Account
Make the record
Listen to the record
Where to start
A Meze Empyrean II resting on a turntable beside a spinning record with an orange label, its silver cable across the plinth

Everything in the shop

Headphones, records, cables and recording gear, on one page.
Close up of the black ribbed cup of a Meze headphone, lit low from one side

The condition scale

One standard for used headphones, instruments, amps and drums.
Read
How we work
Come in
Close up of the brass yoke against the walnut cup of a Meze 99 Classics

How we listen

What we listen for, and what a measurement will not tell you.
A Meze Empyrean II lying on crumpled black fabric, lit from one side, its cable running out of the frame

The listening room

Third floor at 215 E. Lewis Street in Livingston, by appointment.
Headphones
Amps, DACs and in ears
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.

Cart

Your cart is empty

Continue shopping

Where to start

Buying guidesHeadphonesAmps & DACsCustom headphone cablesGradoMeze AudioGrace DesignRecords
Grado Sonata4, light olive wood body with the GRADO logo engraved and chamfered corners, seen from below
Grado

Grado Sonata4

Price$600.00

The Platinum4 with a nude diamond, the whole stone set into the cantilever, in the same olive body.

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 Mediterranean olive
  • Cantilever Custom aluminium
  • Stylus Nude elliptical
  • 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 9.4 g
  • Series Timbre
Why it is here

The Sonata4 has the Platinum4's olive body, its weight and its 6N copper. What's different is the stylus. The diamond is nude, a whole stone set straight into the cantilever instead of a tip on a metal shank, and the cantilever is a custom aluminium one.

Grado publishes the same output, weight and electrical figures for the two, so on paper the difference is the diamond and the cantilever that holds it.
How it is built

Mediterranean olive wood body. Nude elliptical diamond on a custom aluminium cantilever, 6N OCC copper coils, 9.4 grams.
What it is for

Same arm and phono stage as the Platinum4: something that balances 9.4 grams, and high output (4.0 mV) for moving magnet or low output (1.0 mV) for a moving coil input loaded at 10k to 47k ohms.
Grado Sonata4, light olive wood body with the GRADO logo engraved and chamfered corners, seen from below
Grado Sonata4High output (4.0 mV) Price$600.00
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

A woman in a grey knit sweater listening on wood-cup Grado headphones, eyes closed and one hand raised to the cup, in a dark room

FAQ

Headphones on a pale wood desk striped with bars of afternoon sun, the cable coiled beside them

Shipping

A woman on a brown leather couch listening on Grado headphones, eyes closed and one hand behind her head, two stacked wood-cased amplifier units lit up on the table behind her

Returns

Jamey Warren waving hello in a recording studio

Can you help me choose?

Yes. Email us directly. The person answering has been in professional audio since 1997.

Email us