[LedJam]

Quote:

You either love 'em or you don't. No sense in analyzing it. 

I agree...and I love the Grado sound.

 

[Ze_Blitzkrieg]

I thought this thread was finally dying out. . .
 

 

[Melvins]

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

I thought this thread was finally dying out. . .
 

need a hand with that veiled horse? 

 

[LKLB]

 
Did you get the Grado 69 from a Spanish porno?
 

new here on head-fi....

wat r grado 69?

confused now..

 

[Santaclart]

I love the grado sound, had some sr 80 before my goldrings, but really cannot get on with the comfort. Great for bursts of metal/rock but kept getting distracted by the fit.

 

[White_Noise]

I've owned the 325i for four years or so and the Beyer DT990 600ohm for about two. Love both cans, just for different things. In my opinion they complement each other perfectly. The 325 is one of the (if not THE) best can for reproducing electric guitar. The attack and decay on each note is sublime. They're just extremely fun. Yes, they're overly sibilant, although the high end does calm down a bit after break in and can easily be compensated with the proper amp (perfect for tubes). They're the most revealing headphone I've heard in my life. The soundstage is a bit lacking, but their my first choice for any string dominant genre as well as most mono recordings.
 
On the other hand, the Beyer 990s are still very detailed but not to the level of the Grados. They are far more comfortable to wear for extended periods of time. With enough juice backing them up, they have perfectly balanced and punchy bass perfect for electronic. hip hop, film, gaming. Far less fatiguing on the high end, maybe a little recessed in the mid range. Great soundstage. 
 
I wouldn't give up either, and I find myself constantly switching between them depending on my mood and what I'm using them for. The 325(i)(is) is such a unique, responsive, fun headphone that I really think any fan of guitar dominant genres should own a pair. I also think that they should be complimented by another can, whether that be Beyer, AKH, Denon, Sony MDR, or Sennheiser.

 

[HeretixAevum]

As an ex 225i owner, I have to say that the Grados got worse and worse for me the more my horizons grew (in both music taste and headphone experience). There are legitimate things to like about them. The 225i was superbly clean and fast if you ask me, remarkably so. The modding community is great, and they have a pretty cool aesthetic. Their presentation and tone is quite unique. 
 
But, there's a myriad of shortcomings. The comfort is poor. The build is un-luxurious and somewhat embarrassing, however I DO NOT think they are flimsy (I think this perception comes from the swivelling feature). The soundstage and imaging impression is just so small and cramped. There's not enough bass and too much treble. The cable is disproportionately heavy with the actual headphones. Hairs constantly get caught in the driver if your hair isn't short, causing a buzzing noise. Replacement pads are absurdly overpriced given that they're literally just foam. I found Grados service and policies to be rubbish. Extraordinarily narrow genre range, and utterly crap for other uses like movie watching or gaming. And, last (though probably least) People will laugh at you when you tell them how much you paid 

.  
 
Honestly, I definitely won't buy another Grado and I don't think I could honestly recommend one to anybody. I think there'd be something better for almost any use out there, at least to my ears and senses. But, I can't really call them bad headphones. But they certainly take a special kind of somebody to have them as their primary headphone. 

 

[Leliana]

I've got a love and hate relationship with Grados.
 
I loved the SR60 a lot when I first was starting out, and could not get enough of listening to them for rock, metal and the like. But as I developed a interest in a lot of other genres as I had more free time on my hands graduating from High School before I took on my job. As such I looked for headphones that were both versatile and better for the other genres. As I moved up the chain I got a mid level grouping of headphones which included the Grado RS2i, which I expected to sound incredible, but I found that I did not enjoy it much if at all. The forwardness and treble left me fatigued by the end of an album. The soundstage just didn't do it for me after hearing other top end phones.
 
I'd love to find a Grado that I could once again love like the SR60, but most I've heard have not left me desiring to buy them (even the PS1000). Perhaps a PS500 or HF2 would be more up my alley sonically. I liked the snippet of the PS500 I heard.
 
 
 

 

[mironathetin]

  As an ex 225i owner, I have to say that the Grados got worse and worse for me the more my horizons grew (in both music taste and headphone experience). There are legitimate things to like about them. The 225i was superbly clean and fast if you ask me, remarkably so. The modding community is great, and they have a pretty cool aesthetic. Their presentation and tone is quite unique. 
 
But, there's a myriad of shortcomings. The comfort is poor. The build is un-luxurious and somewhat embarrassing, however I DO NOT think they are flimsy (I think this perception comes from the swivelling feature). The soundstage and imaging impression is just so small and cramped. There's not enough bass and too much treble. The cable is disproportionately heavy with the actual headphones. Hairs constantly get caught in the driver if your hair isn't short, causing a buzzing noise. Replacement pads are absurdly overpriced given that they're literally just foam. I found Grados service and policies to be rubbish. Extraordinarily narrow genre range, and utterly crap for other uses like movie watching or gaming. And, last (though probably least) People will laugh at you when you tell them how much you paid 

.  
 
Honestly, I definitely won't buy another Grado and I don't think I could honestly recommend one to anybody. I think there'd be something better for almost any use out there, at least to my ears and senses. But, I can't really call them bad headphones. But they certainly take a special kind of somebody to have them as their primary headphone. 

 
This more or less summarizes my impressions. I had RS-1 and RS-2. While I liked the wood, leather steel combination, the sound leaves a lot more to desire. Also the reports about how they react to amps are exaggerated, IMHO. I found little improvement with a good amp and used them from my iPod most of the time.
 
The fact that it was very hard to sell any of them (in Europe) tells more than any fan report.

 

[HeretixAevum]

Yeah it took me a little while to find a buyer for mine, I'm in Australia and I had to send to the states to get rid of them, haha. That really is another part of them that makes them a more difficult buy to justify. If you can't try before you buy them, it's not going to be as easy to get rid of them as a more popular headphone if you don't like them (which, let's be honest, isn't exactly unlikely).

 

[squallkiercosa]

  Yeah it took me a little while to find a buyer for mine, I'm in Australia and I had to send to the states to get rid of them, haha. That really is another part of them that makes them a more difficult buy to justify. If you can't try before you buy them, it's not going to be as easy to get rid of them as a more popular headphone if you don't like them (which, let's be honest, isn't exactly unlikely).

 
Edit: For some reason I read Austria, my bad. 
 
I got my sr60i on Switzerland, they were 20sfr ~(20$) more than in the US, but worth the price for sure. They're currently my main pair.
 
Digitec sells them, I don't know about shipping cost to Austria. 
https://www.digitec.ch/?param=google&wert=165643&gclid=COD02OOt2LkCFShp7AodagQAGQ

 

[fateicon]

The RS-1 has a big wow factor about it. It's like the Millenium Force of headphones or something. Some instruments sound nice because of the wood. Ultimately you're paying a lot of money for wow factor and not overall performance. I was into it for a few years but once I got the DT 990 and then K701, I liked being able to change directions once in a while. The RS-1 excels at making electric guitars sound exciting. But there's a cost to that wow factor. You'd have to listen to really understand it. RS-1 is tough to match with gear, but I find that using the very transparent O2 amp works well. It doesn't cause unnecessary fatigue like most other amps I used it with did. Also helps if your source has a flatter frequency response, like a sansa clip. You don't want sources and amps adding much here, I think. Anyway, so much rock and metal is mixed and mastered way too hot so RS-1 is not really something I'd use with most rock and metal recordings mastered at a loud level. 

 

[ToddTheMetalGod]

For the price, I absolutely adore the SR60i. Warm, up front, non-sibilant, decent imaging. I like the RS1i as well, but I really don't feel the other Grado's are worth the price to be honest.

 

[swspiers]

I love my SR225i's.  They give me an experience that other headphones simply do not give me.  The soundstage is pretty much like being on a sound stage, and the mids are to die for, especially on heavy guitar-rock.  Sure, my HE-5LE's are better overall, but Grado's are simply fun, open to a lot of modification, and very easy to drive.  It is true that I almost sold them a week after I bought them, but after adjusting the clamp tension, learning that they were designed for moderate volume, and experimenting with the best position on my ears, they are my go-to headphone.