Introduction (you can skip this if you're shallow and don't care about my life)
 
Grado gave me the very first taste of what music actually sounded like a few years back on a trip to the uncles' place for my high school graduation present. He owns the Magnepan 1.6 with dual subwoofers filling in the low end. I was obsessed with his system, but I knew dropping $5000+ on a speaker system wasn't feasible due to parents not wanting me to spend that much money (and still gawking whenever they see me hooked up to my $440 HiFiMan HE-500) and not having space for that kind of setup anyway. I heard the Grado SR-125 I think, I don't exactly remember, but compared to my Beats whatever series they were, music just felt so much more.. Dynamic? Alive? Realistic? Fast? (I hadn't yet read Head-fi's own Describing Sound: A Glossary) I knew I needed those cans (which I also still called headphones) and promptly looked around on the internet to discover Head-fi and post my pointless first few threads on the newbie forums. I was enthralled by the amount of people who shared my obsession, and over the next few months I scrounged my pennies and paid for the SR-80i at my brick and mortar Grado hoarder LP record store (I actually paid with a crapton of $1 and $5 bills). I told my parents that I wouldn't need anything else after that because I probably couldn't hear any differences between other cans. HAH, proved myself wrong and lied to my parents when I bought the Schiit Magni and Modi a few months later. After settling in with my HiFiMan HE-500 over the past year or so, and going through all sorts of phases, I sat on my decision to get no more headphones other than the Sennheiser HD650 and the Grado, uh.. well.. I didn't know which one I should get. Didn't they all use the same driver? How could they sound different? My insecurity was dashed aside when I took a peek into the GH-1 thread. Absolutely nothing but praise (just like the Liquid Carbon (which I bought earlier and didn't intend to) and the Mr. Speakers Ether (which I thought I wanted to buy, but I'll hold onto my money, I really don't need too many good things)) which swept me off my feet. I can still hear them cooing.. "Get the GH1 before stock runs out!" "It's the best deal in Grado cans I've ever heard!" "100% sexiness will be exuded by the drivers into your brain!" After they arrived I liked them. And so here we are.
 
 
Aesthetics and Build Quality
 
Grados look fecking cool, alright. Or, they look hideous. In my opinion, they're fantastic looking, with their simple headband and really cool cup design. I also really like the look of the red driver peeking out the back cover, which is also eye-catching. I've never had a woodie (HAHAHAHASHUTUP) Grado, but this guy is really neat. I love the wood grain in the cup and just how nice the texture is. Gives it a really artsy feel, like they're meant to be on display cause I constantly want to hold onto them. Because the cups are totally wood (which comes from the tree the Grado family bought if you didn't know, but if you're reading a GH-1 review you damn well should know the whole story by now) they're also really light, which is something you could note. The HE-500 is a pretty hefty can (is it? s'what people think anyway) and I don't find it fatiguing at all, so sometimes I'll find myself glaring at the little GH-1 and judging it by its weight, and looking between the grill of the 500 (which is pretty darn big) and the little 44 millimeter (Grado doesn't specify how large the driver is on their site) one, asking myself how something so little could be so great. And oh, but it is. However, I do have a complaint, and really only one. This goes for all of the more expensive Grados. Why isn't there a more substantial gimbal thing for the more costly headphones? I'm pretty sure you could make something metal to hold things together a bit better than the cheaper line, but I guess keeping a single headband design for all models is much more cost efficient. I just wish the connectors were a bit more substantial, possibly because the HE-500 was $440 and built like an absolute tank. Almost the entire thing is made of metal, and it just feels really sturdy.
 
Sound
 
Bass: 
 
Midrange:
 
Treble:
 
Soundstage, speed, and other imaginary aspects:
 
Overall Sound Impressions:
 
Conclusion:
 
Pictures:
 
(I'll finish this review on tuesday or wednesday after school or something cause I go into work early on Monday and there's NO WAY TO COPY TEXT ON THIS SITE)

Grado SR80i
 

 
Intro Thingy: I was wondering if I should even review the SR80i because Grado's e series cans came out not too long ago and I was thinking noone would heed my review 'cause the e series is said to be a fairly big improvement over the i. So, instead of writing a review that'd be putting the SR80i in one of those "great can, I suggest everyone go off and buy it" lights, I'm going to write something more along the lines of a tribute and a tip of the hat. So, without further delay, here we go! 
 
Background Crap:
Having got back from my uncle's place in Portland Oregon and hearing his Magnepan 1.6 speakers hooked up with two very good subwoofers, I learned that the Beats headphones gifted to me were absolute crap in comparison. He is not a headphones guy, and in fact the only cans he has are a pair of Sony somethingrathers that I can't recall the model of. They sounded pretty bad as well, at least straight out of my phone, so I started on my head-fi journey then and there. I actually registered on this site while I was still in Portland, sitting on the couch listening to damn good music out of those sweet sweet Maggies... Erm. Maybe that's why I like my HiFiMANs so much, I'm destined for the planar worldview. Or something. ANYWAY. My budget at the time was pretty pathetic and I was learning a whole lot through my dorky loser noobish posts in the help section of these forums which I am intensely grateful for. I wanted something new that would shame my Beats and sound great, and I was first introduced to the idea of open-back headphones then. Well, I was introduced to them while listening to some SR125s with mismatched pads at another relative's house while there. I absolutely loved the sound, so much more.. open? Well duh, it just makes sense, doesn't it? When I got back home it took me about a month or two to scrounge together spare bills and change from here and there and I drove right up to the only store in town that sells anything hi-fi related at all and handed the guy a fat wad of $10, $5, and $1 bills. I drove home and popped em out of the box, plugged them into the hilariously terribly ancient Technics CD player my dad got for HIS birthday like forty years ago or something, tossed in Yes: Classic Yes, and my favorite song of all time, Heart of the Sunrise came through like I had never heard it before. And I haven't turned back since then in my quest to get the most value and emotion out of my system. 
 
Impressions: Bass Reproduction: The SR80is can't reproduce one note bass. Now we've got that out of the way. What they do good though is electric bass in tons of rock, jazz, and fusion. Acoustic bass isn't terribly good, but it isn't bad at all. The huge midbass hump shown on many frequency response graphs shows something I do like about the grados. They're very aggressive sounding, which is cool for a lot of the progressive rock I listen to. Kick drums really smack down pretty hard, but if they're tuned to go pretty deep they won't give you that much impact. (Think John Mclaughlin & The 4th Dimension) Rolling bass drums don't really have the size they need in classical music or soundtracks. Like in Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack, the pieces with rolling bass drums just don't feel big and expansive. The sound is there, just not in the quantity or quality needed in my opinion. Tubas, bassoons, tympani, low piano notes, and bass strings just don't feel as airy and powerful as they can be, which is why I don't think the SR80is are great for acoustic concert music. They do shine in rock which is what I like them for. However, the infamous grattle is a thing if bass gets too powerful, which it usually doesn't for me.
 
Midrange: The Grados do midrange pretty well in my opinion. Vocals are especially nice, as well as guitar, both acoustic and electric. I actually don't have a whole lot to say about midrange because the Grados don't do too much wrong.
 
Treble: Treble, consisting of those ultra high guitar solos, Maynard Ferguson's obscene wailing on the trumpet, Cymbals, and assorted other sounds like breath and the tapping of impatient instrumentalists in the background are all pretty sharp. Sometimes they can get overpowering on brightly mastered recordings where every crash of the cymbal is a smack to the face. But this is really where the aggressive nature of the Grado house sound comes into play. This attacking treble gives rock an energy I don't find with other headphones I've listened to. The sound you do get is almost a little synthetic at times when the splash of a cymbal gets a little too loud and screechy, or Maynard's solo starts to sound like a thousand babies screaming for food, but I hardly ever run into these problems now that I.. well.. don't listen to them very much anymore. I never thought the treble in the Grados was overpowering until I had heard other cans to compare with, and even then, so long as I don't crank the volume up they don't do anything wrong in the treble.
 
Conclusion: Getting the SR80i was the best decision I've made in my audio career. Not only did they start me off on this wonderful site, but they started me off on the path to enjoying my music much more than I ever did before. I used to get home from work at 12:30 in the morning and plug in the cans to listen to some Kansas or Pink Floyd. I've had a lot of fun with these awesome cans and I can't even begin to list all the things they've helped me with. Oh wait. 
1. Introduced me to the world of hi-fi
2. Gave me a sense of accomplishment as my first purchase at $100
3. Converted me to the sound of open headphones 
4. Bla bla, shaddup, they're great headphones for the money and I suggest the SR80i and any of Grado's lower priced cans as an entry level into either open backs, hifi, or just to get people to know what the fuss is about the Grado house sound. 
Neutral? Give me a break. Flat? HAH! Grados aren't meant to be tools of music snobbery, they're for people who want to jam out, have fun, and give less than a Schiit about extreme fidelity. I love my Grados for what they do, and they're coming with me no matter where I go, not just as a reminder, but a good ol' pair of cans to show people what they're made of and something to come back to to show me what a $100 headphone is capable of. 
 
Damn you Grado family for getting me started in this escapade, and thank you for giving me insight into how music is really supposed to sound. Thanks to all who helped me decide on my first headphone purchase. 
 
FIN

This is going to be my first review, so note that I'm not exceptionally experienced. However, I know exactly what sound I like, and I'm a musician, and I have very high standards.
I spent quite a lot of time researching this headphone, as well as a bunch of others, because I was looking to find a can that would end my headphone search. I was looking for end-game audiophile quality on a budget and I definitely found it. Let's just say that even though I found this can, I'm not done getting more of em, simply due to the fact that I'm stricken with upgraditis, so I'm going to continue looking for more unique and promising cans as I go, revising old reviews as I expand my collection, so that I can eventually compile a list of $500 end-game cans. Anyway, back on track.
The HE-500 was promising as an all around can that could play any kind of music, which was something I needed, due to my eclectic music taste, that ranges from Billie Holiday to Bjork to Beethoven, so I needed an all around champion. This led me to the Beyerdynamic crowd, but I was unimpressed with the DT880's looks and lack of comments regarding it's bass response and texture. I then went to the HD650 and saw that it was one of the best cans in the business. However, they colour the sound, and I kept hearing 'laid back sound signature', and I like my music to have energy, because as a trumpet player, energy even in the softest notes is one of the most important parts of how you sound. Then I was stuck, because I couldn't find anything that seemed to be an all around performer. The AKG stuff all seemed bass-light, and nothing in my budget was popping up. I kept hearing about Audeze, and read a lot of those reviews, feeling angsty about how much money they cost, and the kind of sound they reproduced. I wanted that! Too bad I kept looking the name HiFiMAN over because I thought it was a dorky name and didn't deserve my attention. Then I saw a thread regarding the bass texture in the HE-400. I read 'orthodynamic', took a look at the $300 price tag, which was actually below my budget, and I thought I had found the can I had been looking for. About three weeks of research regarding the HE-400 and 500 eventually got me to the 500, which I saw was on the 'Battle of the Flagships' thread. It was competing with cans twice or more its price, and holding its own! I liked that, and eventually (thanks JoeDoe) I read a final review on the HE-500 and got it. I have to say, I am not sad to part with $440 for this kind of sound quality, even on my very flimsy budget. Fin
 
Alright, onto the sound quality!
 
This was one of the defining features of the HE-500 that led me to get it, was it's fantastic textured and extended bass response. It goes way down there in electronic music like a beast, but definitely doesn't go loud. If you're looking for a basshead can, this isn't going to be your choice, it can't really reproduce solid bass notes like in rap very loudly. The real magic comes to acoustic or electric bass, any kind of bass coming from an instrument is going to sound absolutely fantastic. Tubas and trombones really sound great, and you can hear that brass player really putting their whole body into getting the notes out, especially if they mess up, and I love to hear those little mishaps. Drums really can hit hard too, the bass kick is so textured and toms feel right there in front of you, I love drums on this can.
 
The midrange is very very full and revealing. Guitars, brass instruments, strings, and vocals feel very natural. The amount of detail in the midrange is spectacular and I can't stop listening! The bass has really no bleed into the midrange at all, and all the notes are very separate. Everything here is very articulated and accurate, giving the midrange its rightful glory.
 
The treble is one of the most important parts of music, because a lot of the energy is in the treble. The edge of the note, when a bass player hits the string so hard it rattles against the instrument, that's the treble in the bass, and if you don't have that it won't have energy. The upper range of the voice when it goes all out and reaches its limits, if the headphone has a recessed treble, then the music is going to be laid back and polite, regardless of its other aspects. Cymbal play is treble, and if you can't hear the drumsticks smacking off the crash cymbal, or dancing ecstatically over the ride, you've effectively killed the music. The HE-500 gives very immediate and powerful treble, but it's not loud or harsh or shrill at all, it's accurate and energetic.
 
The HE-500 has a fairly large soundstage, something that I really enjoy with classical music and jazz quartets, but also even in rock sometimes. They definitely give you a detailed image of the sound you're listening to, so well recorded classical music can immerse you, and still provide accurate placing. While I'm still going to revert to the Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO for watching movies, due to the accentuated bass and slightly wider soundstage, as well as the comfort factor, I'm not sure I'll ever use them for music listening again, due to the HE-500's performance.
A little note, the HE-500 has an almost perfectly flat frequency response from 20 to 1000 Hz, so you're going to get a relatively perfectly reproduced sound with no added flavours that other cans offer, like the HD650 or any Grado. No extra bass, no extra midrange, no extra treble. You're getting the recording almost completely unedited and untainted.
 
Another note, the Schiit Magni is a very powerful amp that delivers a whole watt into 32 ohms, so powering the HiFiMANs wasn't a big deal, but to properly power these things you should get a fairly powerful amp, and Schiit has some very good stuff for very low prices.
Here is where I'll add more stuff in the future when I get more cans or remember something about the HE-500 that I left out that doesn't fit with any of the other sections.
 
I'm extremely happy with the HE-500's performance as an all-around headphone, and for $440 used, this is one of the best bargains in audio/sound ratio. The HE-400 is a very good headphone as well, but isn't meant to compete with the HE-500 as a flagship, but is a good introduction into the sound of orthodynamics. With the Focuspad A+, aftermarket cables, and perhaps the fuzzor mod, and an outer grill change, these cans definitely do a good job at setting the bar very very high for a $500 headphone that performs just as good as others twice it's price. I would recommend this headphone to anyone who wants an end-game headphone that can do just about anything you throw at it. Just one note, HiFiMAN has discontinued this can, and it has been replaced by the HE-400i and 560, which I have never heard, but from reviews, I still believe this can to be the winner.