[FooTemps]

Alright, I felt like writing my first longwinded post about the iGrado. Though I don't have them in my hands, and haven't seen more than the two pictures available, I feel like many of us have the opinion that the iGrado streetstyle cans have left us with a bad impression... Now down to my analysis:

Design Objective
From what I see, the objective is to provide a mainstream acceptable Grado. Not only the design (with the polished white and polished black) screams iPod, but the marketing also screams iPod. It is obvious they are appealing to the mainstream iPod culture.
Objective failed
Reason: The iPod culture expects everything iAccessory to be beautiful. This is where the mainstream culture differs from the audiophile culture. Audiophiles accept the ridiculous looks for good sound. This is unacceptible in mainstream culture. Everything has to be beautiful, even at the cost of quality. iPods are sold at a premium for the name and look, Britney Spears was a pop sensation even though her music wasn't good, people buy VW bugs because they're cute... Get where I'm going at? People buy marketing and beauty over quality and performance a lot of the time. Grado missed the boat by providing an ugly product that even many of us audiophiles believe to be ugly.
Bottom line for Design Objetive
Grado tried to appeal to the iPod culture but missed the boat. Pop culture loves looks and the iGrados are ugly. Therefore pop culture will be less likely to buy. There will be sales, but they won't be the iPod version of "tickle me elmo".

Functions
Provide decent quality audio at an acceptable
Function most likely met
Reason: The iGrados are using the SR60 drivers. This means they should sound good enough for the mainstream user or the newbie audiophile. The price leaves something to be desired for the mainstream user, and at the price a beginning audiophile might find better alternatives.
Bottom line for Function
Pretty much on the mark. Pricing is a bit off, but that can be remedied by the large retailers if Grado doesn't exercise any price control.

edit: Remember, this is all based upon what I know so far. There is no basis for any technical analysis so I can only tackle things on the design end of things.

 

[Ace o' Spades]

I think that this analysis is definetly spot-on. I personally would much rather spend $69 on a somewhat uncomfortable, ugly, 70s style Grado SR-60 than an extremely fashonable $20 earbud that sounds like complete garbage. My friends all buy earbuds from 99 cent stores and are more than happy with them. I don't see why any "Normal" iPodder would even consider these phones.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ace o' Spades I think that this analysis is definetly spot-on. I personally would much rather spend $69 on a somewhat uncomfortable, ugly, 70s style Grado SR-60 than an extremely fashonable $20 earbud that sounds like complete garbage. My friends all buy earbuds from 99 cent stores and are more than happy with them. I don't see why any "Normal" iPodder would even consider these phones.

Exactly. The iPod crowd goes for style, not SQ.

 

[derek8555]

Ditto...

_______________________________
Engineering rulez the World!

 

[Fatality_]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtheisticFreedom Exactly. The iPod crowd goes for style, not SQ.

And probably most's definition of SQ is lots and lots of bass, which these don't deliver either

 

[derek8555]

And probably they will put some MDR-V150 drivers in there themselves

 

[FooTemps]

lol...

Just curious:

What was everyone's expectations for the Grado Streetstyle headphones? Any specific look or sound? I know some people wanted new drivers, some wanted a more classic styling, etc. Wanna share?

 

[blessingx]

One big flaw in this reasoning is most "ipoders" (or most users of any player out there - although they like to consider themselves different), won't ever try ANY third party phones. You should emlinate 95%+ of the iPod group right there. So we're already talking a speciality market. That group will judge on a variety of variables including comfort and convience of purchase (how else to explain the number of horrible earphones sold by drugstores across the country?). In fact this discussion isn't even about "Design." It's about "design" and what's pretty varies quiet a bit. These could look much more slick, but then so could 3/4 of the iPod speakers out there.

And the price isn't out of wack for what is being bought by those branching out. Look at the Sony earplugs.

 

[Riku540]

Another thing I wanted to add is, from what I can tell and expect these are portable open headphones. They may sound good but you tend to not see portable open phones for a number of reasons; namely for the lack of isolation, and the amount of sound leaking out to the people around. In my opinion, open headphones were mainly designed with the intent of home listening. A lot of mainstream audio consumers also tend to listen at very loud volumes. I wonder if people would be able to enjoy these headphones without having to boost the volume to drown out background noise, and without disturbing those nearby. With these things in mind I'm concerned a little about how they might do in the mainstream world.

 

[Reputator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FooTemps Design Objective From what I see, the objective is to provide a mainstream acceptable Grado.

gee, I wonder what led him to that conclusion.

 

[Bob Mahoy]

Im going to see what the "specialty market's" reaction is at ilounge. I'll start a thread if there's anything interesting...

 

[Bob Mahoy]

They seem to be having the same reactions as here, without any objections to the looks. Some of the people on ilounge are better informed than you might expect (not that I'm a member).

 

[rhythmicmoose]

Agreed. It looks to me like Grado Labs and their ID firm had a lot of communication problems.

There is nothing at all defining about the visual design of the product. They follow the rules to closely. Aside from the hinges, if that's what they are, every element follows the accepted basic form of this style of headphone with absolutely no compromises. The earpieces are round, the headband is tapered inward at the temples, and they use the silver and white (or black) iPod color scheme.

And there are a couple of things about the iGrado that, given their intended market, I would classify as downright errors. The plastic looks too cheap. They don't have a single sided cord. The white model has black earpads. Oh, and the packaging looks about 20 years out of date.

The photo is completely unflattering, and I hope my opinions change when I see other pictures. I am also really anxious to find out what the hinges do. Is it just a fitting adjustment, or does it let them be worn over the head? I'm still ordering a pair regardless, as I think I'd be more likely to use a pair of black iGrados than a pair of SR-60s as an open portable headphone. I mean, the worst case scenario is that they suck, I don't use them, and in 5 years I've got a really interesting collectors item.

 

[xlEnt]

i'm not too sure the target audience they are marketing to is even worried about sound quality.

i'd imagine most of those users would be interested in posing fashionable/hip w/ the white iBuds.

I dont see how these iGrado can make ground breaking sales but what do i know about marketing etc.

I'll probably give them a test run to see how they fair out, but i've already been let down on the aesthetics.... I wish grado would of made something as functional as the PX-100.

 

[iSleipnir]

I feel kind of bad for Grado. They tried something and even before it's released it seems likely to fail based on design alone, nevermind how they sound. I haven't seen much positive said about them and I don't know if the people at grado read this board (I think they would) but thats gotta hurt. It makes me wonder if they did any R&D about styling the thing and what the other version of it were.

To answer a previous posters question: I thought the street styles would looke more like the slim cupped behind the neck headphones I'm used to seeing, or at least a less bulky derivative of it. And if people though the 701 looked like a toilet bowl, well now it's Grado's turn. And after releasing great headphones like the HF-1 and GS-1000 too.