Grado PS1000

UK distibutor, Armour Home, can give you list of dealers:

info@armourhome.co.uk

01279 50111

And yes, to get best from headphones at this level you preferably need a dedicated headphone amp, or at least a stereo amp with an above-average headphone output 

Clare,

Many thanks for this! When you say high output, do you mean in terms of volume/power or otherwise? Would I simply get suboptimal sound if I connect to my ipod or no sound because of the headphone's high impedance or some such?

The PS1000s at 32Ohms are low impedance, contrary to what a lot of people say that makes them hard to drive as they will need a good amount of current, they will go loud but will suffer from noise issues and bass roll-off if not properly amped.

Thanks! I have to admit I am confused. Would a headphone amp provide less current than an iPod? What amp would you recommend for these headphones?

A decent headphone amp would certainly be able to provide much more current than an ipod, also it's worth noting that at the same time it will improve the sound quality as the source no longer has the strain of the low impedance load.

I haven't had the pleasure of listening to the PS1000s myself, if it's of any help, I own a pair of HF2s a "baby" version of them. They sound great from my DIY M3, which features a high-current MOSFET output stage and I also liked them out of the Sugden Headmaster.

I believe a couple of members of this forum have reported great things with the better Graham Slee amps.

Graham Slee? Interesting. Will take a look at it. Just to make sure I'm clear, do you need more current or less for the PS1000? If it has low impedance, I would have thought that it needs lower level signal compared to a higher impedance headphone, no? So, following this logic, you an iPod should do (in theory) work better with it than a dedicated headphone amp. Or am I confusing things big time?

hi Polosatik.

I think with such Hi end headphones you would be disappointed connecting directly to an ipod where you probably have compressed tracks and also you will be using the ipods DAC which is great for normal iPod listening on the move etc,

I would recommend you go from the PC via a DAC (Benchmark gets good reviews and has a high quality headphone amp to boot). PC to DAC connection would depend what model DAC you buy - asynchronous USB seems to be attracting lots of rave reviews. I have not heard such a connection as I use optical into my CA Dacmagic.

I have Grado GS 1000i driven by a Graham Slee solo amp via the CA DAC and they sound amazing. So the PS1000s with appropriate DAC/amp should be stupendous.

Good luck

 

 

Thanks a lot! Now I just have to find a dealer that stocks them Have sent an email to the folks at Armourhome.co.uk. Hopefully they can point me in the right direction!

Oh, one more question. My computers (both PC and notebook) only seem to have USB output (or HDMI but that seems irrelevant). But no optical Is USB worse than optical? Also, when you say asyncronous USB - is this a special kind of USB cable or a different port? I'm sorry for lots of really stupid quesitons.

 I am not totally sure what asynchronous USb does but I understand that it removes jitter caused by the pc usb clock not being constant and varying slightly the bit rate (data flow)

The async dac takes control of the packets of data (your music in ones and zeros) and uses a much more precise timing clock. It aslo allows up to 96 kHz and 24 bit files to be played whilst non async usb dacs only play up to 44.1 khz/16 bit files (although they will play the hi res files via optical)

The usb cable is no different and you would use a normal usb connection from your PC. The dac does the clever stuff.

Some PC's give optical out via the headphone connection via special adapter (but not expensive) so it may be worth checking your manual

This is my limited understanding but I am sure others with more knowledge will pitch in with advice

 

Polosatik:

...Just to make sure I'm clear, do you need more current or less for the PS1000? If it has low impedance, I would have thought that it needs lower level signal compared to a higher impedance headphone, no? So, following this logic, you an iPod should do (in theory) work better with it than a dedicated headphone amp. Or am I confusing things big time?

Hehe. Sorry for the confusion.

We are talking about Resistive Impedance, an opposing force to the AC in a circuit, in this case the audio signal. The lower the resistive load of the upstream component, in this case the transducer's coils, the more current the component will draw from the amplifier. This is the stumbling block of many amplifier designs as they can't provide the current, it's actually easier to design an amp to drive high impedance phones. So yes the PS1000s will demand more current then say a pair of Sennheiser HD650s at 300 Ohms.

Hope this clears it up for you!

Thanks! I think I have understood

Have just had a HUGE disappointment. Contacted Armour Home to ask for details of retailers who might stock the PS1000. They suggested Sevenoaks and Richer Sounds. One of the Richer Sounds shops I called said they didn't even have it on their system so couldn't order it for me. The Sevenoaks shop I contacted confirmed they could order it, said they would need a deposit (which was fine), took my details but then called later in the day to say that Armour Home doesn't have a single PS1000 in stock - and won't have one available until.... APRIL!!!

Am completely destroyed