review - grado sr80i

[mpw]

here i am sitting in a hotel room in delhi.. enjoying music on my sansa flac player and my newly acquired Grado SR80i headphones.

I got these about 10 days back from Singapore for SGD 120.

Much has been said of the grado SR60i and SR 80i on various reviews on the internet.

All of it if fantastically true.

My basic selection criteria was a headphone for me for my travels. Previously i had IEM's and i guess i found i needed something over the ear and something that plays very well with my sansa flac player direct w/o any amp in between.

I auditioned a few headphones including the AKG and bayerdynamics and fell in love with the grados..

reason.. the sound.. is so musical and lively and the darn thing fits so beautifully on my ear that i have fallen asleep several times at night listening to music and i realize its 2 AM and time to sleep w/o headphones..

the sound is very "alive" without being in your face.. and yes.. there are stories about leaky sound.. they are true but its not that bad as i require music in the confines of my hotel room or my car when i am being driven about and these are absolutely fabulous !!

Non fatiguing sound.. you could go on for hours...

There is a simplicity in construction and sound presentation which i like so much..

am sure these will sound better with a headamp but i am not inclined to buy headamp as i cannot carry all this stuff when i travel.

I wrote these few lines as i see that in India there are few users of Grado while there are many of the better available Sennheisers etc..

The best thing is that i dont miss my naim and epos setup so much.. when i travel as the Grados fill in the gap darn well..

Tastes differ and needs differ too.. but before you select a headphone in the 5k range.. do audition the Grados and prepare to have an involuntary smile and even after that if you desire to go in for another make.. god bless.. !!

the looks are retro.. many folks wont like it but if its the sound you are after.. go for grado..

Highly recommended and loved by a seasoned traveler who lives out of a small suitcase most of the time..

There is also the Alessandro version of the Grados which are a touch leaner but i lean towards the fuller stock Grados..

There have run about 20 hrs so far and i anticipate even better after 50 hrs !!



mpw

 

[Rupam]

Hi Thanks for the review. I was going for grado SR60i via ishopinternational but they have given me this quote : Original price on amazon was 70 $

Rs. 6,008

Item price, local shipping, taxes: Rs. 4,503

International Shipping: Rs. 570

Duty, Taxes, & Fees: Rs. 1,435

- DISCOUNT - Rs. 500

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL Rs. 6,008


So I decided not buy it. You really got a good price. May be in your next trip I would request you to buy one for me!
I wonder why such a wonderful brand is not available in India? Please share some pics also.

 

[mpw]

Rupam,

if you like the attack in the sound go for the grados.. there is very little diff between the 60 and the 80.

I bought the 80 since i thought the SGD 20 more then the grado 6oi was worth it.

when i was auditioning... there was a singaporean guy who said he had owned 4 ( yes FOUR ) Grado SR60i so far..

go for it .. you wont be disappointed provided you like the looks and the fit.

The damn thing is a music lovers dream

The old hits of ABBA are alive in my ears simply thru the sansa flac player as i type now.. i dont thing you will need a head amp at all..

the packing is simple and all that John Grado says is dont hurt your ear.. thats all !!

Pull the trigger !!

Pics are plenty on the net and i have a few pics with unshaven me wearing a bandanna with the SR80i and i wont share that here

)

ofcourse to save myself i say.. YMMV.. but psst... this is a great buy at SGD 100 for the SR60i which is INR 4700 approx

now its chiquichhita playing..

mpw

 

[myriad]

Very soon Grado Labs will be represented by Bass n Treble, New Delhi.
Here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/GradoLabs?hc_location=stream

 

[Rupam]

Good news indeed. But lets see, if they will be able to ship it to Kolkata. I had pleasant experience with Bass N Treble when I bought all my AV cables from them back in 2006.

 

[sivakuru]

PristineNote (techenclave) used to carry the Grados. I bought my Grado SR 80 from PristineNote about a year and half back. I think they go by the name SignatureAcoustics on this forum.

True to what mpw has said, I absolutely love it. I was bit worried when I read comments such as they are "on the face", "bright", "lack of bass" etc, but all that (IMO) is not 100% true. Yes, they may be a bit low on the bass (when you compare to ATH M50 for instance) but to me they have the right quality and quantity. They may not be warm but to me they are not definitely bright and I do have sensitive ears and hate harsh/shrill sound.

The only problem with these Grados are that over a period of time, they seem to lose their ability to clamp on the head and now a days, they tend to slowly move away from my ears and I have to adjust it. But for the SQ, I am willing to do that.

Between my ATH M50 and the Grado, I definitely prefer my SR80.

I do not use headphone now a days, otherwise I would have upgraded to 225 or 325 by now.

 

[Rupam]

sivakuru Since you are experienced in both Grados and Audio Technica ATH-M50, how will you grade them on a scale of 1 -10? Please let me know.

 

[gernty]

Thanks for your review

 

[sivakuru]

sivakuru Since you are experienced in both Grados and Audio Technica ATH-M50, how will you grade them on a scale of 1 -10? Please let me know.

Sorry Rupam did not realize you had a question here for me.

IMO the Grado 80 is more fun than the M50. For long listening sessions definitely I would prefer the Grado than the M50.

If I were to rate them, if I were to give the Grado 80 a 10, the M50 would get about 6 or 7 only. To me they are not definitely close contest.

As usual, all impressions above are subjective and YMMV.

Thanks.

 

[BLASTO]

I have heard the SR60 and compared to ATH M50 and frankly I did not like the SR60 without amplification.

I am probably no audiophile kind of person. Slowing realizing that I like excess bass and presence, so take the above with a pinch of salt.

For comfort and long time listening, both will not do for me. Bose fills that gap perfectly well but it is surely not for this forum.

 

[srisaikat]

I own Grado SR80 for last 4 years. It do not properly open up unless you connect it to a headphone amp. First I tried to use it with portable media player (Cowon) but I was not that impressed, later I found it very enjoyable when paired it with headphone amp like Little Dot & Audio-GD. I feel uncomfortable (start to sweat) for long use when surround temperature is warm, that's why I only use it in winter.

 

[sivakuru]

For comfort and long time listening, both will not do for me. Bose fills that gap perfectly well but it is surely not for this forum.

Very true. I had the Bose Triport AE2 earlier and the kind of comfort that had is unbeatable. Actually I quite liked its SQ too. I dont even know why I sold it off.

 

[ranjeetrain]

I have owned a SR60 for several years now. I don't really use it now as such, but still didn't sell it. It's a good headphone to fall back on.

Every expensive headphone benefits from a good amp, but SR60 sings very well even un-amped. Saying this based on using it with a number of portable devices, including iTouch and headphone out of several Macs and PCs.

 

[techboy]

The sound quality is perfect for non bassy music. But they are extremely uncomfortable. To the point that wearing them for 15 seconds is a pain and intolerable.

 

[mpw]

To the point that wearing them for 15 seconds is a pain and intolerable.

================================================

is quite an understatement techboy.

:lol::lol:

Yesterday i had them on for 2 hours each way ( Mumbai - Surat - Mumbai
by road ) and had no issues whatsoever.

In this price range perfection is not possible and so one has to live with some compromises in terms of fit, looks, sound etc..

For me what matters most of the sound and it is here that the Grado scores big.

I can only imagine - it will do even better with a decent headamp but i bought this for my travels and therefore this will remain plugged in direct to my flac player without any dac of headamp inbetween.



rgds,
mpw

 

[mpw]

I plugged in the Grado SR80i to my marantz SA7001 ( headphone out jack ) and listened to some familiar tracks. have some questions :-

a. If i connect the headphones this way.. am i listening to the signal from the CDP processed by the CDP DAC and then onto the headphone out ? I mean is the CDP DAC in play here ?

b. I found the headphone our level control could push the sound output levels on the grado to quite high levels. I must note to keep this at not more than 11 o clock position else it can get harmful for the ear.

c. Is this a good way to evaluate a CDP ? I mean will a marantz CD6004 or maybe some other cdp with headphone out sound significantly different ? any experiences here ??

I think i stumbled on a new way of late night listening without waking up the neighbors.. but i find that it is no substitute for the real thing ( 2.0 ).

mpw
=========================================================

 

[prem]

Hi mpw

I picked up the Grado SR 60 i for my son on my recent trip to the US. He only listens to music on his ipod. The Grado comes with a jack which fits only headphone amps. Is there an adapter available in Mumbai? If not then i will have to get them on ebay.

 

[mpw]

i got mine with an adaptor which plugs into the CDP and the headphone pulgs into the adaptor. The Sr60.. they say.. is better for ipod and portable sources so it may not be included in the supply.. but i may be wrong.

mpw

 

[yuvaraki]

For comfort and long time listening, both will not do for me. Bose fills that gap perfectly well but it is surely not for this forum.

Wow! Thats interesting! I was under impression that the M50s will be comfortable than the SR80is. Hmm, after this and Sivakuru's comment above, I really will reserve my purchase for until i audition M50s that you own.

 

[sivakuru]

Yuvaraki:

Just to clear the air,
between SR80 and M50,
- definitely M50 (to me) is more comfortable (to wear).
- SQ however tilts in favor of SR80.

However if you bring the bose AE2 into the equation,
the bose is definitely much much more comfortable than the M50.
I am not going to compare the SQ of bose with SR80 and/or M50. I can however
say that the bose was easy on the ears to listen and to wear for long duration.