I'll take this back to the beginning.
I am now the proud owner of Grado SR325is set #1667. They arrived in great shape. They are heavier than I thought they'd be. They've really beefed up the size of the chambers on these new 325's. I was impressed by the genuine leather headband. It's slightly padded to perfection, appealing to that minimalist Grado mindset. The cable is significantly thicker than the previous generation, although I'm not sure that this is a definite bonus.
Folks who complain about Grado cans being uncomfortable most likely don't know how to wear them. They have a sweet spot, like most things audiophile. The band is steel. It can be formed and molded, within reason, for your noggin. Also, I hand wash my earpads in room temperature water and a small amount of laundry soap before I use them. This really softens them up. I had problems with my 225's for the longest time. Then I started tinkering. The 325's seem no different. Even with the added weight, I wore them for a good 16 hours yesterday and had no issues.
The first record that I planned on listening to was Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies. I cue it up, I drop the tonearm, I think to myself... Wow, these things are NOT bright. Then I realize that my belt is slipping. I synchronized the LP with the CD and found out that I'm losing about 1.5% at 33 1/3 RPM. Time to order a new belt.
So, I settled for the CD. Billion Dollar Babies, as the very first album on my shiny new 325is's. There are a lot of odd instrumentals and complex arrangements on this album. Plus, I've listened to it a thousand times. I was expecting them to be brighter than my 225's. After approximately 30 hours, they aren't. From square one, they weren't. They seem to be a tad more polite in the top end, but absolutely no less present. The electric guitar in the Allman's Midnight Rider just floats around in your ears. It's awesome. The detail is everywhere. The midbass is alive, the extreme lows could be better, but they're as good as I've heard from a headphone. They're definitely a Grado, they sing like Pavarotti. You can hear each and every note be born and die in it's entirety. Percussion is tight and not overwhelming. Cymbals sound very, very real. So does brass.
I will mention this: the level of clarity and detail over the 225 is shocking. Even on my favorite songs, tunes that I've heard thousands of times on CD, mp3, and vinyl, I can hear "new" details. It's rather awesome! I don't know if I can go back to loudspeakers! There might be a set of 9se's and an AV-1 for sale sooner than later!
If anyone is interested in hearing these things, I suppose I could bring them to a meeting. It'd give me a reason to show up.
