Hi All
In the last week I have become a new member of the Grado fan club.
Some might consider me an unlikely convert because for many years I’ve been someone that gravitates towards neutral audio stuff. I love my Sennheiser HD800S cans and when I go into town I like to use my Austrian Audio Hi-X60 cans. This might give you an idea of how much I like that neutral, everything-in-its-place sound.
I have two DAC/amps a Meridian Prime with its separate power supply and an iFi Audio Gryphon.
Anyway a week ago I purchased a pair of Grado SR325x cans and I have been absolutely loving them. I think it is the most exciting audio purchase I’ve made in decades actually, I built my first audio system in the 70s when I was in my teens, and I’m finding it difficult to think of a more exciting discovery than the Grado SR325x.
What prompted me to try them out was some positive reviews from fairly sane people like DMS on YouTube and a review at What Hi Fi (which is a fairly sane UK publication) which is extremely positive. I knew that I can return them within 30 days if I don’t like them, so I decided to try them.
What has blown me away is the sound that is so alive, it really is tremendously engaging. In fact I do think they are surprisingly neutral and the stereo image is really excellent. It is nowhere near as big and detailed as that of my HD800S cans, but it is a beautiful stereo image, it is the only way I can find to describe it actually, it is also a very stable image, which somehow seems to contradict the observation that the sound is so full of life, however it is how I experience it. The sounds are very well located and totally stable, but so full of life.
They lend themselves to all the genres I listen to really very well indeed, they certainly are great allrounders. I listen to a lot of electronic music and for some reason I had thought maybe they’d be more about acoustic instruments, but these are superb with electronic music and in fact in my headphone collection they are now the go-to for electronic music.
I also listen to lots of jazz, classical from the 20th and 21st century and experimental music in general. These are just wonderful for all these music types.
They capture what is going on between players better than any other headphone (or speakers) that I’ve listened to. When listening to jazz I really feel the vibe between the players, that chemistry between the players works so well on these, better than I’ve heard it on, actually, anything else.
I think the treble is a bit coloured but I don’t mind. It has a sweet golden tinge to it, but it is very pleasant to listen to and the strengths of these cans are just so great that I would not complain at all about this.
Wonderful, wonderful cans.