[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyfrenchman27 I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about with the housing. The SR325i have the same housing as the HF-1, except the SR325i have a metal external housing instead of wood. -Matt

actually, the part of the enclosure that is attached to the driver in the 325i is plastic. the part of the enclosure that is attached to the driver in the HF-1 is wood.

 

[granodemostasa]

whatever.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa brings a question to mind, if it is just plastic; do people pay 100 extra for vanity and a skinny leather headband? or better put is it 1.5 times as good as the 225?

well the drivers are different, as is the quality of wire, and the depth and material of the cups, and as you mentioned the cosmetic stuff too.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotJeffBuckley Very nice looking headphones. Is that the same plastic driver housing used in the lower end models, though? Because if so, that's lame

Who cares if it's plastic? If it were made of gold and sounded like s--t, would that suffice anyway? I happen to think the plastic has less coloration than wood. And all metal? Well cough up some more dough. Like $500 more (if the PS-1 is anything to go by).

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpippel Your last comment says it all. Most Grado headphones are made with cheap materials and often suffer from questionable or sloppy build quality. BUT, once you get sucked in and become a drooling slave to their signature sound you (try to) stop thinking about such things and just enjoy them for what they are. The fact that people do this is the only reason Grado is still able to get away with it!

Getting away with making good sound? Sounds fine by me.

 

[milkpowder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa brings a question to mind, if it is just plastic; do people pay 100 extra for vanity and a skinny leather headband? or better put is it 1.5 times as good as the 225?

Actually, I'm not even completely sure about the headband being leather: it doesn't smell like leather. But anyway, I managed to flip the corner back and it did have the characteristic "suede" look that leathers have. I think they overdyed it. The leather has lost its natural characteristics.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle Who cares if it's plastic? If it were made of gold and sounded like s--t, would that suffice anyway? I happen to think the plastic has less coloration than wood. And all metal? Well cough up some more dough. Like $500 more (if the PS-1 is anything to go by).

May I gently suggest that not every comment about Grado headphones must be absolutely positive? You're nearing gimmickry when you hunt out and decry any suggestion of negativity about them.

It's evident that you're willing to take a manufacturer's word for it when it comes to pricing. I've worked with metal for a long time, and I know how much it costs to have bulk orders custom machined, and I can tell you that if I were going to copy just one enclosure 1:1 I could do so for less than an eighth of the cost of the headphones as sold. Now, I see nothing wrong with the Grado sound, and I agree to an extent that sound is the paramount consideration in headphone buying. However, you're not quite right if you think that they couldn't afford to put together better-built headphones at that price and still turn quite a profit.

Why do you have this, ah, stigma, if you will? It's okay to voice all sorts of opinions, even the negative ones.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotJeffBuckley May I gently suggest that not every comment about Grado headphones must be absolutely positive? You're nearing gimmickry when you hunt out and decry any suggestion of negativity about them.

I don't think the plastic housing is a negative thing. You do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotJeffBuckley I've worked with metal for a long time, and I know how much it costs to have bulk orders custom machined, and I can tell you that if I were going to copy just one enclosure 1:1 I could do so for less than an eighth of the cost of the headphones as sold............you're not quite right if you think that they couldn't afford to put together better-built headphones at that price and still turn quite a profit

Perhaps they could. And supposing they did. And suppose the result was a headphone that sounded like the competitions $500+ models or, God forbid, their own RS-1?. Should they still sell it for $300 and just settle for "quite a profit" and drop the price of the RS-1 to $200? Or should they price it accordingly in sonic terms? Hence the cheaper plastic housing.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn actually, the part of the enclosure that is attached to the driver in the 325i is plastic. the part of the enclosure that is attached to the driver in the HF-1 is wood.

But from looking at both headphones (I own both), both of the drivers are surrounded by a plastic o-ring.

-Matt

 

[Cake]

Oh man, for this being the SR-325i Appreciation thread, there sure is a lot of bickering and not a lot of love going on in the past page. I will attempt to remedy that!

My pair of SR-325i's came from Drew at Moon Audio two days ago. It's a demo pair, so it *should* be mostly broken in. But I'm letting it play at night anyways. It's gotten about 40 hours of break-in from me thus far.

I absolutely love them. Whereas my SR-60's got no comment from friends, even when they listened to them, the way these phones look screams these sound awesome. Just externally, they look beautiful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulletman13 I ordered a pair of SR-325i's last week, and was under the impression that I did not need an amp for them. Now when I hear that they smooth out under the right circumstances, with the right amp, I'm getting a little scared that they're going to be super bright and sound awful :-X

I wouldn't worry too much. I don't have an amp, and I'm loving them. I am supposed to get a PA2v2 in the mail soon, but until then, I'm ampless. I have been listening through a Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro (a DAC with a very cheap amp in it approximately the quality of the iPod DAC/amp), with the Todd Flat pads--it sounds awesome. These headphones can ROCK!

I will say that without an amp, the 325i sounds sharp, a little bright, and unforgiving with the stock bowl pads. However, the flat pads make the phones much more forgiving and smooth, tame the sharp highs, and bring out a bassy low end. Even just out of the TBAAM--there seems to be a lot of synergy there. I am a flats believer now.

 

[cheechoz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by granodemostasa brings a question to mind, if it is just plastic; do people pay 100 extra for vanity and a skinny leather headband? or better put is it 1.5 times as good as the 225?

Being that the first four models are basically built the same, save for the drivers, the 325i would be the obvious step up from the 225, even without a number! The drivers are better, IMHO, and the metal cups are deeper, plus some other goodies!

 

[granodemostasa]

i'll post an appropriate question: are they as fun as the SR60?
okay. sorry. i thought i was offering an economic defense of grado's production.

 

[swmtnbiker]

This *is* the Grado SR325i APPRECIATION thread, so perhaps the negative comments about Grado headphone materials and workmanship were out of line.

However, it REALLY bugs me that some people at Head-Fi simply cannot let VALID criticisms of Grado products slip past their radar without offering up their own dismissive and condescending commentary.

 

[Samgotit]

I just got mine in the mail today from a fellow Head fi'er. I am now appreciating them. I don't think I could be more on topic! I have a lot of listening to do yet. They are such a different animal than the HD580.

Sam

 

[swmtnbiker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samgotit They are such a different animal than the HD580.

VERY different. Enjoy 'em!

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpippel VERY different. Enjoy 'em!

That's a great combo, too - you can hear the polar opposites, and each compliments different recordings differently. Either would be a fine can if all you had was one headphone, but having both exponentially increases the enjoyment potential of your audio collection.