Grado GW100

Conclusion: this headphone sucks.

Summary: sound quality aside, the bluetooth connection doesn't allow small enough adjustments for volume control which makes them unusable.

1. Bluetooth connection:
- Connects right up.
- Stupid loud voice prompts that cannot be reconfigured.
- Supposedly dsp eq is applied but I didn't bother determining if true because impractical increments of volume adjustment made listening too difficult quiet or loud painful. Even when controlling volume via phone's apple music interface the volume is apparently still governed by the bluetooth whatever.

2. Wired connection:
- Connects right up but why? This headphone makes major sacrifices to allow bluetooth function. If you're going wired just get an SR225x. Wired is useful in a pinch? Sure if you wanted to listen to them at all which brings me to sound quality.

3. Sound quality wireless / bluetooth:
- Actually pretty balanced for a Grado. Bass and non-shrill treble? What happened to Grado in these past few years? Grado Hemp, f-pads, and improved distortion on Reference series.
- It's no Hemp but atleast doesn't make your ears bleed. It sounds muffled, distant, with a couple small peaks in midbass and highs, but overall balanced for a Grado. These I'd put at Grado SR60e level of technicalities at best just with a different tone. I dont know if bluetooth degrades sound audibly. I didn't care to a/b.

4. Sound quality wired:
- I had already switched to alternate pads so don't know how they compare to stock pads with bluetooth. Listening wired doesn't make much sense and I'll explain why.

5. Why these headphones suck:
- Number one on the list is the compromise. The bluetooth / dsp board takes up residency in one cup, and the battery in the other cup. This essentially turns these Grado into closed headphones (albeit vented, but so are most "closed" phones). The motherfuckers guys advertise "the first open bluetooth headphone" but its not open. I guess it more open than most closed headphones...
- SR225e price for SR60e levels of sound.
- Made in USA Grado is a nice thing, but I don't think these Grado were made in USA. The box says "Designed in USA".
- The build quality: Grado is charming boutique mystique with hand-made aesthetics. But the GW100 looks much less hand made and actually looks like it came out of a factory. The gimbals, cups, headband, etc are all different that any other Grado. The only thing making it look boutique is its odd design of big floppy supraural open foam pads and strangely big plastic cups for a portable headphone.
- Uncomfortable or ungainly with alternate pads. The stock pads are extra wide flat pads to fit the extra wide baffle of the GW100. The cups are extra big to accommodate the bluetooth and battery parts.

6. The positives:
- Some reminiscence of that Grado fast bass and guitar crunch. Actually my GW100 experience makes me want Grado RS2x even more.

I bought this headphone used. Apparently it's a v1. v2 was updated to have more bluetooth capabilities.

Whichever of these guys designed this needs to be fired.:


For more info on Grado see here.