Sweet. Thanks all. Looking forward to the GW100 and perhaps a few pads to play around with.
Grado Wireless Series
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fleasbaby
Member of the Trade: Wabi Sabi Headphones
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Heads up, you need to stretch standard Grado pads to get them on the GW100.
Got them today. Haven't tested the wired setup, but the BT sounds more neutral in the mids and treble (which I like) than the typical Grado if my audible memory recalls. Bass has been enhanced. Sadly, I don't have any Grados in the staple to compare, but again from memory these don't sound as open or airy.
Impression from 3 hrs of off/on wear: The enlarged stock S-cushions are disliked by my ears - always have, always will. My ears get hot after 15 minutes. Also, the overall stage sounds a little flat and not enough depth for me. Have a WTB post for a set of L-cushions, but in the meantime made silver-dollar coin size hole in the center of the stock cushions and now I got stage depth - yay. The weight and overall comfort is fine. Controls are intuitive and nicely placed.
I haven't owned the original model or any other wireless headphone, but Grado is in the right direction with this updated GW100. Its specs, sound quality, and design is well worth the price, IMO. By design, just enough level for ambient awareness and call quality is good enough. The only gripe is the USB-C port; it needs to be enlarge to fully seat and secure the USB-C connector for charging, but at least there are the LED lights to indicate it's charging.
Hats off to Grado. As an ex Grado-nut, I wouldn't mind a model with a leather head band and wooden cups.
Impression from 3 hrs of off/on wear: The enlarged stock S-cushions are disliked by my ears - always have, always will. My ears get hot after 15 minutes. Also, the overall stage sounds a little flat and not enough depth for me. Have a WTB post for a set of L-cushions, but in the meantime made silver-dollar coin size hole in the center of the stock cushions and now I got stage depth - yay. The weight and overall comfort is fine. Controls are intuitive and nicely placed.
I haven't owned the original model or any other wireless headphone, but Grado is in the right direction with this updated GW100. Its specs, sound quality, and design is well worth the price, IMO. By design, just enough level for ambient awareness and call quality is good enough. The only gripe is the USB-C port; it needs to be enlarge to fully seat and secure the USB-C connector for charging, but at least there are the LED lights to indicate it's charging.
Hats off to Grado. As an ex Grado-nut, I wouldn't mind a model with a leather head band and wooden cups.
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fleasbaby
Member of the Trade: Wabi Sabi Headphones
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I've been staring at my pair trying to figure out how to woody them. The design is deceptive. It looks like a Grado, but when you start to dismantle it...the toughest part is accommodating the internal electronics, the square buttons and the USB-C port. The buttons and USB-C port are especially problematic if like most modders, you work by hand without a CNC available to you.
Interestingly, when you put your hands over the outside of the cups, change in sound is minimal. This is the first Grado driver out there to sound like it could handle a closed cup.
At some point I'll crack and rip mine apart to see what I can do...
Earl of Bouillon
100+ Head-Fier
A closed Grado would very interesting to try
Good luck modding. I too found it interesting that unlike a typical Grado can, putting my hands over the cups to seal the sound didn't have a significant hollowed out effect. I would be interested if shallow wood cap covers that somehow snugs over the metal grate opening would be possible perhaps by lateral pressure. Sometimes my wife nags about the leaked sound and placing some cool looking cup covers might come to the rescue.
Waiting on a set of TTVJ Deluxe Flats.
Waiting on a set of TTVJ Deluxe Flats.
Armok
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I’m looking for a really lightweight and comfortable Bluetooth headphone for home usage...currently I’m using the open Sony MDR MA900. Is the sound comparable? The Grado is still the only open back Bluetooth on the market right?
HipHopScribe
Headphoneus Supremus
It's not the only open-back Bluetooth headphone. Hifiman recently released the Deva ($299) and they also have the Ananda BT ($999)
The Hifiman Ananda BT is also an open back bluetooth headphone, though it cost quite a bit more than the Grado does.
Armok
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But the grado should be more comfortable due to the lightweight design?
And is the Grado sound comparable to the Sony? Never had a Grado
And is the Grado sound comparable to the Sony? Never had a Grado
HipHopScribe
Headphoneus Supremus
But the grado should be more comfortable due to the lightweight design?
And is the Grado sound comparable to the Sony? Never had a Grado
I haven't heard the MA900s or the Devas to compare to the Gw100s, but I can say the grado have a warmish natural sound with good detail. They're comfortable but they are on-ear which might bother some people. Unless they've made updates since I had my pair, the Gw100 is also limited in that it doesn't support the best quality Bluetooth codecs like aptx HD or ldac, while the deva does
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Meyvn
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Just purchased these. Starting to gradually dip my toes back into the audiophile headphone world after quite a long time away. The last Grados I've owned were SR-125s. So far, I'm actually quite surprised by these. For reference, I tend to struggle to hear any meaningful difference when it comes to sources, cables, or even amps most of the time. The difference in sound between using these on Bluetooth versus wired is immediately noticeable. Call me a conspiracist, but I have to think this is intentional tuning rather than some sort of "quality" issue with the built-in headphone amp for the Bluetooth side. When these are wired, they sound every bit like my memory of traditional Grados. I wouldn't be surprised to hear they had the same drivers as either the SR-125 or SR-225. On Bluetooth, the sound is so noticeably shifted toward the low end I simply cannot imagine it's incidental. They go from being the typical bass-light Grados I'm used to, to being almost as bassy as typical consumer 'cans. They're more bassy than my PortaPros. I can see why a significant number of reviewers decried the Bluetooth sound quality.
That being said, I disagree that this is necessarily a downside. I think it's simply a matter of usage. For those who wouldn't even try to use these portably, I can see the criticism of the EQ. For my part, I plan to use this in an open office (one just loud enough that I won't be bothering anyone, since others listen to music on their speakers fairly quietly as is), as well as on outdoor walks in small downtown areas and suburban neighborhoods. I honestly believe the Bluetooth sound adjustment perfectly addresses the natural bass attenuation that comes from outside sound leaking in. Obviously, if I lived in a big city, these headphones would be essentially unusable on a subway. But for my use case, I think this provides just the right balance. When I'm at home, and can easily plug in to a nicer source, I have access to the "pure" experience of the drivers. When I'm outside, with the occasional passing car sound, or in an office, dealing with the noises of other people typing and talking on the phone, I get the bass-adjusted experience. I do think it would be preferable for the headphones to have an app that allowed me to manually adjust this EQ, but failing that, I think the compromises that have been made are the compromises I'd want to have been made.
That being said, I disagree that this is necessarily a downside. I think it's simply a matter of usage. For those who wouldn't even try to use these portably, I can see the criticism of the EQ. For my part, I plan to use this in an open office (one just loud enough that I won't be bothering anyone, since others listen to music on their speakers fairly quietly as is), as well as on outdoor walks in small downtown areas and suburban neighborhoods. I honestly believe the Bluetooth sound adjustment perfectly addresses the natural bass attenuation that comes from outside sound leaking in. Obviously, if I lived in a big city, these headphones would be essentially unusable on a subway. But for my use case, I think this provides just the right balance. When I'm at home, and can easily plug in to a nicer source, I have access to the "pure" experience of the drivers. When I'm outside, with the occasional passing car sound, or in an office, dealing with the noises of other people typing and talking on the phone, I get the bass-adjusted experience. I do think it would be preferable for the headphones to have an app that allowed me to manually adjust this EQ, but failing that, I think the compromises that have been made are the compromises I'd want to have been made.
johnn29
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I've been using these a lot more recently for Impulcifer use. On ear headphones are the best for loudspeaker virtualization and they have a great FR consistency up to 10khz due to lack of pinnae interaction. They also have output all the way to 20hz, which is rare for open backs. Very important for simulating a full range loudspeaker.
The one thing that used to hold me back from using these was the comfort - they were horribly uncomfortable for me. I tried stretching them on their box to no avail. One day I got fed up and just physically stretched the band out so that it bent in on itself. To my surprise the stretch worked! It kept the looser position, now the clamp force was much more comfortable. However, because I'd gotten rid of the clamp force they were extremely loose. Enter tennis grip tape on the head band. Now they stay on perfect and are comfortable.
The final element was the foam cups - I hated the stock ones, made my ears hot and itchy. The hollow after market ones work perfect!
I have the set with Micro USB. I must admit I can hear a hiss - I can remedy this by plugging in my own BT reciever into the 3.5mm jack. Would have much preferred to pick up the USB-C one and hope they'd have improved the self noise.
They are stupidly light and incredibly open. They barely feel like you have anything on your head.
The one thing that used to hold me back from using these was the comfort - they were horribly uncomfortable for me. I tried stretching them on their box to no avail. One day I got fed up and just physically stretched the band out so that it bent in on itself. To my surprise the stretch worked! It kept the looser position, now the clamp force was much more comfortable. However, because I'd gotten rid of the clamp force they were extremely loose. Enter tennis grip tape on the head band. Now they stay on perfect and are comfortable.
The final element was the foam cups - I hated the stock ones, made my ears hot and itchy. The hollow after market ones work perfect!
I have the set with Micro USB. I must admit I can hear a hiss - I can remedy this by plugging in my own BT reciever into the 3.5mm jack. Would have much preferred to pick up the USB-C one and hope they'd have improved the self noise.
They are stupidly light and incredibly open. They barely feel like you have anything on your head.
WilliamLeonhart
Headphoneus Supremus
My gw100’s left side just stopped working when on Bluetooth. It’s just fine when on wired. Anyone has the same problem? I don’t know what to do now
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