Purchase Advice - Grado SR Headphones

[Woofer]

A coupla’ decades ago I purchased a pair of MB Quart headphones that served me well for 10 yrs or so before suffering some sort of calamity. I’ve done w/o ever since but now have a desire to acquire another pair of headphones.

I think of myself as possessing more of a Lead Ear than a Golden one – too much live music in my past has left my hearing with a few dents, dings and buzzes. Still, I prize musical accuracy with a bias toward more bass vs. too little. I enjoy all music with the exception of Opera and C&W. The bulk of my listening centers around Pop/Alternative (U2 to small Indie bands) and Electronic (Tangerine Dream to BT). The ability to play nice with an iPod or computer sound card is important as component listening for me is mostly through loudspeakers.

My research thus far points to Grado (Grey-do or Grah-do?) Specifically, I’m looking at the SR (Prestige) Series. I’ve read the brief descriptions on the Grado site, essentially summarized as more range and detail as you go up the line. I also read all of the threads I could find here but most were fairly old and didn’t discuss all the newest models.

So, what I’m hoping for is some first-hand insight on what might be the ‘sweet spot’ of the line, that point at which you couldn’t justify the cost, hear a difference or why a particular model strikes you most. If the 325i really is top-dog, I don’t mind spending the money, but the RS series would bite a little too deep into my Toy Budget.

I realize this is very subjective, but qualified opinions are a large part of my modus operandi since I’ve no ability to audition locally and don’t wish to buy five pair and return four.

Thanks for your time.

 

[bandphan]

they make exceptional sounding headphones, that are estheticly pleasing. sr125>



Winner of "2002 Joint Accessories" award, Stereophile, December 2002

Winner of "2002 Joint Budget Components of the Year" award, Stereophile, December 2002

Winner of "Critics Choice" award presented by Sound & Vision


The Grado SR125 headphones "represent the greatest sound quality per dollar." They provide "neutral, detailed, and warm-sounding headphone overall, with extended frequency extremes, wide dynamic range, and the ability to sound natural at a wide range of volume levels."

- Robert J. Reina, Stereophile, December 2002

"Analytical listening was helped by the well-defined locations of individual instruments and voices. If headphones can be as musically satisfying as this, they must be pretty good."

- Gramophone

"Still, in its own realm the Grado SR125 is a real winner and an excellent value. I cannot imagine a better sounding headphone at anywhere near its price."

- Julian Hirsch - Stereo Review. Vol. 60, No. 5

"It was obvious to me that the members were very impressed by the Grado SR125 headphones."

- Edward Long- Audio Magazine, Vol. 79, No. 8

"Nearly every headphone-using colleague I spoke to in the USA keeps either SR60, SR80, or SR125s handy for reviewing."

- Ken Kessler - HiFi News & Record Review


bla bla bla, ya they are good

 

[Brett A]

When I bought headphones, I in-store auditioned pairs of SR 60s and SR 80’s and ended up buying the 60’s The difference was not worth the $30 or-so to me.

What was the difference? Well, the 80’s do have subtly better bass extension, but the rest of the signal sounded the same. I have to say the 60’s relay all the wonderful qualities of my Shanling integrated. I don’t feel a need to upgrade them.

Another thing I liked about the SR 60s is that they have flat earpads as opposed to all the other Grado models which have a kind of concave cone. I hear that some people will buy the 60s pads to put on the better models b/c they find them more comfy.

I can’t vouch for the 125’s

The 60’s and 80’s have 1/8” plugs. The 125’s and better have ¼ inch. I guess they figure most people are buying the 60/80’s for use with portables.

One more note about Grados: they are open-backed. Which means you can still hear everything in the room (or on the subway) through them; also, people can hear what you are listening to. For this reason, I cannot use mine in bed b/c it keeps my wife awake.

There is a lot of info online about cans. A good place to start is here: http://www.headphone.com/

Happy hunting

Brett

 

[fmw]

I use SR80's and they are really very nice acoustically. My one complaint is that they continue to use urethane foam as padding and it rots in a few years requiring a $15 pad replacement.

 

[Woofer]

Bandphan-

I did catch that the 60’s and 125’s were the only two to receive double accolades in one year. Impressive stuff. And to be honest, before deciding to post here, my thinking was to just buy the middle of the line and be done with it. But then I figured a little feedback first would be a wise thing. Part of my predicament is that most of those comments come from reviews that were written before some models and updates were added.

Brett A-

So you did notice better bass with the SR80’s – good to know. And I didn’t even realize that there are two types of earpads available. Just now I’ve found a site with some details on the matter. I’ll most likely order both sets as it seems I’ll need them in time.

Any comments on the 225 or 325i? Which headphone out of the Prestige series could be said to have the most bass response, even if it’s not the most accurate?

 

[WmAx]

Describing a SR125 as neutral lets me know off the bat that said reviewer is in fantasy land. The headphone measures nothing like 'neutral', and I have tried this unit, and it certainly had no evidence of a neutral tonal response. I have neutral reference devices - of extreme linearity - and they in no way resemble the sound of a SR125. I have tried most Grado headphones(exceptions being the vintage HP1000, the iGrado and the GS1000) and none of the ones I have tried were close to neutral except for the PS1 - which seemed to have a somewhat flat midrange band and emphasized bass spectrum.

As for pleasant: the most pleasant Grado that is practical to obtain I have tried is the Grado 325i(the HF1 was even better - but it is very rare - as only a few hundred were built to my knowledge). It applied a pleasant(to me) coloration to rock and pop music. Is this coloration for you? I don't know. Find a pair and give them a try or purchase from a dealer with a liberal refund policy.

-Chris

 

[Haoleb]

I have a set of SR125's that I had logged many, Many hours, so many infact I wore out the cable and have yet to replace it because I dont use them much anymore but anyway...

I think they are great headphones. I found them to be very natural and smooth sounding. Their only downside to me was that after a few hours of straight use I would have to take them off because my ears would start to hurt. That was with the stock bowl pads though and there are many pad modifications that people do to make them more comfortable.

Being open headphones has two sides to it. I feel that it gives them the natural speaker like sound vs nasaly and boxed in like sealed headphones, But at the same time you can hear everything going on around you and they really are like a small set of speakers to the outside world.

 

[fmw]

Describing a SR125 as neutral lets me know off the bat that said reviewer is in fantasy land. The headphone measures nothing like 'neutral', and I have tried this unit, and it certainly had no evidence of a neutral tonal response.
-Chris

I'm curious, how did you go about measuring these? I've never done any headphone measurements. I assume test tones, a microphone and an oscilloscope?

 

[Exit]

It is worth checking out the Headroom site at www.headphone.com/ . They give a review of each headphone and have frequency response graphs for most headphones. You can also generate graphs for comparing up to four headphones for frequency response, harmonic distortion, isolation and impedance.

 

[Matt34]

Akg K 81 Dj

I don't know how these compare to the Grado SR line but they do exagrate the bass a bit. I've had mine for a couple years now and have no need to upgrade but I don't do much critical listening with them either....mostly gaming and ipod while traveling.

http://http://www.headphone.com/products/headphones/earpad/akg-k-81-dj.php