The Article
S950 HEADPHONES FROM GRADO
11th November 2025
Presented in a Brazilian walnut chassis, Paul Rigby goes wood-grain crazy with the Signature S950 headphones from Grado
These headphones are apparently a natural enhancement from the company’s HP100 SE designs in that the S950’s are the second release on the Signature line of headphones.
Like many Grado headphone designs, the chassis is made from wood and, like many Grado designs, not wood you might find down the local park. Unless you live in Brazil and have accidentally broken a piece of Brazilian Walnut for a new wood-working project.
Why go for wood for the headphone chassis and why does Grado try different wood types? Well the company believes – and I agree with them – that differing woods offer differing sonic characteristics.
Weighing 395g, the S950s have large ear pads for comfort with a thicker headband for the same reason. Inside are dynamic paper-composite coned 52mm S drivers, the same drivers used in the HP100 SE headphones. The driver also features a lightweight copper-plated aluminium voice coil.
If you have kept up with the news then you will know that the Signature line of headphones sees the very first detachable cables on a pair of Grado headphones. And about time, says I. Especially if you like to mod your headphones. These six feet length cables feature a 6.35mm termination with a 4-pin XLR set of plugs that run to the headphones themselves.
The cable feels meaty and relatively heavy with a soft-braided finish.
Future detachable cables will include a 4-pin balanced XLR termination and 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced termination with variable cable lengths. And I heartily approve of these additions.
But how do they sound? Well, let’s give them a listen.
SOUND QUALITY
I grabbed a CD version of 1998’s Miles From Our Home from the Cowboy Junkies on Geffen and played the title track. I also grabbed a pair of Sennheiser HD650s because the latter was always appreciated for its bass output. I wanted to see how the Grados handled lower frequencies and how that combined with the uppers.
Grabbing my preferred head amp, the valve-driven Icon Audio HP8 MK.II, the driving percussive beat from this track is accompanied by a smooth female lead vocal, double-tracked vocals, vocal harmony backing, reverb-heavy lead guitar, crunchy rhythm guitar and acoustic strumming and bass.
VS SENNHEISER HD650
Running the S950s, you could hear how the broad, even output of the HD650s had been replaced by a highly focused presentation, one that pushed most of the music into the centre of the stereo image with elements pushed left and right to broaden the soundstage. The S950s provided a slightly compressed presentation, especially so when compared to the fairly easy going HD650 output.
Thus the S950s sounded more immediate, bass was crunchier, harder, more impactful. Upper frequencies, still retained some of the analytical response from the earlier 110 models, I felt. If this track was a piece of edited video, the S950s would be the Sharpen tool. Accentuating and underlining.
VS SENDY DIVA
I then turned to my Sendy Diva headphones and turned to the vinyl version of the compilation Chip Shop Pop from Ace and the lost classic pop track Tip of my Tongue from the 70s pop outfit, Brotherly Love. Featuring lead and harmony backing vocals, lead, rhythm and bass guitar, secondary and main percussion plus a brass section to boot. Part of the reason I selected this track is that the basic master is slightly compressed. I wondered how the Grados would handle it.
And yes, that sense of the analytical was in force on this track. The lack of air and space around the upper mids from the Grados meant that there was no mitigation for the inherent compression of the basic mix. Hence, the upper mids were rather edgy while bass was a little chrome plated. Basically, the S950s were taking the music and dialling it up a notch. Possibly not for those looking for a balanced output but ideal if you like that accuracy in extremis approach from your music.
VS SENNHEISER HD800
I found the same response when comparing the S950 headphones with the Sennheiser HD800s. The latter offering a more neutral output. The S950s added an etched view of both the mids and treble output. Again, not for those looking for a balanced output but wonderful if your ears want to catch everything in the mix and if you don’t want any element to hide within the mix.
In this respect, the S950s sound like polar opposites to the likes of Grado’s similarly priced and rather warmer GS3000X headphones but resemble the sound out from the Grado RS1x headphones. The latter also offered a suite of forward mids.
CONCLUSION
The drivers of of these headphones do give you an almost AM radio presentation. And I don’t offer that as a major criticism. I’m not saying that the Grados sound thin and weedy. What I mean by AM is that the S950s tend not to wallow in sumptuous bass or glory in a spacious soundstage. Instead, the S950s are direct and the the point and eager to get too the nub of the issue. Information reaches you in a rapid and hasty fashion. There’s no dwelling on extraneous detail here. To do that, the S950s do depend on that analytical approach I mentioned.
If you want your music to provide a more accentuated presentation so that even subtle points are highlighted in the overall mix, then check out these S950 headphones.
GRADO S950 HEADPHONES
Price: £2,495/$2,195
Website: www.grado.co.uk (UK) and www.gradolabs.com (US)
Good: focused presentation, detachable cables, comfort, midrange detail
Bad: analytical sound, edgy mids, compressed bass
