I own the Sennheiser 497 and the Grado SR80, and i love bass. If you love bass too then you MUST get the SR80's. Sennheisers aren't good for bass-heavy music.

The 497's are ok. Just ok. Nothing special, but for the price it's a pretty decent headphone. IMO, for the sub-$100 category, it's either the SR60 or the 497. You can get them at RadioShack for $70 or so.

Alright, so I recently bought a pair of SennHD497's and Grado SR80's to replace this old pair of Sharper Image headphones I got about a year or two ago. Well the thing is that the Sharper Image headphones are better. Much better. The highs are detailed but not harsh, the mids are nice and warm...

I was in the same boat as you recently. I ended up buying both the Sennheiser HD497's and Grado SR80's just to see which one I wanted to keep and which one was getting returned. Now, I know that both of these cans are each a small step up from your choices but I really think that you should get...

Stevie Ray Vaughn - Little Wing

Yeah I liked the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. I basically like the soundtracks in all of Quentin Tarintino's movies. He has good taste.

I liked the theme song from Edward Scissorhands

Self explanatory..what's your favorite soundtrack?

The best ska band of all time.....Sublime. Plain and simple. The best vocals, the best guitar solos, and the best bass lines. If you like ska you'll love Sublime.

I just got my new SR80's in the mail and they sound ok. The earpads are small compared to other headphones I've owned. So how much smaller are the flat pads? Will my ears touch the speaker? And is it possible to just cut the bowls pads in half to make them a little flat-er?

Ahh so many options..I'm so conflicted about what to do. Why would Grado do this to me? Why charge 30 bucks for a couple pieces of foam? They seemed like such a nice family owned business.

Thanks for the tips. I think I'll try modding the 414's but I'm almost positive I'll find a way to screw it up somehow. It looks pretty complicated.

I just bought a pair of Grado SR80's and I have read all the recomendations of the Flat Pads. So I looked all over the web and the cheapest ones I could find were $30! So does anyone know where I could buy the flat pads for cheap? Or is there something similar to the flat pads that will increase...

Thanks for all the advise. I decided to buy the SR 80's. Hope it all works out.

So I think I've narrowed it down to either the Grado SR80's or the Sennheiser HD212 PRO's. They both seem to have adequate bass and that's definitely a plus. Any further comparison or constrasts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Closed or Open. Doesn't matter. I've seen the Grado SR60's compared to the Sennheiser HD497's quite frequently, is there that big of a difference? Also, I just read somewhere that the Sennheiser HD212 Pro's work well when playing music with high bass. Do the Grado SR60's handle bass well too?

I just bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 497's and it's not as good as I'd hoped. The bass was too weak and muddy and wasn't as "punchy" or responsive as I had wanted. Also, the highs were too hissy (is that a word?) and crackled at high volumes. The type of music I listen to is a kind of rock...