Grado SR-325i Prestige Series Headphones

I may be off on the date but it should be close.

SN#7405 :REVIEWED

After owning the SR80 for a few years I thought the Grado 325i would just give you more of the same sound as the loved 80,they do not.

What they do give you before break in with some source material is sonically smiler to diving naked into a 5 yard dumpster filled to the top with angry fire ants.

They are brighter than driving into the hot California desert sun with out sun glasses.

But to be fair after break in classical recordings from the 1960's and 70's from the London philharmonic on open reel tape was like a blessed event from heaven!

So without going to deep into detail source material is critical should you choose these headphones.

And they do mellow with break in but not as much as I would have liked.

They are loved by menny people for there forward presentation of detail in mids and highs and texture (loads of texture).More bass would go along way as an improvement.

But you just get overwhelmed by it all very quickly.

Sound stage is lacking,nuff said.

They are a little clunky to ware and the cord twists if your not careful as the ear pieces turn,but they feel nice on your head once you get them placed right.

I should also add that due to the extra weight of the metal housings I had to add some extra padding to the headband to make them tolerable.

The construction is timeless and solid.

They do look stunning,the black/gold really looks fantastic,they remind me of something from Flash Gordon.

If Classical,Jazz or Folk is your thing these might be your Huckel Berry.

If not move on to the RS2 or RS1.

Sorry,Jhon Grado but out of all the Grado's Ive heard(at least 6 pair come to mind) these are my least favorite with most types of music.  .

Was not happy with the 325i.  Very bright sounding through most of my musical catalog.  Sounded very detailed at low volume.  Bass response was surprisingly deep.  Very forward sound signature.  Good headphone for metal and very fast.  Comfort is terrible.  Only torrerable at low volumes for my ears, even tamming with soft tubes.  I traded these for AKG K 701's, which was my happiest audiophile moment to date  :)

These were my third pair of headphones, after the AT ES7 and Shure SE 530.  I kept reading about how they had really hot treble, and sounded really unique and would be the opposite of the HD650( which would've been the logical upgrade from the 530 in terms of sound signature).  Something about having something almost opposite sounding was really appealing

Once I finally got these, WOW! I almost thought they had too much bass!  The bass for genres like rock and metal and jazz is perfect in my opinion.  It has just the right amount of bass for impact, but doesn't really capture too much low low end bass which leads to it sounding like a very fast headphone.  It picks up on bass licks, riffs, drums, but never makes these instruments the forefront of the music. 

The mids... guitars sound absolutely perfect, sweet, exquisite, heavenly!  You know its not natural sounding, but its almost the same with a drug- its not natural, but that doesn't mean the sound has any less integrity.

The treble is pretty elevated like a lot of people say, but I think you would need to be listening quite loud for a long period of time( at least enough time to damage your ears) to be an issue.  Its really the treble that gives the 325 this unique, energetic, quick sound its known for.   There is tons of detail and sometimes I even perceive this as bright, but when I allow myself to just listen( and deactivate my head-fi account like I had to do to finally appreciate them) you hear how detailed they are.  Out of all the headphones I've heard( Shure 530/840, AT ES7/M50, Beyer DT990, Senn HD650/ HD-25 II, AKG K240), these really are the best of them for rock and metal, and many genres in general.  Switching from K240 or HD650 makes you realize how much punch the bass really has to it, how energetic they really are, how much texture they have.  The sound blends SO well together.  Sometimes I absolutely do wish for a little bit more depth to the bass if I'm listening to a electronic genre, but otherwise I don't mind.  Sound stage isn't really huge, but I never switch from my HD650s and miss the soundstage.  Its just not neccessary, or at least, its adequete in that it doesn't take away from the headphones.  Sound separation is great.  The 325is never really sound congested unless its a garbage metal/hardcore punk recording

I've had some comfort issues- at first I thought they were very comfortable, then I messed the head band up and it took a while to finally remangle it back to a comfortable state.  They sit fairly lose on the head, jolting my head downquickly will throw them off.

I can not find any headphone similar to the SR-325. They are very different from all other headphones I have heard and also from the rest of the Grado line. You either love them or hate them. I can say for myself that these through the years have become my reference and no other Grado headphone have been able to take their place for me - even though HF2 was pretty close. 

The SR325 has a very forward, in-your-face sound. It offers a detail level on par with the rest of the top of the line Grados and it has crystal clear mids wich gives them a unique and intimate presentation of vocal recordings. They are very punchy and fast - some say they are metallic sounding and that might be a good way to describe the 325's. 

The treble is too much for most people so do not buy them without having heard these first! For me the treble and upper mids is the very unique part of the sound and something I haven't heard in any other headphone. Even when listening at low levels they are able to bring out very small details and they are high fidelity for sure. 

I think the SR325's are great for jazz - vocal jazz in particular. They might also be for headphones what the Lagavulin is for single malt whiskeys - a very refined but powerful peat-smokey aroma - you have to learn how to enjoy it. But once you "break the code" they will reward the listener with new ways to hear some recordings. 

Pure musical enjoyment for my part.