Grado PS500

I know Grado has made some not so great headphones in recent memory, but the original PS500 I regard as a kind of happy mistake (the measurements on these were pretty darn funky: http://static.changstar.com/www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,540.0.html)

I recently traded for a pair of these this week, and have found them to be a pretty fun, if extremely mid bassy set. By no means are they technically competent, but damn are they enjoyable.

 

fukin shill.

 

the PS500 is the most "normal" sounding Grado headphone

but its still a grado, which is to say colored piece of shit

 

Having owned too many damn grados, I say this is my second favorite. It's pretty good, more neutral than my original GS1k (though that's a really low bar), but it's got a f'ing 2-D soundstage. That's part of the grado house sound, from what I can tell. Fun headphone? Kinda, not as fun as the LCD-X or the TH900. You find a pair for under $300 and it's a great deal, but don't go out of your way to find a pair.

 

It's extremely colored I admit, but I find it's faults far less annoying that the midrange issues on both the X and the 900.

 

Thought I'd dig up my review I did awhile back on Reddit (I kinda dig this headphone despite it's weirdness, shitty photos here: https://imgur.com/a/rtzCb):

Listening rig: Audio-GD NFB28, Oppo HA-2

Cost: $300-400 on the used market

Review Process: I tested the headphone on the test tracks listed below, and it for day to day use at work or at home (music, gaming, etc) for about two weeks or more. I also use the Headphone tests here:http://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php

Test Tracks:

Yes - Siberian Khatru

Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughn

Alexis Cole - Ain’t We Got Fun

Jack of Speed - Steely Dan

What Planet is This -the Seatbelts

Build Quality / Comfort: Certainly not the most robust build I’ve seen, the PS-500 definitely has that usual stripped down Grado styling. They’re not the most durable pair I’ve tried by far, but I don’t think they would fall apart unless I seriously misuse them. As for the cable, it’s non-detachable and short. Not the best, but it’s functional.

Comfort is also not the best I’ve experienced. The pair I received came with the larger G-Cush pads, and while they don’t smash my ears like the stock pads, the material is a bit scratchy and annoying still. The headphones are thankfully pretty light, so I haven’t noticed a lot in the way of hotspots on the headband. Unfortunately in prolonged sessions (1 ½ hours +), there is a fair bit of discomfort due to pressure on the ear. Certainly it is not an uncomfortable death grip like a HD280, but do not buy these expecting HD800 levels of comfort.

Sound:

Low end: Pretty large mid bass hump that results in a lot of impact. Very ‘full’ sounding. Extension into the sub bass is a tad lacking; a planar it is not. This kind of response gives tons of kick drum impact for rock / metal / jazz, and also gives bass guitar a strong presence. It perhaps is not the most detailed bass around (vs a HD800 / HE-6), but very attention grabbing and overall characterizes this as a warm headphone to me.

Mids: Due to the mid bass boost, the mids take on a darker tone than some other headphones. Male vocals have a lot of heft (perhaps unnaturally so) while female vocals are a bit further back in the mix. I quite like this tonality with guitar (clean / distorted), due to its intimacy. The mids don’t seem to resolve as well as some other dynamics like the HD600, in that some small details tend to be glossed over (things like small throat sounds, breathing, etc).

Treble: The treble, while less prominent than the mids / mid bass, has a couple of peaks that could be harsh depending on the recording. I noticed on a few songs that female vocals could be kind of sibilant, but the warmer nature of the headphone these moments. Extension isn’t the best, or as refined as something like a HD600, but it doesn’t come across as overly bright. Soundstage perhaps as a result is a bit small, but that could also be due to the close proximity of the driver to the ear.

Overall signature: Warm--not the most detailed or precise in imaging, but very intimate and lively.It is definitely more energetic than some other warm headphones like the HD650 or Oppo’s line. The mid bass has serious impact that I can’t get enough of. Eventually I would like to try the headphone with the original pads, since I hear that elevates some of the muddiness of the bass.

Comparisons:

HD600: The PS500 is much warmer, with more prominent bass/midbass response in most songs. HD600, in comparison, is a tad brighter with more detailed mids and treble. Soundstage is a bit bigger to me on the HD600. The timbre of instruments is a bit darker on the PS500 as you would imagine, with the HD600 being closer to what I would expect them to actually sound like.

TH-X00: The X00 also has a pretty strong bass presence, but it’s in such a way that extends much lower than the PS500 does. This makes the X00 a bit more fun for some EDM genres, but maybe a tad less impactful on rock/blues due to the PS500’s midbass emphasis. Soundstage is pretty small on both, not really the strong suit of either can. The X00’s midrange recession can give vocals / guitar / strings a bit less emphasis than the PS500, and is probably the biggest difference between the two. The thick midrange of the PS500 gives this region a lot more body, but perhaps isn’t quite as resolving as a result. Treble on the X00 can be a tad peaky compared to the PS500, since it is more of a V or W shaped response.

Closing Thoughts:

While I’m not typically a Grado fan, the PS500 is quite a different beast. It’s been said by many to be a kind of “super Portapro”, which I feel is pretty apt. It’s quite warm in coloration, but it’s a signature I find easily pleasing and fun. Its mid bassy sound and non-recessed mids jive with my personal tastes a bit more than V shaped headphones like the X2 and TH900, but I could see how some people would not enjoy it due to its lack of resolution. Build quality is objectively not great, but I think with decent care it should last a good while.

If you see the original version at a local shop or a meet, I’d strongly recommend you give it a shot. I haven’t found too many other headphones that sound quite like it, so in my collection it shall be.

 

I had a PS500e for a week as part of a TTVJ loaner program. I honestly liked it, though I would never consider buying one. Way overpriced. But the fat mid bass and midrange coloration made for a fun listen, especially with music that's not recorded well. For example, 80s music that sounds flat and lacking deep bass on more neutral headphones sounded more full and lush on the grados.

 

Yea, I'd only get it if you got a favorable trade / bargain price.

 

I'm going to be trying some L Cush pads in the near future and doing some comparisons hopefully. The fellow I bought it from said the treble was a bit more in your face with the stock pads, but I can't confirm.

 

I got the PS500e in on loan off a friend I lent my Klipsches to for a month+, might send them back in a couple weeks or after holiday season, who knows. Either way, between aftermarket L-cushion pads (could be the same make I had on RS1s ages ago... feel like em) and the stock Grado S-cushions I much prefer the latter for the muted treble, though there's somehow more midrange glare in exchange; excess of lower-and-midtreble aside, I prefer how the LCush pads give more of a sense of "air" and brightness to counteract the bloopy bass.

Laptop > Fulla 2 > (as an AIO) OR Cavalli Liquid Carbon SE out.

Impressions so far is that they're remarkably bloated and bassy for a Grado, though not without aggression. It's just not what I'd come to expect of their gear, and I can see how people would consider these a radical departure from the "signature" Grado sound. Do note that I've not gotten ears on rarer production variants like the Hemp, HF-series, or any of the innumerable limited runs before to calibrate.

They've got a fair bit of space in the headstage, maybe more than the HD600, and that's not something I was expecting going into this. Image directionality isn't bad too but front-to-back layering is pretty crud when it's anything more than sparse audiophile music. It's not as flat-plane as the HE4XX by any means but feel worse off than the X00 and Meze 99 Classics were (based on memory).

Detail retrieval is grand other than the fact that the bass sort of wubs over everything and robs tracks of nuance and texture on bassier arrangements, though there's a bit of treble nastiness that manifests even with the SCushes. Huggy Bear's Erotic Bleeding has a feedback loop-y sound in it that earned an immediate "NOPE" from me, though something similar on 6_idkill.Vega.Cih off the DOOM (2016) soundtrack wasn't as bothersome.

The treble with either pads is unrefined and splashy, though I wonder whether playing with rear damping might help mitigate that. The lack of refinement does mean that complex passages with cymbals or woodwinds turn into a bit of a dog's meal. Even things that have never bothered me before like vocals on Daft Punk's Fragments of Time manifested sibilants that, while not instadeath, grated on me slightly.

With the SCush pads, there's the dead air up top but also an odd nasality and boxiness to the presentation that kinda kills music for me. It works with some tracks though; Jeff Buckley's Corpus Christi Carol has more of an ephemeral air to things and I was actually crying a bit listening to the song despite having heard it many times now, though I can't say for certain those tears weren't at least partially inspired by the earache I got wearing these because the antihelixes on my ears (yes I had to Google that) stick out a bit. The guitar intro on the Buckley track had lovely tone, never mind that the sonic colouration does ruin a lot of other things (e.g. Led Zeppelin's Achilles Last Stand).

There's protracted decays to stuff like Hozier's Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene that adds to a sense of "room". It's rather beautiful especially considering how good the Grados are with dynamic textures, but it does mask low-level information under a haze of hash. Also, aforementioned dynamic textures still get paved over with blerp-age when bassier tracks come on; the chasses actually vibrate on my head when playing songs with significant low-end thump as on RTJ4, Radiohead, or Jinjer's Micro off the eponymous album.

For all how the bass gets in the way of things, it's surprisingly easy to follow along individual instruments and focus. The driver feels hella responsive save for how flubbawubbadubba and thick the overall profile can be, which kinda gives me hope for other Grados. This in itself might even be a great headphone for loads of people, but I'd almost rather just have the HD600+spare cash.

FR differences between aftermarket LCush and SCush pads, SBAF Comp, each is an average of 5 placements. LEFT channel only:


PS500e with SCush vs Sennheiser HD600 (very worn out pads):


As for the below, please note that I had to zoom outwards a bit and that top of Y Axis is now set to 50% instead of the usual 10%.

SCush Distortion:


Aftermarket LCush Distortion:


So yeah, just more proof that the design is pretty sensitive to damping. Would be fun to play with these if the owner gave permission, but eh.


More measurements including CSD, Spectrogram, and IR here: https://imgur.com/a/X3acJts