[flaming_june]

Everyone has their own opinion and sound signature preference.  No need to call others silly.
 
No they don't have enough bass, or the correct bass.

 

[Chris_Himself]

Eh this was a "for fun" thread that illustrated my reignited love for the brand. Honestly I love all headphones. I'm one of the few people who probably agrees with all strongpoints on every headphone and there are very few cans I've actually straight up not liked!

 

[MaciekN]

Grados do concentrate on mid-bass but with some modifications this can be extended well down. I have no reference closed headphones to compare but I don't feel like I'm lacking bass on stuff Deadmau5. Just sometimes bass is not there in the recording, that's how I see it.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

The problem is the bass extension, I wouldn't quite get Grado for hiphop, dubstep for example.
 
Here's a good test, at 0:32 you should start hearing a constant ~20Hz bass rumble in the song that is played through the whole song, I bet with Grado's you won't even hear it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FonmhUBsXOY (or you might hear something if you turn the volume up a lot and also have the vocals screaming like mad in your ears )

 

[Derp]

I can hear it fine from my Sr225is. I've vented the drivers, removed the model number cap and used felt as a damper inside the can.

 

[TMRaven]

I can hear it a little bit on the DT990s, but it's somewhat low and isn't representational of a true rumble that you can moreso feel than hear.  It's just very hard to get that kind of extension unless you get a great seal or have a significant amount of power amping that kind of low tone.
 
Most of what I hear from headphones is that they go down to 40hz rather well, but really roll off on 30 and 20hz.  30hz is decently present on something as closed and low extending as the M50s, but even that doesn't represent 20hz very well.  Of what I heard of the grados at the music store, they just have mid-bass.
 
 

 

[WrxSTI]

Quote:

It's definitely not a vinyl characteristic.  I'm assuming from both that comment and your handle (what a bargain for such a fun car BTW) that you didn't grow up listening to vinyl like we old guys did.  It's the highly compressed 80s' metal/rock crappy recording that is the likely culprit.  For some reason 80's pop/rock music recordings are spectacularly poor, no matter what the medium.  The sound engineers ruined a lot of good music for posterity back then.

 
Yeah, I was born in 1992. One thing I can definitely tell you though is that I much prefer listening to these old vinyl records compared to most of the more recently recorded stuff regardless of genre, and it's also recently that I've found out why - dynamic range. While most of these older albums have a DR of 12-13, nearly all modern music has DR's in the area of 5-6, some even as low as 3 (Hadouken,  I'm looking at you...). Some of the early Aphex Twin (~1990) albums do well in the area of 10-12 DR and that's some of the best electronica I've heard - plus I can use 100% volume, whereas with recent stuff I have to keep it at 30% because everything's just that loud. Sad what is happening to music nowadays.

 

[Sonic Defender]

WrxSTI your right on the money. The loudness wars have ruined any chance for musical dynamics in most modern rock/pop/hip hop recordings. For those unfamiliar with the concept of a "loudness war" and what it has done to music Wikipedia has a good entry for it and the references supplied are good reading. This is what drove me away from being able to enjoy almost any rock album in the last ten years, just so full of sound - a wall of noise with no dynamics at all. Impossible to turn up unless you like being blasted by a congested wall of screaming sound with no musical definition. Some notable exceptions of late that I can still enjoy Tool - 10 000 Days and the new Foo Fighters, Wasting Light which was recorded all in analogue, very musical, but still a rock recording so you can only expect so much from it. Turned to jazz and world music to find some refreshing recordings.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Sorry about going off topic. Yes Grado can produce a good to excellent bass presentation, but I agree with the general sentiment that their bass is not concentrated down deep. That said, for many listeners this will matter little as the extra richness found in the mid bass will provide exceptional depth and coverage of so much of the music that it is imo and worthwhile trade-off. Perhaps I am being unfair, but I have always found close-backed designs to sound a little congested in the bass. I will admit to not having heard many closed cans so perhaps I am missing the better designs, but from what I understand some extra colouration in bass is unavoidable with a closed back design. I am not saying this colouration is unpleasant or unmusical, all cans are coloured, no all speakers are coloured so it just depends on what suits your taste.
 
I have had 225i for about three years and really grew to appreciate and respect their approach to bass, which I feel is very adequate. If you want to hear a fantastic album to test their bass on I suggest Peter Gabriel's album Up, espescially track 2 Growing Up. Some nice bass in there for sure and quite demanding to resolve well. I am awaiting the arrival of my HF-2 just purchased from another head-fier. Should be sweet and go down even deeper, yummy!

 

[youngngray]

Quote:

WrxSTI your right on the money. The loudness wars have ruined any chance for musical dynamics in most modern rock/pop/hip hop recordings. For those unfamiliar with the concept of a "loudness war" and what it has done to music Wikipedia has a good entry for it and the references supplied are good reading. This is what drove me away from being able to enjoy almost any rock album in the last ten years, just so full of sound - a wall of noise with no dynamics at all. Impossible to turn up unless you like being blasted by a congested wall of screaming sound with no musical definition. Some notable exceptions of late that I can still enjoy Tool - 10 000 Days and the new Foo Fighters, Wasting Light which was recorded all in analogue, very musical, but still a rock recording so you can only expect so much from it. Turned to jazz and world music to find some refreshing recordings.

Another recent rock recording that I have come across recently that has avoided the "loudness wars" is Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses. It really is very dynamic and IMO a good album.

On another note, I have ATH-M50's and listening to that Youtube track, I can clearly hear the sub bass track as well as "feel" it as much as you can from a headphone. It really sounds great. I'm using them out of a Total Bithead from my computer via USB.
 

 

[Zombie_X]

Yeah the HF2's do have lot of bass. IMO the MAGNUM V2.5 modded SR-325is have a tad more bass and is even more controlled with liquid treble. Mids are more liquid as well.
 
I don't know why people say Grado's don't have bass. They have lots of bass to my ears and it just comes down to them not having deep bass. I think that's why people say they are bass light. Otherwise they have enough impact to satisfy me
 
Quote:

I find the HF2 an exception.  They have oodles of bass. 

 

[Sonic Defender]

Hi youngngray. Yes I have Chinese Democracy, but sadly haven't listened to it very much. I'll have to give it a spin with the HF2s when they get here. Just a note if anybody does pick up the Gabriel album Up for listening, please avoid lossy files if you can. Lossless is well worth the space as the music is very textured and quite rich. I have the album and just use Apple Lossless for my iPod.

 

[Inquartata]

That youtube track rumbled my face using both the SRH750DJ and Phiaton MS400. (The 750DJ rumbled more than the MS400, though.) Both were straight out of the headphone jack of a unibody macbook.

 

[Zombie_X]

I can hear all the bass clearly on my MAGNUM V2.5's but on my MS1i's the bass is much lighter and I can barely hear any deep bass.
 
Quote:

That youtube track rumbled my face using both the SRH750DJ and Phiaton MS400. (The 750DJ rumbled more than the MS400, though.) Both were straight out of the headphone jack of a unibody macbook.

 

[Chris_Himself]

Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen on 225's = the best listening experience in the 4 years I've been a head-fier.
 
Like the mantra goes, buy the cans that make your ears happy.