Ever since we started evaluating Grado’s headphones product line, we feel we have an intimate understanding of the company, its products and its operations. Thus far, we’ve reviewed Grado’s RS1, RS2, SR60, SR80, SR125 and SR225 headphones and today, we’ll finish taking a look at everything Grado has to offer to audiophiles worldwide. The last edition of Grado’s product line is its SR325i pair of headphones that are improved (hence the "i" in 325i) and celebrates the company’s 50th anniversary.

If you follow the above linked reviews, you won’t notice a whole lot of difference between the SR series and the 325i headphones, as they belong to the same product family. In order to avoid redundancy, we’ll mainly focus on the improvements and its performance. If you are interested in reading an in-depth review of Grado’s headphones, we recommend you read the RS1 review (covers the entire RS product line) and SR80 review (covers the entire SR product line) to get an idea of various technologies that Grado houses in its headphones.

Credit: HeadRoom

The 325i has the same-vented diaphragm design with aluminum air chamber and an attractive exterior. Thankfully, Grado has improved the exterior to make it look a bit more exotic instead of the same old black color scheme. Don’t get us wrong, the black color scheme is possibly the best one to opt for, as it matches quite well with majority of the consumer electronics devices, but when the only thing different between pairs are the architectural improvements, we feel Grado could’ve spiced up the headphones somewhat with a luxurious look, something we wholeheartedly welcome with the 325i.

As we mentioned previously, the "i" in 325i stands for improvement. This improvement includes the upgrade to a better and finer looking exterior and improvements in architecture that reduce distortion in sound. The company has also improved the frequencies for better-calculated delivery and enriching sound.

The rest of the headphones’ body is similar to the SR series, and even though Grado is all about improvement with the 325i, the uncomforting factor of the headphones is still the main drawback that we feel some of you will notice. The earcups are designed in such a way that you’ll actually feel the drivers. You see, unlike normal headphones, Grado’s headphones do not feature a protective covering over the drivers, thereby allowing the ears to come in direct contact with the hard surface. Even though it reduces disturbance, it also comes in direct contact with your ears, and depending on the sensitivity of your ear structure, you may start noticing these headphones after a couple of hours of use.

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