Grado-rama: A Guide to Grados

I have yet to try RS1X. RS1i, fitted with modified G pads (for ear comfort) together with ZMF radial filters, remains my favorite Grado. Its crispy dynamics and tonality, immediacy, are only second to Sony R10 among my headphones, exceeding all planar headphones I have (LCD-4, HE500, and Verum). Due to high sensitivity and the forward sound of Grado, one has to be careful with the volume knob; there is only a narrow range from being a little quiet to too loud.

 

I thought the RS2X was double wood? Agreed with the statement for the RS2X with F-Pads.

 

I LOVE my GH2's! The best, most realistic mids I have ever heard. However, they are bass light and can get a little piercing when Miles Davis is going extreme. And, I really hate that fixed cable. On top of that, the stock L-pads are painful to my ear.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?

They are currently my oldest set of headphones, just about to hit their 5th birthday. I still love to pull them out for rock, pop and blues. They will do my jazz, but can become piercing/shrill on a few pieces.

I started off with the SR325e and really liked them, although I found them bright. I tried out the PS500e and the brightness was certainly gone, but so was the fun.

I bought the GH2's online with no demo or test. I was in love immediately, but the L-Cush pads were killing my right ear. I had heard great things about Beautiful Audio pads, but the pads are pretty expensive. I decided to buy a pair and they have been a perfect match for about four years.

Recently, I bought a used set of Grado Hemp's. I cannot stand the F-pads at all. It's like they trying to shove the driver in your ear. I tried the Shipibo pads, already had knock-off G-Cush pads, bought actual G-Cush pads and nothing was working. I put the BA pads and wow, they were 80-90% of the GH2's. But I didn't want to spend the money on BA pads to have "lesser" GH2's. So, I rolled back into the Shipibo pads. And they are what I settled on.

Still don't see the use of keeping them though and have them up for sale. They don't do anything wildly different or better than the GH2's.

Very curious about the RS1X, GS1000X and GS3000X, but the latter are too expensive for me.

I will NEVER sell my GH2's.

 

I liked the older square rod RS1 save for how it did negative headstage, but the lower end Grados never fail to trigger tinnitus attacks.

Curious to get your thoughts on the PS500 series, Marv. I don't much like it, it tries too hard to be not a Grado it seemed like and was horrible in bass quality.

Still mad I never got to hear that woodmodded one, but eh I could always track another pair down or interrogate my local postal workers ROFL.

 

I jumped on team Sennheiser maybe 20 years ago and never looked back. In fact, I haven’t listened to a Grado since.

A spider chart with a known reference (for example, HD600) would be amazing.

(Although I guess HD6xx is very upstream dependent…)

 

Where would something like the HF-1 fit in this matrix? That's the last Grado I spent any appreciable time with. This was also before pad rolling Grados was a thing, so with whatever itchy uncomfortable pads they came with in the pizza box.

 

A spider graph of just the 1/2/325x would be awesome.

 

My signature says it all

 

I have the Alessandro MS2's and some woodied MS1's from 2007 or so right now. Old Grados need flat pads to sound their best IMO. I don't like any of the bigger pads with the old Grado's. Bigger pads and they stop sounding like Grado's. You pretty much had the Grado's and Senns to choose from back then. I was never a fan of the Senns until I put them on a tube amp. The oldest Joe Grado models had a much better treble balance and were my favorites. I had the SR-100/ SR-200 and the HP 1000's.

My first post ever on an audio forum was trying to figure out what happened to my Grado's. I had a driver die on my 225's. When I got them back they had a new pair of bowl pads on them and they sucked. The new pads screwing up the sound did not click for awhile.

On my Alessandro's I used to make my own pads using Senn HD414 yellow pads because you could not get the flat pads; although TTVJ did eventually carry some. The closer you get the driver to your ear the less elevated the treble from my experience. Anymore I use the cheap pads and a little paper towel under the pad to take off the treble edge. Both of the Alessandro's sound really good if you can deal with no sound stage. My problem is I cannot deal with the MS2's lack of comfort and they will not stay on my head.

I should probably sell them and let someone else enjoy them. The MS2's came from highflying9 and have a 12' cardas recable. Warmer and darker than your typical MS2. My MS1's are woodied, light and comfortable with the cheap pads and there is no mistaking them for anything but a Grado.

 

Great thread. Thanks @purr1n !

A quick note for correction: The Grado RS2x is now priced at $550, up from $500. I'm uncertain if Grado recently raised the price.

https://4ourears.com/products/rs2x

 

Tyll admitted this regularly and forcefully.

That said, I got my first pair in 1994 from Tyll based on his recommendation. The HF2 is the only headphone I own I'd be sad to part with.

 

I briefly had the HF-1 and thought they were the screechiest most ear piercing grado I've ever heard and made the original 325's tame in comparison.

 

I am a Grado fan having SR60e MS2e GH4, and my friend gets SR225e and RS1x (All because once I preached him the magical sound the Grado made, because they just sound so f*cking good), and after hearing the black label and GH4 and Rs1x, I should say Mathew Grado, the prince of Grado, gave the Grado a more modern sound and higher fidelity in their headphones, which made those new Grado headphones so much better than the E series in my opinions, though on the contrary I think they leaves some old colored Grado sound behind. That's kind of some reason I choose Audeze MM500 later in my headphones tour, and despite the choice I made, I still think Grado just killing it in the low-tier and mid-tier headphones with their cheap and accessible and convenient ways.

 

If you like the old Grado sound, I do not recommend RS1x which has more neutral signature, but still, I think it a masterpiece with so much progress when I heard it.

 

I had an SR80. It showed me there was more fun in the music than I previously thought. It scaled to, say, DacMagic heights. I still recommend it for folks trying to give their high school kids a wonderful gift.

I have the 325x, PS500e, and GS1000e. They are all different, they are all fun, and great at what they do. I consider them to be the three examples of grado sound - the 325x is the best expression of the prestige line, the ps500 the “metallic clinical” voice, and the GS1k the “we do wood and you like our cartridges, so come get lost in time domain with us.”

I have Sennheisers and Focal and DCA as well. It would never occur to me to part with my Grados. My only regret is not having ordered the GS1k terminated in XLR from the factory. But eventually I went with MoonAudio, recabled, and did not screw up their sound, luckily . Balanced galore ensued.