Engineered by Grado Labs.
Made from the wood of Bushmills whiskey barrels.
Tuned by Elijah Wood and Zach Cowie.
Sold exclusively by Turntable Labs.
Geez, it's like the layers of a big marketing onion.
The question is... do these bring tears to the eyes?
Being obsessed with the headphone industry and social engineering in general, the Bushmills Grado caught my eye. I wanted one. No, not because Elijah Wood is a Hottie Mc Hotterson (he is). It was because this is actually kind of a "significant" thing in the headphone world: this is the first commercially available closed headphone from Grado. Okay so it's not really closed as there's a vent somewhere back behind the cups. Still, the shape of the cups makes a pretty big difference for those Grado drivers in my experience, so I was really curious to hear what these sounded like. You could say morbidly curious.
My experience with John's headphones are as follows:
SR80 - Not bad
SR325 - Not bad
SR325is - Hated
RS-1 - Not bad
RS-1i - Hated
PS-1 - Liked
PS500 - Not bad
PS1000 - Not bad
We wont mention Joe who is sort of the Simon to John's Art Garfunkel.
At any rate the addition of wood made from whiskey barrels was enough to push me over the edge. It probably does
Jack (hur hur) to the sound, but hey, there's a spirit of experimentation in the air as head-fiers try different tonewoods to see how they flavor their ear shredders of choice. Might as well join in the fun. Plus I always lamented never hearing those Pioneer speakers made from malt whisky barrel wood (oak).
Just one problem: the Bushmills Grados sold out in less than 24 hours! Yikes! Dunno how many John made, but that's still kind of shocking. Not so shocking was what happened about a week later when pairs started popping up on the 'Bay commanding prices as high as $750 USD. This was apparently why John got mad at folks on HF and vowed to never do another limited edition HF model.
Thankfully I managed to score a mint pair for less than a mint. In fact it cost their original retail price of $400. That pair is with me now.
Early subjective impressions:
~> Comes with those comfy pads, the ones that are flat and look like big PortaPro pads? Bleh. The sound with these was immediately not to my liking. Way too muddy.
~> Switched to the big G bowls. There, that's more like it. The bass is still kind of loose and boomy, but it's not nearly as overwhelming and intrusive as before. It manages to keep to its corner of the spectrum. Mostly.
~> Vocals have that typical Grado whispering-sweet-nothings-in-yer-ear presentation. Very forward sounding. Lacking air. Still, the tone is nice. Nothing sounds nasally or pinched. The more I listen, the more evident that much-loved Grado energy becomes. Grados are like rockstars, though rockstars are easy to get tired of quickly.
~> Highs have that Grado edge, but they aren't nearly as bad as I remember the SR325is and RS-1i being. Keep in mind I'm super sensitive to treble right now thanks to my migraines. I still tire of these much more quickly than, say, the HiFiMan HE-400 or 500 or Audez'e. They are pretty laid back for a Grado however.
~> Detail seems pretty darn good. There's smearing down below thanks to a somewhat textureless bass, but the mids and highs definitely convey a good amount of information.
~> Overall, these seem more well rounded than the usual Grado. Maybe somewhere between the SR80 and PS500. They definite strike me as more similar to Grado's lower-end models, and I wouldn't be surprised if these turned out to be th
e SR80 drivers, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing since Grado's higher end offerings tend to have serious issues.
~> Oh yeah, the packaging. Much nicer than the usual Grado standard issue pizza box. This time around you get a display box made from wood and a carrying pouch with the Bushmills logo. Longtime Grado fans should consider this downright luxurious. Unfortunately the cable is still the same tangled mess that plagues all Grados.
Grado's first "closed" headphone is not as bad as I expected! Still the $400 price tag is definitely more for the branding and collectibility factor. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if you want better sound for that kind of money then there are more sensible options. Even in Grado's own lineup.
I'll be sending these to either Ultrabike or Purrin or both come January, so expect to see some measurements and more listening impressions.
