Grado SR-80

[magiccarpetride]

I'm not a fan of headphones, however, due to my recent efforts to build a modest little home recording studio, I realized I'll need a decent set of cans. After doing some research, it looked like Grado SR-80 would offer the best bang for the buck. So I found a pair on craigslist selling for a discount, so I snatched them.

Oddly enough, when I auditioned them on the computer (vanilla iMac), they sounded a-okay (and that's why I decided to buy them). However, the moment I plugged them into the Beresford Caiman DAC, they sounded atrocious! Extrmely forward highs, to the point of sounding harsh, terrible sound stage, hollow bass. Sounds like I'm listening to some ghosts, not to real music.

Am I missing something, or are these cans really that shitty? I don't really mind, 'cause I never planned to listen to them seriously, and I'll only be using them for overdubbing my playing/singing, but I'm befuddled by many rave reviews of this product. Where does the truth stand on this matter?

[Alex_UK]

How long did you burn them in for? ;)

[Stratmangler]

Are they new ?
If so, plug 'em in and play lots of music through them. Without listening to 'em.
Check every couple of days and see if things have improved.

[Alex_UK]

Great minds think alike, Chris - my SR60s are wonderful - but needed a good run in before the treble calmed down. I left mine under a few cushions, playing whatever was through the Satellite box, 24/7.

Also, Alex, all your burn in efforts on the Caiman won't have broken-in the head amp side of things - so as Chris suggests, intensive running in is called for!

I believe Hamish had SR80s with a Caiman, so he may be able to offer another opinion.

[Spectral Morn]

It could be a loading impedance mismatch... Grado's are 32ohm if I remember right. Just checked and they are.

I have a set of Grado GR1000s and an AudioValve RKV2 Headphone amplifier and I used them without the matching impedance matching box, but after awhile I decided that the box might be a good idea so bought one. Yes getting the impedance right is important as using the box opened the sound of the headphones up.

The other + is I now have an OTL valve integrated with both 4 and 8 ohm matching but I have not tried the RKV that way though.

I would not describe the sound of the GR80's the way you have so I suspect a mismatch which was not the case with the first item you tried them with.

The other possibility is that the headphone amplifier part of the DAC not being run in is creating the sound you're hearing.


Regards D S D L

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Great minds think alike, Chris - my SR60s are wonderful - but needed a good run in before the treble calmed down. I left mine under a few cushions, playing whatever was through the Satellite box, 24/7.

Also, Alex, all your burn in efforts on the Caiman won't have broken-in the head amp side of things - so as Chris suggests, intensive running in is called for!

I believe Hamish had SR80s with a Caiman, so he may be able to offer another opinion.


125's

i flogged them in the end ... i wasnt taken with them with the caiman... others report different though... i just dont think i like head phones... or at least any i have yet heard...

neil is perhaps right... i think a few people said that to me when i was nattering on about the only head/ear phones that sounded right to me were my little sony in ear ones

also my experience of grados (we sell them in the shop) they do need to break in ... and i would say your description is not far off the truth alex... although quite an exaggeration (i mean that relatively not as a dig at you)

i think the first port of call is to let them break in ...
i find the bass gets a lot deeper with a bit of time with them and the harshness goes to an extent...

[The Grand Wazoo]

I've not heard this model, but they do have a big following. I have a pair of SR325's and they took a good while to settle in.

Extrmely forward highs, to the point of sounding harsh, terrible sound stage, hollow bass

I wouldn't describe mine, or the other Grado's I've heard, in this way but I would point to the high levels of detail available esp. in the treble area, which could I suppose manifest as a perception of brightness especially if not run in. The levels of detail I perceive aren't front row of the auditorium levels - more like sitting on the conductor's shoulder - which I would imagine would be a bit of an advantage for studio monitoring.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i didnt think my 125's were that nutral sounding especially in the bass... if you mixed to the bass that came out my 125's you would find playback through speakers very bass light... i would think there are perhaps better options for studio monitoring than grados...
certainly the lower end ones...

[magiccarpetride]

I've not heard this model, but they do have a big following. I have a pair of SR325's and they took a good while to settle in.


I wouldn't describe mine, or the other Grado's I've heard, in this way but I would point to the high levels of detail available esp. in the treble area, which could I suppose manifest as a perception of brightness especially if not run in. The levels of detail I perceive aren't front row of the auditorium levels - more like sitting on the conductor's shoulder - which I would imagine would be a bit of an advantage for studio monitoring.

I was definitely expecting high level of details (any half-decent set of cans tend to give you more details than even good speakers could, simply due to the proximity to the ear drums), but my Maggies are actually giving me more details than the Grado headphones. I simply couldn't believe it.

Plus, the overall impression while having them on my head is as if I'm listening to something bodyless, something etheral and without any body mass, or texture. It just sounds eerily ghostly, as if witnessing a holographic presentation, the way it is sometimes depicted in those cheesy sci fi movies.

[magiccarpetride]

How long did you burn them in for? ;)

Bought them used from a guy who purchased them back in the fall 2009. I was assuming they came already burnt-in, but I could be wrong (maybe the guy tried them once and, same as me, recoiled in horror:)

I'll try to contact him and solicit his input, and if it turna out that he didn't burn them in, I'll give it a go...

[magiccarpetride]

Great minds think alike, Chris - my SR60s are wonderful - but needed a good run in before the treble calmed down. I left mine under a few cushions, playing whatever was through the Satellite box, 24/7.

Also, Alex, all your burn in efforts on the Caiman won't have broken-in the head amp side of things - so as Chris suggests, intensive running in is called for!

I believe Hamish had SR80s with a Caiman, so he may be able to offer another opinion.

Makes sense. I'm kind of confused that they didn't sound half as bad through the iMac, but the Caiman seems to give them a lot (and I mean A LOT) of harshness and rough edges.

Maybe I need to burn-in the Caiman's headphone stage?

[magiccarpetride]

125's

i flogged them in the end ... i wasnt taken with them with the caiman... others report different though... i just dont think i like head phones... or at least any i have yet heard...

neil is perhaps right... i think a few people said that to me when i was nattering on about the only head/ear phones that sounded right to me were my little sony in ear ones

also my experience of grados (we sell them in the shop) they do need to break in ... and i would say your description is not far off the truth alex... although quite an exaggeration (i mean that relatively not as a dig at you)

i think the first port of call is to let them break in ...
i find the bass gets a lot deeper with a bit of time with them and the harshness goes to an extent...

I don't think I'm a reliable, impartial source to report on this. I've never liked the experience of listening to music through headphones, even if using the highest end, multi thousand dollars ones. It just feels extremely unnatural to me.

So maybe other members here would be delighted by the sound I'm now getting from the Caiman and the Grado cans, but to me, it's atrocious. (I've tested them on my wife as well, and she positively hated the sound)

[YNWaN]

A friend has Grado SR325 and they sound absolutely excellent through his headphone amp. Another friend has an even posher pair of Grado's but they sound much less impressive through the chinese valve headphone amp he has (not unlike the sound described by the OP). My conclusion is that they are pretty transparent to the amp feeding them.

In fact they are so good I've just bought them off him for £210 :) = gotta get a headphone amp now.

[Maximum]

You might wanna try an AD826 opamp for headphones if things don't improve. I've got both the 125's and 325is' that have been used with the 7520 dac. The 125's didn't seem to work too well with LM4562 opamps, something wasn't quite right and the AD826 seemed to drive them a little better. It's different with the 325's, these seem to like LM4562 better, giving lower noise and better grip on the bass.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I don't think I'm a reliable, impartial source to report on this. I've never liked the experience of listening to music through headphones, even if using the highest end, multi thousand dollars ones. It just feels extremely unnatural to me.


i know where your coming from with that buddy!

i love my little sony in ear jobs though... they sort go right into your ear canal... quite uncomfortable to start with but fine when you get used to it. they sound sweet as a nut and really give you that nice inside your head soundstage im guessing headphone people like so much... im yet to hear headphones that do the same for me... all the way up to the 325i's i have heard in grados and senn 650's .... none of them do the same for me as my £50 in ear sonys .... but thats just me... maybe ive only heard these cans through a incompatible source ... or maybe i just dont like headphones... i dunno... either way... i kinda know where your comeing from... apart from with my sonys

these are the little in ear jobs ive got... your a man who gets a bit of burn in... they sounded SHEEEITE out the box compared to how they sound now and that took a few weeks to get to thier best...

http://www.testfreaks.co.uk/headphones-headsets/sony-mdr-ex500lp/

[YNWaN]

...so it's just about the 'in the head' aspect then cos the Grado SR325Si I've bought absolutely piss on on my £50 in ear Sony headphone in every sonic sense. I didn't even want a pair of headphoes before I heard them, that's how good they are.

I've heard plenty of headphones - most were OK - a few were poor and even fewer were excellent.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i dunno, im just asuming the in head thing...

im sure they do... like i say, maybe its just me/the equipment i have used cans with... ive just never properly got it (bar in ear phones) headphones have never really impressed me!
to be fair there are a lot more people who rave about grados and others i have heard... i know a chap personally who has 325's and think they are better than his speakers by a margin... im not denying they are good... just so far i havent been impressed long term with any headphones myself

they are my ears matey ;)

[magiccarpetride]

i dunno, im just asuming the in head thing...

im sure they do... like i say, maybe its just me/the equipment i have used cans with... ive just never properly got it (bar in ear phones) headphones have never really impressed me!
to be fair there are a lot more people who rave about grados and others i have heard... i know a chap personally who has 325's and think they are better than his speakers by a margin... im not denying they are good... just so far i havent been impressed long term with any headphones myself

they are my ears matey ;)

Back in the '90s a friend of mine used to evaluate and build high-end headphones, and he was always trying to hook me up with the top shelf products. I've never liked the sound of any headphones he demoed to me, much to his chagrin.

Dunno, perhaps it's just me. I guess I need to hear the sound of the room. I need that corporeal, reach-out-and-touch feel I get when I listen to my Maggies. I feel I can walk up to the soundstage projected by the Maggies and physically touch the instruments and feel them vibrating. I've never experienced that sensation when listening to any headphones.

[goraman]

I have owned the Grado 60s 80s and I still own the 325is.
The 80 is a fantastic headphone but if the headphone amp or source is made cheaply it will show it for what it is.A 32 ohm load is pretty light and over drives some cheap headphone amps.You won't get better for the money as far as headphones go.
I used a pair for 6 years. I gave the 80s to my brother in law and he uses them with his Ipod and loves them.They did not take forever to break in like the 325i did after 300 hours I'm still not sure if there done yet but I only use the 325i with portable devices because there very light and small compaired to my more serious grossly modded cans.
Plug the 80's into an Ipod if they don't sound good with lossless files most likley the foam pads need breaking in (wash and rinse them in dish soap flatten them a little by sqweeseing and compressing them) let them dry it will add a little more bass.

[goraman]

If you want 3D imaging find some old Superex pro studio -B headphones.

[Pete The Cat]

I only know three things about headphones, but for what they're worth...

I have to accept that the experience will never be remotely like speakers. It's downright flat by comparison. And my sternum won't vibrate.

The headphone output of most equipment won't be the circuitry that the manufacturer has devoted the best resources to. A dedicated headphone amp is generally an improvement.

As with other equipment models vary, however there's a brand "house sound". Grados are lively and feel like you're in the front row, whereas Sennheisers are laid back, like being at the rear of an auditorium, with good perspective. Grados excel on hard rock, Sennheisers seem the more at home on orchestral, jazz and acoustic. Sennheisers have traditionally been favoured by many studios.

To cover the gaps in-between sessions on the real thing, I went for a Creek OBH11 (ca £100 retail) and Sennheisers HD600s (from £120 2/h).

Pete

[goraman]

I liked the 590's but not the 595's in Sens. but they where very limited in performance.