Initial Thoughts/Observations on Grado SR60e:
I just received the loaner SR60e's on Thursday (Todd from Todd The Vinyl Junkie (TTVJ) and haven't listened for very long yet. I wanted to post a few initial thoughts and observations on them.
First of all, I really love mids--guitars and vocals are what I really enjoy hearing. The SR60i was my first journey into better listening and I still enjoy the SR60i but I've moved on. The problem is, for the price, you get a lot of great sound. At the same time, you get a hunger to find out what else is out there and start searching for your ideal "sound". The Grado SR60i's have started me on a journey that may never end, but I appreciate them for that.
So, onto the SR60e. These are still definitely Grado SR60's. Grado has not re-invented the wheel here and the signature Grado sound with colored mids, really good instrument separation (in its price range), and sharp highs are still there. I did notice that these like power; as I turned up the volume, the Grado's came alive. They want power. I'll try them with amping later and see if they scale up at all. The main things I have noticed are more subtle changes, such as:
- Improved cord--it really looks pretty much the same but it has a more rubbery and pliable feel over my previous SR60's. It seems less prone to kinking. I'm not a fan of the plug as the large diameter of the plug housing interferes with phone cases, but it's solid.
- Plastic feels different--the plastic cups FEEL different. I really don't know how to describe this, but the plastic is very solid but very light. It just feels different to me. I don't know how this effects sound or if it does at all, but it seems different.
- Red Drivers--you can see the red coloring inside the cups that was not there before. I'm not sure if this means a totally new driver, the same driver with different coloring, or just a new revision, but I can see the red.
- More "Neutral" Sound--these seemed slightly tuned in a more neutral way (for Grado, anyways) than the previous SR60's. The mids seem clearer and there seems to be a slight better separation of bass-mids-treble. The bass seems to sound great with some genre (rock, acoustic, metal) and terrible with others (pop and anything with electronic bass). With some songs, I hear more timbre in the bass guitar and better quality mids than previously whereas I think the bass is worse for pop and electronic bass than it was before. With pop music, the bass seems flat, muffled, and has very little kick even less than the SR60i, IMO. At the same time, some songs are still harsh in the treble and I don't think the treble extends very high. There's plenty of separation in the highs, but not a lot of extension. I love the mids though. Clear, warm, and great sounding. With any kind of a soundstage at all, the mids would be outstanding.
These are just a few observations I have and some of this may change as I listen more. I'll say that if you love rock/metal/acoustic, these will sound great, especially for the money. They still can have piercing highs and poor bass when it comes to electronic bass, but they aren't really designed for pop-type music. My grandpa was a bricklayer and always said that universal tools can do many things, but they never do anything excellent. If you want an excellent tool, you have to get one that is designed for a specific purpose. These Grado's were designed for rock music and they do a great job of that. As long as you remember that and that they only cost $80, you'll be fine. Grado's aren't for everyone but I think Grado has done an admirable job of tweaking a few things that help their headphones do what they were designed to do even better--rock out to rock music.
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Follow-Up Review:
Introduction:
I wanted to give a little background as to what I currently listen to and who I am, as it pertains to this review. I’m just a music fan and grew up with my dad’s mid-fi Sansui receiver, Pioneer speakers, and Koss HV1A headphones. Take my review with a grain of salt—my opinion is just that, an opinion. Also, I didn’t end up having time to take any pics, so this review won’t contain any. For the most part, there’s not a whole lot of difference in appearance from previous SR60’s.
My preferred style of music is blues, blues rock, and guitar heavy music like classic rock. I love the sound of music with great vocals, both male and female. I tend to mix in some classical, pop, rap, and acoustic music. I love mids but often listen to music out of my Hifiman HE-400’s as I love the instrument separation, detail, and quality bass in an open headphone. I also listen to my TDK BA200’s, a dual armature IEM that I think has a great, warm, balanced sound with solid mids and vocals. I mix in some TDK IE800’s that are dual dynamic which have a warmer sound than the BA200’s but doesn’t do female vocals as well but sounds great with guitar and the bass.
Packaging:
The new box is considerably smaller in dimension than the older, white pizza boxes the Grado’s used to come in. The cardboard feels similar to the original pizza boxes but it feels more rigid and sturdy, probably due to the box being smaller. The color is an almost tan base color with grey speckles throughout the background. There’s a simple picture of Grado headphones on the front with simple labels.
Once you open the box, there’s some warnings printed on the inside of the top of the box that tells you to “PLEASE READ”. Folded over the top of the foam insert, covering the headphones, is a letter from the Grado family with their picture. Once you move the letter out of the way, there’s a foam insert made of similar (or the same) foam as in previous packaging, cut to fit the Grado headphones.
When you remove the headphones, you’ll notice a ¼” adapter included with the headphones as well as additional writing printed on the bottom inside of the box containing warranty information. Overall, I really like the new packaging and prefer the more rigid feeling box and smaller size of the box.
Loudness:
I noticed that these new SR60e’s seem to want to be turned up. They want to party and have fun. The more you turn them up (and they can get loud!), the more they respond. I tried a couple times to turn up the ‘phones and see if I could notice any distortion and I could not. In fact, I couldn’t get near 100% volume as I couldn’t take it anymore. I just don’t typically listen to music that loud. But, if you like to kill your hearing and eardrums, you definitely can with these headphones and you’ll do it with crystal clear music. I did listen to music louder than normal as I felt the SR60e’s didn’t sound as detailed and dynamic at low volume.
In the next section, I’ll give my observations from my iPhone 4S (unamped) and then my observations from my portable amp (BSG Cmoy 18V w/AD8620 through a ELE DAC EL-D02). I mostly have FLAC files but I’m limited to 16/44. I also utilized standard quality Spotify through both my iPhone and amped through my computer. Overall, I didn’t notice much difference in the sound the Grado’s produced which tells me they are very friendly with low quality files. My HE-400’s can reveal bad recordings that the Grado’s did not.
Unamped
Treble:
I actually enjoyed the treble on the SR60e’s more unamped than I did amped (see below). For example, listening to Dire Straits “Communique” album, I really enjoyed Mark Knopfler’s picking but could hear the shimmer of the cymbals in the background and didn’t feel like they were piercing or took away from the song. Some high notes from the electric guitar can be sibilant and piercing as the sound moves from higher mids to lower treble. I know I cringed a few times when Knopfler hit high notes, especially on live recordings. I think snare and toms sound decent on these as do high hats but I don’t think there’s much detail. I thought there was decent separation between the sounds in the treble region, especially considering the price point.
Mids:
I have always enjoyed the colored mids of Grado’s as it’s an aggressive sound for rock. I really enjoy blues guitar and great guitar players. IMO, with this new and improved SR60, that the mids balance better with the treble and bass. My previous SR60i’s had a warmer sound and less balanced feel overall whereas these have become more even but still mid-centered (for Grado).
So, again, with Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler’s picking guitar style, there was a warm, melodic sound to the guitar. A few times, with the upper registers of his playing, I could hear some sibilance, but overall I enjoyed the warm sound. There was a really nice timbre on the strings and you could hear a lot of the details of Knopfler’s playing as well as David Knopfler’s rhythm guitar in the background.
Bass:
I can say that I like the bass much better amped. In previous models, I couldn’t hear much improvement or change of the SR60 amped. In this case, I hear a considerable change, especially in the bass. For the most part, the bass is solid and present but it lacks depth to me. I’m not sure how to describe it, but the sound was very one note and there was little decay in much of the bass guitar. The bass sounds quick but it’s really just lacking in decay, IMO. I can say that the bass sounds muffled to me and it definitely fades into the background. This works on some recordings and not too well on others (and this is with rock; it gets bad with pop and bass heavy music).
With CMOY 18V w/AD8620 through a ELE DAC EL-D02
Treble:
I find the treble on these piercing on many songs. As the SR60e’s want to be powered and turned up, the treble becomes very sibilant, especially in regards to cymbals and higher tone instruments. I found the treble quality improved slightly with amping as opposed to unamped (I noticed it extended higher and had more detail) but to the detriment of the headphone as it was harder to listen to.
For example, I turned on Joe Walsh’s “Turn to Stone” and found the high pitched guitar sequences too piercing whereas I noticed much more crunch and enjoyability when Walsh had a lower pitch that stayed in the mids.
In regards to pop music, the high hats were just too much for me on some songs. On The Weeknd’s “The Morning”, the highs were just too high and hard to enjoy the song. It was a shame as I thought the bass was done pretty well as was Abel Tesfaye’s vocals.
Mids:
These were a real bright spot (and when I say bright, I mean even brighter). The mids were solid and warm out of my iPhone 4S but became cooler out of my Cmoy. I felt the entire presentation became less mids focused (in comparison to the original sound) and the mids were less prominent than before.
That being said, the mids were still great as they are normally so forward as was the noticeable instrument separation. I could hear the artist’s fingers sliding on the guitar on occasion and more “crunch” with certain artists. Overall, I thought the mids were still great and very detailed but I preferred the warmer, softer, but still forward mids of the unamped SR60’s.
Bass:
This was a real eye opener for me. When unamped, I felt the bass was lacking and dull, especially electronic bass. With my Cmoy, the bass came alive. To be truthful, these aren’t for bass heads but they are outstanding quality bass with much more detail and thump than before (before meaning unamped). Suddenly, I could hear the thump and the bass extended much deeper, including pop music. I actually thought the bass on some pop songs was done better than many headphones I’ve heard if it wasn’t for the piercing highs. When it came to electric guitar and kick drums, the bass was outstanding. I could hear the artist’s sliding fingers and the decay of the bass guitar was great.
Unamped, I felt the SR60e’s didn’t have any decay and were quick and one note, in a lot of cases. (I’ve never considered the Grado’s as “fast”; I’ve always felt they just didn’t have much decay which made them sound quick/fast. In comparison, I would consider my Hifiman HE-400’s much “faster”.) With the Cmoy, the SR60e’s had really good quality decay and the character of the bass came out more. This is truly amazing to me for a $80 pair of headphones as I have heard more expensive headphones that don’t do bass nearly as well.
Soundstage:
I really haven’t noticed much change in the soundstage on these. I’ve never been able to hear much, if any, soundstage in the SR60’s and still don’t. They present more like IEM’s than open headphones. I always wonder if I’m missing something when people say they like the soundstage of SR60’s as I think this is a weakness of these headphones.
I personally don’t think soundstage is a make or break quality for headphones for me (although I do love the atmospheric sound of some that do have a great soundstage). My AKG Q701’s had a huge soundstage but it sounded strange and almost fake or “colored”. It’s like these Grado’s—they seem colored when it comes to mids as they’re designed to sound great with rock music. The Q701’s sound wide and large in soundstage but it just sounds strange with some genre’s of music (I hope this makes sense).
Conclusions:
At this point, I’m torn between amped and unamped. I think that the SR60e’s sound great unamped, especially when it comes to rock and music that tends towards great mids (i.e. vocals and guitars). I really love the blues and find these very enjoyable just out of my iPhone 4S streaming Spotify songs. The mids are so warm and the highs are sibilant but not to the point of being unenjoyable (although some songs were—I skipped a couple songs.) Unamped, the bass was one-note on a lot of songs and lacked the quality and detail I hoped for. With rock music, the bass was sufficient and seems to reproduce bass guitars well. With pop music, I thought these headphones were frankly pretty terrible.
Now we have a small, portable amp connected to the SR60e’s and they change a bit. I like the aggressiveness (they went from a pack of wolves hunting to a rabid dog) which is great for rock and metal. The attack of the treble and mids became very aggressive. Guitarists that pick are accentuated to where it is sometimes a bit much. I love the jump up on the bass—much more thump, extension, and quality overall. The problem was, the treble jumped up too and it’s just a bit much for me. The mids seemed to step back a bit which makes the best characteristic of these ‘phones less a positive. It would be like a beautiful woman putting a veil over her face—why cover up such a beautiful face?
So, which is better—amped or unamped? Either one depending on what you’re wanting. The bottom line with these headphones is that they are aggressive and colored to start with and only become more that way, IMO. If you want to rock out with rock music or metal, these are great. If you want to kill your hearing in two minutes flat, these will do that too. These bring me back to a day when I used to crank my dad’s speakers and sound system at home when he was at work in the late 70’s and early 80’s to his classic rock tapes and the radio. I loved jumping around to Def Leopard, ACDC, and Metallica and feeling the walls shake. The music was clear but loud and I imagined I was at a concert, standing next to one of the towers of speakers. These headphones are like that. They’re good for when I want to just crank up the music when no one’s around and rock out. If that’s you, then these headphones are for you. If you want something more subtle and well-rounded, these will probably not be your thing. They may even annoy you.
) I've tried a pair of Allesandro MS2, and it's most noticeable improvement is it's smoother, more linear treble, and tighter bass, not too far off though, especially not $300 far. So if you feel enraptured by the SR60e after 1st try, just take it home with you.. you won't be disappointed! 
