Grado was once an innovator. Now John - or Grado as a company - thinks that their products are good enough not to develop new ones. Anyway, they are good enough to support the company - for now. But I am sure when the market moves away John will start to make new products since he is responsible for the legacy and the employees (and for his family). Now, this is reaction to the market, not innovation. Guess which behavior moves the world?
Or imagine the situation, when the market changes and the current line will not sell well. John will stop pay for himself again? In my view this is not a responsible behavior, especially not for a man with family.
1) It was never said "that their products are good enough not to develop new ones" What John DID say was that he sees no need to develop new products just for the sake of having a new product. If there isn't a definable improvement, why bother? This is contrary to, and smarter than, 95% of the companies out there in ANY field. The 325i is a perfect example of this- an evolutionary improvement. It also shows that he is not just sitting back saying "good enough, don't bother", but at the same time he knows that you don't have to change everything and create something 100% new if a refinement is what is needed.
2)"I am sure when the market moves away John will start to make new products" What market is moving away? The headphone market? I wasn't aware that the headphone market was in danger of moving away anytime soon.
What kind of behavior is responsible for John as he looks out for his family is not my call, but a smart business owner with sales in the millions will no doubt do well by them. And really, steady devotion to a goal moves the world as much as anything. Can you doubt how much Grado (under both Joeseph and John) have moved the audio world so far?
It seems you've found a farily negative way to look at this. Personally I think Grado's way of doing business is refreshing. Many American companies used to take the slower & steadier path, and we've suffered from the loss of that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Banfi T.
Grado was once an innovator. Now John - or Grado as a company - thinks that their products are good enough not to develop new ones. Anyway, they are good enough to support the company - for now. But I am sure when the market moves away John will start to make new products since he is responsible for the legacy and the employees (and for his family). Now, this is reaction to the market, not innovation. Guess which behavior moves the world?
Or imagine the situation, when the market changes and the current line will not sell well. John will stop pay for himself again? In my view this is not a responsible behavior, especially not for a man with family.
But I think it is responsible of him to decide that his company is doing well enough that he can spend some time with his family. They make products that people like and buy. They make a comfortable living. That's good enough. Trying to grow too fast, or expand in too many directions is what almost killed grado the first time.
__________________
mac mini -> apogee duet -> tooleaudio balanced mosfet amp -> luxman lv-113 -> home theater direct level 3 bookshelf speakers
mac mini -> apogee duet -> tooleaudio balanced mosfet amp -> grado/headphile zebra hf1s
tooleaudio denon dvd2900 -> tooleaudio balanced mosfet amp -> grado/headphile zebra hf1s
1st gen ipod shuffle 1gb -> Altec Lansing iM616
"And so that's how a silly joke turned into one of the seminal rock songs of all time"
the chinese currently excel in making high quantity low(er) value items like clothes, toys and some electronics.
production low quantity high(er) value items (golf clubs, small engines, radio eq, amps, speakers, microchips etc) are a distinct minority (or completely nonexistent) and usually of dubious quality and/or origin.
I find it very amusing that you include golf clubs in that list since I am a golf connoisseur myself :580smile:
__________________ DT880 or HD580? PM me with your opinion! My musical tastes can be best classified via 2 artists: Sarah McLachlan and Enya.
No I am not gay ;)
One rig only: Inspiron 8600/Powerbook 12" -> M-Audio Transit -> Sony EX-51SL/Sennheiser HD580
Headphoneus Supremus: His body's not a canvas, and he wasn't raised by apes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Banfi T.
Grado was once an innovator. Now John - or Grado as a company - thinks that their products are good enough not to develop new ones. Anyway, they are good enough to support the company - for now. But I am sure when the market moves away John will start to make new products since he is responsible for the legacy and the employees (and for his family). Now, this is reaction to the market, not innovation. Guess which behavior moves the world?
Or imagine the situation, when the market changes and the current line will not sell well. John will stop pay for himself again? In my view this is not a responsible behavior, especially not for a man with family.
Sorry.
What the **** are you talking about? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Grado has great products to sell and they will sell tens of thousands each year. They don't need to waste time and money doing years of research and development to come up with a $5000 headphone (that is a 5% improvement) to sell to 100 people. Are today's niche market headphones really better (i.e. more musical) than the HP-1's, AKG's and Stax of yesteryear? Nah..
Hey, just got back. Good to see the review, Zanth. Although I would have preferred the review in a Q:A: form so we could get more of his words, yours embellished things and made it more interesting!
Good news on the Streetstyles. If they retail for $20 or $30, there are going to be A LOT of those floating around here!! :gradostreetstylenotyetreleasedsmile:
I like the news that he and the manufacturers are working on various prototypes to improve comfort. Sony Streetstyles are not only too small for my head, they're uncomfortable compared to other streetstyles. And, of course, they all unfortunately sound like total crap.
Moderator Headphoneus Supremus: Moderator and SHAman who knew of Head-Fi ten years prior to its existence
Quote:
Originally Posted by MD1032
Hey, just got back. Good to see the review, Zanth. Although I would have preferred the review in a Q:A: form so we could get more of his words, yours embellished things and made it more interesting!
Good news on the Streetstyles. If they retail for $20 or $30, there are going to be A LOT of those floating around here!! :gradostreetstylenotyetreleasedsmile:
I like the news that he and the manufacturers are working on various prototypes to improve comfort. Sony Streetstyles are not only too small for my head, they're uncomfortable compared to other streetstyles. And, of course, they all unfortunately sound like total crap.
I didn't embellish, I just added details about the history, but as I promised I'm going to be editing the main body soon, I have just been really swamped lately and every time I sit down to do it, something comes up. I will be adding some info to the main body and then I will try to separate some main questions out and do a small Q&A section. Hopefully within the next few days.
Sounds cool, but if you can't remember the words, I don't blame you. I'm good at remembering short bursts of very specific things, but I can't recall long conversations.
Great, now I'm going to be waiting for those portable Grados to come out until Christmas!
Wohoo, grado streetstyles, can't wait for those to come out. I'm very curious how they will look. Hope I don't have to wait (when I order them) as long as I'm now waiting for my ms-1's--> already 21 days. Guess I must blame the dutch customs...
Moderator Headphoneus Supremus: Moderator and SHAman who knew of Head-Fi ten years prior to its existence
Quote:
Originally Posted by luuk
Wohoo, grado streetstyles, can't wait for those to come out. I'm very curious how they will look. Hope I don't have to wait (when I order them) as long as I'm now waiting for my ms-1's--> already 21 days. Guess I must blame the dutch customs...
Well I believe the earliest they will be out is end of 4th quarter, Christmas time. John was very clear that he would only run with the production if they met his standards. Thus far he is in the final stages of the "back and forth" process before signing off on a final version. Now then, the real question, will the Dutch customs release your MS-1's before John releases his new street styles
Linear Mode
