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What we listen for, and what a measurement will not tell you.
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Headphones
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The Best Headphones Around $300

The HD 600 or the HD 650 is the whole question at this money.
The Best Desktop Amps and DACs Around $150

Five desktop amps and DACs around $150.

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Buying guidesHeadphonesAmps & DACsCustom headphone cablesGradoMeze AudioGrace DesignRecords
Grado Reference4, orange-brown Osage wood body with the GRADO logo engraved and a white stylus insert, from below
Grado

Grado Reference4

Price$1,500.00

A nude Shibata diamond on machined boron, and every Grado above it is low output only.

Output: High output (4.0 mV)
Ordered from the maker when you order, then shipped usually inside two weeks and always inside thirty days. Shipping
Thirty days from delivery to send it back. Returns
Specifications
  • Type Moving iron, flux-bridger
  • Body American Osage
  • Cantilever Machined boron
  • Stylus Nude Shibata
  • Output High 4.0 mV or low 1.0 mV, stereo
  • Load 10k to 47k ohms
  • Coil wire 6N OCC copper
  • Tracking force 1.6 to 1.9 g
  • Weight 9.6 g
  • Series Timbre
Why it is here

The Reference4 has the Master4's American Osage body and machined boron cantilever, with a nude Shibata in place of the nude elliptical.

A Shibata is a narrower, longer contact shape that touches more of the groove wall than an elliptical.

Every Grado above it is low output only. So if your phono stage is moving magnet, this is as close to the Statement4 as you can get: the same Shibata on boron, in Osage instead of ebony.
How it is built

American Osage wood body. Nude Shibata diamond on a machined boron cantilever, 6N OCC copper coils, 9.6 grams.
What it is for

An arm that can balance 9.6 grams. High output (4.0 mV) is for a moving magnet phono input; low output (1.0 mV) is for a moving coil input set to 10k to 47k ohms.
Grado Reference4, orange-brown Osage wood body with the GRADO logo engraved and a white stylus insert, from below
Grado Reference4High output (4.0 mV) Price$1,500.00
Before you buy
How I Listen, and What a Measurement Will Not Tell You

How I listen

A Grado headphone with cherry wood cups and a tan leather strap hanging on a curved cherry Grado stand against a pale concrete wall

The buying guides

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FAQ

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Shipping

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Returns

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