[krmathis]

They do!
I find them to become irritating after an hour or two. Hence why I sold my Grado and moved on to Stax.

 

[fordgtlover]

I had a set of SR-125 and I found them to be very uncomfortable to wear; the earpads were like sandpaper on my ears. I also found them too bright and grainy. It is of course possible that they just revealed different deficiencies of my source, but Senn and AKG worked out well for me, and hopefully, ATH soon.

As always, YMMV.

 

[nor_spoon]

I listen to my RS-1's at lower volume than my other cans, but have no plan letting them go. They sound too good in their own way.

 

[coolcat]

If you love grado's sound,go buy them.
my answer to the question "Do Grados Irritate Your Ears" ? is NO.

my Friend's RS1 has never Irritated my Ears.

but like krmathis said for someone it may irritate the ears(at least his ears

).I think it depends

 

[F107plus5]

Yup; each of us perceives comfort in our own personal way. My two main sets of phones are HD600 and MS2i, and I find them to be be sonically similar in comfort(remembering that the MS2i are weighted toward the rock end of the spectrum while the HD600 is happier to the "Classical" side)and also quite similar in physical comfort. I have just as many Ooohs and Boos with either set after about the same amount of wearing time.

....at least with my ears.

The HD600 are said by many to have too tight a clamp. The HD650 is tighter yet! But the Grados have an infinetly adjustable headband that can be bent again and again for a pefect fit.. The pads on the Senns are nice, but the Grado pads will, over time, soften up and conform to just "your" ears. It takes some time though, and although it's a bit daunting at first, there are miriad varieties of pads available allowing the listener, with a modest outlay of cash, the ability to fine tune the comfort and sonic levels of the beast. And even swap pads for different listening conditions if desired!

....I like reversed and modded 414s on my MS-1 but Bowl pads on my MS2i. I luv my HD600 dearly, but the pads they came with is the pads they come with!

But yeah; there are kinda two main camps here at Head-Fi: Grado; and....everybody else! The fact that Grado(and Grado/Alessandro)have such a massive and voiciferous following indicates to me that yup; Grado is nothing to be feared!

 

[QQQ]

Quote:

The HD600 are said by many to have too tight a clamp. The HD650 is tighter yet! But the Grados have an infinetly adjustable headband that can be bent again and again for a pefect fit.. The pads on the Senns are nice, but the Grado pads will, over time, soften up and conform to just "your" ears.

Could not agree more. This especially tru, when plastic grados is considered, they are really featherweight.

 

[Ghoul]

My first venture into full-sized canz was the grado line. I started with the sr-225 and then went straight to the RS-1. They are the most comfortable set of canz I've ever put on my head. Though I haven't tried them all on of course.

IMHO it also comes down to head/ear shape for some people. I hear how the pads rest on the ears of some and that causes that "sand paper" irritation. I'm lucky enough that I have small ears and the grados don't rest on top of them.

 

[nor_spoon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghoul /img/forum/go_quote.gif IMHO it also comes down to head/ear shape for some people. I hear how the pads rest on the ears of some and that causes that "sand paper" irritation. I'm lucky enough that I have small ears and the grados don't rest on top of them.

Ghoul: looking at your picture, I am wondering, how do you get your ears from not touching the drivers?

 

[jacdan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Could not agree more. This especially tru, when plastic grados is considered, they are really featherweight.

For me it seems the other way around. The woody RS1 feels lighter, especially with bowls, than the plastic 225.

 

[Ghoul]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nor_spoon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ghoul: looking at your picture, I am wondering, how do you get your ears from not touching the drivers?

Hah! yea i have to kinda roll em up and tuck them in.

 

[elnero]

I'm a little confused as to why this thread became predominately a discussion on physical comfort when the OP was clearly asking about sound/treble irritation issues.

I owned RS-1's for quite a while, they're still one of my favorite headphones but they were definitely finicky. I played around a lot with various configurations to my system to try and get the sound I preferred out of them. I do think I had a nice temporary setup at one point when I had them paired with a MiniMax CD player and a HeadAmp GS-1, with that combination they sang sweetly but with authority. Unfortunately that was not a system I could afford and in all the other configurations I tried it seemed I would get one thing right while sacrificing another.

The area of biggest concern for me was treble, I'm sensitive to it and excessive sibilance drives me crazy. It's an area that Grado's tend to have some issues, it's not impossible to cure though and considering their other qualities, if those are important to you, than the effort to do so can have huge dividends.

One thing that always seemed to bother me with the RS-1's though was they seemed to irritate the minor tinnitus I have, it always seemed that the ringing was louder for a period of time after listening with them. That's not unheard of with any headphone at times but it seemed to be more so of a consistent issue with the RS-1's. It's one of the reasons I eventually reluctantly let them go.

 

[lacrossebowe8]

Try them and see. They do have an aggressive sound and aren't quite as comfortable as some phones, but many, including me, find them excellent.

 

[yashicaman]

There is a simple solution to the sometimes piercing treble that Grado's are capable of producing: only listen to solo or tuba ensemble albums. Tubas and Grados have an amazing synergy. There were simply made for each other.

I have a pair of Grado 325i's and many tuba albums, but I have also purchased a smattering of other albums over the years which do no feature exclusively tubas (although many of them have tubas on them). Sadly, to say, I've never played tuba. I did play trumpet with a French horn mouth piece for a while (should have tried my trumpet with a tuba mouth piece for I might have had more success).

I like my Grado 325i's very much. I have decent gear to play them thorugh--a Decware Zen Amp from a Philips ipod clone for portable applications and a McIntosh integrated amp at work and a Philips LHH1000 with dedicated headphone amp built-in to the DAC or my Adcom 565 preamp in my main stereo rig. Good gear and Grado's sound good. Take into account the source. Well recorded cd vs poorly recored cd can also make quite a difference.

One can also experiement with other Grado pads which will affect the treble or the bass or both. I just use the stock bowls that came with my 325i. I may experiment someday just for curiosity's sake.

Come on over to the Grado side of thiings. You are in for a treat. Audition first and you might not want to jump right in and go with the 325i's. (Maybe SR-225's if you have the lolly--many claim this is the nicest of the Grado line-up for the price). The 325i's are the brightest of the Grado's (and being bright myself, I just had to have a pair). Some would claim that they are for old head bangers with upper frequency hearing loss (fits me to a t). Maybe so. But I love 'em.

Cheers!

 

[asmd]

yep, my sr80s are bright and the bass lacks presecense and all round oomph. once compared to warmer bassier headphones, the lack of it on the sr80 is easily noticed.
comfort wise, nothing i would write home about. the stock bowls are made of rough material that can get very annoying but it does get better over time once you get used to it.. never to the point of really comfortable headphones, but a slight improvement none the less.

 

[stuge(original)]

I may have got Grado 325i by now ,but since distributor was out of stock .So I had to wait ,but after reading this thread it seems like I will definitely have to give a second thought.