Do you think you could blindly tell which Grado is which?
Jun 24, 2008 at 11:55 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16

oicdn

Headphoneus Supremus
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If you tore all the buttons off, and just blindly listened to the Grado lineup, from the SR60 to the SR225...do you think you could tell the difference and name each correctly?

Same goes for if they were all woodied, do you think you place your finger on which is which? From the SR60, all the way up to the RS1...I have a hard time believing many could do it. I have no idea if I could or not....I haven't had the opportunity to listen to ALL of them.

I'm asking out of straight curiosity. After reading that "10 lies in audio" pdf, it's made me think about a lot....and this was one of them.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:08 AM Post #2 of 16
This question is really only legitimate for someone that has listened to each pair previously and has some understanding of the general Grado sound. For many of us (including myself), we have only listened to a few pairs out of the series and as such this test would not be appropriate.

Now as for specific blind tests, I am pretty confident that I could tell the difference between an SR225 vs. any other Grado (including RS-1/RS-2/HP1000). My reason? I am simply most familiar with that pair and I understand the nuances of its signature. Could I select the 225 out of 6-7 pairs? I can't say for sure.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:11 AM Post #3 of 16
I can blindly tell the difference between my two pairs (SR80 and SR325i) no problem at all. Don't reckon I could do it with the whole range though!
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:15 AM Post #4 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn /img/forum/go_quote.gif
If you tore all the buttons off, and just blindly listened to the Grado lineup, from the SR60 to the SR225...do you think you could tell the difference and name each correctly?


If within my audio memory (admittedly short) yes. Some of the differences are subtle, but easy to spot when you know where to look.

I could also tell you which vintage of RS-1/RS-2 I had on my gourd by ear.
Quote:

Same goes for if they were all woodied, do you think you place your finger on which is which? From the SR60, all the way up to the RS1...I have a hard time believing many could do it. I have no idea if I could or not....I haven't had the opportunity to listen to ALL of them.


Only if I heard them sighted first. The cups do change the sound a decent bit.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:25 AM Post #5 of 16
The HD580 and HE60 look fairly similar as well, they must sound the same too!
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:34 AM Post #6 of 16
Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn /img/forum/go_quote.gif
If you tore all the buttons off, and just blindly listened to the Grado lineup, from the SR60 to the SR225...do you think you could tell the difference and name each correctly?

Same goes for if they were all woodied, do you think you place your finger on which is which? From the SR60, all the way up to the RS1...I have a hard time believing many could do it. I have no idea if I could or not....I haven't had the opportunity to listen to ALL of them.

I'm asking out of straight curiosity. After reading that "10 lies in audio" pdf, it's made me think about a lot....and this was one of them.



I like this thread. I also like that 10 lies in audio PDF. I found it to pretty much back up everything I had assumed was a load of crap.

I would still like to see what people feel about this question though. I have SR80's currently and am planning for the future when I decide to get new phones. I have been looking at the 325i, so the post saying they could tell them apart from the SR80 was great. Thanks for that info.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:42 AM Post #7 of 16
I cannot even tell the difference between the SR80 and MS1 I recently bought. I am still trying, but then I feel like I don't want to train my ears.
confused.gif
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 12:49 AM Post #8 of 16
No, not in these two models. I think I could for example tell if an RS-1 or RS-2 was weaved into the mix.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 2:18 AM Post #9 of 16
If you spent a little time with them first, I think it would be pretty easy to tell. I once spent about 75 minutes with an 80, 125, 325i, RS-2, and RS-1, and by about fifteen minutes in I think I could identify each of them without too much trouble, with the two woodies being by far the closest of the lot.

edit, it occurs to me to say something that some may find obvious, but which I think is important here: telling various Grados apart is much easier if you have a good source and amp behind them. Straight out of an mp3 player, you might as well just get an SR-60 and be done with it.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 5:37 PM Post #11 of 16
I've never heard a SR-80 or SR-125...but know the others well. I think if I was given two at a time and told what two headphones of the lineup they were, I could pin point which was which after listening.

On a totally blind test having no idea what models were in play..it would be very difficult.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 5:42 PM Post #12 of 16
I think I could tell the difference between 80's and 225's... apart from that I don't think I probably could. I'd briefly had both the 60's and 125's on my head and didn't see a massive difference from memory as they related to SR 80's.

But take any of that with a grain of salt.
 
Jun 25, 2008 at 5:49 PM Post #13 of 16
60-80-125 would be much harder te keep apart, the 225 is abit of the strange bee in the line-up.
 
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:48 AM Post #14 of 16
I can tell SR80's from SR225's for sure, if you played something like techno through it.
Not sure about the others though.
 
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:41 AM Post #15 of 16
I remember when I moved up from my 60's to the 225's and I thought I almost liked the 60's better! I could hardly tell any difference between the two. I kept the 225's and like the Grado sound, but haven't really worried about another Grado model since my experience with these two.
 

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