Grado Signature S750 review: crystal clarity and a stunning soundstage, but the fit isn’t a hit | Daily Reports Online
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Grado Signature S750 review: two-minute review
The Grado Signature S750 headphones are the latest addition to the audiophile brand’s Signature series alongside the HP 100 SE and the S950s, both of which are considerably more expensive. They feature a newly designed S2 driver and the new Grado B Cushion, which reduces the distance between the driver and your ear canal and which also spreads pressure more evenly across the surface of your ear.
Grado Signature S750 review: price and release date
- Released October 2025
- Priced $1,695 / £1,695 (about AU$3,400)
The Grado S750 headphones were launched in October 2025 and went on sale the following month with a recommended price of $1,695 / £1,695 (about AU$3,400).
This is hardly wallet-friendly territory, is it? At this price, their closest competitors might be the slightly cheaper Shanling HW600 (which might suit those with larger heads). However, this money is far from as expensive as wired over-ear headphones can get – just look to Final, with the $3,499 / £2,999 / AU$5,899 planar magnetic Final D7000…
Grado Signature S750 review: specs
Transducer type | Dynamic |
Drivers | 50mm dynamic |
Operating principle | Open-back |
Headphone connection | 4pin Mini XLR |
Frequency response | 6kHz – 46kHz |
Nominal impedance | 38 ohms |
Extras | Source connection 6.3mm; Signature Gold 12-conductor detachable cable, new B Cushion earpads supplied |
Grado Signature S750 review: design
- Lighter weight than the HP100 SE
- New Signature Gold braided cable
- Extra padding on the headband
You’d never mistake these headphones for any other manufacturer’s: the S750 have the Grado family looks. But these headphones are over 10% lighter than the HP100 SE, although at 460g they’re still quite hefty.
As we’ve come to expect from Grado the S750 come with a 6-foot cable with a 6.35mm single-ended plug, connected to the headphones with twin 4-pin balanced XLR. This cable is a new design called Signature Gold, with a braided design that Grado says is softer, more durable and lighter than before. It’s still quite hefty, though, and I was conscious of its weight when I was listening at my desk rather than lounging in an armchair.
The S750 have a very similar headband to their siblings, but the headband is 50% more padded than earlier models and is very comfortable during long listens. The assembly makes use of aluminium alloy gimbals, stainless steel height rods and reinforced aluminium junction blocks, and it has rotation limited to 105 degrees to reduce wear for long-term durability.
Grado Signature S750 review: features
- New 50mm carbon fiber and paper composite driver
- New B cushion to reduce distance from driver to ear
- Easy to drive
The Grado S750 feature a new 50mm S2 driver that uses a carbon fibre and paper composite diaphragm and a lightweight copper-aluminium voice coil. The impedance is 38 ohms and sensitivity is 115 dB, so these are relatively easy headphones to drive. But if you like to listen loud you’ll get best results from an amp with reasonable headroom.
In addition to the new driver the other big change here is the new Grado B Cushion, which is designed to shorten the distance between the driver and your ear and which features a smaller interior opening. There are eight slits to improve airflow and open up the sound stage, and the flat surface is designed to distribute pressure more evenly across your ear.
Whether you’ll like that very much depends on whether you’re a fan of the on-ear fit; as someone who prefers larger ear cups that envelop my ears the B Cushion felt as if it didn’t really fit properly. That combined with the 460g weight meant that I couldn’t wear the S750s to listen as I worked at my desk: as a varifocals wearer using a tall and wide display I move my head a lot, and the S750s wouldn’t stay put. The S750s are compatible with Grado’s G, F and L cushions if, like me, you’d prefer a different fit.
Grado Signature S750 review: sound quality
- Exceptionally wide soundstage
- A little bass-light
- Superb on layered, well-produced music
You know those “I’ve never heard that before!” moments? The Grados deliver that again and again across a wide range of genres, eras and artists.
Grado describes the sound of the S750s as a “natural musical presentation” and I think that’s a good description: there’s no attempt to inject false excitement by boosting the low end.
That, and the nature of open-back headphones, means the sound is relatively bass-light – although the low 6Hz frequency floor means you get some nice sub-sonics you can feel, such as fingers hitting an acoustic guitar or damping a bass string. If you’re a big fan of pumping EDM or stadium-sized kick drums you might prefer a different set of Grados, though; the bass is clear and well separated but it isn’t trying to get a party started.
On tracks such as All Saints’ Pure Shores or Christine and The Queens’ Tilted, both of which have very strong, deep bass in the verses, the Grados spotlight the vocals and the interesting things going on around them rather than letting the bass overpower them. The spoken section in the latter song is a particular delight, as is the expansive, airy chorus of Kygo and Selena Gomez’s It Ain’t Me. The high frequencies are bright and airy and the overall spaciousness is well suited to atmospheric, layered widescreen songs such as Radiohead’s Burn The Witch, Reckoner and There There, as well as to live and acoustic music.
Open-back headphones are known for their spacious sound, and that’s particularly true here: the soundstage that the S750s delivers is wonderfully lifelike with precise positioning, great dynamics and particularly vivid voices on tracks such as Little Simz’ Point and Kill, which features intertwined raps, glorious backing vocals and smile-inducing brass that the S750s were absolutely made for. If you’re a fan of close-miked singers or rappers, or of breathy woodwinds and bowed cellos, the Grados will give your goosebumps goosebumps.
One of my favourite songs to test headphones with is U2’s Vertigo, and it’s enormous fun on these headphones: the song’s spaced-out mix is even more thrilling on the Grados, with The Edge’s crunching guitar and luminous delay sounding like his amp is in the room right next to you.
It’s on less bombastic music such as Taylor Swift’s Last Great American Dynasty where I really got the grins, though: the Grados do a spectacular job of revealing its subtle musical layers, as they do with the electric piano and atmospherics of The 1975’s Somebody Else, the birdsong and burbling synths of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome and the piano stabs, slap bass and strings of The Blue Nile’s majestic Tinseltown in the Rain.
While the S750s are great with well-produced music at sensible volume, if your tastes are more punk rock or you just like to listen really loud you’re going to want to roll off some of the high frequencies: their brightness can be harsh, especially at higher volume levels where instruments such as the ride cymbal in the intro to Radiohead’s Reckoner become wince-inducing.
Grado Signature S750 review: value
There’s no doubt that these are very expensive headphones: you could buy five pairs of Sennheiser HD 660S2s, nine pairs of Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pros or seventeen pairs of Grado SR80x headphones for the same money.
But they’re handmade, beautifully built and considerably cheaper than their Signature range siblings or four-figure planar magnetic rivals such as the Final D7000. They’re made for a very specific and demanding kind of listener who’s happy to pay for a premium product. And they do sound sensational.
Grado Signature S750: Should you buy them?
Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
Features | Everything’s here, but for me, the fit could be better | 4 / 5 |
Sound quality | Expansive, detailed and delicious, albeit occasionally a tad bright | 5 / 5 |
Design | Lighter than you’d imagine and beautifully padded | 5 / 5 |
Value | They’re not cheap – but they do sound sensational | 4 / 5 |
Buy them if…
Don’t buy them if…
Grado Signature S750: also consider
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Grado Signature S750 | Meze Audio 105 Silva | Grado SR80x |
|---|---|---|---|
Price | $1,695 / £1,695 (about AU$3,400) | $499 / £469 / AU$999 | $125 / £130 / AU$179 |
Type | Open-back on-ears | Open-back over-ears | Open-back on-ears |
Drivers | 50mm dynamic | 50mm dynamic; bio-cellulose, titanium-coated semicrystalline polymer | 44mm dynamic |
Weight | 460g | 354g | 240g |
Impedance | 38 ohms | 42 ohms | 38 ohms |
Connectivity | 4pin Mini XLR/source connection 6.3mm | Dual 3.5mm TS output | 3.5mm headphone jack |
Frequency response | 6kHz – 46kHz | 5Hz – 30kHz | Wired, 3.5mm headphone jack |
Extras | Source connection 6.3mm; Signature Gold 12-conductor 6ft detachable cable; new B Cushion ear pads supplied | Carry case, soft pouch for cables, 3.5mm TRS to dual 3.5mm TS cable, 3.5mm TRS to USB-C adapter w/ integrated DAC, 3.5mm TRS to 6.35mm TRS adapter | Very few (no case) |
How I tested the Grado S750
- Tested for 4 weeks
- Used for music listening and audio mixing and mastering
- Tested with digital music library and lossless streaming via an SSL audio interface; with vinyl records via an Onkyo amplifier; and with CDs directly into a Marantz CD6007 CD player
I’ve been a recording musician since the 1990s and I’ve been writing about speakers, headphones and other hi-fi since the 2000s. I wanted to experience the Grados both as listening headphones and as working studio headphones. For that latter task, I used the S750s while mixing and mastering songs in Logic Pro, listening via a 32-bit/192kHz SSL 2 audio interface.
I used the same interface to play lots of recorded music, listening to largely uncompressed recordings as well as streaming. I streamed in Apple Lossless where available.
For vinyl playback I connected the Grados to my Onkyo A-910 stereo amplifier. For CDs I listened to my Marantz CD6007 CD player through the same headphone output, and also directly from the CD player’s own output.
