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You know about Grado, right? We’ve talked about them before, and their story remains the same. They call Brooklyn home, and their headphones are hand-built there as well. Just a few day ago, they announced their latest one, the Grado RS1x and RS2x.
At first, it might seem that the use of wood (maple, chocobo, and hemp on the RS1x, while the RS2x only uses maple and hemp) is the story here, but that’s not all there is. I mean, yes, that’s the visible bit, and I’m sure the resonant properties of those materials had some impact on the design. The bigger story is the internals, which see Grado introducing their fourth-generation X drivers:
Leading the way for our new fourth generation X Drivers, the redesigned RS1x combines a 50mm driver with three species of wood for the first time into a vivacious and elegant headphone. The housing is made of a maple sleeve, hemp core, and cocobolo outer ring. Grado builds with wood for its warm and embracing tonal abilities, but finding the right balance of three separate woods is no simple task. The reward is an RS1x that opens Grado to a new level of sound. Their little brother, the RS2x, focuses on maple and hemp wood to bring out the most they have to offer with a 44mm driver. This is the first time X Drivers are built into wooden housings, and needed to be finely tuned for their specific environments. This combination brings out harmonic colors, a rich vocality, and the mid-range Grado is known for.
Amongst all of that, they’ve also upgraded the cable used to connect these headphones to your audio source, and put some focus on the white-stitched leather headbands as well. These are great-looking headphones, with the wood bringing an organic warmth to the look, and I’m sure these new drivers sound as great as the exterior looks. Want to get your own? The Grado RS1x is available now for $750, while the Grado RS2x is $550. gradolabs.com
Tech Specs from Grado
- RS1x
- 50mm drivers
- Transducer Type: Dynamic
- Operating Principle: Open Air
- Frequency Response: 12 – 30,000 hz
- SPL 1mW: 99.8 dB
- Nominal Impedance: 38 ohms
- Driver Matched dB: .05 dB
- RS2x
- 44mm drivers
- Transducer Type: Dynamic
- Operating Principle: Open Air
- Frequency Response: 14 – 28,000 hz
- SPL 1mW: 99.8 dB
- Nominal Impedance: 38 ohms
- Driver Matched dB: .05 dB
