Grado SR80i Headphones

Recently I bought a pair of AKG k701s. Fantastic headphones, but not good at rock music. After much online reading, I bought these Grado SR80 headphones to plug that gap.

The difference between the two headphones is profound. My immediate impression of the Grado SR80 was 'yuck'! The boxing looks cheap, the headphones (compared to k701s) are plasticky and the foam was on wonky. They didn't look like a 'prestige series' headphone. However, they're lightweight for overear cans and much more comfortable than I had been led to believe.

In terms of sound, the tonality I'm told is characteristic of Grado - warm, bass-heavy but still with excellent treble. They go loud... very loud without distorting and (to my ears at least) they sound as good straight off the ipod as with a headphone amp (I own a Ray Samuels hornet which I don't use with these headphones). The soundstage is SMALL - well defined, clear, but more like you're in a band-room than an opera house! Which is why they're excellent for rock music. When saying the soundstage is small, I'm not saying that the stereo representation or localisation of sound is in any way other than excellent - just that everything is very immediate and close-to. They're also bassy, but not overly so. I find for certain types of music such as electronic like fluke or moby (or if I'm just in the mood for bass) that the Hip-Hop EQ enhances the bass without overly affecting the other frequency ranges. The other EQs on my 5G iPod muddy the sound too much to be of use.

So - look a wee bit cheap, but sturdy build, lovely sound which is best suited to rock, nice stereo and definition, but small soundstage. I use them as my walk-about headphones and do wear them in public (although they leak being open-backed). However, they're most definitely not reference and if for you the joy is in the detail - in hearing the vocalist breath, in hearing the buzz of a guitar string, in precisely pinpointing orchestral instruments I wouldn't recommend. However, if you love music as a whole (the overall sound), if you want your brains jangled, if you want the best sound on your mp3 player without having to invest in an amp then you can't go far wrong with these.

Finally, I disagree with one of the other reviewers comments about iPods. I use iPod 5G, RSA Hornet and AudioLineOut Supercotton Dock and in my humble opinion this system (provided mp3s are well-encoded) would be hard to fault. Granted, I don't own stacks of very very expensive hi-fi equipment and can't directly compare.

I will start with the disadvantages first. First of all - these headphones could be cheaper. Grado Labs has very good value on their headphones, but... that is in USA not in Europe. While in USA their products (excepting AMPs, which are overpriced CMOY AMPs) are quite a steal, their products sold in Europe are not priced so nicely. Still they present quite good value. Another problem is the packing - as you can hear from many people, who actually saw it - it is not headphone packing. When I saw it I expected to see a pizza inside. It could definitely be better. There are also no accesories as well excepting small 1/4 inch adapter, which might be very handy. Another thing that you get is the Gradoish design. And I do not mean that they have the oldschool design - thats the good thing. The bad thing is that when you look closer you can see that they were hand made by chinese guys forced to work in a dark basement. Very dark basement. The basement was so dark that the acoustic chamber is fitted at a strange angle and you can see glue on some parts...

Now some people might wonder why I grade these headphones for 4 stars not 1 or 2 at best. Other people already know the answer - I felt in love with Grado sound signature. This is the sound you either love or hate. I did not know, but I know now that 'sensational' is the best way to describe the sound signature of these cans. Now lets talk about the sound in more details:

- headphones are pretty bright like all Grado products. The sound is not suitable for very bright sources or AMPs. On the other hand they are not as bright as the 'old' version of these cans. I had a chance to demo the previous version and they were much brighter and offensive.

- sound stage is quite limited for opened-back headphones at this price. While this does not sound good I have to say that this is part of Grado sound that I love. I do like wide sound stage, but thanks to the sound stage limitation SR80i play closer to me and I can 'feel' the sound. It is up to you whether you are going to like it or not.

- bass has quite powerful impact. It is well controlled and 'noticalbe' than in case of SR60i. However, this does not mean that tere is an emphasis on low frequencies - these headphones feel very bright (comparing to sennheiseres from which I moved), but bass is there and you just feel it.

- the middle frequencies are slightly recessed. Some people, who have not auditioned to many other headphones and sources might not notice it but mids are recessed. This means that using it with sources and AMPs with recessed mids is not a very good idea.

The other thing I would like to point out is the quality of the cable - it is very thick and just feels well-made. While from the looking at the construction of the headphones I was worried that it may be to easy to detatch cable from the drivers I have to admit that in person this looks pretty solid. The other thing I would say is that these headphones benefit quite a lot from amplification. I know that some people tend to use Grado headphones as portables or do not feel any need to use it with AMP, but believe me - if you ever hear it with a proper AMP there is no way back - you will also see the NEED of proper AMP.

Another thing to remember. these headphones have the price of ~100GBP at which they usually compete with HD595. However, bear in mind that this is the case only in Europe due to much higher price of Grados. In USA however, they cost 99 dollars and HD595 costs ~200 dollars. I think these prices show pretty much the value that you get. In general HD595 is better... but! If you find yourself in position where Grado sound signature is exactly what you love - you will like SR80i more although they can not much in general terms.

As for the person who likes Grao sound - 4 stars.
As for the person who does not like Grado sound - 1 or 2

My advice is that everyone considering buying these headphones should demo them before the purchase. This is especially important in case of these cans.

bought these headphones a while ago, price hasn't changed,not much to look at, reminds you of a 1st world war pilots headphones,but thats where the similarity stops, these are truly very very good cans,for either audio or movies,audio is crisp and sharp,even in ballads you can just about make out what instrument is playing, also in rock/metal music the sound keeps the same no need to keep adjusting the volume on your hi-fi they really do handle music well, i also purchased the grado headphone extention lead which grado guarantee %100 no sound loss, which they dont. only draw back for some is that other people can hear the sound from these as they are not an enclosed type,so if you where to sit next to someone on a bus/plane they would also be able to make out what you where listening to, very snug fit on the head without giving you too much pressure around the ear, one draw back is the headphones lead, can tangle very easily and get twisted but thats a slight problem if any. 9/10 to grado.
pros, very good phones, audio crisp sharp, very good price,these headphones are only as good as the system you are connecting to,e.g a cheap hi-fi will not do these phones any justice at all,
like the saying goes,'you only get what you pay for'

cons, not much to look at, they dont fold flat, not goood for commuting, lead can get twisted.

got mine from amazon, fast service and delivery, best phones iv'e ever spent money on, and iv'e had a few in my time, GET A PAIR NOW