I don't hate you, man. Without you, the world would be less interesting. Thanks for defending me when I got flamed over the angled-driver issue. If, at any time, you think I'm full of crap, jump in and have some fun.
As for the "only reason" business, I never said that being a basshead was the "only reason" a person might not like Grados, did I? I do think it's a major reason. Open-air cans let so much of the sound leak out the back. Much of that sound is bass. It's intentional, though, because it reduces resonance, which is what helps Grados sound better than a lot of closed cans, at least the cheaper ones. When you get higher up in the food chain, there are ways to make a closed can sound better. Even then, the top audiophile cans tend to be open-air cans for much the same reason.
Another reason folks dislike Grados is the brightness, which is an issue that overlaps with the bass performance. With a good amp, you can even out the presentation. If a person were to try to do this by simply cranking up the volume, it would be about as satisfactory as drinking more seawater to compensate for the salty mouth left over from the last cup of seawater. You can't "crank" your way toward a more balanced presentation. You can change pads or change amps.
Fortunately, the Grados respond very well to a decent bass boost. I've used my Grados on an M^3 with variable bass boost and gotten everything I could ever want out of the lower register - without having to crank the general volume higher. What Grado does differently from, say, Sennheiser, is to avoid the use of filters between the driver and the ear. Other than the cloth fore and aft, there's no filter - unless you consider the effect of the various ear pads. Sennheiser, on the other hand, utilizes intermediary filters. This blocks some of the HF and darkens up the presentation enough that you can crank them higher and get some fairly rich bass. Some people prefer it that way. I like the unfiltered presentation better. To each his own.
And that brings us back to an issue that overlaps with the other two, but which also stands on its own: coloration. Whether you're going closed-back or open-back but with wood or aluminum chambers, there's a certain degree to which chamber amplification produces "coloration." I don't know how much of this is real and how much of it is psychological, but people at least associate the wood with a "warm" sound, a coloration in the music. Conversely, they associate the aluminum sound as "less colored," with faster transients. The aluminum-only sound of the 325 turned some people off. The hybrid wood/aluminum approach is intended to respond to those who want "warm coloration" but with a certain degree of attenuation.
Whatever the reality, Grados are loved and hated for having a more dynamic and "colored" presentation as opposed to the more "laid back" and "colorless" presentation of the Sennheisers. By the same token, Grado emphasis on midrange (which is its flattest area in FR graphs) is associated with a more intimate and "narrower" sound stage, as opposed to the wider and "less upfront" sound stage of other open-air cans like the AKGs. Of course, Grados's jumbo club - the GS1000 and the PS1000 - are noteworthy for pursuing a larger soundstage.
. It's nice to see people can really love a product and still be aware of what it could do better/differently.
