Grado Labs, the family-owned headphone manufacturer out of Brooklyn, NY, recently released its first new flagship pair of headphones in over a decade, the PS2000e, which just happen to be the fanciest pair of cans the company has ever built.
According to Grado, the PS2000e were in development for over two years, drawing upon the company’s 64 years of experience in the audio field. In those two years of development, the company perfected a brand-new, proprietary driver design for the PS2000e, which Grado says will keep your music as clear and pure as possible, and look great doing it.
As one would expect from Grado, the PS2000e are open-backed headphones manufactured with a hand-carved inner chamber made from maple wood, which is known for its superior acoustic properties and vibration-dampening characteristics — meaning your music will remain clear, and won’t distort. The newly-designed dynamic drivers boast an incredible claimed frequency response of 5Hz-50kHz with 32-ohms impedance.
While the internal structure is important for sound quality, the construction also makes for a gorgeous aesthetic. The PS2000e sport a smoked chrome shell — a first for the brand — and a leather headband, all of which is crafted by hand Grado Labs’ Brooklyn workshop, blurring the line between high-quality audio equipment and luxury craftsmanship.
All that old-world craftsmanship comes at a premium, however, as the PS2000e will cost you a whopping $2,695 — and that price doesn’t appear to include a carrying case, though you can pad the package with a mahogany case for $100 more after purchase (insert “rich mahogany” joke here).
That said, Grado’s impressive claims about its new flagship cans — and the fact that the company is able to squeeze such fantastic sound out of its much more affordable offerings — have us utterly intrigued to strap on a pair and try them for ourselves.
You can pick up Grado Labs’ PS2000e from the company’s official online store, 4OurEars.com now.
A version of this post first appeared on our “brother” site, Digital Trends.
