Headphones
Grado GS-1000i
There's a tendency for people to keep raising the volume on headphones to improve detail in the highs and get more impact in the lows, but jacking the jams can result in permanent damage to your hearing, a terrible thing for all of us seeking a wonderful lifetime of headphone listening enjoyment. Featuring a nicely tipped-up response in the lows and highs, the Grado GS-1000i is one of the very best headphones for perfect low volume listening. You'll get the famous Grado signature musical immediacy and timbral transparency at safe listening levels with these great cans. Fletcher and Munson would approve.
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Product Features:
- Lush and liquid sound at safe listening levels.
- Replaceable earpads for long use life.
- Made in the USA
What's In The Box:
- Grado 15 foot extension cable
- Grado 1/4"-to-1/8" mini-plug adapter
It took 300 years for science to understand the craftsmanship found in a Stradivarius violin. We think science has done a pretty good job of delivering neutral and articulate audio reproduction, but we also believe that science can only shoot for a technical ideal. As soon as you ask science to give you an emotional or subjective result like 'bloom' or 'warmth', pure technologists will just stare at you with a blank expression. The family-run operation at Brooklyn's small Grado Labs have spent years traveling the lonely road of craftsmanship searching for a highly personal and subjective audio goal. Largely turning a blind eye to science, they've tweaked & twiddled tirelessly on their USA-built Grado line of headphones to produce audio reproduction that suits a particular listening taste and desire. And the GS-1000i is amongst John Grado's finest efforts to achieve this rarified ideal.
A quick look at our scientifically-measured frequency response graphs of the GS-1000i and you'll note that they have something resembling a "U" shaped response with significant peaks in both bass and treble. When we listen to these cans at solid listening levels [+90dB] we find these sonic artifacts can be non-neutral. But as sophisticated headphone afficionados know well, listening for long periods of time at high volumes is a risky thing to do for your hearing. All of us here at HeadRoom are quite careful to stay at fairly low levels when having extended listening sessions. But we've also discovered low-level listening often lacks the intense engagement we always like to have with our music. The reason is simple: an understanding of the Fletcher-Munson Equal Loudness Contour Curve reveals that you need to considerably tip up the bass and the treble response to get the audio to sound 'flat' at lower volumes (remember those 'loudness' buttons on old stereos!) Well guess what, the Grado GS-1000i has a frequency response curve that looks remarkably similar to Fletcher-Munson, meaning its just about perfectly right for low-level listening. In extended sessions, we found these headphones deliver low-volume listening satisfaction with simply no other equal in this regard.
Creamy and lush, these cans bring a lot of fun back to the type of listening we do every single day around here. They may not necessarily be the ultimate last word in reference cans for the recording/mastering engineer, but for the sheer fun of excellent quiet listening, they just can't be beat. We heartily recommend them for all low-level, long-term listening applications. The GS1000i is even a whole lot of fun to listen to out an iPod or Mp3 player without requiring the use of a dedicated headphone amp. We can only imagine the impressed looks you'll get bumpin' this woody pony on a busy city street or at your next groovy headphone party... Rock On!
The new Grado 'GS-1000i' design improves upon the headphone cord & hardware construction of previous editions. The "i" also employs a new wood species used in the manufacturing, which offers a uniform cosmetic coloration compared to the older models more varied "hand-tooled" look. Their overall aspect is somewhat similar to other Grado wood-earpiece cans like the RS-1 and RS-2, but this one falls more into the behemoth category in its overall sizing & styling...everything's really BIG on the GS-1000i! They sport large mahogany wood ear pieces, large foam-padded earcups, and the traditional--albeit slightly larger and wider--Grado retro-stylish, leather-covered headband with individually adjustable bail slides for fit adjustments. The oversize circumaural foam earpads are the hole-in-the-middle 'donut' style and they are quite a bit bigger than any of the other Grado earpads, which makes the GS-1000i more comfortable to wear for extended periods than the Grados of yore. The headphone cable uses a quite beefy 9-foot Grado two-sided "Y" cord terminated in a full-sized 1/4" inch stereo plug.
The Grado GS-1000i handily includes both the Grado 15-foot headphone cable extension and the Grado 1/4"-to-1/8" mini-plug adapter and arrives in a hard-sided carboard packaging box.
Specifications:
- Cord Type: Straight Y
- Coupler Size: Large
- Manufacturer Warranty: 1 Year
- Microphone: No
- Weight: 11
- Cord Length: 6.5 ft.
- Detachable Cable: No
- Driver Type: Dynamic
- Isolation: 0
- Ear Coupler Type: Full-Size
- Connector Type: 1/4" with 1/8" adaptor
- Impedance @ 1kHz: 32
- Wireless: No
- Noise Cancelling: No
- Sensitivity: 98 dB/mV
- Headphone Type: Full Size
- Warranty: 1 Year
- Acoustic Seal: Open
Additional Resources:
- Manufacturer's Website
- Grado Labs website
- Product Reviews
- Playback Magazine jan 08
- 6moons, Ryan Clarin
Average Rating
Posted by VinnieVidi from NYC on 2010-01-29
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Sound, collapsable, looks, easy to drive
Cons: Comfort
I can agree with the other review that they can be uncomfortable. But for me, the sound of the GS1000i paired with a Technics SL1200 is an unique experience.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Posted by dointhefish from NYC on 2010-01-25
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Terrific sound all over the spectrum
Cons: Uncomfortable :-(
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you?
