[colgatetotal]

http://twitter.com/#!/JonGrado/status/171728825305149440
 
lol this is cute. I guess we know who the next boss will be.
 
It's nice that Grado now has an online voice in John's son. It seems he's really happy and thankful about his family's heritage from his recent tweets.

 

[Arboginge911]

Quote:

http://symphones.ca/

I saw the picture and fell in love. Too bad my wallet already hates me....

 

[Arboginge911]

Quote:

Ok I'm hooked, SR60s are fantastic but I'm saving for my next Grado purchase, would it be wise to go for the 325 or jump straight for the RS1/RS2?

Let me know what you choose! I'm planning on getting the 325i's

 

[vaed]

I think that's an objective of my life now. My target headphones of my life will be a 325i with magnums. I will be satisfied. Hopefully. Probably... maybe..............................depends on how long I stay on this site.

 

[Focker]

For those of you deciding on 325is, I thought Id chime in with some further impressions. Please note that my impressions are TOTALLY biased, as I have fallen head over heels for the Grado sound....I make no claims of being objective here   The very first minute I had these on my head, it was confirmed that it was "more of a good thing" in terms of how they compare to the SR80is. That's what I was hoping they'd be, and I love it when expectations are met or exceeded. Doesn't always happen in this hobby, as you guys would probably agree.
 
They are a very nice jump upward from the SR80s/60s. The low end is magnificent and, as I've noted previously, I'm totally enamored with the imaging abilities. They are driven sufficiently well with my iphone and kindle fire, but I feel they truly do benefit from a little extra amplification. When I fired up my Fiio E11 with them I felt they were sounding even more crisp and dynamic than without it. I'm very pleased with the build quality...they are very light...the clamping of them is just right, and I am in love with the overall sonic presentation. I'll also note that burn in seems to be valid with these guys. I let mine burn in for almost a 24 hr period and they do sound better to me now than they did at first. Out of the box I can detect the bright edge that some people find questionable, however it didn't bother me in the slightest. But after about 50 hrs I don't really notice it at all. On top of that, this pair seems to take the qualities I loved about the 80s a big step further, and that's saying a lot. Listen to anything with strings, particularly like an upright bass or the lower notes of a piano, and you'll be amazed at the realism.
 
I don't know if the $99 premium over the 225s is worth it since I haven't heard that model, but I can say without question that the 325s are worth every penny of their asking price, especially if you're coming from the 60s/80s and like what you're already hearing. On top of that, as others have pointed out, this model can be sent for the Magnum mod, which I may very well consider a few months down the road.
 
Does anyone know what the turnaround time is on the Magnum mod?

 

[Focker]

Quote:

Ok I'm hooked, SR60s are fantastic but I'm saving for my next Grado purchase, would it be wise to go for the 325 or jump straight for the RS1/RS2?

Honestly, if for some reason I was forced to live with the 80s forever, I could do that and live very happily enjoying music and movies...I can't quite tell if you're as smitten with them as I am thus far, but I think you'd be happy with the overall improvement in terms of build quality, comfort, and sound quality moving to the 325s. From what I understand, the Magnum mod on the 325s produces a product that most consider superior to the RS1s, so that might be something to consider. The RS1s and the Magnum modded 325s would be around the same price, but this way you could do it in two steps. YOu'd have an excellent pair of headphones to listen to currently, and then when you're ready you could spend the additional funds for the Magnums and end up with a better product overall.  I've only started my research on the Magnum mod program, but I've even read reviews from people who consider them the best cans they've ever heard PERIOD. Not just the best Grados, but the best headphones in general. But even if you didn't want to do any mods, I can highly recommend the 325s...they sound really good to my ears.
 

 

[colgatetotal]

Quote:

the Magnum mod on the 325s produces a product that most consider superior to the RS1s, ...  I've only started my research on the Magnum mod program, but I've even read reviews from people who consider them the best cans they've ever heard PERIOD. Not just the best Grados, but the best headphones in general.
 

 
Define "most" and "best". It's easy to make such spurious claims and spread the hype. I've heard the magnums/HF2/PS500 (but not side by side against each other) honestly I personally didn't prefer the magnums over the other two. Maybe it's because the magnums' weight was overbearing (it's about 3-4oz heavier than the HF2, which I already find heavy), or maybe the bass slam was a bit too deep for my taste. It's still a very good headphone; just not to my liking.
 
Just to note... if magnum was so good, the driver wouldn't have had 4 revisions in under 3 years. I wouldn't risk my money on something that'll likely get a v5 or v6 in a short time. Reminds me of the LCD/LCD2/LCD3 silliness.

 

[eltocliousus]

Quote:

Honestly, if for some reason I was forced to live with the 80s forever, I could do that and live very happily enjoying music and movies...I can't quite tell if you're as smitten with them as I am thus far, but I think you'd be happy with the overall improvement in terms of build quality, comfort, and sound quality moving to the 325s. From what I understand, the Magnum mod on the 325s produces a product that most consider superior to the RS1s, so that might be something to consider. The RS1s and the Magnum modded 325s would be around the same price, but this way you could do it in two steps. YOu'd have an excellent pair of headphones to listen to currently, and then when you're ready you could spend the additional funds for the Magnums and end up with a better product overall.  I've only started my research on the Magnum mod program, but I've even read reviews from people who consider them the best cans they've ever heard PERIOD. Not just the best Grados, but the best headphones in general. But even if you didn't want to do any mods, I can highly recommend the 325s...they sound really good to my ears.
 

You bring up some strong points, 325s it is! Head Fi is absolutely demolishing my wallet, and I love it!
Quick question however (and please, don't consider my ignorant, I've looked, honestly!) what does the Magnum mod do? I realizre I send my 325s to some place, they do something to them, send it back and it's considered a magnum, but what exactly do they do, and what are the sonic difference between a Magnum'd pair and a standard 325?

 

[Arboginge911]

What are the major differences between the 325's and the MS-2's? 
It seems as if the MS-2's are a toned down version of the 325's (in terms of highs) and have a greater soundstage, any thoughts?

 

[colgatetotal]

Quote:

what does the Magnum mod do? I realizre I send my 325s to some place, they do something to them, send it back and it's considered a magnum, but what exactly do they do, and what are the sonic difference between a Magnum'd pair and a standard 325?

Look closely at your 325is. Even though the cups are aluminum, the material housing the driver is plastic. That gets changed to aluminum, adding some weight. In the past, the coating on the original drivers were modified, but I believe the current v4 driver is now made in-house. Then there are a few other aesthetic changes, such as the plastic cup holder changing to aluminum as well.
 
As for sound, you'll get a huge bass bump and a treble boost at around 13khz. Earlier versions of the driver added too much bass, and so people complained until it got changed. In my opinion this is not quality bass; you'll see from Inner Fidelity's measurements that the THD at 60hz is a whopping 40%, and at 100hz it's 10%. But hey, some people like distorted bass.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/GradoSymphiusMagnumv25.pdf

 

[thelostMIDrange]

thanks for the graph. interesting. I can go along with some of what the tootpaste guy is talking about. the bass can be overbearing and way colored, but it usually is in a pleasant way. whereas the hf 2 bass was less musical and certainly less defined. I'd say mags are colored not distorted even though the measurements suggest that. maybe the distortion manifests itself in 'colored' bass. I can also attest to a general upper mid color/spike. Problem is there is plenty of variation of those v4's and of course the type of cup they go into affects things. I see that the graph is of the full magnum in aluminum housing. That sounds quite different than the various woods for example. Plastic of course would also have a different graph. But some of the drivers qualities would still carry through. Like any headphone, it's about the sum of the parts. personally, I was able to utilize some of the mag drivers in some particular wood cups to yield very high quality natural sounds. It wasn't easy though and can say listening to one example of them is insufficient to either form an opinion or write the driver off as being such and such. And if that fact discourages anyone from trying, I could also sympathize.

 

[thelostMIDrange]

all grado's seem to have alot of thd in the bass fwiw. even more than the magnum
http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads
 
 

 

[thelostMIDrange]

 

 

[thelostMIDrange]

and those graphs also show the difference between a grado and sennheiser, and the challenge of turning a grado into a more natural sounding headphone design. ALot of folks like the grados becuause they are engaging, fun, etc but they are very colored and unatural, as the graphs always show. the senns are much more linear and are nice sounds, but they do not take a listener on as deep or intimate a ride as a grado design can. the magnum is an attempt to blend these two imo, and the task of the 'modder' or 'builder' of the custom magnum is to allow this to happen while at the same time doing whatever possible to reduce the colorations of the grado (and magnum) drivers. this can be done only with the cup design and particular driver mating to that particular cup, since it's the only real variable besides the cable in that simple design.

 

[Focker]

Quote:

 
Define "most" and "best". It's easy to make such spurious claims and spread the hype. I've heard the magnums/HF2/PS500 (but not side by side against each other) honestly I personally didn't prefer the magnums over the other two. Maybe it's because the magnums' weight was overbearing (it's about 3-4oz heavier than the HF2, which I already find heavy), or maybe the bass slam was a bit too deep for my taste. It's still a very good headphone; just not to my liking.
 
Just to note... if magnum was so good, the driver wouldn't have had 4 revisions in under 3 years. I wouldn't risk my money on something that'll likely get a v5 or v6 in a short time. Reminds me of the LCD/LCD2/LCD3 silliness.

If you read my full post, I qualify it by saying that I've only just now started my research on the Magnum mod and also by using a phrase like, "from what I understand". It's obviously not from my own experience and that's clear when you consider what I wrote in its entirety and not just edit it to your preference.