[donlin]

Arya wins... I want to thank all the fine people in Grado land for your help!

Congrats, wise decision. Did they take the faulty GS3000 back?

 

[carboncopy]

Hmmm...anyone here who heard the HEDD? It is sure intresting and unique, but does it have “soul”? I mean, here at the Grado topic people probably know what I mean since Grado seems to be about that...

 

[szore]

Congrats, wise decision. Did they take the faulty GS3000 back?

Yup...no questions asked...

 

[donlin]

Yup...no questions asked...

Nice!

 

[ruinedx]

Arya wins... I want to thank all the fine people in Grado land for your help!

Did you get to listen to arya in the store?

 

[szore]

Did you get to listen to arya in the store?

Yes!

 

[szore]

Did you get to listen to arya in the store?

What did it for me was listening to symphonic work...that gave me the complexity and dynamics to let me see what the Arya was capable of...all I need now is >150 hours to burn it in!

 

[ruinedx]

What did it for me was listening to symphonic work...that gave me the complexity and dynamics to let me see what the Arya was capable of...all I need now is >150 hours to burn it in!

Yep grados best for rock

 

[ParaLoganGrado]

Yep grados best for rock

I feel they're best for certain types of folk-bluegrass like Alison Krauss & Union Station and Nickel Creek. Or acoustic jazz trios like Mammal Hands & GoGo Penguin. But yes, I do like them for well mixed rock & metal usually over the LCD2 closed backs. The Auzdeze are better for most electronic music that isn't over compressed or too mid centric, modern metal with a lot of bass, and most rap. The Grados are more forgiving over all and excel mostly at the aforementioned Folk &Jazz. The Audeze are a bit pickier for sure. But man, when they mesh with an album I think they surpass my beloved GH2s. It pains me to admit that, but it's true.

 

[534743]

Involuntary modding:
I washed some filthy old L cushions with shampoo, warm water and then alcohol (some grey stuff came out) and in the procress they shrunk about 20% in thickness but sit a little loser all in all. So now my ears are a little closer to the actual headphone speakers which results in more bass and tamed treble. For most songs it sounds too tame for my taste but to my surprise those cushions sound just wonderful with The Beatles on my SR225e. I get a thick yet clean bass and very detailed mids and highs now. It's comparable to my RS2es but those lack the compact soundstage where everyone plays together which my 225es give me now.

 

[szore]

Involuntary modding:
I washed some filthy old L cushions with shampoo, warm water and then alcohol (some grey stuff came out) and in the procress they shrunk about 20% in thickness but sit a little loser all in all. So now my ears are a little closer to the actual headphone speakers which results in more bass and tamed treble. For most songs it sounds too tame for my taste but to my surprise those cushions sound just wonderful with The Beatles on my SR225e. I get a thick yet clean bass and very detailed mids and highs now. It's comparable to my RS2es but those lack the compact soundstage where everyone plays together which my 225es give me now.

What brand shampoo did you use?

 

[Blackwoof]

So do Superbestaudiofriends members in general. Last week I was reading some of their posts pertaining to the PS2000e. Not only were they dissing the Grado sound but they also alluded to Grado’s “poorly assembled, cheap & way overpriced products”. Having owned a few Grado headphones in the past I was dumbfounded by these opinions. For example at one time I owned the PS1000e which is quite similar to the PS2000e and aesthetically, assembly wise and sound wise it was a fabulous headphone. I presently own the GS3000e and it’s an absolutely outstanding looking and sounding headphone.

Both sites are just troll pits, They would stop replying if you showed a 10 year old SR325e, SR80e, RS1e. Yet 90% of Reddit sub was them crying that their Senn/hifiman/etc headphones would fall apart in 1 ~ 9 months. Even on all 3 i saw some posters get rude when Speakers can average 2 ~ 20% for bass distortion, Because they couldn't use it on Grado labs.

 

[ruinedx]

I will say there are two big turnoffs to Grado headphones in the $1k+ range where they are below par vs competitors that you think would be able to be remedied easily:

1. Mechanism that attaches earcup to headband. What grado uses is functional, sure, but in terms of looks and perceived build quality it falls notably short of competitors in the $1k+ range

2. Non-detachable cable. Another head-scratcher. If you ever want to change from a stock unbalanced cable to a balanced cable or longer cable it's a major project. For over $1k this shouldn't be the case.

Both of these points are easily rectified and there is no benefit to the way grado is doing it now other than cost savings. It perplexes me why they cant fix these things as they would be fairly easy to fix considering Grado's resources and expertise.

 

[iFi audio]

Yup...no questions asked...

Very good, that's how it should be handled!

 

[elvergun]

1. Mechanism that attaches earcup to headband. What grado uses is functional, sure, but in terms of looks and perceived build quality it falls notably short of competitors in the $1k+ range

I really, really like the mechanism. It's part of the Grado look and it works quite well. Why reinvent the wheel?

2. Non-detachable cable. Another head-scratcher. If you ever want to change from a stock unbalanced cable to a balanced cable or longer cable it's a major project. For over $1k this shouldn't be the case.

Now with this I completely agree. They've tried all kinds of woods and metals and cables, but not removable cables. I wonder why. I guess that if we want a removable cable we have to go with the GW100.