[Agent_Moler]

Hi everyone,
I finally got my hands on my first pair of phones after reading suggestions and asking questions on the forum. I decided to get a pair of Grado 325i (brought from a forum member) and a Cowon S9. Being new to his headphone thing I was of course a little worried to be spending so much money (so far $400 but I could see this number climbing soon) but I'm being reminded how good of a choice this was each time i put the Grados on!

My first impression of the 325i was a bit underwhelming, I had hooked them up to my S9 and all I could remember thinking was "Wow, the bass on these SUCK!" and "Music sounds really flat with these on" I think tried the phones with my onkyo sr 606 hooked up to my comp's optical. I found that this was a bit more pleasing to my ear but I was noticing some distortion from the signal when I turned it up...everything sounded mushed ontop of each other so this too was unsatisfying.

I decided to listen to the grados and my S9 again later that day, so around 1 am I tried again and the result was a lot better! I was messing around with the EQ and i was unsatisfied with BBE, Normal and Headphone BBE so I changed it to Metal and that made a world of difference! Suddenly, I was clearly hearing things I've never heard before in my favorite songs, multiple vocal and instrument layers, and some more bass (though still not to my liking). At this point, I finally felt that my expensive purchase was justified because I was getting what I really wanted in the first place. A more intimate experience with my music than my Klipsch 4.1s were providing.

I'm writing this not just to formally announce my indoctrination into the "headphone cult" but I'd like to tell my fellow headphone newbs out there that they should take the plunge! I'm pretty confident that you will be just as pleased as I am. I'm gonna post some individual song listening impressions later. My fav genres are metal and trance so hopefully it will help some fellow fans out there.

 

[Technokat]

Glad you are settling into your new grados! From whats thrown around on the boards, the 325i does tend to be bright, in sound compared to the others in the line. Sounds like most people that the brightness bothers them go for the 225i. I was debating getting the 325i or the 225i myself as i would like a "metal can". Let me know how they settle in for you, it might help sway my decision.

 

[Jewmeister]

don't forget the MS-2, a metal can with a much more neutral sound and IMO better in every way.

 

[Agent_Moler]

hey metalkat,
I'm not finding them too bright I like the sound but I'm experiencing hearing bass guitar notes played with little accompanying bass vibration...lol don't know if that makes sense. So far I've listened to Fear Factory, Orphaned Land, Nightrage all in flac and have been experiencing this thing...The new darkane album is not giving me this issue. I probably need an amp but I'm not ready to part with that much money at this moment.

 

[Agent_Moler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jewmeister /img/forum/go_quote.gif don't forget the MS-2, a metal can with a much more neutral sound and IMO better in every way.

thanks for the suggestion but i have to make sure this new hobby doesn't empty my pockets. lol. What are the cost of those btw?

 

[cyberidd]

Something that happens with head-fiers is that they come here looking for something bassy, but as they become more familiar with higher quality sound they enjoy a less bassy sound more and more until you listen to bassier cans and wonder where the detail, sparkle and mids went. I wouldn't be suprised if a couple of months from now you will be enjoying the Grado's natural sound (ie. not EQ'd) more than when you have the EQ going. Enjoy the new cans, and have fun with them!

 

[Oggranak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyberidd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Something that happens with head-fiers is that they come here looking for something bassy, but as they become more familiar with higher quality sound they enjoy a less bassy sound more and more until you listen to bassier cans and wonder where the detail, sparkle and mids went. I wouldn't be suprised if a couple of months from now you will be enjoying the Grado's natural sound (ie. not EQ'd) more than when you have the EQ going. Enjoy the new cans, and have fun with them!

It's funny how much you can be wrong about what you like. For a while I was sure I loved dark and laid-back. Now I'm fairly sure I like fast and bright (though I still find some distance is nice). I'd sooner buy AKG than Sennheiser, but if you asked me a month ago I'd have answered the opposite.

Although, Grados natural? I'm not sure I'd say that, but hell, to each his own.

 

[cyberidd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oggranak /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's funny how much you can be wrong about what you like. For a while I was sure I loved dark and laid-back. Now I'm fairly sure I like fast and bright (though I still find some distance is nice). I'd sooner buy AKG than Sennheiser, but if you asked me a month ago I'd have answered the opposite. Although, Grados natural? I'm not sure I'd say that, but hell, to each his own.

Sorry for the confusion, by "natural" I meant the sound the can has on it's own sans EQ, not that Grado is natural sounding

 

[Oggranak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyberidd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry for the confusion, by "natural" I meant the sound the can has on it's own sans EQ, not that Grado is natural sounding

Oh.

 

[Agent_Moler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyberidd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Something that happens with head-fiers is that they come here looking for something bassy, but as they become more familiar with higher quality sound they enjoy a less bassy sound more and more until you listen to bassier cans and wonder where the detail, sparkle and mids went. I wouldn't be suprised if a couple of months from now you will be enjoying the Grado's natural sound (ie. not EQ'd) more than when you have the EQ going. Enjoy the new cans, and have fun with them!

I have to say, I was still enjoying my music without the bassyness. It was cool to be able to hear those bass guitar notes plucked and for me to be able to actually tell what note they were playing (sometimes). I'm not sure if I will get an amp which I think will improve the bass. Any thoughts on this?

 

[cyberidd]

I haven't had any experience with Grado, and my desktop amp experience is limited, but FWIW I think it would help. It may be more useful (if you use your computer as your source often) to get a DAC before getting an amp. Once again, these are just my opinions, and I don't know enough about Grado to confidendtly say Yay or Nay on the matter. I should also add an apology for any future harm I may have helped cause to your wallet.

 

[Agent_Moler]

Here is a short review of a few songs I've been trying out on my Cowon s9 with my Grado Sr325is

Death - Perennial Quest: Everything is pretty flat, though my experience with this song does suggests that is probably the way its recorded. The outro to the song has some cool panning effects and enhances the the acoustic plucking. I'm pretty satisfied with how this song sounds.

Death- A Moment of Clarity: Flat for the most part, the drums seem to have some more detail and "kick" to them. The solos had a lot of harmonics and were squealing a bit loud for my taste, the mix was pretty good however with the rhythm guitars providing a constant presence in the song.

Dream Theater - Overture 1928: I'm hearing a lot of cymbol work that I never heard in this song before, it really helps the song flow. The mid range is pretty prevalent in this song and the drums have a nice depth to them.

Nightrage - Reconcile: the guitars in this song are really LOUD for some reason, they also sound a bit over distorted. It makes the distorted notes a bit overwhelming and they end up overpowering the drums and bass. I still like this particular song a lot, it just sounds kind of strange through my headphones since I listen to it mostly in my car.

Note: All of these songs are FLAC format and I used the metal EQ setting with the volume at 28.

Conclusion: Most of these songs sounded acceptable or very good to me, I feel like I might need an amp however as its kind of annoying having all of my songs sound flat. I'm definetly looking for reccomendations on my assumption.