[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia Both grados and aless. come from gradolabs. Aless just distributes them IIRC.

Ah, so same shoddy construction with Alessandro cans then? I guess if it doesn't detract from the sound quality then all is okay. But still a little disappointing for such expensive headphones.

 

[MdRex]

Come on guys, its not like we are going to run across a battlefield with our Grados

Although I may consider the idea of smacking someone on the head with my Grados (maybe not, they are just to precious).

On a serious note I dropped my Grado yesterday, nothing happened. I am happy.

 

[acs236]

I like the style of the Grados, but I did wish they used a different means than glued plastic for the ear-cup swiveling mechanism -- perhaps metal, as with the HP series. That would solve most of the issues as far as I'm concerned.

 

[seeberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MdRex Come on guys, its not like we are going to run across a battlefield with our Grados

Sounds like someone hasn't served in the HeadFi crusades, no? It's a warzone, baby! Actually, I believe headphones that looked just like Grados did appear during the Korean War, and perhaps the Vietnam War(my assumptions derived from Radar on MASH), but that's getting off topic. If you paintball, it IS a warzone!

I'd say my SR60's are pretty durable, as I've used them while doing janitorial work, but they do currently have a semi intermittent connection in the plug housing. I may replace the plug myself with one of those serviceable gold Radioshack ones in the next few days, and then everything will be A'OK and right with the world. But alas, all I have is lint in my pockets. So I wait. Impatiently.

,
Abe

 

[S_Dedalus]

I'd take moderately ugly but solid construction over pretty but delicate construction any day. I beat the hell out of my first pair of SR-80's and my koss porta pros. I didn't have a problem with the grado's until I fried them(my second pair was pretty much never used, since I had the darth beyers, so I can't really comment on their build, but they seemed just as good as the first pair), and the koss are still going strong. I'm afraid to even look at CD3k's or SA5k's, lest they crack along some thin plastic seam.

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle I've never seen poor soldering, crappy design and globs of hot glue on a Grado.

You're not looking hard enough then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle I have seen glue but it was neither hot nor globby.

Um, well, yeah... the hot glue cools down man.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle The SR80 sounds as good or better than the HD580.

You must really like Grado's, because I could not disagree more. Oh well, to each his own.

 

[wualta]

And just to add an ironic cap to this friendly discussion, there was a recent auction on ebay where it was claimed that the SR-60s were a German made headphone.

Can you imagine someone looking inside with a flashlight and shaking his head over the state of German craftsmanship? Ach du lieber!

 

[Jahn]

even the PS-1, which is made for germans and sold only in germany - is made in brooklyn lol!

 

[ajt976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn even the PS-1, which is made for germans and sold only in germany - is made in brooklyn lol!

Sorry for the OT, but why exactly are they made specifically for Germans again?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajt976 Sorry for the OT, but why exactly are they made specifically for Germans again?

studio work. Germans needed a "Professional" can, so they called up Grado and had them make up something just for that market over there. they must have worked out a nice lil deal with Grado to get Grado to create something just for them, not just "tweaked" like the Alessandros. it's as if P-Diddy called up Grado and said he wanted cans to mix with that brought out the best in a Hip Hop mix, and Grado custom made cans for that purpose. Now that's power. Teutonic Power.

 

[fureshi]

can you guys imagine paying for a german or japanese headphone for the same price and getting grado build quality? i'm sure that there would be a lot more complaints about the build quality than grado is getting for their cans. with that being said, some grados also sound better than some german or japanese cans in the same price range but that's really up to the individual.

i love the way my sr225 (which i'm listening to right now) sounds but it's really disappointing that better engineering wasn't put into the designs. i agree with substance over style but with the amount that the grado cans cost new, you'd typically expect a lot more. i think that someone has mentioned this before but the sr225 basically use the same housing and headband as the sr60. did the extra $140 really go into the drivers?

i wonder what the BOM difference is between the sr225 and sr60

 

[Ozric]

Here's the kicker...the SR series from the SR60 through the SR225 all use the same drivers, with minor tweaks and better matching in case of the higher-end models. The only big difference is better cable. Otherwise, essentially they are the same headphone.

 

[rstokes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by robzy Cheaply constructed, but they wont fall apart. Rob.

Not so! I just had a pair of SR60's fall apart yesterday, one of the yokes just cracked in two! After only 15 years of careless daily use, including occasional droppage. A little superglue and they're back in service... well, I still like 'em even if I have to fix 'em every decade or so.

 

[MD1032]

My SR-80's have a few scratches on them and are a little roughly made overall, but things are moslty in one piece. My main complaint is that the wire coming from the Y-splitter is shorter going to the left earpiece, and neither wire is perfectly straight. Also, the cups rotate a little too freely for my liking. Still, nothing has shown any sign of degradation.

Also, I believe it's been posted before that the drivers are supposedly the cheapest part of the headphone to make according to Grado. Go figure...

 

[warpdriver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fureshi headband as the sr60. did the extra $140 really go into the drivers? i wonder what the BOM difference is between the sr225 and sr60

Face it, the cost of manufacture of these things (even other brands) is very low. They are really making a killing on the higher end models. If they actually charged a fixed premium over the cost of manufacture, the RS-1 would probably go for $250.

But as any marketing person knows, for a niche luxury item, you can only sell so many of them, and pricing it higher has an effect of making it even more desirable as it becomes hard to attain. I collect luxury watches, but I know that these watches that can cost (even tens of) thousands probably only cost a very very small fraction of their selling price). An entire movement inside a $3000 Omega probably costs $50 to make.

The SR225 is the same as the SR60 but with an extra windscreen and some better quality voice wire that costs probably an extra $10 (pick some absurdly low cost) in manufacturing costs. Say an SR60 costs $25 to make, the SR225 maybe costs $35-45 to make tops.

I've never looked carefully at my SR225 until now, but everybody is right, its looks very low rent, like some hobbyist assembled it in his basement.

Does it bother me? It does a little because I wonder if the builder didn't accidently scratched the driver diaphram and it will tear eventually after a couple of years. It looks very sloppy. If you take off the earpad, the casing itself has scratches like it was dropped on the floor and used as a hockey puck.

But then again, when I listen to it, I'm in heaven. Given how other people have reported there have been some problems with brand new Grado's (seemingly high), I have to wonder if it's worth buying any more (I have two). I have a beater office set, and my reference set. The sound is wonderful but I think I won't be needing any more. There are many other headphones to sample.

I *will* continue to recommend them to other people, because their sound is unique, and the happiness it brings to the ears is priceless. As long as they happily replace or repair defective ones without hassle....there is no reason to rule them out for build quality alone.