Any alternatives to Grado?

Alessandro MS-1i

Ha-ha, I see what you did there.

 

The MS-1is actually are very nice for the price (if you can't find them for $150, you're looking in the wrong place), but if you want an alternative that isn't made by Grado check out AudioTechnica AD700s which should be in the same sort of region price-wise.

 

$150 is sort of the borderline where you're just below starting to afford the baseline "decent" models of a lot of popular brands. If you go up to $200 you might find your options open up a lot.

MS-1 has always been 100$ for the older version and 110$ for the new version... If you ever see an MS-1 for 150$, it means you are being scammed.

Grado's, more than most any other headphone, have a really unique sound.

With all of the headphones I've ever heard or even read about, in the

USA and worldwide press, there's nothing that sounds quite like them.

 

If they're what you like, they're what you should get.

IF you have a stereo or amp capable of powering them, the 600 ohm AKG sextetts can be very similar to the Grado sound. Especially with Rock and Jazz, I found them to have nearly the same frequency response, with a tad more soundstage and positioning. Their only downside, other than being vintage cans and needing to look for a good condition model, is that they require a fair ammount of power to drive them. Many here prefer to drive them from a vintage receiver (like in my case a Pioneer SX-780 or Marantz 2245) but a powerful tube amp is also supposed to synergize nicely with them.

 

The HE-400's which I used to replace both my Grado's and my AKG's will run on nearly anything with decent power (I even run them off the headphone out of my studio monitors to acceptable results) are an improvement over both, in terms of resolution and soundstage, but run around $300 used. They are also a little darker than the Grado's, but still have the engaging attack and "bite" that I loved about the Grado sound.

Maybe in Poland ;)

Not sure what you're saying here buddy but you buy Alessandro headphones directly from their website and their cost is the same no matter where they are being shipped.

Yep.

http://www.alessandro-products.com/main.php?p=headphones (seriously, if you're paying more than $109.00 plus whatever shipping they may charge, you are being taken for a ride).

As far as the OP - I'm sort of confused: are you trying to get away from the Grado sound, or are you just not able to deal with the massive European/Asian mark-up? If the former, there's a few models I'd suggest from Ultrasone, AKG, etc around that $200 bar. If the later, go with Alessandro and be done with it.

I don't think so, personally i think Audio Technicas AD just don't fit for rock or techno