• Clean, clear and punchy performers
• Dynamically gifted and naturally musical
• Exotic wood aesthetic
• Leaky open-back design isn't always practical
$999
Grado's relationship with wood is as unequivocal, if not as famous, as Lego's with plastic. The familyowned, Brooklyn-based brand was only a year into hand-building its first pair of headphones when, as the story goes, John Grado (son of the company's founder, Joseph) woke up one night with the idea of creating a wooden pair and went downstairs to start carving out what would become the RS1.
That inspired further Grado wood creations during the mid-'90s, including Reference Series cartridges, never-released stereo speakers, and even a stereo amplifier that was housed inside a single block of wood. Today, just under half of Grado's models in its wired headphones line-up are aesthetically defined by
