OK, let’s say that you love headphones and are a big fan of the Grado brand in particular (a lot of people are). And let’s assume that you own (or have owned) a pair and wish to move up to a better model. You have some money saved up, but not enough for that uber-expensive, top-of-the-line Professional Series model you want, the PS1000. Those $1,700 monsters are considered by many audiophiles (who really know this stuff) to be the best headphone available, period. Some will argue that point, but they are one of the most popular headphones in that stratospheric price range. However, your savings aren’t even halfway there yet and you are losing patience.
Maybe now you can have your cake and eat it too. Grado has just released the Professional Series PS500 model for $595, less than half the cost of the PS1000. Yea, it won’t sound quite as good as the PS1000, but if the law if diminishing returns applies here as it does with so many audio components, the PS500 will sound nearly as good. And you could save yourself $1,100. For now, anyway.
Not deviating from Grado’s famous retro looks, the smaller, on-ear PS 500s are quite beautiful decked out in aluminum and black. I love the looks of these things.
The PS500 follows Grado’s open air design, meaning that while others around you can hear what you are listening to, what you hear is nothing short of amazing. With this design, the dynamic speakers sound like they are many feet away. The music is not just in your head, but filling the air around you. The soundstage from the Grados is impressive.
Even at $595, the Grado PS500 headphones are quite expensive and not an impulse buy. But if you consider yourself as an audiophile, who is either impatient, not rich, or both, you may want to check out the Grado PS500 headphones now rather than the PS1000 later.
And they are made here, in America. How cool is that?
