Grado GR-8...First Impressions

[Spyro]

This is my first dynamic-type driver IEM and it is quite the departure from the sound I have come so use to with the Westones, Shures and Etys. I spent about an hour with them out of box and am now letting them burn-in so these are merely first impressions, “un-burned” so to speak. Let’s get the negative out of the way.

Let me first ask (anyone?)…can an un-burned in dynamic driver exhibit mild distortion at some frequencies? It was with a slow, soft piano passage. Non-existent with any of my other IEM’s. At one time I had heard that a softly played piano is perhaps the most difficult instrument sound to reproduce. Not sure if that is true or not. I certainly hope this goes away because I find it unacceptable for a $300 IEM. I did not detect this with various other music passages I had tried but wasn't necessarily listening for it either. Three sets of soft silicone tips and a couple extra filters is literally all you get with this package and no case. I use a separate case that hold both my Ipod and my IEM’s so this doesn’t really bother me. The medium silicones fit perfect and are SO easy to insert and take out. This is a very nice change from the laborious task of inserting high-isolation IEM’s with comply tips. Great for quickly taking in and out during frequent interruptions.

THE SOUND: The first thing to notice is the bass does not have quite the viciseral weight of the Westones. I’d say it has about equal amount of bass as W2 and UM2. It has plenty of body but it is not as blunt sounding. It’s kind of springy sounding. Kind of a nice change actually. I suppose this is due to it being a dynamic driver? Whether one would prefer this type of bass presentation probably depends on your mood as well as the music selection. The midrange is glorious! Somewhat forward like the Shures. Not grainy, not tunnelish. Very well done. No complaints. The treble is equally glorious. VERY detailed like an Ety but SMOOTHER and more NATURAL sounding. This is a VERY detailed IEM yet has a pinch of warmth to it. Very nicely engineered sound.

The soundstage is medium in size but the placement/separation of instruments is way better than average. Much like UM3X is this regard. I wasn't expecting this. Again, very well done!

This IEM is quite different and a bit hard to describe. Compared to the balanced armatures I have been listening to I can tell a distinct difference. The BA’s seem more boxy, controlled and exact sounding where this GR-8 is looser, more free flowing and more natural sounding. At the moment I could not honestly say which sound I prefer. I could definitely see these GR-8’s growing on you the more you listen to them which is what I have read in almost every review. There is something intoxicating about it’s delivery and it definitely seems to have a sound of it’s own. For now I will keep them and keep listening and report back after I have had them a week or two. Thumbs up right now.

 

[Nyk]

This is my first post... I just wanted to comment on the distortion on the piano passage. I noticed this too on my ipod, rockboxed playing FLAC, especially on piano and even more so with my dynamic s4's as opposed to my westone 3 where it doesnt come out as much. So if you're listening to FLAC on your ipod thats what it might be, maybe someone else has some more input on it. Either way I always wanted to try GR-8s so I look forward to your impressions after burn in.

 

[Pianist]

Glad you liked them Spyro - great review!

If you like GR8, I think you should also give Ortofon e-Q7 a try. Apparently they have better, more extended treble than the GR8. The frequency graph of the two IEMs is on this page (scroll down to about the middle).

 

[ericp10]

I thought the GR8 was an armature earphone too? Or a hybrid of armature and dynamic, as is the Orto. e_Q7. Am I wrong? Nice first impressions

 

[rawrster]

according to grado its a moving armature

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rawrster /img/forum/go_quote.gif according to grado its a moving armature

++ It's a moving armature, like e-Q7.

 

[ClieOS]

GR8, like e-Q7, is using new type of balanced armature transducer by a Japanese manufacturer. I can understand why you would think it sounds like a dynamic transducer cause this new transducer is more of a hybrid b/w a BA and a dynamic. I wrote a little about in my e-Q7 review.

 

[ericp10]

Thanks for the clear-up fellas....

 

[Spyro]

I sent an inquiry to Grado this morning about that "buzzing" I experienced and a question about burn in. They were very quick and cordial to reply the following comments.

[there is a short burn in time.About 25 hours.
We , however, do not recommend a continuous burn in period.
Normal use will eventually have them relaxed.

The analogy we make is that an athlete need to rest his muscles after a workout.

An observation that we have seen is that you will hear the harmonic structure more accurately with the GR8 and the mild distortion that you are hearing might be actually in the recording . Piano strings can 'buzz" in a way that overloads a mic and its preamp.
Also digital recordings tend to add some edge .

With the GR8 you can tell the difference between a Hamburg and New York Steinway......................

..............our experience is that the GR8 has more resolving performance and phase accuracy than the other designs.
Technically , our design is an armature also but a full range transducer.

It is difficult to have phase accuracy with a multi driver design.


Please let us know if you have any further questions or observations.

Cheers and thanks for enjoying Grado Headphones]

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyro /img/forum/go_quote.gif I sent an inquiry to Grado this morning about that "buzzing" I experienced and a question about burn in. They were very quick and cordial to reply the following comments. [there is a short burn in time.About 25 hours. We , however, do not recommend a continuous burn in period. Normal use will eventually have them relaxed. The analogy we make is that an athlete need to rest his muscles after a workout. An observation that we have seen is that you will hear the harmonic structure more accurately with the GR8 and the mild distortion that you are hearing might be actually in the recording . Piano strings can 'buzz" in a way that overloads a mic and its preamp. Also digital recordings tend to add some edge . With the GR8 you can tell the difference between a Hamburg and New York Steinway...................... ..............our experience is that the GR8 has more resolving performance and phase accuracy than the other designs. Technically , our design is an armature also but a full range transducer. It is difficult to have phase accuracy with a multi driver design. Please let us know if you have any further questions or observations. Cheers and thanks for enjoying Grado Headphones]

Wow, Grado customer service is sure very friendly and informative. I completely agree with them about multi driver IEMs having a hard time delivering a coherent sound. Out of all IEMs I've tried so far, none are really what I would call completely coherent. With all of them, I can hear the artifacts that the crossover points produce. My Ortofon e-Q7 doesn't have such issues and that's probably the real reason why I consider them my favorite IEM so far. It just sounds right.

 

[AwakenedBeing]

Thanks for the impressions! Found a frequency graph here of them compared to the e-Q7. [size=xx-small](source: Google Translate )[/size]

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pianist /img/forum/go_quote.gif With all of them, I can hear the artifacts that the crossover points produce.

Pianist, can you explain a couple examples of what you are talking about here? I want to make sure I understand. Maybe my ears are bad or disjointed but I am not sure I detect incoherency with the multi-driver IEM's like SE530, W3. Perhaps I am not sure what to listen for? Naturalness? Maybe I already hit on it in my review above? I find this interesting. I guess it still comes down to personal preference.....

 

[ben4345]

I tried the GR8's, I thought they were worth only $40 price tag not $300. Now the Ortofons, those are well worth their price tag. I also hate the ortofons, they made my W2's sound like poop.

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyro /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pianist, can you explain a couple examples of what you are talking about here? I want to make sure I understand. Maybe my ears are bad or disjointed but I am not sure I detect incoherency with the multi-driver IEM's like SE530, W3. Perhaps I am not sure what to listen for? Naturalness? Maybe I already hit on it in my review above? I find this interesting. I guess it still comes down to personal preference.....

It is actually quite hard to explain. In general it sounds like the sound just falls apart and the different fragments of the sound image have different sound characteristics. For example, the midrange can sound fast, sharp and detailed, while the bass will sound slower and fuzzier and the treble will sound smoother than the rest of the spectrum. Something like that. In a single driver design, if a headphone sounds smooth, sharp or dull, fast or slow, it will generally sound that way throughout the spectrum, but with multi drivers, the drivers might not be matched up properly and thus may have characteristics that differ from each other and thus do not form a coherent picture when the drivers are made to reproduce sound in unison.

For example, Triple.fi sounded great in the treble to my ears - it was sharp, fast and very detailed, but never harsh or sibilant. On the other hand, the bass and mids sounded nothing like the treble. The bass was slower and muddier with upper bass intruding into the low mids, while the mids sounded less detailed and focused than either the bass or the treble and it sounded like they were taken from a completely different headphone.

Another example is Q-jays. These IEMs sound amazingly great up until about 4-5k or so. After that, it sounds like there is a sharp drop off in response where the mid/low driver meets the upper driver, followed by a sudden rise where treble driver takes over. And the treble sounds nothing like the rich, smooth mids and bass, but rather excessively bright, thin, sharp, and lacking smoothness and refinement. The treble is actually not that bad on the q-jays - not at all, but the bass and low/mid mids on this IEM are just so much better than its treble IMO.

 

[Spyro]

Thanks, great explanation....and I totally agree about TF10Pro but I don't hear these problems with W2 and W3.

Still trying to get use to the GR-8. The lack of bass impact, lack of speed and immediacy is questionable with the "busy" music I listen to with these GR-8's. Amping doesn't seem to change much.