Awesome post, thanks very much for sharing all of that. I really love the simplicity of the original Joseph Grado designs. I also didn't realize that's how the Grado rodblocks were constructed (with the o-rings)!   I haven't paid close attention to the Grado aftermarket but I can see why...

 

  Haha sorry to mislead you. I'm not familiar with the SR200s but I'm going to assume since you mentioned Joe Grado they're of the vintage collectable variety. Perhaps the rarity paired with collectability is enough to prevent you from hearing about any mods? There's always going to be those...

Thanks for your thoughts, I didn't expect it to be more comfortable, just better made. Is that because of padding or extra width? I ordered the coffee (dark brown) version, I think dark grey + brown would look pretty slick. I didn't quite understand the flagship thing either.

  Sorry no I haven't gotten to this yet. I still need to find out where that leather handband and stuff went. I ordered a new one from turbulent but I have no idea when it's going to arrive. Definitely will post pics when I get them though!     Black does look good as well for sure. I may...

  Trust me I'd really love to, it's the curse of being an industrial designer. I'd make everything custom for myself if I had the time! Gotta save the energy for building the stuff at work that pays the bills though.

First batch is back from the plating shop! Will try and see if I can find all of the parts for the headphones now so I can reassemble them and take some photos. It's been so many years that I forgot where they are.   

  Thank you very much, that made my day    So for the weekly status update, right now I'm stuck on how to finish these. Finishing is a lot more expensive than I was originally thinking and while the dark grey is really nice there's a tad bit of red in it which bothers me. Shops can do other...

Just got back the first test sample yesterday. Has a fine wet bead blasted texture and anodizing and is starting to look nice and finished. Just need to dial in the exact colour. I'm going with a darker gun metal colour to strike a balance between not looking too out of place with the black...

  Working hard to make it happen. I just got the new set screws to hold the rods in place. They're nylon tipped so they allow some form of movement (rotation and sliding) like a new pair of Grado clips does don't dig into and scratch the rods like stainless steel ones might do. If they ever...

  It's adamantium actually, and I'm optimistic for a 2025 launch. Grado has to still be in business after all, and if I wait too long headphones may just be a 3.5mm jack directly into your brain        That's the plan! I really like the look of the full ring as opposed to the C, and with...

As is the trend, after long time in hiding I'm back working at it again. A move to the city and a new WA7 amp encouraged me to get things going and wrapped up once and for all. I had a small batch of clips machined and now in the process of finding a good place to get them finished and coated...

  Yeah unfortunately it'd be very difficult to get a shop to take on such a small order; they generally like to do minimum orders/multiples as its far more profitable. I can't say I really blame them as there's a lot of setup time, and back and forth with the client and it's just not worth it...

I wonder how Grado would respond to that... my gut feeling is these would be too expensive for them to produce (or cut into their margins) which is why they originally moved away from the HP1 design in favor of lower cost plastic. An entire metal design would be perfectly feasible but only on...

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!   When I originally started designing these it was with the thought of them being a one off where cost wouldn't be a primary concern, that meant I could have crazy curved surfaces that take 2-10+ hours to machine on a single part (at $100/hr in machine...