Grado Labs was late to the wireless game. The company knows it, and it has good reasons for not jumping in sooner.
"Wireless technology has never been very good, so just like closed-back, we could make them, but people would expect them to sound like our wired headphones," John Grado told me in 2017. "And they won't."
Grado did say that the technology was improving and that the company planned to dabble in wireless soon. Fast forward to October 2018. Grado Labs announced its first wireless model: the GW100. The $249 headphones look similar to the company's Prestige Series, with a mostly black design and silver accents. What's most intriguing about the GW100, though, is not only the trademark Grado sound, but that these are supposedly the first open-back wireless headphones which can deliver great audio quality, but has its drawbacks.
Gallery: Grado Labs GW100 wireless headphones review | 18 Photos
Gallery: Grado Labs GW100 wireless headphones review | 18 Photos
Grado GW100
Pros
- Great sound quality
- Lightweight and comfy
- Onboard controls are easy to use
- Better than advertised battery life
Cons
- Open-back design has its downsides
- Materials feel somewhat cheap
- Not a good option for noisy/crowded environments
- Micro-USB charging
Chances are you've spent most of your life listening to earbuds and closed-back headphones. Open-back headphones are quite different. There is a key benefit in that they typically exhibit a more open and airy sound -- or, to put it another way, a wider soundstage. So if you're listening to a properly mixed recording, it sounds like you're sitting at a performance. It's much more immersive than just having a song blasted directly into your ears (Radiohead, Sigur Rós and Massive Attack are some artists that do this well). By design, open-back headphones allow sound to go free from the earcups rather than isolating it, and you, from the outside world. This means that they don't block out ambient noise very well, and the people around you can hear the music when you crank the volume up.
Grado has been building open-back headphones for decades, so it makes sense the company would create the what it claims are the first wireless open-back model for its debut in the untethered world. Indeed, the design does offer a more natural-sounding, openness to the music you're listening to. It's pleasant, relaxing and highly enjoyable.
Then there's the sound leakage. To me, this is the biggest drawback of the GW100s. But in certain environments, I can live with it. While it is true the open-back design does enhance the overall sound quality, you will annoy anyone sitting within a few feet of you. In fact, I had the GW100s turned all the way up during testing, and my wife thought I was listening to music on my laptop speakers as she sat about 12 feet away.
Open-back caveat aside, the sound here is stellar. Grado Labs headphones have a natural warmth to them that have always impressed me. But you don't have to splurge for the high-end to get a piece of that -- the $79 SR60e also exhibits this trait. Ditto for the GW100 -- the sound is crisp and clear, free from any heavy-handed tuning that might tip the scales too far towards the bassy low end. It's not quite the same as what I've experienced on Grado's wired units, but it's easy to tell the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
There's a purity to the audio here, from harmonica solos to snare drum snaps, and that clarity is present across a range of genres. Country, bluegrass, jazz and softer styles sounded best to me, but the GW100 does an admirable job with more intense hip-hop, metal and electronic music too. Without being overpowering, there's still a thump to the bass, something you can really hear on songs like CHVRCHES' "Get Out," Pusha T's "If You Know You Know" and TesseracT's "King." It's not nearly the bump you get on the likes of Beats and others, but the low end doesn't get muddy or lost when you switch from bluegrass to Big Boi.
