Grado-rama: A Guide to Grados

Would love to hear your impressions. I am looking to do the opposite. Long time Grado owner considering the ZMF Atrium Open or Verite Open. Thanks in advance.

 

Zach's only pair of Grados is the GS1000 with the ZMF adapter and his Beyer pads so that's all I got to hear from Grado while I was at ZMF. It sounded nice but it's probably a big departure from the typical Grado sound due to the pads, so I still have yet to hear the traditional Grado presentation. Now I have my eyes on the ETA Ada too so I'll probably either go with the Ada, SR325x, or RS2x as my next headphone.

As far as ZMFs go, I personally prefer the Verite over the Atrium, but part of that is use case I was looking to have them fill. I started with the Atticus which gives that super fun and thick presentation, so I wanted an open back that was highly resolving, slightly "leaner", and more relaxed and holographic in presentation to complement the Atticus. So that led me to the Verite. I also like how the slightly more recessed upper mids work with the Verite.

Atrium might be more familiar to the Grado sound given that it has the more forward upper mids? Notes will be more fleshed out and thick sounding compared to the Verite. From what I've read it seems Grados are very fast and are also lean in the sub bass, so in that sense the Atrium might be the better complement since they'll give more sub bass and will give a different presentation that isn't as fast as the Verite. Probably can't go wrong either way though!

 

I wear glasses and did find the stock L-pads uncomfortable. I splurged on the hybrid leather & merino pads from Beautiful Audio and I can listen all day. They came with different inners that can affect the sound and I’ve stuck with the soft foam inner as I found it sweetened the sub bass to my liking while not affecting much else too much. The wiry inners changed the sound the least from what I recall, and is what I used when I had the wireless Grado GW100 and all merino pads.

 

Hi, I can buy the rs2x for about 100€ more than an rs2e, both second hand. I had the rs2 classic and I didn't like it cause the bass was too tiny. The newer iterations should be quite different but I haven't heard them. Do the x worth the extra cost over the rs2e? For someone the rs2e sounds better, for those of you that have tried both which one do you prefer? Thanks in advance for the help

 

What pads did you use with the original RS2? Grados are pretty sensitive to pads swaps (most any headphone will be). Just going off measurements and impressions you won't suddenly be getting remarkable extension from any of them because these are very open headphones, but you can get decent bass response depending on associated gear.

Would also be good to know what amp and DAC you'll be pairing these with, or a mobile source?

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...uxe-pad-appreciation-thread.8952/#post-289896

 

I used the rs2 with the stock pads, maybe I tried also with the flat pads of the hemp, I don't remember but probably it didn't impress me positively. I ll pair the rs2e/X with the ifi hip dac mk1 and the shanling up4 22

 

I haven't tried the higher-end x series Grados but I did notice that the e series and the lower-tier x series ones tended to be a bit less lean in the low end compared to the original RS1 and older SR-80 I got to try before. Hopefully someone else can chime in with more definite answers but I feel like you might almost be warranted going for the older one cuz based on @purr1n's comments here the RS2e with TTVJ pads were darker than the RS2x with the F-cush (which is similar but not the exact same as TTVJ I think)--

RS2x mesaurements: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...2x-review-and-measurements.11872/#post-371392

RS2e measurements for comparison: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...uxe-pad-appreciation-thread.8952/#post-289894

No experience with the UP4 but I like the hip dac, got to try one out a few times in store settings and I feel like it does a decent job carrying that iFi Burr-Brown warm but not overly smothered signature which I imagine can help with bass richness. Having said that, I've never heard a Grado that extended all the way down into the sub-bass very well, it's just a limitation of their design.

Hope you find something that satisfies you!

 

Consumer advice? Here? Inconceivable!!

Try them both if you can. Some folks prefer the x drivers, some folks like the new voice from the new woods.