Rather than being built with the snapped-together, machine assembly process used to make other high-end headphones, Grados are built primarily by hand and fused tight with special glues and bonding agents that John painstakingly tests to make sure they don’t hurt the sound quality. He is fanatical about prototyping, always rechecking new models against the same three tracks. One of them, from Eric Clapton’s Unplugged album, begins with a round of applause. "With some headphones, that moment sounds like one giant clap," he says. "I’m not happy until I’m able to hear each person clapping."
I bought my first (and only) set of Grado Labs headphones, SR60, several years ago. I love them.
