Grado PS1000
Grado’s metal-housed flagship — the house sound scaled up, with huge energy and treble to match. Bright done on purpose.
Our take
The PS1000 takes Grado’s forward, bright signature and pushes it further: aggressive presence, big treble energy, and a lively midbass. Thrilling on the right material, fatiguing on the wrong one — treble EQ is your friend if the top gets hot. Easy to drive despite the flagship price.
Measured by Jamey Warren on a Head Acoustics HMS II.3 artificial head — raw response, left/right averaged, normalized to 0 dB at 1 kHz. From the Sonic Temple Archive(2008–2014, one unit per model). Honest limits: seating variance runs ±0.4 dB in the mids to ±3.9 dB above 12 kHz, and open headphones read bass-light on this fixture — don’t read fine treble detail as settled. How we measure →
Common questions
Straight answers — the same ones our measurements support.
Does the Grado PS1000 need an amp?
Not really — 32 Ω and sensitive, it plays loud off modest sources. Source quality matters more than power.
Is the PS1000 bright?
Very — it is the loudest expression of the Grado top end. Some love it; a few dB of treble EQ tames it.
If you like the PS1000
Close on the graph, or a deliberate step in one direction.