newaudio2004's Full Review: Grado SR80 Professional Headphones
Well, I have been listening to the Grado SR-80 for the last 4 to 5 days with my Dell Laptop. I listen about 2 to 3 hrs per day, I must say these are great headphones, however I am not exactly ecstatic, I am not getting goosebumps as I listen to my familiar music. It does sound pretty nice tho, I am no audiophile and I dont understand terms like "sharp highs", "clear mids", "tight bass" etc. As a lay man all I will say is this : When I listen to the Grado SR-80, it feels like I am listening to a pretty good stereo system in a big room. I have never listened to any audiophile speakers like Magnepan, Paradigm, B&W, etc. All I have listened to is my Aiwa "mini" system. (better than a boombox thats about it). Once I listened to a friends Big JBL speakers with a seperate amplifier etc, he has now upgraded to Bose 901. Both these sounded much bigger and room-filling than my Aiwa mini system. Listening to the Grado's gives me that feeling.
Details : I wont pretend that I can plenty of little details from my music source (CD) that I have never heard before. I started off by listening to "Every breath you take", the Police classic, and I heard the guitar squeaks, but believe me, I had heard the same squeaks with my plastic cheapies also. But I think there may be some little details that I think I hear, but anyway, the main vocals drown these out so it is so minor I dont see the big difference. Also, I cant tell any difference between 128 k MP3 vs 360k MP3 vs pure CD. All this audiophile talk about "unmistakeable punchiness" of compressed music etc is beyond me. All this talk about "you will be amazed to hear details you never heard in your CD" is a tad overrated, imo. Or, maybe I just have below average ears. I am probably just not gifted.
Imaging and soundstage : I dont know what this exactly means in audiophile lingo, but when listening to the Grado's I dont feel like I am sitting as an audience, I can hear the main vocals sort of above my head and "to the back" of my head and the stereo seperation is so stark - I can hear some sounds right next to my right or left ear, feels wierd - it is hard to describe, it feels like I am sitting on stage with the musicians but facing away from the musicians with my back to the audience. It is a strange feeling - I wont say it is good or bad - just different.
I still dont get it - why they say "open" phones are better than "closed" phones. The Grado's leak a lot of sound, it is almost like a small radio playing. I live alone in a quiet apartment and when I left the phones on at mid volume, I could even hear it from my bathroom. They were that "open" (leakage).
My last plastic cheapies were earbud style (not in-ear) and I could keep volume levels low. Since Grados are a bit away from the ears, I am having to keep the volume on my winamp at 50-60% and the volume bar on my laptop at around 40%. I hope that wont affect my hearing long term. This is when I listen to regular pop CDs like Madonna, Sting etc.
Comfort : I was apprehensive about this but surprisingly I find them quite comfortable. They are almost circumaural (may be I have small ears), i.e. they almost cover my ears completely. Only after about 2.5 hrs it gets slightly uncomfortable.
I am a little bit disappointed because I was expecting this great musical bliss and nirvana, maybe I should listen to some special CD and then compare to my plastic cheapies : For instance, I guess I wll try "A woman's heart", some jazz tune thats supposed to test low ends of music system. I feel my plastic earbuds got me almost at 85% of audiophile quality, and they cost only 10 bucks, I cant seem to appreciate the GREATness of the Grado's.
One thing tho' : The instruments do sound lively, probably slightly better than the average cheap plastic headphone.
I am not sure if the phones have "broken in", maybe they will slightly improve.
Guys, tell me one CD I should listen to that will really make the Grados sound much different than your $10.00 plastic cheapie earbuds.
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