5 star WHF review of Beresford Caiman in latest issue.

[sburrell]

Nothing to do with the Caimen ,but iv found that they always give Grado 5stars ,dont get me wrong never owned any of there products ,so dont know how good they are !.They are probably as good as people say

An example being IGRADO headphones which get 5 star , Sennheiser or AKG only get 4 even though they look better quality and better value for money

I used to own a pair of Grado SR60s, and they were phenomenal. The bass was the thing that sticks with me, but on the whole they were in another league. Whenever I put them on I felt like I was being enveloped in a rich world of lush tones. *sigh* Miss them, I do…
As for Senn and AKG looking better quality/better value for money: The SR60s were very comfortable; I liked the retro design (the enclosures rose up and down on wee poles for height adjustment, and made you look as though you had wee antennas on your ears); the materials used in the headband etc. were certainly quite cheap and plasticky, but they performed well functionally. My belief (supported through listening) is that Grado had done the right thing by ploughing the majority of the value of the product into the sound quality. Kinda like Stanley with his DACs (no offence intended).

EDIT: BTW, I agree with the suggestion that WHF may have held back a little in their opinions (though I'll not suggest any reasons why). There are no superlatives in the text, surprising for a 5-star review; instead we have terms like "agreeable", "fine", "plenty of room" (where they could have used "loads" or masses") & "adept." On the whole there's almost a sense of begrudging respect, possibly further evidenced by terms such as "Fractionally short of punch and drive", "hint of dynamic reticence" (or was it? They waver here) and "[s]ome may hanker after a little more punch," (who? People whose opinion we should listen to?) which actually gain more strength due to the aforementioned lack of superlatives. And it's a very brief review, no? When I bought this mag years ago I was used to reading how the reviewer enjoyed the reproduction of various tracks, commenting on how various artists' voices were presented etc. Spartan, springs to mind.
But it's the five-stars that matter! Congratulations, Mr. Beresford

[Themis]

Grado's 60's have too much mid-bass... really too much. When you go back to reference headphones, the difference is enormous ! The SR60 are as imprecise in the mid-lows as the Koss Portapros...
As a result, they have a specific sonic signature that you can remember. At least, they have a reason to "like them of leave them". As far as I am concerned, I never got used to their over-exaggerated mid-lows.