Grado-rama: A Guide to Grados

May I ask if the new SR225X is better than RS1i？If so, I think it might perform a great job. I'm quite worried about Grado headphones beyond 325 tier getting less aggressive, and that's why I "betrayed" with hearing RS1X mentioned before.

 

This makes me even more mad that someone nicked the parcel, I haven't heard a Grado in a long while other than that PS500 loan and my main point of reference is comparative impressions of a very early RS1 vs that old 250R DT880 I had. Where'd you get those wood cups and leather pads? Tempted to just make my own at this rate when circumstances allow.

But yeah, not sure what the specific differences among the older pre-e Grado series is cuz from what I recall the RS1 series having a significantly larger diaphragm was new to the x-series? I know they made a big deal about tighter driver tolerances higher up the line going way back, but not sure what else there may have been other than that special proprietary lacquer coating over the older diaphragms.

I got ears on a Utopia earlier this year and I hate it because now I know what it sounds like, hah. Upper frequencies were definitely on the harsher side, but it was less bothersome than on the Clear IMO.

 

Oh, I see. Still missing a mid-tier Grado headphones tone, maybe the GH4 would be the last one I bought from Grado.

Thx for these information, cuz there is few people buying RS2i in my place.

The one thing I find in X series (SR325X, RS1X) is cleaner, thicker, darker and less colored compared to E series, and the fidelity is higher (though sometimes old Grados' "remixing" is their characteristic.)

 

Gotcha, yeah what I had was the pre-i series RS1 so I'm guessing that was 44mm as well. I know I didn't have as much appreciation for texture and microdynamics as I do now, and that I wouldn't have been able to qualify what those even were at the time, so chances are if I had the choice again I'd have let go of the DT880 instead, hah.

As things stood at the time I was more about macrodetail and headstage, and the RS1 definitely sucked at the latter.

Oh yeah I'm sure pitch differentiation is slightly poor with respect to ultra-and-infra-sonic noise (this is understatement), but that doesn't stop people from getting very cranky and discomfited when exposed to sufficient levels of either or both. I do think that "we can't hear ultra/infrasonics" is a fair statement to make, but "perceive" is another thing altogether.

Sorry, semantic pedant

EDIT: Seems even the original Clear used Mg, but was a Mg-Al hybrid PVD thing as opposed to pure Mg on the newer Clear MG. That'd track with why I found the Clear harsher than the Utopia in a direct comparison, and why I seem to like the Mg much more than the original Clear (though I'm certain voicing was a factor there too).

 

They do exceptionally well with a Gm type amp where the phones act as the I/V. Something like a single ended pentode amp (D3a, C3g, etc) works really well. Pushpull pentodes, too, or FETs or BJTs - it doesn't matter much.

http://diy.ecpaudio.com/2010/08/the-caged-frog-pentode-based.html
http://diy.ecpaudio.com/2011/12/the-caged-frog-ii-pentode-based.html

 

@purr1n got a link for the pads you are using on the RS1X? I don’t see them on Amazon.

 

Yeah, I may try it more accurately next time to compare all these thoughts.

 

I honestly can’t imagine what made you think Grado’s were somehow gone from the pool in people’s minds. Plenty of chatter in head-fi still, and the price of the entry level is still converting Beats folks…

 

Honestly, I think Grado will be more popular with X series which make more new audiophiles like it in the low and mid budget market.

 

I think it's more that, alongside the advent of ANOTHER, stronger surge of frequency response is all that matters! fanaticism, the general consensus among people who're decided on getting at least knees-deep into the hobby is that Grados are much too tonally coloured and are far from superlatively good at common audiophile metrics like staging/imaging, low-end extension, and macrodetail (emphatically: not as a consequence of treble boosts) as opposed to more subtle textures and trailing decays etc, a sense of responsiveness and ease to how things are conveyed.

I guess it's somewhat like getting into weird coffees prepped via manual pour after growing up with heavily sweetened Nescafe.

But it's understandable. I still wouldn't ever have any Grado as my sole headphone because they're far too , but every now and again I do miss that RS1 I had a while back cuz, headstage be damned, it was pretty easy to just get sunken into (sparse, not very congested) music.

 

Fair. All equipment and all headphones have an opinion. I can see folks coming and going, or chasing “neutrality” or whatnot.

 

I joined the Grado game really late in my audio journey but I love them. I use the (OG from the 2000s) SR80 with HD414 pads. Lightweight, sensitive, pretty clear sounding and work with all genres of music ime. Cheap enough that you don't think about selling them or worry about breaking them. I give them to 'normal' people who are always wowed by the sound, something that's never happened for me with more expensive headphones. I think they are very emotive in the mids and this captures the ordinary attention. I also really like the original SR325 but they are too heavy to justify the added resolution and detail.

I did not like the SR325x, the original HP1000 or RS1 (square rod with buttons). I would describe them each as watered down and boring in their own way.

 

To me, it's Grado taught me forget about "colored" and some specific FR curve of hype. All these passions in the Grado headphones easily convince new audiophiles that you can forget about all these things in the real world and sink into the music world.[Though I think it's true that above mid-tier Grado headphones may not be a good bargain owing to the lacks of elements of audiophile metrics, like stage, clarity, imagine and fidelity. If someone wants to try Grado, more or less RS1 level may be the ceiling.] I think every good headphone is an expression of music philosophy of the engineer, which give a specific preference in music. Somewhat, I think they're some sort of musician too. Maybe there are some headphones people don't like, but they can understand what headphones or their engineers tried to told them if they intently listen to it, just like music. [Of course someone would love music with no colored headphones, and I respect someone who know why they choose it not due to the hypes companies give them. ] And chasing a dreaming headphone is a path we looked into ourself about what we love, what we focus on and what we can't leave behind. It's just like a mirror to look into our souls too.

 

Still have the fondest memories of PS-1 but couldn't justify the price tag. Way too much bass, which could be fun but usually just overpowered. Pads helped a bit but not enough. The mids were special though.

 

The Grado Head-F1 HF-2 was my first big boy headphone. I bought it as an undergrad. I sold an old instrument and worked an extra weekend job or two to save enough money to buy it. I thought it was the bees-knees played from a Headamp Pico DAC/amp combo.

Years later, I realized I couldn't listen to them for longer than 30-45 minutes or so without ear pain. I have big ears and the supraaural design did not work for me. Never tried bigger pads, because by then I had tried Sennheisers and preferred those. I do miss the Grados in a way, but imagine I probably miss the time of my life when I had them more, not the actual headphones. Perhaps a pair with the massive pads that go around my big ears would change my opinion of them.

Edit: Have any SBAF members tried the "Magnum" drivers? See: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/grado-modders-go-magnum.576717/page-333#post-17736810