Thank you for the review. I recently purchased the Statement GX1000x headphones with the 12-wire extension cable. I love the aesthetics and design…actually just found some pictures of my grandfather who was an air traffic controller in the US during WWII and their headphones in the airport tower had a very similar mechanical design interestingly. As to the sound. I’m being patient and let the drivers and long heavy wiring loom get some good hours on them. At this early time I’d say the bass is not massive but acceptable and a I believe becoming more developed with good detail. Time will tell, but I’m hoping they take the sound quality of my original SR60 to the next level because I’ve those dearly. While I’m not a hardcore headphone guy I like the aesthetics and industrial design enough to win me over, and more over, I respect the natural material build, and for my desk headphone use while working from home I am perfectly happy. Grady’s customer service was exceptional and I’d consider that another strong pro. As, if they they are built in the USA. And if they last as long as my SR60 have then there is a strong pro for lifetime value in there as well. Many thanks for the review.
Thanks Paul. Your reviews are always good to watch. I think Grados need a lot of time to burn in. If someone picks one up for demo I’d recommend to leave it playing through radio for at least 4/5 days continuously before a listen. There is a marked difference - especially as you quite rightly stated the Rs1x is very forward. This subsides somewhat after at least 100 hours. The signature of that headphone is definitely forward especially compared to the gs3000x but after considerable hours the sound knits together very nicely.
Good point, of course. Although these have been thoroughly run in and actually much reviewed by others even before I grabbed them. Hence, that initial sound pre-run-in personality you mentioned 'out of the box' is much reduced now but in that reduced state, I could still I pick it up. That's something I had to talk about, considering the price tag. That is the scale of the issue I have at least, is much reduced. Everyone's ears are different, however, so Grado fans either don't pick that subtlety up or it just doesn't matter to them.
Hi Paul I watched your review of the Luxman D-03X CD player when it was new on RUclips at the beginning of last year. Since buying the Luxman CD player one month ago, I thought I would watch your review again, and compare notes. So, here goes. I owned the well thought of Musical Fidelity Msc3 CD player for several years, which is still priced at a very reasonable £1150. But I didn't jump straight up to the 'Luxman' machine. Due to lack of availability, and impatience, I bought the nice sounding Roksan Blak CD player, which is a noticeable improvement on the former Musical Fidelity item it replaced. But, the Roksan at £2950, although better, certainly didn't qualify as my "last- ever' CD player. It was a stop-gap. The Luxman D-03X, however, at £3950 is fantastic, and exceeds my expectations. The build quality is top notch also. It may well be my last ever CD player - it's that satisfying.
@@PaulBloomlittledevilsame here. I have exactly those two models and I love them both. I changed pads on the 80s. Other than that I have not modified them.
Thanks for the review - I also found the mids on the RS1x to be off. Sharp peak around 2k, which to my ears unnaturally boosted instruments in that region and made vocals very harsh. I also found them nicely detailed, but I was surprised to hear positive comments on the RS1x's bass. I found it very rolled off and dry.
Yes, take your point on the bass. Actually, I didn't go into too much detail, I said "solid rolling action that set a firm foundation for the song as a whole" which I still believe. I wasn't bowled over by the bass in terms of tone realism, naturalistic, etc but I think it did a job...foundation, etc.
It is my personal view that headphones cannot compete with quality loudspeaker systems. I would always choose speakers over cans but having said that there are times when headphones come into their own for example late in the evening if you have touchy neighbours. The other area of contention is headphone levels of comfort. I have found only a few I can recommend in this area giving relatively long listening comfort. These include the unusual Ergophones by Precide which barely touch the ears or their surroundings.
Very polarizing headphones, to say the least. I have an old pair of 80s. Not the most comfortable, and ridiculous cables. Yet, I like them. Bought a pair of sundaras. Maybe more audiophile, but not my cup of tea all the time. I grab them for longer listens due to comfort. For percussion like drums on “Diamonds on the souls of my shoes” I like the grados presentation. So, maybe I like a boosted midrange? Just wish they were more comfortable.
Thanks for your comprehensive review of the Grado headphones. I own a pair of the RS1e and when I bought them I compared them to the more expensive GS1000. Although they're not the same as the ones you reviewed I'm guessing they have a similar characters. Sound-wise I preferred the RS1e to the GS1000s even though I could hear the extra abilities of GS1000s. In terms of comfort, well I'm sorry Grado fans but in my opinion the Grados are poor. I still use them but only for about an hour max.
I gave Grado a telephone call because of comfort issues. What you want to do is glaze the outside of the pads where they touch your ears with dish soap. Joy, Dawn etc. and they it sit on the headphones for a few minutes, then fully rinse the pads with water. Let them air dry. Now I can wear them all day long with rarely any discomfort. Good luck.
I have the RS1e and GS2000e and a sensible extension cable from Atlas thanks to your good self, an extension cable is needed as you said as much, but the Grado extension is too short *just but far too heavy for any sensible listening, even picking up your cup of tea is a military exercise in the making and a detergent to using the headphones, sad really. A very good review and fair too, but we don't expect anything less from you 😊
How would you describe the SQ differences between the RS1e and GS200e? Also, if you haven't already tried, can you put the G cups from the GS2000e on the RS1e and compare, thank you.
@@alexvlach4897 RS-1e: A lot more aggressive on the overall sound signature. Vocals are a lot more in your face with great separation on the treble and highs giving it good detail. The bass is tight like jabbing punches and gives a clean sound. Mids are great just like you would expect from a normal pair of Grados. GS-2000e: First impression was not strong, it gives an airy feel and a lot more laid back compared to the RS-1e due to the spaciness. But the more you hear, the more impressive it is. Separation and details are a cut above the RS-1e with more space and better soundstage, vocals are a bit away from your ears but tends to have a slightly sweet tone to female singers and a strong kick with male singers. Mids, treble and highs are airy but detailed, unlike the aggressive signature the RS-1e tends to have. Not to say it's weaker than the RS-1e, overall it's stronger, but the tuning was a lot more refined. The bass is a bit interesting, it is like a water droplet drops into a pond and it ripples into the background. The most interesting part might be when it comes to metal percussion instruments. That tingling sound is extremely prominant on the GS-2000e and it is almost a unique profile on this headphone. Overall it's more tiresome when listening to the RS-1e and the GS-2000e will give you a more relaxed feeling. I can't say which is better, as the RS-1e and GS-2000e have two different characteristics which gives different impressions when listening to music. Personally I prefer the GS-2000e, as it doesn't sound impressive for the first 5 minutes, but the longer you hear it, the more you realize you're staring into the abyss with a monster staring you back. I never had the situation where a headphone made me shivered a bit while halfway down the album. The RS-1e is aggressive and a joyride while the GS-2000e was sophisticated and a beast of it's own.
@@mahoslash thanks for your detailed impressions. Can you put the G-cups from the GS2000e on the RS1e and compare? I would expect the sound signatures to be a lot closer.
@@alexvlach4897 Not exactly, the RS-1e only went a wee less aggressive and only a bit spacy compared with the GS-2000e when on the G cups but both headphones are completely different from each other when it comes to sound signatures. The RS-1e still sounds as RS-1e as it is and is still quite different from the GS-2000e. All models of RS and GS series have significant different tunings to them that just a simple pad swap can't really change it into something similar to one another.
@@alexvlach4897 Both RS-1e and GS-2000e use 50mm drivers but have very different frequency responses, hence even with the same diameters, they can sound quite different. This applies the same with the SR-80x and RS-2e, though both are 44mm drivers, anything that is the SR-225 class and above have different drivers with different frequency responses that may change the sound signature. I'm not even discussing the different materials to the housings that may change the overall impressions. As the RS-1e and GS-2000e have drastically different designs from one another. For example, I had recently modded my first gen SR-80 with a SR-225i driver and a 6.3mm 8 connector cable upgrade and the entire sound signature had changed quite a bit from the SR-80, even though the SR-80 shares the same sized driver (the 44mm one) as the SR-225 class head phones, the massive driver upgrade from a 80 class to a 225 class technically turned it into a 1st gen SR-225. (It turned louder and brighter with separation and detail a lot more pronounced. Even some of the sound profiles changed a bit due to a slight difference in tuning. It had a tight but smooth profile compared to the other Grados I have while sharing the same housing as my SR-80. It even had a pleasant and crisp tingle profile that surprised me, though not as significant as the GS-2000e, but enough to draw my attention.) So even a simple driver swap can result in different results. From what I'm aware of, the two products currently sharing the exact same drivers are the SR-225x and Hemp, both installed with the same 225x class drivers. Essentially making the Hemp an extremely overpriced SR-225x with less bouncy bass in my opinion. I did had my doubts why I always felt there was something off with the Hemp compared with Grado's own $400~$500 range products as it lacked the profiles SR-325x or the RS-2x had. And it clicked after I heard my modified SR-80 and later a SR-225x borrowed from a friend.
Really enjoyed this video. I'm a newcomer to Grado (I'm from the United States of Kingdom - obviously - but I pronounce it Greydoh 😅) headphones. A few months back I got the 325x's. I was on the verge of returning them because I found the F pads so uncomfortable but gave them one last chance with the G pads (same as on the 3000x's here, but the Geekria versions which aren't quite as deep) and it transformed them for me, both in terms of comfort and also the way they sound, which is now really special to my ears. So, I'm just wondering if you have tried different pads with the RS1x's since this review and, if you have, what you thought? Cheers!
Glad you liked the video, Steve. Thanks. These reviews were 'out of the box', changing the pads would have really constituted a mod and another kind of video. That said, interested to hear that your upgrade helped the comfort levels, so thanks for that. Interesting stuff.
@@TheAudiophileMan Thank you for the reply. You're absolutely right, of course. It's great - for me - that they can be changed in this way, but they do effectively become a product quite different from - as you say - that which came out of the box. I'm glad I found what works for me before I returned them, even though my Sundaras have been virtually unused since. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
@@soulfulfoolI’ve tried numerous pad options, ZMF, Dekoni beyer pads, Chinese pads, leather, velour, even beautiful audio, and everytime I come back to the stock pads. The rest just don’t sound right. Do they suck comfort wise, yes, but you just gotta toughen up and deal with it lol
@@mikeg2491 I could not bare that ugly cable and uncomfortable pads or lets say overall cheap construction, sold mine. If Grado by some magic start to listen to customers and make something entirely new I might give them a chance but thats impossible with actual owner (he is too old he cant understand word progress)
Thank you for the review. I recently purchased the Statement GX1000x headphones with the 12-wire extension cable. I love the aesthetics and design…actually just found some pictures of my grandfather who was an air traffic controller in the US during WWII and their headphones in the airport tower had a very similar mechanical design interestingly. As to the sound. I’m being patient and let the drivers and long heavy wiring loom get some good hours on them. At this early time I’d say the bass is not massive but acceptable and a I believe becoming more developed with good detail. Time will tell, but I’m hoping they take the sound quality of my original SR60 to the next level because I’ve those dearly. While I’m not a hardcore headphone guy I like the aesthetics and industrial design enough to win me over, and more over, I respect the natural material build, and for my desk headphone use while working from home I am perfectly happy. Grady’s customer service was exceptional and I’d consider that another strong pro. As, if they they are built in the USA. And if they last as long as my SR60 have then there is a strong pro for lifetime value in there as well. Many thanks for the review.
Thanks Paul. Your reviews are always good to watch. I think Grados need a lot of time to burn in. If someone picks one up for demo I’d recommend to leave it playing through radio for at least 4/5 days continuously before a listen. There is a marked difference - especially as you quite rightly stated the Rs1x is very forward. This subsides somewhat after at least 100 hours. The signature of that headphone is definitely forward especially compared to the gs3000x but after considerable hours the sound knits together very nicely.
Good point, of course. Although these have been thoroughly run in and actually much reviewed by others even before I grabbed them. Hence, that initial sound pre-run-in personality you mentioned 'out of the box' is much reduced now but in that reduced state, I could still I pick it up. That's something I had to talk about, considering the price tag. That is the scale of the issue I have at least, is much reduced. Everyone's ears are different, however, so Grado fans either don't pick that subtlety up or it just doesn't matter to them.
Hi Paul
I watched your review of the Luxman D-03X CD player when it was new on RUclips at the beginning of last year. Since buying the Luxman CD player one month ago, I thought I would watch your review again, and compare notes. So, here goes. I owned the well thought of Musical Fidelity Msc3 CD player for several years, which is still priced at a very reasonable £1150. But I didn't jump straight up to the 'Luxman' machine. Due to lack of availability, and impatience, I bought the nice sounding Roksan Blak CD player, which is a noticeable improvement on the former Musical Fidelity item it replaced. But, the Roksan at £2950, although better, certainly didn't qualify as my "last- ever' CD player. It was a stop-gap. The Luxman D-03X, however, at £3950 is fantastic, and exceeds my expectations. The build quality is top notch also. It may well be my last ever CD player - it's that satisfying.
It would absolutely kill Grado to use detachable wires and metal clamps on the R & L adjustments, I'm convinced.
😂 so true. I have the 80's and 325's and really love them, but had to mod them with detachable cables and different pads. But oh boy do I love them.
@@PaulBloomlittledevilsame here. I have exactly those two models and I love them both. I changed pads on the 80s. Other than that I have not modified them.
Cool Van Der Graaf album
Great review. Have a pair of 125 grados . Great sound but the pads are a bit rough and uncomfortable 😟
Thanks for the review - I also found the mids on the RS1x to be off. Sharp peak around 2k, which to my ears unnaturally boosted instruments in that region and made vocals very harsh. I also found them nicely detailed, but I was surprised to hear positive comments on the RS1x's bass. I found it very rolled off and dry.
Yes, take your point on the bass. Actually, I didn't go into too much detail, I said "solid rolling action that set a firm foundation for the song as a whole" which I still believe. I wasn't bowled over by the bass in terms of tone realism, naturalistic, etc but I think it did a job...foundation, etc.
@@TheAudiophileMan Gotcha - look forward to hear GX3000x at some point - thx!
It is my personal view that headphones cannot compete with quality loudspeaker systems. I would always choose speakers over cans but having said that there are times when headphones come into their own for example late in the evening if you have touchy neighbours. The other area of contention is headphone levels of comfort. I have found only a few I can recommend in this area giving relatively long listening comfort. These include the unusual Ergophones by Precide which barely touch the ears or their surroundings.
Impressively irrelevant to the topic of this video. No one cares
Very polarizing headphones, to say the least. I have an old pair of 80s. Not the most comfortable, and ridiculous cables. Yet, I like them. Bought a pair of sundaras. Maybe more audiophile, but not my cup of tea all the time. I grab them for longer listens due to comfort. For percussion like drums on “Diamonds on the souls of my shoes” I like the grados presentation. So, maybe I like a boosted midrange? Just wish they were more comfortable.
Thanks for your comprehensive review of the Grado headphones. I own a pair of the RS1e and when I bought them I compared them to the more expensive GS1000. Although they're not the same as the ones you reviewed I'm guessing they have a similar characters. Sound-wise I preferred the RS1e to the GS1000s even though I could hear the extra abilities of GS1000s. In terms of comfort, well I'm sorry Grado fans but in my opinion the Grados are poor. I still use them but only for about an hour max.
I gave Grado a telephone call because of comfort issues. What you want to do is glaze the outside of the pads where they touch your ears with dish soap. Joy, Dawn etc. and they it sit on the headphones for a few minutes, then fully rinse the pads with water. Let them air dry. Now I can wear them all day long with rarely any discomfort. Good luck.
I have the RS1e and GS2000e and a sensible extension cable from Atlas thanks to your good self, an extension cable is needed as you said as much, but the Grado extension is too short *just but far too heavy for any sensible listening, even picking up your cup of tea is a military exercise in the making and a detergent to using the headphones, sad really. A very good review and fair too, but we don't expect anything less from you 😊
How would you describe the SQ differences between the RS1e and GS200e? Also, if you haven't already tried, can you put the G cups from the GS2000e on the RS1e and compare, thank you.
@@alexvlach4897
RS-1e: A lot more aggressive on the overall sound signature. Vocals are a lot more in your face with great separation on the treble and highs giving it good detail. The bass is tight like jabbing punches and gives a clean sound. Mids are great just like you would expect from a normal pair of Grados.
GS-2000e: First impression was not strong, it gives an airy feel and a lot more laid back compared to the RS-1e due to the spaciness. But the more you hear, the more impressive it is. Separation and details are a cut above the RS-1e with more space and better soundstage, vocals are a bit away from your ears but tends to have a slightly sweet tone to female singers and a strong kick with male singers. Mids, treble and highs are airy but detailed, unlike the aggressive signature the RS-1e tends to have. Not to say it's weaker than the RS-1e, overall it's stronger, but the tuning was a lot more refined. The bass is a bit interesting, it is like a water droplet drops into a pond and it ripples into the background. The most interesting part might be when it comes to metal percussion instruments. That tingling sound is extremely prominant on the GS-2000e and it is almost a unique profile on this headphone.
Overall it's more tiresome when listening to the RS-1e and the GS-2000e will give you a more relaxed feeling. I can't say which is better, as the RS-1e and GS-2000e have two different characteristics which gives different impressions when listening to music.
Personally I prefer the GS-2000e, as it doesn't sound impressive for the first 5 minutes, but the longer you hear it, the more you realize you're staring into the abyss with a monster staring you back. I never had the situation where a headphone made me shivered a bit while halfway down the album. The RS-1e is aggressive and a joyride while the GS-2000e was sophisticated and a beast of it's own.
@@mahoslash thanks for your detailed impressions.
Can you put the G-cups from the GS2000e on the RS1e and compare? I would expect the sound signatures to be a lot closer.
@@alexvlach4897
Not exactly, the RS-1e only went a wee less aggressive and only a bit spacy compared with the GS-2000e when on the G cups but both headphones are completely different from each other when it comes to sound signatures. The RS-1e still sounds as RS-1e as it is and is still quite different from the GS-2000e.
All models of RS and GS series have significant different tunings to them that just a simple pad swap can't really change it into something similar to one another.
@@alexvlach4897
Both RS-1e and GS-2000e use 50mm drivers but have very different frequency responses, hence even with the same diameters, they can sound quite different.
This applies the same with the SR-80x and RS-2e, though both are 44mm drivers, anything that is the SR-225 class and above have different drivers with different frequency responses that may change the sound signature.
I'm not even discussing the different materials to the housings that may change the overall impressions. As the RS-1e and GS-2000e have drastically different designs from one another.
For example, I had recently modded my first gen SR-80 with a SR-225i driver and a 6.3mm 8 connector cable upgrade and the entire sound signature had changed quite a bit from the SR-80, even though the SR-80 shares the same sized driver (the 44mm one) as the SR-225 class head phones, the massive driver upgrade from a 80 class to a 225 class technically turned it into a 1st gen SR-225. (It turned louder and brighter with separation and detail a lot more pronounced. Even some of the sound profiles changed a bit due to a slight difference in tuning. It had a tight but smooth profile compared to the other Grados I have while sharing the same housing as my SR-80. It even had a pleasant and crisp tingle profile that surprised me, though not as significant as the GS-2000e, but enough to draw my attention.)
So even a simple driver swap can result in different results.
From what I'm aware of, the two products currently sharing the exact same drivers are the SR-225x and Hemp, both installed with the same 225x class drivers. Essentially making the Hemp an extremely overpriced SR-225x with less bouncy bass in my opinion.
I did had my doubts why I always felt there was something off with the Hemp compared with Grado's own $400~$500 range products as it lacked the profiles SR-325x or the RS-2x had. And it clicked after I heard my modified SR-80 and later a SR-225x borrowed from a friend.
Really enjoyed this video. I'm a newcomer to Grado (I'm from the United States of Kingdom - obviously - but I pronounce it Greydoh 😅) headphones. A few months back I got the 325x's. I was on the verge of returning them because I found the F pads so uncomfortable but gave them one last chance with the G pads (same as on the 3000x's here, but the Geekria versions which aren't quite as deep) and it transformed them for me, both in terms of comfort and also the way they sound, which is now really special to my ears. So, I'm just wondering if you have tried different pads with the RS1x's since this review and, if you have, what you thought? Cheers!
Glad you liked the video, Steve. Thanks. These reviews were 'out of the box', changing the pads would have really constituted a mod and another kind of video. That said, interested to hear that your upgrade helped the comfort levels, so thanks for that. Interesting stuff.
@@TheAudiophileMan Thank you for the reply. You're absolutely right, of course. It's great - for me - that they can be changed in this way, but they do effectively become a product quite different from - as you say - that which came out of the box. I'm glad I found what works for me before I returned them, even though my Sundaras have been virtually unused since. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
@@stevefromlondon4949 same story here, my Rs1e are unusable with stock pads, ears hurt very bad (G cush was a big upgrade, even sound suits me better)
Just noting, Zmf make an adapter ring for nice leather pads on all grados
that would change the sound too much, for worse
@@soulfulfoolI’ve tried numerous pad options, ZMF, Dekoni beyer pads, Chinese pads, leather, velour, even beautiful audio, and everytime I come back to the stock pads. The rest just don’t sound right. Do they suck comfort wise, yes, but you just gotta toughen up and deal with it lol
@@mikeg2491 I could not bare that ugly cable and uncomfortable pads or lets say overall cheap construction, sold mine. If Grado by some magic start to listen to customers and make something entirely new I might give them a chance but thats impossible with actual owner (he is too old he cant understand word progress)
I love my grados
Love my Grados but I sure wish I owned the term reference…s
van der graaf generator godbluff full album............[fainted]
Hehe
👍
grado for me are the most uncomfortable headphones goos sound but too much trebles
I love grado hve the gh1 limited edition very good sound
Damn. Get what you pay for!