Got my SR-125s.... - Page 2

Touche...

Actually, while the RSs have a similar overall build look, the construction is rock-solid when compared to the plastic-y lower-end models. The headband feels miles apart (to me), the metal rods are squared and stay in place because of that, etc. Having owned 80s, 125s, 225s and RS-1s, there is a huge difference to me between the two classes' respective builds.

- Matt

in terms of expertise, i have none. (though i do read A LOT of books on music, speaker design, and audio) but anyone who's taken an elementary music class knows what timbre or tone colour is. it's what distinguishes one instrument from another. for example, if i play note on the guitar and play the same note on the piano, you can easily distinguish that they are different instruments despite the fact that the note is the same. although the fundamental tone on both instruments are the same, anyone who has taken physics will tell you that the overtones are different, and this is what imparts the difference in tone colouration.

this concept is also well known to anyone who builds speakers. an instrument's enclosure helps to add the overtones that cause colouration. but unlike an instrument, when you build a speaker want an enclosure that doesn't add harmonic overtones. you want the enclosure to be acoustically dead. this is the reason why speakers are made with MDF (which is wood made of compressed sawdust) or plywood. solid wood has grains that will add colour to the sound. as this applies to speakers, it is also pertinent to headphones.

it doesn't take much expertise to hear that the timbre isn't nuetral on grados. grados are well known to be coloured. grado labs even describes the grado sound as "warm harmonic color."

but that's just my opinion, though i suppose colouration can also be objectively measured. you could probably play sine waves through the headphone and see how closely the output signal matches a pure sine wave. if other frequencies are present then i suppose colouration is present. i haven't done this, nor do i know if anyone else has.

i have done frequency response tests with a makeshift headphone coupler and a rat shack SPL meter. i've tried it with a modified panasonic wm60a mic capsule, which has a pretty flat response (the mitey mike testing mic uses the same mic capsule). and from what i remember (i had a nice hard disk meltdown and lost all my data) my graphs looked quite similar to headroom's graphs. the grado's were elevated and peaky through the upper midrange to the treble.

but i'm no expert. this is just stuff i've picked up studying music, speakers, acoustics, and stuff...

SumB, I think you need to re-read Thomas' statement. He was comparing the SR80 to the HD600, and said they aren't even in the same class. He wasn't comparing the RS series.

True, each headphone has its own "sound," but it's hard to objectively disagree with Thomas' statement. Grado's *are* much more colored than the HD600s. Some people like it, others don't, so there's nothing "wrong" with it. But the coloration does exist, and in fact it's pretty evident in the frequency response graph.

I had a good listen to my recently bought SR80 in the meantime, and today I once again went to the hifi shop, where I got it, in order to compare it to the SR125 and especially the RS2, which I haven't tried before (and I still haven't tried the SR325). So in addition to the Grados I tried before (RS1, SR225, SR60), this listening session brought me to the conclusion, that the tonal balance of the Grados is overall quite similar - to me it only seems to be shifted and tilted within the frequency spectrum. It's as if you had the choice where to get your peaks & dents and in what volume by chosing the right model for your taste.

And it seems to me that there is some more volume and warmth in the bass and lower mid-range from the SR225 up, whereas the highs are a little recessed (= response tilted towards the highs) - but I don't really like that, so I think the SR80 was just the right choice for me. In addition, the more expensive models don't seem that much better to me to justify their prices. Thus, actually, if somebody asked me for Grado headphones, I'd probably recommend to try the SR80 as well as the SR225 (and maybe the SR60, too) and chose from these.

Greetings from SF!

Manfred / Lini

MacDEF: He did say this -

It didn't seem like he was referring to only the SR80s exclusively in that statement.....but perhaps it was not stated clearly enough, and thereby mininterpretated?

I can see what you're saying, coolvij.

He was specifically talking about the SR80s vs. HD600s, since he stated the model numbers, and even said "considering their prices, they shouldn't be," but he did add the "and all Grados" at the end.

I must admit to being confused by all this resentment and stuff... maybe this is another thread that deserves a disclaimer...

But we don't want that... do we

There definetly IS coloration in Grado 'phones... I remember the first time that i put my SR-125s on that to me they sounded "yellow" <-- don't ask me to explain that term, it was just the thought that went through my mind at the time...

After extended listening this was no longer noticeable... BUT then after swapping back to my HD580s, the bubble definetly burst... the 580s sound so much cleaner... accurate - and considering that here in the UK that the SR125 and HD580 are pretty much the same cost.............................