Grado SR225i Headphones

WHERE THEY EXCEL
These work especially well for two genres, speed metal and classical music- two genres which you otherwise would not refer to in the same sentence.
 
These are great for speed metal as the bass attacks and decays so quickly that with these, blast (bass drum) beats sound like blast (bass drum) beats rather than a muddy, thudding rumble as they do with slower, warmer sound signatures.
 
They're great for classical or any acoustic music due to the forward and realistic presentation of the picking of string instruments.
 
These also work well for Home theater due to the different spacial presentations of sounds with vocals being in the foreground and non-vocals being in the background. This is perfect in scenes where the characters are speaking over a din of traffic noise or other non-vocal sounds.
 
KEEP THEM AT HOME
You can use them anywhere you want, but because their cable is thick, long and is terminated with a 1/4" jack, they aren't very portable. They also sound better out of a powerful stationary source component such as a stereo receiver or a computer soundcard than they do out of a smartphone- they sounded terrible out of my Samsung Galaxy S3. This is to say nothing of their open-air construction which gives you no sound isolation from your environment nor others in that environment any isolation from you. Last, they are so fragile that they wouldn't last long on the streets.
 
WHY I WANTED THEM
I got these because my only stay-at-home headphones were Sennheiser HD 558's which have a slow, warm, veiled sound which does poorly with speed metal.
 
COMPARISON WITH OTHER GRADOS
I was able to listen to these comparatively with the SR60's, SR80's, SR125's and SR325's.
 
I chose the SR225's because the SR60's and SR125's had noticeably less clear, less resolute sounds. The SR80's were so warm that they didn't sound like Grado at all but instead, they had the warm sound signature of my Sennheiser HD 558's. The SR325's had a sound which was more strident, more fatiguing than the SR225's in addition to their having a heavier physical (non-auditory) weight which caused them to be more uncomfortable than the SR225's. Anything above the SR325's was out of my price range, so I didn't even try them.
 
Also worth mentioning is that whereas the 60's and 80's had 1/8" jacks with a snap-on 1/4" adapter, the 125's and above came with a 1/4" jack. This is relevant as the 1/8" jack with a 1/4" adapter is fragile and if stepped on, probably will break and will have to be replaced whereas the latter is a lot more sturdy.

Adquirí esta semana estos auriculares, tenía los sr80i, los vendí y pude juntar algo más para comprarme estos, y no me arrepiento en absoluto, estuve muy conforme con los sr80i pero sentí que subí un escalón más tras la adquisición de estos... Los compré a un conocido que me los vendió (nuevos) con las almohadillas de los PS1000, y realmente no me gustaba el sonido así que hice un par de modificaciones a esas almohadillas (adjunto foto), y me fabriqué otras a partir de goma espuma y tela de algodón (3 pares tengo ahora). Encontré una gran diferencia en las frecuencias bajas que estos reproducen, son mucho más extendidos abajo. Las frecuencias medias creo que tienen la medida justa para equiparar los extremos, y las agudas son un descanso a tus oídos, (estuve mucho tiempo con los ultrasone pro750). Yo los recomiendo absolutamente, una vez que escuchas un poco, no vas a querer sacártelos de encima. 
 
Almohadillas hechas por mí:
 

 

 
Las de PS1000 modificadas (sin dañarlas) Sólo les hice un recubrimiento con la tela de algodón ajustando un poco la espuma.
 
 

 

 

This is for original SR225, not SR225i
I have owned both the improved and original versions.
In my view the SR225 is better sounding than the so called Improved version, despite marketing claim about increased airflow by 50%, I smell marketing BS
The reason these headphones have a good reputation is due to the original design. I sold my 225i on, as I could not hear any audio improvement and they are not built as well, seems to be a common thing these day, ie: maximum profit margin.
If you want to see what I mean about marketing BS, then it's here on these pages, statements about improved sound-stage in the i version is just nonsense.
Firstly, you cannot create a soundstage with headphones, stereo was originally invented to replace mono, the main advantage being that 2 speakers positioned in front of a listener, with instruments recorded with different levels in both channels could create an image that allowed the listener to position instruments as if listening to a live performance.
This is impossible to achieve with headphones, as the left channel source is attached to the left ear and right channel to the right ear, the sound can only alternate to left and right ear.
 
The sound on the original SR225 is engaging, not sure what one or two of the other negative reviewers were using for their equipment, but you have to have a good headphone amp for these to work best.The headphone output stage can make or break the listening experience. You can make a 3K pair of Stax headphones sound awful with a crappy headphone line stage.