With no break-in, the 80i's were an immense improvement from my previous headphones (some 30-or-so-dollar over-the-ear headphones).
I carried these loose in my bookbag with a laptop and schoolbooks and they didn't break. The whole semester I had owned them, too. They're very well built! They're open backed, with all the pros and cons of that.
The sound is pretty interesting. It's hard to describe - It's Grado sound. The bass is punchy (not wubwubwub) and the highs and mids are great, too. Rock sounds beautiful - The Who, The Beatles and Los Lonely Boys have never sounded better.
Jazz is great, too. Apparently, the SR-60i struggle with jazz, but it's so clear and nice with the 80i's that it feels like I'm in a bar listening to the band. It's not an "in your head" sound, it's wide and open and it's really like you're there. Live performances literally sound like you're on stage. It's brilliant.
Electronica sounds okay - It's just not enough bass for something that's meant to go wubwubwub, so "modern" electronic music sounds pretty lackluster. Basshunter and Pendulum both sound great, but deadmau5 isn't so great. Not bad, by any means. Trance is fun with punchy bass, in my opinion, so I enjoy it. Stuff like speedcore still has your ears vibrating like it should, so that's good.
All in all, these headphones are the best 80 dollars I ever spent and, to be completely honest, I'd be comfortable having payed twice that for them. At the retail price of 100, they're a bargain and an awesome pair of headphones to own and enjoy. They sound great, and they look great, too.
They have another plus - Grados are very easy to mod, and there's an active community of modders messing around with them making sure you can get the fullest out of 'em.
