week as we have another exciting headphone giveaway planned and ready to go!

KitGuru Says: Congrats to Nils for winning this one! For everyone else, keep an eye out over the next couple of days because we have more to come. 

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Grado PS2000e Headphones review – the 2017 £2,700 flagship https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/grado-ps2000e-headphones-review-the-2017-2700-flagship/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-reviews/zardon/grado-ps2000e-headphones-review-the-2017-2700-flagship/#comments Fri, 15 Sep 2017 18:25:14 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=346784 This is the new 2017 £2,700 Grado flagship headphone with 2 years of development and a new driver.

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I have reviewed many Grado headphones over the years, and today I look at the companies 2017 flagship model – their first in over a decade with two years of development behind it. They claim the PS2000e headphone incorporates a brand new proprietary driver design to enhance the overall experience – so it is an exciting time for Grado.

Unfortunately headphone prices seem to be rising in recent years and the PS2000e are no exception – they hit the UK market at a staggering £2,700 retail. Interestingly, the previous Grado PS1000e flagship is £1,700 —  or £1000 less.

For a relatively small Brooklyn based family company Grado have a huge global following, Over the years they have released some simply wonderful, thoroughly enjoyable to listen to headphones. I recently reviewed the limited edition GH2 Heritage Edition headphones and I loved the refined sound signature. I can't honestly say I have always been a big fan of John's designs when he took over the company in 1990 – certainly not in the same way I enjoyed his uncle Joe's creations before. That said, the GH2 made me re-evaluate their current direction, particularly their use of different wood types around the drivers. It really does make a difference.

The PS1000 flagship was a great headphone, but I noticed a bizarre variance between 3 or 4 headphones I listened to over the years at various meets- none of them sounded exactly the same. The PS1000e was a better built headphone – slightly less treble accentuated and much more suited to my own personal hearing. When the PS2000e landed with me a few weeks ago, I felt rather fortunate to be one of the first people in the UK to get my hands on them. What exactly have they changed? Well before I get into that, a little background history first.

Eight or so years ago I was involved in a rather serious motorbike accident and one of the many tests they made me take was to check my hearing wasn’t badly affected by the considerable impact against a car – they do this test on a fairly regular basis, even today. My audio response rates basically at the upper end of the spectrum – a reassuring fact to know, especially as many other parts of my body weren’t quite so lucky.

I only mention this – not to boast that my hearing is great, but to give a little perspective to audio reviews you may read online. When KitGuru tests much of the hardware we get to review – there are quantifiable benchmark figures we can present. Frames per second, the watts demand under load, temperature curves and clock speeds. Its not quite so scientific when we test audio gear.

Much of the enjoyment taken with listening to music is based on many (non scientific) factors –  do you like very pronounced high frequencies to extract every little bit of micro detail? Do you prefer a sweet mid range to enjoy those sultry female vocals? It is worth pointing out that the quality of your hearing also plays a significant factor.

If your hearing has lost a little of the frequency range response (and its likely to happen the older you get) then a headphone deemed as ‘bright‘ could actually work out better for you. One of my friends is firmly what I would call a ‘bass head’ – so any headphone he wants to wear has to rock his teeth out, otherwise he would simply say ‘Total crap’. That is about as unscientific as you can get.

Personally, I tend to favour a fairly neutral curve without any specific frequency range dominating the experience. I do love the Stax 009 headphones, but not for specific genres. They extract great detail from many of my classical recordings, but they are not ideal when you want to enjoy classic rock. The Abyss 1266, Grado HP1 and Audeze LCD4 tend to excel in that particular category, each having their own distinctive sound signature.

Many headphones (and amplifiers/cables) do add their own sound characteristic to the mix, but I would prefer to err on the warm side of neutral, if given a choice.

While I could discuss many headphones today, the three that win most of my head time are the (right) Hi-Fi Man HE1000 (Rev. 2 with Kimber Cable), (left) Sennheiser HD800S (with Cardas Cable) and the Sony MDR-Z1R. I had planned to review the HE1000 Rev 2 at the time of launch, but I got rather ill at the time and ended up forced into surgery, so I sadly consider this a missed opportunity for KitGuru.

For those interested, I did cover other headphones and configurations in previous articles which you can see HERE, HERE and HERE. I will be making some changes as those articles are now a little out of date, but all in due time.

Grado PS2000e Headphones Audio Specs:
Transducer Type: Dynamic
Operating Principle: Open Air
Frequency Response: 5 – 50,000 hz
SPL 1mW: 99.8 dB
Nominal Impedance: 32 ohms
Driver Matched dB: .05 dB

Included Accessories:
Headphones, Warranty, Grado story-sheet, 3.5mm mini adapter, extension cable. A 4-pin XLR balance cable option is available.

Review photography handled in house at KitGuru with a Leica S series medium format camera and S series prime lens. Please do not use any of the images within this review without express permission.

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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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Grado GS1000i Statement Series Headphones Review https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-announcement/zardon/grado-gs1000i-statement-series-headphones-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-announcement/zardon/grado-gs1000i-statement-series-headphones-review/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:52:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=35456 Many of our readers might not have heard of Grado, however in audiophile circles they are known as one of the best headphone manufacturers on the planet. They have been in the Audio industry for over 50 years now and are one of the leaders in design engineering for the high end audio and recording …

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Many of our readers might not have heard of Grado, however in audiophile circles they are known as one of the best headphone manufacturers on the planet. They have been in the Audio industry for over 50 years now and are one of the leaders in design engineering for the high end audio and recording industries.

The company 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 was inducted into the Audio Hall of Fame in 1982.

John Grado

Joseph Grado passed over the company control to his nephew John Grado who started work sweeping the floors of the company at 12 years old. He is now President and owner of Grado Laboratories. Carrying on the family tradition, John has been central to the development of the Prestige, Reference, Statement and Professional Series of Headphones.

All Grado headphones have a vented diaphragm design that incorporates a large air chamber. This design concept lowers the frequency resonance (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.

Grado have five ranges of headphones. The In Ear Series, The Prestige Series, Reference Series, Statement Series and Professional Series. The mainstream Prestige Series headphones, such as the SR80i and SR125i offer great quality audio for very reasonable prices, once you get to the Reference Series you will certainly feel the bank balance start to dwindle.

We are looking today at the second highest model in their range, the GS1000i which received the ‘i' (improved) updated tag in recent years. They retail for around £950 in the UK, so they are certainly not an impulse buy. The best question is however, are they really worth the money?

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