I want to clarify a few things here since some folks seem to upset at the various criticism I've levelled at Grado headphones in various videos, and I want to provide a bit of context so there's no confusion as to where I'm coming from. And I don't expect this to be accepted by everyone, given this is a thread comprised of those who enjoy them and likely won't share my opinion on them, which is fine.
For headphone evaluations, when it comes to sound quality, we can say that
at the very least there are three important variables that determine what 'good' is, and they are as follows:
- Individual anatomy (HRTF)
- How headphone behavior changes depending on the head that wears them (HpTF)
- Preference
I'm not saying these are the only factors, since there are certainly others such as harmonic distortion, acoustic Z, or even various design-related psychoacoustic effects. I'm saying at the very least we can comfortably point to these as being key factors when it comes to sound quality in headphones and what goes into whether or not people enjoy a given product.
So, along these dimensions, I've consistently found all Grados I've encountered to be
uniquely horrible sounding to me. However, important to note is that if you change the individual or essentially the 'head' that's wearing them, all three of those factors are likely to change, to the point where I could in theory see how someone else might be able to enjoy them. I've said this in other places before, but we need to collectively stop treating headphones we experience as indications of 'the truth' about those products in all conditions, and instead recognize that this is just how they perform in the specific condition of the head that's wearing them. And, maybe this goes without saying, but our experiences are
necessarily unique, largely based on these factors as well.
When doing an evaluation, it's important to consider not just how it sounds subjectively, but also how it's likely to be received by other people. There are countless examples of this consideration on our channel, where something might not be for me specifically but it still could get a recommendation. I feel reviewers have to balance this, since on the one hand we have to give a genuine subjective report of how something sounds (to a real human), but also recognize that we're not every human. We just have one perspective, with one set of ears with a specific preference. So we have to consider how it may perform for others.
Now, the reason why I can't in good conscience recommend them or endorse the purchase of them -
without knowing the preferences of the individual - is because of how they perform objectively on industry standard equipment (and we use multiple rigs for precisely the above reasons), relative to what we know people prefer. Now, I'm not talking strictly about the Harman research here, but rather what's known to be preferred in speakers as well from multiple studies on this topic. And, based on the... literal decades of audio research, we can say that categorically, the Grado sound signature is likely to be more palatable for a particular niche than it is to be suitable for what most people like - at least for bass to treble delta. That does not mean that if you love Grados, your taste or preference is somehow inferior.
Of course I recognize that they have a cult following, here and in other places. But I think this is something you have to know is right for you - or at least have a general sense that this is the kind of sound signature you may be after.
To the other points about us being 'influencers' or dunking on stuff that isn't carried by Taron and the other folks who run the store, as he pointed out, we published content that was very critical of certain Grado headphones while they were still in stock. We've done this time and time again with products from other brands carried by the store as well, even going so far as to lose brands over our coverage of their products. We have the freedom to do critical or negative reviews on our platform, and in our view this is a better approach than operating within the traditional youtube economy. Our income is not tied to the sentiment in a review, freeing us from the incentive to gloss over the negatives or only do positive coverage. I've said this before but I feel youtube has become a gigantic hype machine given the monetization models built around affiliate links or paid-for reviews.
But, it's also understandable that we see this criticism from time to time from people who may not understand how we operate. People perhaps rightly look for incentives or reasons for our editorial judgments that might not align with what that person believes to be true.
And in that respect, I get it. It can be difficult to imagine the thing you love is so objectionable to someone else, and so I get the impulse to go looking for any possible nefarious explanation or motivation for why they may have said that. But I have to once again point out the three factors above, and this goes for all cases where people have differing opinions about products. In my view, those three variables are responsible for
many disagreements about headphones, and when you fully understand those variables, the disagreement is also understood.
Beyond that, the only mandate we have for our channel is to say it like it is - how we genuinely feel about these products. You may disagree with our takes, and that's fine. We regularly disagree with one another! But I suggest that before jumping to various conclusions around incentives or motivations, consider that based on how these headphones measure on standard equipment, it should come as no surprise that they won't be for everyone. And... I feel it's worth voicing this even if it means raising the ire of those who love the product, and I'll be far more willing to take those knocks in the Grado community than compromise on my editorial integrity.
) so I'll soon be able to compare to the rs1x & other Grados I've owned.) Personally, I've found that, at least w/ the RS1X & RS2e, they were extremely bright when purchased new, but eventually settled into a much warmer (albeit still bright) punchy sound, which more than anything, I attribute to the L pads wearing in & softening over time. Personally, I've found the different pad types/conditions to be a HUGE contributer into how the Grados I've owned sound. When I first got the RS1x/RS2e, I was extremely close to returning them due to how bright they were, but I'm EXTREMELY glad I stuck with them as they eventually settled into being amongst my favorite headphones.
