Grado Labs, a family owned, American company that has been producing the finest audio products since 1953. Founded by Audio Hall of Famer Joseph Grado, with his brother John, we are known for inventing the moving coil stereo cartridge and developing the first true high-end dynamic headphone. These headphones gave birth to what is now the Audio Quality Headphone market.

Producing the finest cartridges and award winning headphones has always been what’s driven us to continue innovating. We dedicated all our resources to producing the world’s finest phonograph cartridge, then in 1976 designing the first true high-end cartridge, reaching prices never imagined possible at $1,000. In the early 2000’s we redesigned the cartridge line, virtually eliminating resonant distortion in the magnetic and electrical circuits, bringing analog to new levels of performance. Today’s Timbre and Lineage Series of cartridges have been praised as “the most significant advancement in analog reproduction” resulting in a Golden Note Award for analog design. The current Prestige Series cartridge lineup is considered to be a “Best Value” in phonograph cartridges.

Development of what became the first true high-end dynamic headphone was a turning point in the evolution of headphone design. Astonishing the most critical of reviewers, these headphones performed to levels previously attained by only the best full-range speaker systems. Our first line of headphones were introduced in the early 1990’s. The 2nd generation “I” series launched in 2008, 2014 brought our 3rd generation “E” series and the current “X” series, our 4th generation, was launched in 2020.

Headphones

Phono Cartridges