This is the third edition of Grado’s award-winning wireless series, and as ever, the key difference from your average set of wireless cans is that the GW100x are open-back. This means a far more spacious sound profile than the vast majority of closed-back headphones that populate the market, at the cost of extra sound leakage. We were big fans of the original Grado GW100, but picked up on that issue of sound leakage issue. On that particular front, Grado claims to have redesigned the speaker housings of the GW100x to reduce escaping sound by 60%. Despite this, the G100x retains that signature Grado style. Other new features includes new fourth generation X series drivers, superior Bluetooth 5.2 performance, and an improved 46-hour battery life. Grado claims that switching between two paired devices will be a much smoother experience this time around. It’s that new fourth generation X driver that will likely excite Grado’s audiophile audience the most, though. These 44mm drivers supply a more powerful magnetic circuit, a voice coil with decreased effective mass, and a reconfigured diaphragm, improving efficiency whilst reducing distortion. When it comes to codecs, the GW100x supports aptX Adaptive as well as the usual AAC and SBC. You can also hook up to the audio source directly using the included 3.5mm headphone cable. The Grado GW100x is available now from the Grado website, priced at £249 / $275.
