Grado SR325x Review and Measurements

I just got these and initial impressions... still forward like a grado but not shouty. Not bright, in fact a little lacking in highs with these new flats. I'll run them in for a few hours to see if anything changes but so far it is scratching my grado itch. I will play with different pads later as well.

 

After just an hour running in, some bite and definition in the highs are showing up... not drastic but just that sense of ease where the highs can come out instead of being buried in a jumbled mush of sound. I'll keep coming back to it every few hours to see if there are changes. From my experience before, Grados usually settle in the first few hours of use and I don't usually hear any changes after that unless I use different or older pads.

Added note ... It is loud even out of my sony a55 DAP and has good synergy that I find more coherent and musical against my ifi zen can signature amp/signature dac combo so far in this first hour.

 

Damn these grados can slap bass, percussive instruments etc on my ipad synth apps. Senn hd560S has no balls in comparison lol

 

Holy Crap Batman! I discovered some 2 dollar bowls with a thicker lip than the stock ones and tried them on the 325x. I'm hooked. No thin annoying old grado bowl sound but now I have air. The best comment I can give to this pairing is that I am excited to hear what every recording sounds instead of being afraid of the next thing I play.

2 Pairs Replacement Ear Pads: 1 Pair for GRADO SR125, SR225, SR325, SR60, SR80, M1, M2, GS1000 Headphones & 1 Pair for Grado Headphone G Cushion - Fits GS1000I, GS1000E , PS1000E | Lazada PH

 

HAH! I knew the moment I read this that these were likely the Shopee/Lazada knockoff bowls that everyone around here seems to fall back on cuz OEM Grado pads are way too expensive and disintegrate almost immediately in this climate.

They're basically really dense kitchen sponges with high springback (no memory at all to speak of) and last significantly longer than the standard stiffened Grado pads. Agree that low end extension may suffer (since there's effectively no seal to speak of) and that there's a consequent increase in airiness. I rather liked them with the older square-rod RS1s but since I got those well-used I didn't have a great deal of time to compare it to the stock bowls.

 

Hi Marv, can you please check out your pm

 

With the new 325x, the bass level is perfect with those bowls! Comfort for me is nice as well. I think I am only one of few people that find these cans to be comfortable though

These are the bowls in that Lazada Philippines link also quoted by Lyander. The link comes with G pads and L pads. I am talking about the L Pads there.

 

With genuine bowls (L, not G) coming from flats(ttvj) on old grados, I used to always get that sense of space and more etching in the detail but with a caveat of adding unnatural peaks in the highs/ screechyness plus losing that body in the midbass and lower mids. With these bowls coming from these new flats, I got no such unnatural sound transition. I instantly fell in love with them and to test whether any peaks would get to me over time, I listened to lots of music for hours. I never got tired of the sound! A good sign. These are the closest I can imagine to being the best tone in a grado for me.

Funny thing is when I swap cans I usually get a sound shock and hear the deficiencies or big differences coming from the headphone swap. Swapping these with my Stock HD6xx/balanced, I felt right at home with the 6xx even though some heavy cream was added in the sound. Swapping to the hd560s is where I heard more of a deficiency. The highs suddenly sounded tunnely on the 560s and the overall sound became thin and uninvolving coming from the 325x with the cheap bowls.

 

Here is a clearer view of the pads and the thickness. I remember stock bowls were thinner in the middle

 

New pads arrived. Another L cush variant from another vendor with a thicker lip than the last. It sounds punchier than the other one and approaches the flat pad punch without the over saturation of the mids of the flats. It is slightly airier than the last L cush one as well combined with the extra punch without losing volume. I am thinking that it maybe keeping more of the sound in/less leak. More listening will tell if this is the best one but so far it is really promising.

EDIT: I get the feeling based on the material and shape that this thickness difference could just be an effect of bad quality control because the first pair's L and R are not exactly the same thickness in the lip with each other. The second pair is more consistent in its thickness between the two.

The picture is a comparison between one of the first pair and one from the 2nd pair.

EDIT after many random songs: The second pair of bowls is more fatiguing sonically. It is still too saturated in the mids and changes for the worst after the pads have deformed during use while the first one just keeps on sounding good and actually sounds better over time.

 

There is something that I feel I have to add. I just want to let it be known that I was always a flats fan. These new flats still have a certain flair that makes me go back to them time and time again for that bold and forward slam that only flats can do even though these are slightly different flats. They are amazing for electronic stuff to me for example. The main thing that makes me reach out for the bowls that I have is just because of this new darker tuning of the X series that makes the flats a little lacking for some jazz music that crave for a focus on the cymbal performance ex. Brubeck, Miles, Ornette Coleman etc

Additional: Flats are actually brighter in some frequencies than these more laid back bowls but less spacious in the upper highs. Listening to the song Wishing Well by Michael Ruff right now shows that.

 

I picked these up yesterday. actually my first pair of grados which is odd as I listen to a lot of music said to do well with them. unfortunately they don't sound very good. the overall level of fidelity is what maybe could've been passable for their entry level SR60, but even then I think I would've been disappointed.

the driver has this lo-fi and watered down character to it that makes it uninteresting to listen to. the midrange is simultaneously warm and veiled, not unlike an under-driven HD600. from the reviews I expected vibrant guitar crunch but instead got a hollow background shredding. the bass performance is especially poor, not much definition or body, kickdrums and toms sound like popcorn.

I let them play with 24 hours of classical FM but that didn't change much. I listened to a wide variety of music but didn't feel anything. they don't screech but there's obvious unpleasantness at 4khz which manifests as a metallic sheen. I then tried some music that I thought (from reading Grado vs. Sennheiser debates on head-fi in 2016) would be up their alley:



all of the energy of this song was gone through the 325x. the drum kit was anemic and the snare had some weird coloration, as if we were listening to a different recording with a different snare EQ. the guitars became a flat and soggy droning noise in the background. the vocals were veiled and not very expressive. as a reality check, I plugged in my $20 Koss KTXPRO1 and the energy returned: the bass became fat and juicy with the backbeat. the guitars started crunching again and regained some of their texture. most of all the forward momentum that was missing from the supposedly aggressive Grado's came back. all of this is not cerebral nitpicking but immediately identifiable deficiencies in the sound that became obvious from the physical excitement I experienced listening to the same recording through the Koss.

no this is not exactly an audiophile recording. I don't really believe in good or bad recordings. I saw some reviews on Grado's webstore calling the 325x honest or unforgiving. well, that's a joke. there are only headphones which retain the aesthetic of the recording or overwrite it to where it is no longer interesting to listen to. the Grado is definitely in the latter camp.

I hope this does not come across as senseless bashing as I really wanted to like these. my current working theory is the X revision was an excuse for Grado to use even cheaper, less resolving drivers than the E series and bill it as an improvement. this is not so far fetched as it is basically common practice in the up-market consumer headphone industry: just look at Sennheiser, Beyer and Hifiman.

I can't really recommend this headphone to anyone, even as a matter of taste. if you are looking for aggressive and fun on-ear headphones for use from modest sources I would recommend the Koss KTXPRO1, KSC75 or KPH30CL over these $300 Grados.

sources used: Helm Bolt dac/amp, headphone jack of a 2009 Mac Mini, top secret germanium/tube hybrid amplifier.
headphones used for comparison: Koss KTXPRO1, modded TH900, modded Yamaha HP1

 

I just listened to this track on YouTube and on Tidal Master. I have Cayin RU6 > SR325. The difference is very obvious.
Give your Grados a few more hours and a good source. Hopefully this will work for you.

 

It's interesting you say that as the SR325x is the worst headphone I've ever heard and the RU6 is the worst DAC I've ever heard. and I have heard a lot.

I decided to give grado a 2nd chance and I now listen to SR80s from the mid-2000s from my iMac and I am completely satisfied. the old SR80s I got for $50 off eBay sound how I wanted the SR325x to sound.

 

We probably agree a lot of folks started in the hobby thanks to the SR80s, which are a fine pair of fun cans

I have the 325x, PS500e, and GS1000e. I’ve listened to the RS1e a bit and used to have 80e. This is how I’ve come to understand Grado:

Prestige - Favors energy and highs above all else. As you move “up”, you get better matched drivers and better detail performance, where as in the low end the highs help give the impression of more detail. Relied on plastic until the x series (more on that later).
Reference - The “Grado Sound Philosophy” of wood. As a happy owner of one of their wood cartridges, I think the house sound of relying on well-understood and curated wood is where they shine.
Professional - This to me was “the new Grado Sound”. Metal galore. They gained precision in my opinion, at the expense of a little warmth. The 500e in particular is a very interesting animal, with the energy of the prestige and a very unique way of being revealing without being too clinical or sterile.
Statement - Big, bold wood. Big hall sound. I *really* love orchestral music, as challenging as some recordings are, with the GS1000e.

I remember little of the S to E switch, and to my ears, the E to X driver change is more refinement than revolution, per se.

So why do I bore you with all this? To explain why I think the 325x are really a new thing. Unlike the rest of the prestige line, they are metal, not plastic. Unlike the PS500e, there’s no wood here. They retain the fun energy of the 325x with some of the interesting detail of the PS500e. They really are fun to listen to, straight out of your mac. To my ears, it’s as if folks took the good feedback from the “new Grado Sound” but tried to bring it down to the economy line’s signature. And I think they pulled it off.

Flame bait: I prefer the new cables, to be honest

 

I have an early SR325 now from 2005 or so. It's not the first version with black cups but it predates the SR325i. It's been my main headphone for the past 5 months and what I always wanted headphones to sound like. The SR325x sounds like a joke in comparison. I also prefer the early SR325 to the vintage HP1000 and RS1.

 

Has anyone tried Dekoni pads and took measurements?

Received yesterday SR325 with G pads purchased in 2002 (is the date on the check, but maybe they are older, because they could have been in the store for several years), the mesh in front of the drivers is slightly pinkish, inscription silver. The first owner did not use them for at least 15 years.

With G pads it's just awful - no bass and mids, just squeaking like from a overloaded twitter. If press the cups to your head, then the sound begins to improve. If remove the pads completely, then the sound is somewhat bright, but it is already clear that the 325 has potential. Temporarily put home-made pads for Yamaha HP1, it got better, but the bass became a little booming and there were few details in the midrange.

I have the opportunity to take the Dekoni in perforated leather and velor or standard type L, they will be here in a week. Or order type F and wait 2 months for the parcel. But I only need to choose 1, don't want to be wrong. I like sound like HD650, AKG K240DF, DT48. I see type F pads can do well, but there is little information about Dekoni - suddenly they are also good?

 

I continue the experiment. I removed the ear pads, now I listen without any pads. The optimal sound for me is not too bright, in place of the blue circle. Red circles - the limits of a stable position on the ears forward / backward. In the most rear position, there is little bass and high frequencies stand out. In the most forward position, the treble is muffled, but the sound is clamped and I rather listen to the sound from the grilles outside or their mix with direct speaker sound. It looks like different parts of the ears work like different ear pads.. It seems that with this setting can get the desired sound within certain limits. If someone has an artificial head with auricles, it would be possible to conduct a similar experiment

 

I accidentally killed the speaker, touched the wire, they fell to the floor from the table and after that one speaker stopped working. Perhaps something was damaged from the impact - thin wires to the coil or the coil itself, I don’t know. Also, because of the impact, the coil in the old DT48 broke.

Sent them to Grado for repairs. I guess due to the age of the model, they will just put new drivers, I wonder if it will be X or older versions. Let's see what they do with them.