Quote:

Originally Posted by PMDontPlay 

I am looking to purchase the Grado SR325i, as you may have guessed by reading the title of this thread.

 

 

I've had my 325is for over a year now.  I will be keeping them.  I'll probably run up the Grado food chain but I won't be selling my 325's.  You don't need an amp for them.  Just make sure the new receiver has a headphone jack.   I widened the sounstage by adding G-Cushions, don't know if it helped the depth.  I find the top a little aggressive and I wish for more sub bass but in general they're a fine sounding can, warmer mid-range than the Q701 and more natural sounding than the D7000.  Just IMHO, of course.
 

1. Grado has a pretty unique house sound that some love and some hate. Since all of the Grados in the Prestige series sound alike, it would be a good idea to at least try one of the cheaper models first to see if the sound signature is to your liking. Grados don't have a lot of deep bass, but they arguably make up for it with their airy, sharp highs and midrange. They do not have a lot of soundstage, they are rather forward and 'hot' headphones. 

2. If you are really interested in Grado, perhaps you might instead go the Alessandro route. Alessandro modifies Grados and makes them sound slightly more balanced, with a bit more bass. If you're open to other manufacturers, you can't go wrong with Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic open headphones. The DT880/DT990 and the HD598 would more than satisfy you.

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_music_stores Just choose one that lets you download lossless.

4. Since all Grados have 32 Ohm impedance, you dont need to buy any additional amp for them. Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic do need an amp though.

5. Sonos makes the kind of gear you're interested in, but its quite expensive. Orb has alternatives that are much cheaper but don't have the same functionality.

Heya,

1. Not a deep pronounced sound stage. Few headphones have that without some kind of emulation software making it happen from a dobly headphone setup and the like. The AKG K701 does it for example, but I still wouldn't call it deep and pronounced, more like, foggy and distant. The 325SR is good for your genres. But don't get too hung up on sound stage being deep and pronounced. Bass is there, it's a punch, not a boomy reverb. I would start with G-cush pads on the 325's for sure.

2. Fischer Audio FA-011 is another one to check (as well as FA-002 and FA-003). Also, HD598, Denon D2000, Ultrasone HFI 2400, Ultrasone HFI 780, AKG K272 HD, AKG K240 MK II, BeyerDynamic DT880 and DT990

3. You'll probably wish you had higher quality music, since a low quality track isn't going to magically sound better with a better headphone. I get used CD's from half.com, other sources, HDtracks.com, the local library (serious, you can rent them or get free at your local library), friends' albums, etc. I would focus on getting higher quality music ASAP before spending hundreds of dollars on headphones that will make poor recordings very obvious likely.

4. Source is pretty important, but it's not the end all be all. The most important, in my opinion, is the quality of the music itself. It needs to be high quality, 320kbps minimum (again, my opinion) to lossless. Then your headphone. Then your DAC. AMP being the last in the chain of important. Again, my opinion only. If you have high quality source music, and a relatively efficient headphone (medium/low impedance, normal sensitivity) you will be fine without a discreet DAC/AMP for the most part.

5. You only need an amp if you get a headphone that truly benefits, or requires, amplification. If you're at all worried, get a simple inexpensive Fiio E9. It will power virtually any headphone in the ranges you're looking at just fine. Laptop -> Fiio E9 -> Headphone. Another option is to go combo, like Maverick TubeMagic D1 or Matrix Cube. I would suggest keeping it simple first, focus on higher quality music and a good set of headphones first. Then get the other gear based on how you think it sounds.

Very best,

Grados have an aggressive and not laid back sound, which is what I meant by saying that they are forward and hot. They throw huge midrange and bright treble right at you from a short distance, so to say. The bass is dominated by a mid-bass punch. They are not subtle. 

The Alessandros are still Grados, so the sound described above still very much applies to them. I wouldn't say that they lose anything by being slightly more balanced. They seem slightly less detailed than Grados but they really aren't, its just the frequency response that is slightly different.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by PMDontPlay 

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by "forward and 'hot'"? That there is not a deep soundstage in any sense? I have looked into Beyerdynamics and Sennheisers and concluded that I liked the Grado sound more; the Alessandro suggestion is an interesting one. What exactly do they lose in exchange for the more balanced and bassy sound?

might want to upgrade your music to flac/320kb/s, or else the grados will make your music sound like its coming out of a paper shredder (exaguration, but 325's are very revealing)

I have the exact setup as you, SR325i with Gcush pads. A tube amp will help tame the highs and making it a bit more comfortable to listen while adding more warmth and bass. Definitely a keeper in my collection.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbophead 

I've had my 325is for over a year now.  I will be keeping them.  I'll probably run up the Grado food chain but I won't be selling my 325's.  You don't need an amp for them.  Just make sure the new receiver has a headphone jack.   I widened the sounstage by adding G-Cushions, don't know if it helped the depth.  I find the top a little aggressive and I wish for more sub bass but in general they're a fine sounding can, warmer mid-range than the Q701 and more natural sounding than the D7000.  Just IMHO, of course.
 

 

All Grados have very same sound pattern. Grab SR-60 or 80 first to see if that sound suits you. You may save a lot of money by doing this.

Lossless is a waste of space, and money.

I converted a flac file to high bitrate AAC.

Foobar ABX.

Couldn't tell the difference.

Unless you're really looking for the subtleties, then don't waste your money buying 

lossless tracks online. 

Hey there.

  I have the 325is, a uDAC-2 and a Little Dot 1+. I can't speak for the Macbook, iPad, or Droid as a source but I know that my Sager's headphone out sounds like piss compared to the uDAC-2 (note that most of my music is FLAC or higher bit-rate MP3s.) I must say they sounded very, very good just out of the uDAC-2's built in amp (I listen to a lot of what you do) but the biggest  moment came when I had just installed an OPA2107AP Burr Brown op-amp into my new Little Dot. A HUGE difference to my ears. It was like the music was being performed, not played back. That's the best I can describe it. I'm glad I resisted installing it for a whole day; the change really left an impression.

TL;DR

  I think you'll be very happy with them, but you really ought to consider upgrading your source (music too) and maybe looking at an amp. The uDAC-2 and Little Dot 1+ Hybrid are relatively inexpensive ($129 and $110 each, IIRC.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by koolkat 

Lossless is a waste of space, and money.

 

I converted a flac file to high bitrate AAC.

 

Foobar ABX.

 

Couldn't tell the difference.

 

 

 

Unless you're really looking for the subtleties, then don't waste your money buying 

 

lossless tracks online. 

 

 

 

 

Some people go for perfection, can't really blame them

To OP, high bitrate audio files will be just as good as Lossless, most people cant tell the difference unlesss it really bugs you

High Bitrate AAC/MP3 V0 Encoding/MP3 Constant 320kbps all work well

Quote:

Originally Posted by koolkat 

Lossless is a waste of space, and money.

 

I converted a flac file to high bitrate AAC.

 

Foobar ABX.

 

Couldn't tell the difference.

 

 

 

Unless you're really looking for the subtleties, then don't waste your money buying 

 

lossless tracks online. 

 

 

 

 

The advantages of lossless are not limited to sound quality.