Summary – Grado PS500e Headphone
Grado headphones are all about the crisp highs and midrange sound performance, and the Grado PS500e are not exception. The PS500e headphones are essentially audiophile headphones designed for professional musicians to clearly hear every single detail in the music, and are the younger brother to the PS1000e headphones. These high-fidelity headphones come with redesigned 4mm speaker drivers and a metal and wood hybrid air chamber for silky smooth highs and sound reproduction. It also comes with an improve 8” conductor cable design. The headphones have a hidden mahogany core and powder-coated aluminium housing parts which reduce sound resonances through the headphones for an undistorted music signal. The PS500e headphones have harmonic colors, full-bodied vocals and an ultra-smooth high end sound reproduction with its signature Grado sound performance. They work best as professional monitor headphones for musicians, although their sound signature is really sweet to listen to for music lovers alike. If you are looking for a musical headphone that can really deliver on signature Grado sound quality with detailed textures, the PS500e headphones are the ones to get.
The Pros & Cons
The Pros. The Grado PS500e audiophile headphones deliver pure Grado dynamics with warm colors, full-bodied vocals, rich highs, detailed midranges and a silky smooth top-end. They are the go to headphones for those looking for sound clarity and soundstage.
The Cons. The Grado PS500e are built for professional musicians who want to hear their music as it is, and may not be suited for bass-heavy music genres. This could be both a strength and weakness when deciding whether these headphones are the right ones for you.
Sound Performance
The Grado PS500e headphones give the listener an almost sonically perfect listening experience with an incredible level of detail that we have not experienced before. The headphones add a certain dynamic and dimensionality to the overall listening experience – you feel as though you are sitting in a real life concert hall while listening to these headphones, with musical instruments played in front of you. You also get a clear picture of where the vocals are coming from which is really good. The PS500e headphones are capable of providing an expansive listening experience at all angles, front and back which is really impressive. As with most Grado headphones, the PS500e headphones really shine when it comes to guitar and voice performances – you can literally hear every single detail in the soundtrack and these headphones will expose any flaws in the audio recording easily. The highs and the midranges on the PS500e are solid and well-defined, and they also add a mid-EQ punch to the bass that actually makes up for the bass response at the low-end frequency ranges. In short, the Grado PS500e headphones reproduce the tonality, timbre, life and vibrancy of all the instruments and the musicians behind the instruments – you can clearly hear the guitar strings vibrating, the stroke of every piano key and the afterglow of cymbals. Listening to the Grado PS500e is akin to re-listening to your entire audio album through more sophisticated lenses.
Build Quality & Comfort
The Grado PS500e headphones are neither large nor fragile. They are sturdy headphones that are compact enough to be transported around, and durable enough to withstand prolonged use. Surprisingly, the Grado PS500e headphones have relatively low impedance and can be driven without the need for a headphone amplifier, which may be a good thing depending on your setup. The headphones come with soft and plush ear padding that feels comfortable on the ears for long periods of listening; the headband is smooth and feels nice and comfy when worn. These headphones come with a metal and wood hybrid air chamber which makes them sound really crisp – it also features an 8” conductor cable design. The aluminium parts on the PS500e headphones look really sleek and nice to touch, which adds to the overall premium feel of these headphones. It also comes with a 44mm acoustic driver that delivers really crisp audio sound performance. While the PS500e headphones are designed primarily for musicians for professional monitoring, they are definitely audiophile headphones for music lovers alike who want to listen to high-fidelity sound performance and the intricate details in the sound. They are high-end headphones that should not be overlooked.
The Verdict?
For a long time, the Grado PS500e audiophile headphones have been used by professional musicians for monitoring – and they have consistently exceeded expectations. The headphones have spatial and dynamic imaging that instantly projects you into the core of the music – listening to the PS500e sounds as though we were sitting in a real life concert hall. Every single detail in the music, especially the highs and the mids, are brought forward for you to closely appreciate every single instrumental note that comes through. The soundstage and separation from the PS500e is simply incredibly for a pair of closed-back headphones. It also comes with a hidden mahogany core and powder-coated aluminium housing parts which help to reduce sound resonance for distortion-free sound performance. They are a set of headphones capable of producing rich harmonic colors, excellent vocals and ultra-smooth highs and timbre ranges. They are headphones suited for those who want appreciate the finer details in classical and instrumental music and are perfect for musicians who want to listening to every single detail in their recording.
Be sure to check out our top picks for the best audiophile headphones that deliver superb vocal clarity and crystal clear midranges.