Hey,

First post here, been reading up on all the great info! Interested in buying a pair of Grado SR60 or SR80 headphones. Not quite sure which ones to get.

I want to use them with my new Creative MP3 Zen Xtra player. It supposedly is one of the better sound quality players (it has an equalizer for sound adjustment). I wanted to know which of the Grados would be better for me....price difference not a huge factor. I've just been using the cheap Sony MDR-V300 $20 phones from Bestbuy and was looking to step up for a vacation I'm going on in a couple weeks! Thanks!

Carson

If it matters any...I listen to mostly classic rock (Zeppelin, Stones, Who....and a little rap)
Also, any good dealers to buy from? Audio Advisor has the SR80 demos for ~ $70....good deal????

I'd go with the 80s. Get the farthest up the chain that you can afford. Everything I've read seems to indicate that as you progress up the Grado ladder, the resolution and the bass response of the phones improve as you increase the model numbers. I believe the 80s drivers are more closely matched. That $70 you saw sounds good since they're usually right at $100.

All this coming from a guy that got sick of waiting for his 80s to get off backorder and upgraded to 225s. More money than sense... or at least I HAD more money than sense.

Anyone have any experience with buying demoed equipment? Not sure if I should risk buying a used pair...

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet.

Both SR-60's and SR-80's are good headphones to begin. Both have mini plug with 1/4" adaptor. However they sound differently, SR-80's are little bit brighter than SR-80's. On the other hand SR-80's produce more detail sound. If you plan to use a portable amp in the future, go with SR-80's. Both cans sound good unamped.

Buying "demo" headphones might be risky. Drivers might/might not be damaged by customers who tend to listen to them using very high volume. On the other hand used cans sould be already burn in. Anyway you could demand to listen to the unused and used one for comparison before you purchase them.

Another way is that you pick up both from Headroom, which is the forum sponsor. They have 30 days return policy, so you return those you don't like. They also offer a discount for Head-Fi members,
see this for more info.

Whichever cans you pick up, you should pay attention to earpads. Earpads are the Achilles tendon of Grados: SR-60's come with comfies (muffled sound) while SR-80's have bowls (bright sound). To improve the sound you might cut a hole into comfies or buy flat pads from Todd the Vinyl Junkie for $30). IMHO I recommend flats over bowls on SR-80's.

EDIT: sorry, my double post ever.

Thanks for the info....now to get my postcount up!