After years of speculation about whether it would ever happen , Grado Labs ’ first wireless headphone , theGW100 , is finally here . Even if they ’re using the same Bluetooth tech used by self-aggrandising box mark you might be more familiar with , they ’re unlike any other wireless headphone I ’ve ever used .
Grado Labs GW100
What is it ?
Photo: Mario Aguilar (Gizmodo)
The first wireless earphone from a cult favorite .
Price
$ 250
Like
Great Grado sound , now wireless
No Like
Build - quality feel flimsy
For a sure brand of grind , Brooklyn - based Grado Labs inspire devotional loyalty . The 65 - year - former kinsperson company has cultivated a next thanks to its classifiable esthetics , stubborn commitment to its homegrown roots , and its sturdy commitment to audio quality . And they ’ve catch a headphone everyone can afford : The audiophile steel offers great - sound products as meretricious as $ 80 and ranging all the direction up to the thousands . Grado ’s slow - go vogue propose to me that mayhap the company would never go wireless .
But lo , after 18 months of development , the GW100 ( $ 250 ) are actual ! John Grado , the company ’s read/write head honcho talks about progress to headphones in such deceptively simple terms , it sounds like almost anyone could design them . ( “ There ’s a telegram , a speaker , and a living accommodations for the speaker system . ” ) To me , that cheat why a full five age ( at least ) into the mainstream Bluetooth earned run average , we ’re only just getting our first Grado wireless cans . Grado has mastered the art of tune up simple headphones just right — why would you throw off a wall of digital technology between the music source and the human ?
In developing the wireless product , Grado and his team had to go through several rounds of tuning the digital technology to get exactly the strait he require — not too bassy , with the midrange the company is known for .
I ’ve owned a brace of only thevery cheapest Gradosfor a few long time . They vocalise exceptionally good — better than many headphones that be two or three time as much . You do n’t put the headphones on so much as you are absorbed into them . They reproduce remarkably clear and elaborate phone owing in part to their heart-to-heart - back design . By not seal off the earcup , the driver displace more freely .
In using the GW100s over the last week , I ’m cue of that impression of being fully immersed in euphony . One day I turn through a good deal of new records I wanted to listen to in a variety of writing style . Cat Power ’s soft vocal music on Wanderer were clear and humanly rendered . Meanwhile , the headphone dutifully handled High on Fire ’s punishing thrash alloy without flinching . My go - to strain for tick out freshwater bass is “ Auntie ’s Lock/ Infinitum ” by Flying Lotus ; its oozing blue - oddment synthesizer line are devilish for audio intersection of all kinds . And though Grado prides himself at not having followed the crowds to product with overdone basso , the phone push air down there and catch the nuance of the song ’s bulgy tones .
I could go on and on , but suffice it to say that yes ! The headphones sound good ! Super proficient ! To my decent ear as good as anything I ’ve ever take heed that does n’t tug the price north of $ 400 . break the company ’s pedigree , that ’s not super surprising .
There are drawback , of course of study . In case it has n’t come through yet , the GW100s are an incredibly barebones product and do n’t provide any of the perquisite or appliance of our very favored receiving set Bluetooth headphones like theBose QuietComfort-35 IItheSony WH-1000XM3 . There ’s no interference reduction technology , no EQ modes , or fellow app . Heck , you ca n’t even link up them to more than one generator gadget at a time . If you want to switch from listening from your computing machine to your phone , you have to unplug the headphones from your estimator , twist off its Bluetooth , or go out of chain of mountains to get the phone to go into conjugation fashion again .
While the Bose and Sony headphones are clearly designed with the comfort and enduringness needs of frequent travelers in head , the GW100s seem well suitable for your desk or easy chairman . The headphone ’s blueprint looks very interchangeable to Grado’saffordable Prestige serial publication headphones . ( According to Grado , the GW100 is n’t base on any specific wired ware . It ’s a fresh design . ) While it ’s gracious that the headphones have that iconic look , and they ’re quite lightweight , the plastic and thin metal mental synthesis leaves me feel nervous when I cram it in my backpack . Notably , the headphone did live a five - foot downslope from a gym locker with only a small scratch to the cultivation on the bolts seize the earcups .
Another sticking point is the froth earpads that ship with the phone . It ’s cheap stuff that feels scratchy on your auricle , and do n’t appease attached . If you throw the earpiece in your dish , be prepared to root around to fish out the earpad that ’s fall off . They are very lightweight , so I was able to weary them for a long time , and I did n’t mind the scratchiness too much .
One of the independent downside of open - back earpiece is racket — you hear a draw of the outside universe , and the strait of the headphones besides leak out . ( divertingly , Grado himself sees this as a feature film , not a hemipteron : “ You make deoxyephedrine cream — frosting cream melts . ” ) On this mannikin , the company has done some canny applied science to trim leak without sacrifice the benefits of the open - back design . And it works . My old Grados would annoy my coworkers , and they ca n’t hear the GW100s .
The problem of sound from without has n’t been amply resolved . I could still hear the idle grumble of an ice pick motortruck over heavy metallic element and the roaring of a metro train rolling into Union Station made it hard to hear Nirvana .
The earphone did well walk around the city and though there were drop outs in big wide open spaces , as there usually are with Bluetooth headphones , it was n’t so pestiferous I could n’t use them .
Grado says that look on how these headphones do ( “ We ’re on PIN number and acerate leaf ” ) the company plans to add more mathematical product to its wireless pipeline , including potentially some high - end models . As of justly now , the only plan he ’ll disclose is for an in - spike example with stochasticity reduction to be released next year .
So where does that provide us ? If you ’re the eccentric of Grado consumer who is really into the company ’s more low-priced products , you ’ll be intimate these too . They hit every note , both in full term of sound and aesthetics , that buff have hail to appreciate from the brand . That said , like all Grado products , they ’re not for everyone : They ’re picky , uncomfortable , and do n’t block outside sound well . But as someone who wonder whether the revered Brooklyn audio firebrand would ever go without telegram , I ’m stoke they in conclusion have .
README
Sound delicious .
Noise outflow has been significantly reduce compare to other Grados .
Very lightweight , but also potentially not very durable .
Earpads are scratchy and constantly pop off .
GradoHeadphones
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