[HumbleMan]

I remember hearing about Grado years ago...bought a few of their phones along the way. As others have noted, comfort was an issue. I do appreciate their sticking to their roots, although their pricing, like that of so many manufacturers, grew ridiculous over the years.

 

[whaiyun]

I'm going the opposite direction. Had a few different brands and going all Grado now. I love it. Comfort isn't too bad as long as it sits flat against your ear and not at an angle where it applies pressure unevenly.

 

[LaCuffia]

Comfort is indeed an issue with the smaller pads (though I find the texture of the pads improves over time; probably due to exposure with natural oils of skin), but the G cushion pads are great. If you can match that pad with a lower priced model, it represents great value. As I stated in the main Grado thread, I currently have the GH2 with the G pads and it's awesome. The clarity of an e-stat combined with an exciting dynamic punch. Everything else sounds so boring in comparison.

 

[updated]

My grado sr80 have been with me for quite some time. My entry into hi fi portable easy to drive cans. I started with stax.
I enjoy the benefits of being able to move around while listening to music via ipod. Grado 80 fit the bill.
When I bring them to headfi meets they always are of interest and they get comments that are favorable.

 

[cathee]

Judging by the very active Grado Mods community, I would say Grado has not gone anywhere.

For one Grado has always been the "just below the surface" brand. The average audio-inclined consumer would probably go for a more advertised pair of cans (Beats, B&O, anything they sell at the Apple Store, etc), but for anyone really trying to get into audiophile/hi-fi/head-fi arena, Grado's one of the first brands you are exposed to. There is a lot of literature out there extensively detailing every aspect of the different (eye roll but tongue-in-cheekly) headphones. Every iteration of Grados, the OGs, the i-line, e-line, limited edition this, limited edition that, are all tested every which way. If you ever doubt the loyalty and dedication of Grado fans just click over to this thread.

For another I think Grado's technology has not gone anywhere either. And eventually, people just get bored of the same old tune (even if it's a great tune). People are fickle, our attention spans are.. hey don't you love the new Jay-Z album? Given ample evidence of Grado's disinterest in changing their headphones much, I think the community split and made two very distinct choices: 1) eff it, just gonna get something comparable in price from Beyerdynamic or 2) ok, let's see if we can turn these $200 headphones into $1000 headphones by throwing $2000 and 100 hours of my time at it.

And another side effect of infrequent technology updates is that the discussions are had and then archived, which is probably what spurred your question in the first place. You see a lot of discussion online about Grado from 2014, 2012, 2009, earlier and wonder "Hmm, wonder why people aren't writing about them in 2017?" Well the truth is there's just no need for it.

 

[Tentacles]

I like Grados. I tried some models for a while, including the GS2000e. They sound great with certain pieces of music.

For that sort of money though, I can get something built (subjectively) much better, that's more comfortable, and that covers more sonic ground.

Grados would probably suit me more if I had many leather-bound books and my apartment smelled of rich mahogany.

 

[ruhenheiM]

grado always a niche market anyway. they were big in cartridge, in headphone world they are small.always has been. and the trend in niche market has shifted but they still here.meaning they still doing a good business otherwise they already change the whole thing long time ago otherwise they won't survive.they still have a great product. sure, some things could be improve at the very least quality control should be improve. just because they're not being hype or not at everywhere doesn't mean they're irrelevant. even the so called japanese giant tech could fell to the ground, doesn't mean they're irrelevant.

they have their own market.and it's worked for them.sure, i also want to see something different from them,trying new thing, new challenge,but consider from business perspective, there are so many risk for them. do they really want to gamble all that.remember they are small company. aiwa was big back in those days, now they are bankrupt,a long time ago. many japanese firm sold their audio video division to others and they were very big on research and their market share was very big. sometimes being a front runner and become very big doesn't mean you're going to survive

 

[LaCuffia]

Other than the Utopia, which costs an insane $4K, I am not sure there's been that much innovation in dynamic headphone technology over the years anyway (the MySphere that's coming out later this year might be an exception). Maybe more in the planar and e-stat realm. The fact that the PS1000e is even in the same discussion as the Utopia tells you something.

 

[ruhenheiM]

Other than the Utopia, which costs an insane $4K, I am not sure there's been that much innovation in dynamic headphone technology over the years anyway (the MySphere that's coming out later this year might be an exception). Maybe more in the planar and e-stat realm. The fact that the PS1000e is even in the same discussion as the Utopia tells you something.

agree. technology speaking, there's nothing really new.it's not like they're developing a new whole driver concept anyway. dynamic,ortho,electret,back electret,electrostats,piezo,amt,plasma, maybe plasma, i hope someday some company going to get crazy developing plasma headphone just like plasmasonic did. float heapdhone,2-4ways,hybrid,concentric drivers,materials. after all those years, no one seems really get it right as a whole package. there is always something off. i wonder why

i can't wait for those mysphere headphone, that headphone probably could bring something new to the market

 

[cathee]

Agreed as well.

I just meant that I would think a company that is in Grado's position would want to spend some money/energy on R&D to address some of their most commonly voiced weaknesses.

Personally, I'd expect something like a 225i with detachable cables and a revamped comfort solution (headphone + ear cups/pads) to be very competitive with any open cans under $500.

 

[LaCuffia]

Do they even have full time engineers on staff? It seems like John Grado is the sole developer and his knowledge came from an apprenticeship under Joe. But I really don't know - in any event, what they've been able to achieve without the big corporate machinery behind them is amazing. It's like Sennheiser, Focal, etc. can make the gourmet pizza with all the fancy ingredients and toppings in their sleep, but there's always room for the good old traditional Brooklyn pizza from Grado. Sorry for the bad pizza analogy but was thinking about the Grado pizza box packaging.

I also have a soft spot for Brooklyn since it's where my family first settled when they came from Italy.

 

[ruhenheiM]

i'm not sure but i think it's only john, maybe similar when it was under joe. it fascinating though just one man vision, most of the time when it's just one man vision, the product just stand out.you don't need to deal with other engineers, designers,marketing department, accounting all that

ahh italiano. have you watch gomorra?

 

[LaCuffia]

i'm not sure but i think it's only john, maybe similar when it was under joe. it fascinating though just one man vision, most of the time when it's just one man vision, the product just stand out.you don't need to deal with other engineers, designers,marketing department, accounting all that

ahh italiano. have you watch gomorra?

Yes, that show is insane but so gritty and realistic. I just finished the second season a few weeks ago. My family is actually from the Naples area. I used to be better at speaking Italian but what's funny is that I don't even need to read the subtitles to understand the show. They speak in the Naples dialect and it's what I grew up hearing from my parents, uncles, aunts, etc. For people in the North of Italy, they might as well be speaking Chinese.

 

[ruhenheiM]

Yes, that show is insane but so gritty and realistic. I just finished the second season a few weeks ago. My family is actually from the Naples area. I used to be better at speaking Italian but what's funny is that I don't even need to read the subtitles to understand the show. They speak in the Naples dialect and it's what I grew up hearing from my parents, uncles, aunts, etc. For people in the North of Italy, they might as well be speaking Chinese.

i have a few italian friends when i was in sydney. they taught me about italian, it was very interesting. i learned a few curse words in italian and they told me about that show, the gomorra. it's really great also they mention other similar show i think the title was romanzo criminale, i haven't watch it though.but gomorra i really love it. can't wait for third season, it suppose to air this year. i also heard that in italy somehow there are fair amount of chinese community live there. by any chance are your parents sicilian? most of the italians i met abroad usually sicilian,rome,or what's the name sardinia, something like that. i wonder what part of italy grado family originated from

 

[LaCuffia]

Both of my parents are from the Naples area...I am curious as to the Grado family origin too.

I will have to check out that other show you mentioned. Gomorra is actually one of the most successful shows in Italian TV history