HWB3
1000+ Head-Fier
I have three amps that I use with my RS2x"s and my Magni 3+ seems to be the favorite so far. Still about a week in to using them.
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Well, their email responses are not always warm and fuzzy, but they usually are timely and to the point. Last year I had sent in my RS1x to be looked at (turns out everything was fine, and no work was required). I was dealing with their warranty guy. Then one morning I get a phone call from a Brooklyn area code. Picked-up, and a fellow introduced himself to me as "Hi Leo, this is John Grado, I have your headphone in my hands. Do you have a minute to chat?"I agree - I don’t have a positive experience communicating with Grado USA. My first correspondence with them was very early in my headphone journey in 2015 or so and I remember being shocked at the lack of professionalism in their emails.
How cool is that to talk to John Grado himself?Well, their email responses are not always warm and fuzzy, but they usually are timely and to the point. Last year I had sent in my RS1x to be looked at (turns out everything was fine, and no work was required). I was dealing with their warranty guy. Then one morning I get a phone call from a Brooklyn area code. Picked-up, and a fellow introduced himself to me as "Hi Leo, this is John Grado, I have your headphone in my hands. Do you have a minute to chat?"
Another time, in 2016 or so, I needed to get more of those little black things that go on top of the headphone posts. Called Grado, and John Grado picked up the phone, heard my request, and sent me several at no charge. They've never disappointed me. Others may have different experiences than myself, but I'm a Grado fan for life!
Leo
Now that’s a nice and personal story. Not every communication has to go by the big business standard lines…Well, their email responses are not always warm and fuzzy, but they usually are timely and to the point. Last year I had sent in my RS1x to be looked at (turns out everything was fine, and no work was required). I was dealing with their warranty guy. Then one morning I get a phone call from a Brooklyn area code. Picked-up, and a fellow introduced himself to me as "Hi Leo, this is John Grado, I have your headphone in my hands. Do you have a minute to chat?"
Another time, in 2016 or so, I needed to get more of those little black things that go on top of the headphone posts. Called Grado, and John Grado picked up the phone, heard my request, and sent me several at no charge. They've never disappointed me. Others may have different experiences than myself, but I'm a Grado fan for life!
Leo
I can attest to that. Jot2 SE out made Grado RS2x sound more neutral.I totally agree with the amp situation for Grado. Magni Unity sounds great but the Jot 2 made my Grado too flat. I had to tune the Jot 2 using my Lokius to get back the Grado sound. My Apple dongle amp did better than the Jot 2 strangely enough.
Your SR325i description sounds like my SR325is though they shouldnt be the same since mine has red magnet driver but who knows with Grado…. Aside from the bass roll off it has the best tonal balance of all Grado Ive tried (with F-pads). Its a keeper.@Resolve I've always had a lot of respect for you specifically (I've been a subscriber since before you had any affiliation with Headphones.com), and still LOVE the Headphones.com content as whole because it is informative, fun, and I have never felt you were "shills" for or against any headphones, and certainly, never, ever felt that any views expressed on the channel were in the least compromised by what was sold or not sold on Headphones.com.
In fact, I bought my Heddphone, Focal Clear and Radiance headphones all on Headphones.com and think Headphones.com is one of the best vendors whom I highly recommend.
That being said, the Headphones.com reviewer record on Grado headphones has always struck me as predicable and indicative of representing only one slice of the community.
That is clearly implied and even sometimes almost overtly expressed in multiple videos I've watched from Headphones.com channel on YouTube, though, when it comes to opinions about Grado's. The tone is even condescending at times, and it's across multiple reviewers, not just one. DMS may be the only one that I can recall ever having enough positive to say about any Grado to recommend one, among your group, in fact, and that's been mostly since the Hemp and the X-series.
Not difficult to imagine, or even necessary to imagine at all, since it's rather explicitly and regularly stated as such rather consistently. Honestly, it feels almost quite the opposite, that none of you can imagine that the thing that is so objectionable to you collectively can be loved by many others, and again, it's usually implied strongly that something is wrong with our ears.
I think the truth is that some of us just have a wider range of listening preferences. That I like my Grado SR-325i 50th anniversary edition which has an absurd bass rolloff and a very unique voicing doesn't mean that I don't appreciate for very very different reasons the more Harmanesque tuning of my Drop Aeon Closed X.
Honestly, not a lot, though, and almost not at all on Grado's -- you are all part of the roughly the same slice of headphone audiophilia which coalesces around basically the same set of headphones, and there's not a lot of real diversity, frankly, in your group. Steve Guttenberg, the "Audiophiliac", for example, loves Grado's, and is well respected at least by some in the community, but there aren't any types like him in your clan.
Again, though, I'm not questioning the integrity of any of you, quite to the contrary, I positively affirm it, as though I disagree with the general "groupthink" on Grado's among your reviewers, I am 100% convinced those are your genuine opinions, and they are pretty consistent, too.
I just forwarded your question to Grado support, hopefully they will chime in.I bought a new set of Grado RS2x from Grado Canada and found that there are gaps between the wood shell and the plastic driver casing. Is this normal or poor quality workmanship? Should I return it?
Maybe you are just Lucky LeoWell, their email responses are not always warm and fuzzy, but they usually are timely and to the point. Last year I had sent in my RS1x to be looked at (turns out everything was fine, and no work was required). I was dealing with their warranty guy. Then one morning I get a phone call from a Brooklyn area code. Picked-up, and a fellow introduced himself to me as "Hi Leo, this is John Grado, I have your headphone in my hands. Do you have a minute to chat?"
Another time, in 2016 or so, I needed to get more of those little black things that go on top of the headphone posts. Called Grado, and John Grado picked up the phone, heard my request, and sent me several at no charge. They've never disappointed me. Others may have different experiences than myself, but I'm a Grado fan for life!
Leo
I would hope so. I don't want to be bothered with looking at mine. I might find something like that too! But they do sound damn fine.If it sounds great ... why worry? The headphone won't fall apart and I would assume they've learned a thing (or two) over the decades of making cans.