Just saw these over at Head-Fi in their sponsor news/announcements. The above beauty is Grado Labs new flagship phones, the PS1000….and easily their most expensive Todd over at TTVJ is selling them at a lofty 1.7K USD which dwarves their already pricey lineup. The housings seem to be a mixture of metal and wood keeping in line with their current Reference/Statement series, that used to be their top-of-the-line. Sadly, their official listing on the official site has no real data, merely a superficial promotional review that offers no insight to how they perform.
I’d never buy these cans but still, I am somewhat curious as to what they sound like and if they warrant such a huge price tag. Grado in general does indeed make some of the best audio products on the market. Their Black phono cartridge is easily the most affordable and best bang-for-the-buck budget cartridge you can get for a vinyl setup. Its a similar story with their lower end cans as well such as the SR80s and MS1s, the latter of which I own.
But this does seem a tad ridiculous. I can’t imagine that even hardcore audiophiles with money to blow are going to easily shell out the funds for this over a better amp, DAC, or other source components. Either way, I find it somewhat appalling that Grado with such high-budgeted phones have still reluctantly refused to update their rather cheap headband and foamy pads. Aside from the actual drivers and their housing, little differentiates this and their other premium lines from the parts in their lower end phones. With that said though, I’m still very curious nonetheless….
