Grado SR60x Review (on ear headphone)

[riffmaker]

I am thinking. With the two distortion peaks at 2 and 5khz, are they manually pushing the two frequencies up?

 

[GWolfman]

Talk about EQ doing good!

Not to mention how close you hit it manually as well!

 

[Firefly00]

Doesn't seem worth the price considering the anemic bass and drastic peaks in the treble.

I find the sound good subjectively, but there are much better out there

 

[Rja4000]

Note that I measure sensitivity at 425 Hz.

Interesting.
Why ?

 

[Rja4000]

Hi
Thanks for the review again.

It happens I also own a pair of the original SR60.
Again, I mostly agree with Amir's conclusion.
My EQ is quite basic for those, and I hardly ever use them since I own the Elegia, but I'll give Amir's settings a try.

Also, in this case, I confirm the statics and crackles at high volume.

But the biggest drawback is the build quality: low end plastic and cable are quite fragile.
It's quite cheap though, so let's say you get what you pay for. Almost.

 

[amirm]

Interesting.
Why ?

Because it is easy. I already calibrate the levels at that frequency (corresponds to 0 reference in preference curve). So I all I have to do is measure the voltage output. Using another scheme with noise and such require a different procedure.

 

[wwenze]

Ooo my poor student backside (since a** is probably too rude for this forum) would have loved reading this review.

 

[NHL99]

Add $26 and it's a different experience ;-)

Grado SR80x review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2022 winner. Frontrunners in the budget wired headphones field

www.whathifi.com

I owned a pair of SR60's as a student, never really got used to the treble. Had an Audiolab 6000A to feed them.

 

[Drengur]

I had the 60s back when I was a teenager. I loved them and still miss the sound. They were the most uncomfortable piece of human engineering ever envisioned, the bass was very anemic, they were loud as hell for everyone in the general vicinity of the listener and they weren't exactly accurate. But somehow they were fun and crispy, and came with a good price. I did try the top model at the time (SR-1 or something). Those had more of everything, but didn't understand the price difference. I was hoping Amir would review these, and I am not surprised by the results, but I still would like to have a pair... for fun.

 

[Marc v E]

I wonder how the GS1000 measures. I loved the sound on that headphone although it was a bit colored. Thought nothing of the Sr60 or 325 btw. Far too much treble to give a good musical representation imo.

 

[Vict0r]

This was my first "real" headphone, so many, many years ago, and I loved it to bits. I must've spent thousands of hours with this thing on my head when I was younger. The SR60 attached to my Cowon X5 mp3 player was pure bliss for all my extreme metal tracks. I know it's a flawed headphone, but nostalgia plays its part so I rated this one as "fine".

 

[Rja4000]

Add $26 and it's a different experience ;-)

Grado SR80x review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2022 winner. Frontrunners in the budget wired headphones field

www.whathifi.com

I owned a pair of SR60's as a student, never really got used to the treble. Had an Audiolab 6000A to feed them.

I had the SR80 and original SR60.
I purchased the SR80 for my son, but he wasn't interested.
I've always preferred the SR60.
Distortion, as far as I remember, seemed lower with the SR80 though.

 

[Kevbaz]

Great to see a review of some Grad headphones. Even though they don’t measure well I always go back to listening to my SR80 and SR325e, they are so much fun and bright. But I do find them fatiguing to listen.
They work well for some music more, for me the are great with female vocals such as Enya

 

[Madjalapeno]

Strange as I don't remember this when I wore them three decades back. Wonder if we develop more pain receptors in our ears as we get older!

Don't our ears keep on growing as we age?

SR60's were my first 'real' headphones - was nice listening to them in the office with my Schitt DAC and headphone amp. Was more comfortable than in-ear for a few hours, and had the bonus of being obvious I didn't want to be disturbed. Never got them too loud as it was an open office, so never noticed the distortion.

 

[PeteL]

I would love to see the more expensive models, as I also doubt they will perform any better. If anything, the treble peak may get larger and nastier.

I would love too as well but your assumption is not correct. Subjectively, never own any beside the GR10e IEMs which are my on the go IEM of choice but they are not really made by Grado, I really do like most models SR 325 and up. I did spend quite a bit of time with them, not sure why I never purchased any but I found something addictive to the Grado sound.I may admit I might enjoy a certain treble tilt, maybe I'm getting old, but there is something about them. To me the SR60 is unlistenable. The higher end models definitely have more bass, not Harman bass but decent extension, I would like to see the measurments but have the impression they roll off a bit lower than something like HD-650.

 

[Raindog123]

I have a pair of SR325e. Plus brand-new OEM pads. I will gladly ship them to @amirm, to compare with these SR60x…

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/grados.21042/page-2#post-706219

 

[DSJR]

I used to like the 90's back in the day and liked very much the 325X models when heard a couple of years back - maybe the 'lively' balance suits my hearing as it is now? The slightly old fashioned tones can suit very well for many people I think.

It's rumoured over several UK forums (so it must be true ) that the lower Grado models are basically the same, but with different earpads (maybe the better ones are quality controlled a little?). Certainly one 'upgrade' is to buy the pads from a higher model which apparently 'calms them down' a little. Has anyone else tried it here, or isn't Grado taken seriously as a headphone maker?

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

Grado is part of the audiophile mythology. They are usually the first headphones any serious audiophile will recommend o he populace... They are simply bad and it seems, all of them including their TOL.
They sell by the same logic that allow the existence of $350,000 tube amplifiers with that kind of measurements:

Frequency Response:

THD

Peace.

 

[aandres_gm]

I would love too as well but your assumption is not correct. Subjectively, never own any beside the GR10e IEMs which are my on the go IEM of choice but they are not really made by Grado, I really do like most models SR 325 and up. I did spend quite a bit of time with them, not sure why I never purchased any but I found something addictive to the Grado sound.I may admit I might enjoy a certain treble tilt, maybe I'm getting old, but there is something about them. To me the SR60 is unlistenable. The higher end models definitely have more bass, not Harman bass but decent extension, I would like to see the measurments but have the impression they roll off lower than something like HD-650.

I auditioned the e-line from the 60 to the 325, and found subjectively the 80e to sound the best. Higher end models got progressively harsher, from what I recall.

I ended up getting a 60e off eBay for around 30€, but sold it after a few months. Not my kind of headphone

 

[PeteL]

Hi

Grado is part of the audiophile mythology. They are usually the first headphones any serious audiophile will recommend o he populace... They are simply bad and it seems, all of them including their TOL.
They sell by the same logic that allow the existence of $350,000 tube amplifiers with that kind of measurements:

Frequency Response:

THD

Peace.

What am looking at?