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Grados

Jimbob54

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OK, lets get one thing out of the way. I know objectively most if not all of the Grado range are junk. Headless panthers to a man.

EQ is pretty much essential to get them to anything resembling normal and quite likely bringing distortion with it.

But.........I love mine. I bought both GS1000 and PS1000 (very much reduced price) after some time with the 325s in a time long before ASR and I knew no better. Now I have a bit more knowledge I probably wouldn't have touched them. But you would also now have to drag them out of my cold, dead hands.

After EQ they are just such a pleasant, fun listen and at the risk of going fully subjective, have an incredibly musical quality to them.

So go on, your thoughts on Grados. All I ask is that if you are going to comment on their sound, please have at least heard a pair.

Oh, and its worth noting that the GS1000 are possibly the comfiest pair I own- maybe on a par with the HD800.
 
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_thelaughingman

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@Jimbob54 I second you the audibility of Grado's after EQ. I have a starter pair of SR80e and they were so shrill without EQ, and unbearable to listen to. After modifying the headband, putting on a some G cushions and EQ'ing them with Crinacle settings they sound so much better with a good warmth, tonality and decent punch. They're ideal for listening to instrumental genres in particular classical.
 

solderdude

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Grado GS2000e

fr-gs2000.png


yes, needs some EQ. Doesn't do subbass well even with EQ but low bass notes (30Hz) is possible. With EQ it sounds nice when not used at impressive levels. Bass to mids are actually quite good by itself. When the 4-12kHz range is lowered it already sounds great, just no deep rumbles.

Distortion is kind of high (below is 90dB SPL).
dist-gs2000-l.png


Grado's sound dynamic and clear, too bright though and lacking deep bass but otherwise good sounding.
Not the best performing 'platform' to build on using EQ.
 
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Jimbob54

Jimbob54

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Grado GS2000e

fr-gs2000.png


yes, needs some EQ. Doesn't do subbass well even with EQ but low bass notes (30Hz) is possible. With EQ it sounds nice when not used at impressive levels. Bass to mids are actually quite good by itself. When the 4-12kHz range is lowered it already sounds great, just no deep rumbles.

Distortion is kind of high (below is 90dB SPL).
dist-gs2000-l.png


Grado's sound dynamic and clear, too bright though and lacking deep bass but otherwise good sounding.
Not the best performing 'platform' to build on using EQ.
Fair summary.
 
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Jimbob54

Jimbob54

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I don't like to listen to them but I think they're really beautiful, visually, so I wish I did like to listen to them!

Have you tried (and do you have the ability) to EQ them? Really does make a huge difference
 

_thelaughingman

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@Jimbob54 what kind of amp are you using with your grados? Curious.
 

Blumlein 88

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Ran across some SR80's I thought I had sold a few weeks back. Tried them on some music I had recorded. Yep, same old sound. No bass, and shrill beyond my tolerance. I thought about EQ just to see, but when something sounds that broken, I just didn't see the point.
 
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Jimbob54

Jimbob54

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Ran across some SR80's I thought I had sold a few weeks back. Tried them on some music I had recorded. Yep, same old sound. No bass, and shrill beyond my tolerance. I thought about EQ just to see, but when something sounds that broken, I just didn't see the point.
Go on, be a devil, add some bass and knock down the peak wherever it is on the 80s.

But I get why people give up on them. Especially if they are used to a well set up balanced hifi sound.
 

threni

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they were so shrill without EQ, and unbearable to listen to. After modifying the headband, putting on a some G cushions and EQ'ing them with Crinacle settingsl

Heh, reminds me of how you improve your emacs config on linux:
sudo apt-get remove emacs
sudo apt-get install vim
 

_thelaughingman

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Heh, reminds me of how you improve your emacs config on linux:
sudo apt-get remove emacs
sudo apt-get install vim
OMG. Nerd level 1Billion, best response i've seen in a while. Have me laughing, Thanks for this one.
 

Somafunk

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I used to own sr80’s which I only used for folky vocal led acoustic music, i thought they excelled with that specific genre but for anything else that I listen to, specifically electronic/techno then they sucked balls, and the cable used to get on my tits (literally and figuratively).
 
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Jimbob54

Jimbob54

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samwell7

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I've owned an sr80 (might have been an 'i') and an Alessandro MS1 (2009) which I ended up modding fairly heavily back in the day, for the life of me I can't remember how they sound.
I can remember a bit about every headphone I've owned (e.g. whether I liked it, roughly how it sounded) but I just can't remember either of the Grados, the only reason I even remember having the SR80 is because of my post history on headfi.

With that being said I'm waiting for the SR60e to come back in stock in Australia so I can buy one!
 

RJO

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With EQ, my RS2E has never sounded so good. To think that I almost sold it last year because of their trebly highs and lack of bass. But thanks to Amir and ASR for providing some insights over the advantages of EQ. That was my last resort, which turned out to be a completely game-changer.

So I ended up with an EarStudio ES100 for both BT and EQ. And after applying those filters my cans sounded phenomenal, to a point that it similarly matched the tonal quality of my Revel M105 and KEF LS50 bookshelf speakers, both well reviewed by Amir. That says a lot about this particular Grado model and I now couldn't stop listening using it with the G-pads for added comfort.
 
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Jimbob54

Jimbob54

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Anyone care to share an EQ that works for PS1000?
 

Fish17

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I still have my MS1 from 2002 that was my first decent headphone. It’s been so long since I gave them a listen.
 
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