Description

This headphone is built with original Grado PS1000e tone-wood clad with Frosted Aluminum cups, original Grado 50mm 32Ohm drivers, original Grado 12core cable and upgrade headband. The PS1000e is an open-backed design to give audio professionals the security of consistent response throughout the frequency range. As many buyers asked about 44mm vs. 50mm drivers: PS1000e is with frosted cups and 44mm drivers when it was announced, and later on moved to mirror aluminum cups and 50mm drivers. The kit is with the classic look and feel and the latest 50mm PS1000e drivers, and sounds identical as the latest PS1000e. 

Choose the Assembling option and our professionals will make it for you in 2~3 days. See the assembly service for more details. Are you an experienced headphone maker? Great! Choose the All Separated Components Option and enjoy making it with your own hands. With basic soldering and gluing skills, you can easily get audiophile sound quality. 

Know about Grado Labs PS1000e

Grado Labs PS1000e got 5/5 all star rating on What’s Hi-Fi (Review):

The PS1000es are an open-backed design of course, because that’s what Grado has always favored. Even the company’s brand new wireless offerings, the GW100s, follow the same principle. That’s a surprising engineering choice for such a product when you consider the amount of environmental sound that gets in, let alone the almost unhindered way the music being played leaks out.

There’s an upside though, and it’s a big one. An open-backed design does away with the enclosure behind the drive unit and, with it, all the resonances and reflections that are part and parcel of such a configuration. The result, all things considered, should be a better, more articulate sound – on paper at least.

The earpieces on the PS1000es use an inner core made of handcrafted, specially cured mahogany, while the outer housing is made of chrome-plated aluminium. The combination of the two materials results in a well-damped, low resonance platform for the new 50mm drive unit to work from.

Grado’s engineers have worked hard on this driver, refining the voice coil and diaphragm to improve responsiveness and accuracy…

Package list 

The DIY kit is pre-assembled as displayed in the product pics, including:

• 2 X PS1000e frosted cups with tone-wood clad
• 2 X cup holders (brackets) 
• 2 X 50mm original PS1000e drivers 
• 2 X G/L/S Cushions
• 1 X Genuine leather headband, 3 options in black/brown handmade Hermes leather, or black genuine leather 
• Original Grado cable with 6.35mm jack, or 6N OFC, silver plated, 8 cores hi-end cable with carbon fiber enhanced 3.5mm jack and Y splitter

Component options and how to choose

Headbands 

We highly recommend 2 types of genuine leather headbands.

These are the best one we can offer – hand made with 3 layers of Hermes Zermatt Leather made in France, in black and brown (see more details and link to order separately) .

Here is the standard model which is more close to Grado PS1000e original headband, and also made from high quality genuine leather (link to order separately). It is also softer with more foams padding. 

Cables 

Original Grado cable is with 6.35mm jack and 12 cores, 5.5mm outer diameter, very thick. You will need a 6.35mm to 3.5mm adaptor when using it with portable devices, like your mobile.

And if you want a light weight, more flexible and portable solution, you shall choose this hi-end 6N OFC, 8core cable in 2m (1.6m from 3.5mm jack to Y spliter) with carbon-fiber enhanced jacks and spliter.

 

DIY Tutorials

With basic soldering and crafting skills, you can make this headphone in a few hours. Let’s look at the kit first:

Step 1:  wire the cable to the cup

You need to pull the cable through the 5.5mm hole on the cup, and fix it with a cable tie.

Step 2:  Glue the cable to the driver

In order to protect the soldering pin, you need to glue the the cable to the back of the driver to prevent harmful vibrations. You may use any instant glue but be careful not to block the 2 holes on the backside of the driver.

Step 3: Solder the cable to the driver

Now you can solder the cable to the driver. Note all 3 cores in same color must be grouped and soldered to the soldering pane together.

Step 4:  Glue the driver to the cup

Apply some glue at the inner edge of the cup, and push the drivers into the cup. Wait a few hours before the glue fully dry.

Step 5:  Put on headband and earpads

You need to push the stick of the cup holder through the locker on the headband, and put on the tiny black caps.

Final Step: Test and finish

Now you an test the headphone and see if everything works well, and enjoy it!