New from Grado is the PS500, the latest model in the company's Professional Series range.

At £700, the open-backed PS500 is said to offer 'unrivalled value', UK distributor Armour Home explaining that the new model offers 'nearly all the performance of the £1835 PS1000 at not much more than one third of its price'.

The PS500 shares the hybrid construction of the flagship model, having an inner sleeve of hand-crafted mahogany 'produced by using an intricate curing process' and an outer housing machined from a very hard metal alloy.

Special treatment and casting of the metal increases its porosity, the idea being that 'this combination of wood and metal ensures that the earphone chamber has no "ringing" which might obscure detail or add coloration'.

The headphones use rare earth metals in their large diaphragms, and the connecting cable is of Grado's latest design.

The company says that this is 'a compact, comfortable, monitoring headphone that delivers open, dynamic, virtually distortion free and strikingly lifelike musical performances to delight even the most demanding of music lovers.'

The PS500 goes on sale in mid-October.

Source: WhatHifi

Grado PS500 Professional Series Headphones Pictures

Also on Blogsteady