Grado SR80i Headphones

Background: I spent about a month and a half researching before I made this purchase. Any time I buy something which I expect to use often and for a long time, I do considerable research on available products and current technologies. I was replacing a set of Sennheiser HD210 around-the-ear headphones which lost their inner foam and started producing distorted sound after 8 years. My better sounding Shure E2C in-ear-canal phones lasted 4 years before the part of the cord which wraps around behind the ear cracked and one side finally quit working altogether. I was looking for one set of phones to replace both, which is silly because they were both so different. But since the intended use was mainly at home with a computer or iPod, this seemed possible. While I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile, I am a musician and record my own music.

Products tested: The hardest part about buying new headphones is that you usually have to buy them without hearing them first. And I have learned the hard way, you can't assume that you would agree with Amazon reviewers (like me here), especially since we all disagree with each other. So how do you know which is the best product for you? Well, I read as many reviews, articles, and websites as I could find. I also borrowed and tested my brother's Sennheiser HD280 Pro and HD555 (Audiophile) headphones, both around-the-ear phones in the $100 range. After listening to these two, I liked the sound of open-back (HD555), versus closed-back (HD280), much better. You get a wider sound stage and stereo field, and a more natural sound. Also, the HD280s had an extremely flat signal response and they emphasized NOTHING. In my opinion, these would be good for recording in a home studio or any situation where you want very accurate sound reproduction. But the HD555s gave a better bass response, sounded more dynamic, and I'd much rather listen to them for pure enjoyment. I was actually blown away by the sound and almost bought a pair, but decided further research was in order. So I started looking at open-back headphones around $100, and considered Audio Technica, AKG, and Grado in addition to the Sennheisers.

I'll be honest, every time the Grado (SR60 and SR80) came up in my search, I passed them over because they looked so ugly and cheap. But I kept seeing glowing reviews and professionally written articles. Finally, I got on the Grado website and found a local dealer. I was skeptical of the gushing reviews I had read about Grado sound. When I had heard the HD555 I was amazed by the detailed sound with both crisp highs and smooth, deep bass. But what happened when I plugged the Grado SR80i into my iPhone is much harder to describe. Granted, the iPhone is not the best hi-fi audio hardware on the market and it was loaded with compressed MP3 files, which lose something from the original coming from a CD. But I am a very practical, logical guy. Movies can make me laugh but never make me cry and rarely scare me. I experienced an emotional response when I heard one of my favorite songs through these headphones for the first time - a mixture of excitement and awe, combined with my heart melting with the warm, natural, and highly detailed sound I heard. It was like falling in love with them right there in the dealer's showroom. The bass is strong and smooth, but doesn't cover or overwhelm the rest of the frequencies. Perfect!

I've had them about two weeks now, long enough for some "burn-in", and I think they do sound better, if that is possible. I also re-imported some of my favorite music into iTunes using the Apple Lossless encoder. This means a 4 megabyte MP3 song becomes 28 megabytes, taking up considerably more harddrive space. But I can tell the difference through the SR80i, and all the tones are smoother and rounder, more "thick" and alive. You really can hear things in your music you never heard before through these headphones!

Let me get more technical and practical for a moment. One of the frequent complaints about these headphones is lack of comfort. I wear glasses and the pads do pinch the arms between my ear and head. I just put the glasses arms over the pinch spot. I also have ears that stick out and noticed some soreness when removing the phones after an hour or two of use. The soreness goes away in a few seconds. I am sure the new pads are more comfortable than the old ones on the previous SR80 (no "i"), but it should be noted that these phones sit ON your ears, not around them. I also noticed the strip of metal headband inside vinyl causing discomfort on the top of my head, but this was solved by adjusting the position of the phones on my head. So I will not disagree that there are some comfort issues, but they aren't enough to make me give up this lovely sound! I'll replace the ear pads and add padding to the headband if I have to.

Another characteristic of open-back headphones: While they do produce wider and more natural sound, they also leak sound, both in and out. So people near you can hear what you are listening to, and noisy environments will interfere with your listening. Because I normally like to listen in the quiet of my home and prefer to be more easily alerted of family emergencies (child crying, wife calling, etc.), this doesn't bother me at all. With the Shure E2C in-ear phones, all outside noise was sealed out. I was dead to the world until my wife would tap me on the shoulder, explaining that she had been calling for help. So I frequently used them with one ear unplugged (hope that didn't cause a permanent imbalance). With the Grado, I played a computer game side-by-side with my brother and can easily talk and understand at normal volumes while playing with both pads over my ears. So the sound leakage could be both a pro or a con, depending on your intended usage.

The cables are much thicker than most headphones and I like this feature, but since the ear cups can spin around endlessly on the headband, you have to be careful the cords don't get twisted. Proper care should make this a non-issue. Some people, including the local dealer I purchased from, say these headphones are portable. While they do fold fairly flat, I would prefer in-ear buds for portable use. Jet engines or traffic would ruin the sound and they seem just a bit clumsy for use on the run. It could be done, just not as easily. Grado does make in-ear phones but I have not heard them.

So let me summerize:
- The sound is pure gold! Best sounding "cans" I've ever heard!
- The comfort could use some work or modification.
- Keep in mind people in the same room will hear some of the sound along with you, and ambient noise can easily interfere with your listening.
- They might look cheap and "plasticy" but don't let that fool you. Grado spends all their money on sound quality, and very little on advertising or packaging. This is why you can buy these for $99 when they sound like $200 headphones.