[Chodi]

Do they?

The only reason I bought the SR80e was because it had loads of very positive reviews.

Yes the SR80 is the only model to receive several reviews and mostly good reviews at that. Has to do with the price point. It is all the other models that are generally ignored or bashed in reviews. That isn't to say that you won't find an occasional review for a Grado product that is positive. It's been known to happen. Then compare all the reviews for any one of the Hifiman or Focal products. It is in part because Grado does no cultivate relationships with reviewers and send out lots of review samples. Grado simply relies on word of mouth and their heritage to sell their products.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Grado doesn't advertise. They rarely attend shows. Their product design is straight out of 1950 and they have no "story" about their drivers like other high end manufacturers. In fact, they don't want to talk about their drivers or technology. They claim to tune all their headphones using the same few jazz recordings from the 50's and 60's just by tradition? Reviewers generally hate them and avoid their products. When they do get a review it is usually not favorable. Often reviewers claim the lowest models in the Grado line are basically the same sound as their expensive models (I don't agree). I recently bought the RS2e and I enjoy it. I do own other headphones so my Grado is in rotation. They have a unique sound. Love it or hate it is very personal thing but certainly not traditional "audiophile" tuning. Sorry for the long answer.

Maybe John Grado can answer / put some substance to your information.
As for Reviewers hating Grado's, I have read reviews of the GS3000e's and PS2000e's as being very favourable towards Grado's.
If Grado's technology started in the 1950's then it shows it was a great design from the start which has been continually improved as time goes on....much like many other engineered product's i.e. take the petrol and diesel car engine for instance...it still has a basic piston design with electronic black boxes now pinned to it's sides to make it more efficient etc.
In the end, it's all about it's functionality and how it sounds to us hifi fanatics. And I think Grado meet these two main requirements for all of their headphones at different price points.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Do they?

The only reason I bought the SR80e was because it had loads of very positive reviews.

Same here both with my SR80e's and GS3000e's.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Yes the SR80 is the only model to receive several reviews and mostly good reviews at that. Has to do with the price point. It is all the other models that are generally ignored or bashed in reviews. That isn't to say that you won't find an occasional review for a Grado product that is positive. It's been known to happen. Then compare all the reviews for any one of the Hifiman or Focal products. It is in part because Grado does no cultivate relationships with reviewers and send out lots of review samples. Grado simply relies on word of mouth and their heritage to sell their products.

No it's not. You should do a Google search and see how many good reviews are online for Grado headphones. A lot more than you are saying i.e. just one.

 

[THGM]

No it's not. You should do a Google search and see how many good reviews are online for Grado headphones. A lot more than you are saying i.e. just one.

Agree, I have read positive reviews of PS1000e and PS2000e headphones amongst others.

 

[treebug]

Have yet to read a bad review for PS2000e, and I've read a few. Have tried many headphones over the years and I always come back to Grado or Sennheiser (HD800). There is always that thought that there may be something better, but IMO the PS2000e is the best sounding headphone out there. I even put up with the not so comfortable (as the HD800) fit for that sound!

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

I read all the manufacturers hype and a lot of good reviews both in Head-Fi.org and You Tube on the Meze Empy's. So I bought some ex-demo ones (cost £2,000) from a UK dealer expecting them to blow me away. They were beautifully built but the sound......well lets just say...I was so underwhelmed. I compared them with then my current best sounding (to my ears) Beyer T5P Gen 2's and my T5p's were far superior by all accounts. So I immediately sent the Meze's back to the dealer and got my money back.
My GS3000e's blow my T5P's out of the water on all counts i.e. sound, comfort, looks etc.

 

[Gippy]

As for Reviewers hating Grado's, I have read reviews of the GS3000e's and PS2000e's as being very favourable towards Grado's.

Let's be real about this. Almost all of these reviews had review units given to them, either by a dealer or even by Grado themselves. Obviously the reviews will be biased towards excellent, because they want to maintain that special relationship. I'm reminded of all of the positive GS2000e reviews when it first came out, but then came the impartial reviewers who harshly criticized it, with Joshua Valour saying he'd prefer the SR80e over the GS2000e. It was measured to have a more extreme 6k peak than even the Sennheiser HD700.

Maybe Grado has something good going with their special 31-hole 50mm driver found only on the GS3000e/PS2000e. They're certainly tuned a bit different than the entry-level models, with a peak at 6k rather than 2k. The GS3000e significantly lowers the 6k peak and sounds less grainy than the GS2000e. But it's still far from neutral and I wouldn't give it a universal recommendation if the user doesn't want to EQ or experiment with pads. It's just a shame that there will not likely be a trickle-down effect, and that Grado will only put that driver on an $1800 and a $2700 model.

 

[Chodi]

You will notice I recently bought a new pair of Grado RS2e so don't take my comments as bashing Grado. Quiet the opposite. I enjoy the Grado product. I was merely commenting on their marketing approach or the lack there of. Grado is a successful family business that began making phono cartridges. They still make them in small quantities for vinyl junkies. I bought one about 40 years ago. They are into their second generation and still working in the same paid for building in Brooklyn. That's the definition of a family business. I respect that.

 

[treebug]

I read all the manufacturers hype and a lot of good reviews both in Head-Fi.org and You Tube on the Meze Empy's. So I bought some ex-demo ones (cost £2,000) from a UK dealer expecting them to blow me away. They were beautifully built but the sound......well lets just say...I was so underwhelmed. I compared them with then my current best sounding (to my ears) Beyer T5P Gen 2's and my T5p's were far superior by all accounts. So I immediately sent the Meze's back to the dealer and got my money back.
My GS3000e's blow my T5P's out of the water on all counts i.e. sound, comfort, looks etc.

Same experience for me with the Empyrean. I wasn't as blown away as I'd expected having read the reports. Luckily they have a good returns policy! I even found the fit to be a little odd, but realize I'm in the minority there.

 

[elvergun]

But it's still far from neutral and I wouldn't give it a universal recommendation if the user doesn't want to EQ or experiment with pads.

You have no idea how much this pisses me off. So many reviewers claim that Grados are uncomfortable (or too bright) when all they would need to do is change the pads (or at least see if that helps). But no, they dismiss Grado...and then you can see some of the same reviewers engaged in one of their favorite headphone's pad rolling thread.

My SR60 with 414 pads is the most comfortable headphone I own. My SR60 with any of the Grado pads (or TTVJ flats) is the most uncomfortable headphone I own (itchy, irritated ears = uncomfortable).

 

[jem0208]

I've not had any issues with the Grado pads.

In fact I find the foam more comfy than any other headphones I've tried. The foam keeps my ears nice and cool.

The problem I've had is with the headband - the lack of padding means it hurts the top of my head after about 30 minutes of use.

I've solved that issue by repurposing the headband from an old pair of headphones though.

 

[cscales]

Has anyone tried this? I actually found a stable position.

The out-of-your head effect is astounding! I've read about the AKG K1000. This must be a similar experience.These are the gs1000e. I'm not familiar with other Grados, but if they share the same infrastructure design, then it should be possible with other models as well.

I had put these away for a long time in favor of my HD800 with a Silver Dragon. I've recently acquired a Hugo 1.0, so I decided to revisit.

I was quite impressed with the gs1000e/Hugo1 combo...even before I discovered this unconventional positioning. Try with jazz/classical/acoustic music, first. I've had mixed results with rock/dance music. Very uneven recording values. My source is Tidal HiFi, btw...

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

Same experience for me with the Empyrean. I wasn't as blown away as I'd expected having read the reports. Luckily they have a good returns policy! I even found the fit to be a little odd, but realize I'm in the minority there.

Yes treebug. Coming to think of it, I also had a strange /weird feeling fitting experience of the Empy's on my head too.

All that technology and R&D going into their hybrid drivers. Didn't make them amazing though did it.

Also when I had the Stax 009's I had no end of problems with one of the drivers and had to return them back to Stax in Japan twice in three years. And they were supposed to be at that time THE best headphone in the world which I had linked to THE best electrostatic amp (Headamp BHSE) in the world. At CANJAM London the 009's with a BHSE and Ayre QBD9 ??? DAC was the best sound to my ears at the show (and that was comparing with a Chord Dave and Audeze LCD4's and Focal Utopia's (the year they first came out)) but after owning this system for a couple of years it never blew me away adn I can say whole heartedly my GS3000e's and Hugo 2 linked to my Chord Blu Mk1 is giving me far more music enjoyment than the Stax set-up did.

 

[Bonesy Jonesy]

You have no idea how much this pisses me off. So many reviewers claim that Grados are uncomfortable (or too bright) when all they would need to do is change the pads (or at least see if that helps). But no, they dismiss Grado...and then you can see some of the same reviewers engaged in one of their favorite headphone's pad rolling thread.

My SR60 with 414 pads is the most comfortable headphone I own. My SR60 with any of the Grado pads (or TTVJ flats) is the most uncomfortable headphone I own (itchy, irritated ears = uncomfortable).

Also a lot of the Grado headphones are very revealing and transparent and if you have a crappy system and source and crappy produced Vinyl, CD's or music files you will soon know about it.