Grado SR225i Headphones

Very, very, quick response (not as quick as say, the RS2i). Excellent clarity (I've yet to hear these sound remotely muddy). The sound stage is excellent, speakers could still outdo it, but it's truly unfair to compare headphones and speakers. The bass is more than satisfactory (for me -- note that I am using a relatively flat DAC).
 
Songs:
- Acoustic Alchemy - Mr. Chow : Superb. Superb. Superb. Crisp guitar, clean percussion.
- DSO - Guerrilla Laments : Fast. I could name each instrument and transcribe the lyrics.
- Brubeck - Take Five : From the subtle bass to the horns, and everything in between, this track was superb.
- David Bowie - Five Years : Drums and Vocals were more than satisfactory.
- Bela Fleck - Blu-Bop : Not only is the guitar crisp, the release of each string delivers a crisp, short, punch. Almost every Fleck is like this.
- Bela Fleck - Sex in A Pan : You can here the movement along the frets.
- AfroCelt Sound System - Eireann : Despite being in irish gaelic, the lyrics can be transcribed without confusion.
- Norman Greenback - Spirit In The Sky : Feel the distortion! (almost as distorted as the Jesus & Mary Chain) 

My reference is primarily with inner ear monitors (UE10pro) and the Beyerdynamic DT770.  
 
I've been listening to the SR225i's for a few days and have developed a few opinions...  I've been wanting Grado's for a long time, but I've never jumped on a pair because of criticisms of cheap construction, narrow soundstage and overly colored mid-ranges.  I finally jumped on the SR225i's because it seemed like the best I was going to do for $200 sound quality-wise and these are constantly referenced as some of the best "Rock" headphones.  
 
I should note that I almost exclusively listen to Hard Rock and Power Metal.  I understand that these genres aren't terribly popular for audiophiles, but the music is ideal for higher-end equipment because it's extremely bombastic with tons of textures that just blur to a mush with unworthy headphones.  Power Metal itself is extremely fast so highly responsive drivers is critical to hear the detail.
 
I have found the SR225i's to represent these genre's extremely well.  The more upfront mids sound better than the more neutral tuning on my ue10pros.  The ur10pros mids can also sound harsh so I find myself tweaking the equalizer to up the highs a bit.  I don't have to do any adjustments for the Grados, they sound phenomenal with no manipulation.  The mids are much softer and the bass was far more punchy than the $900 monitors.  The DT770s are not as clear and upfront and the bass is not as punchy. Since metal is notoriously lacking in bass, I thought the music was ideally represented by the Grados.  Simply put, for the price, the audio is top notch.  I'm using the headphones unamped, running them through my M-Audio Firewire 410 recording rig.
 
Comfort... This is going to be hard to adequately describe.  I initially found the headphones to be extremely comfortable.  I did not find the foam material to be irritating, but it did make my ears a bit warm.  It wasn't until wearing them for about 2 hours that I started to get extremely uncomfortable.  I have very sensitive Sinus' and the pressure from of the headphones really flared them up.  I know my sinus is nowhere near the ear, but it still seemed to have an effect.  I got instant relief when I took them off. Since I've only had them for a few days I don't know if this is going to be a long term issue.  Overall, the comfort is good initially, but can get fatiguing over time.  It's worth noting that I'm rather large (6'4"), have a longish/narrow head with small ears- my ears experienced no discomfort.  
 
Build Quality is pretty pathetic.  They really look cheap (the vinyl headband should be better, it looks terrible) .  My wife could not believe they cost $200.  Only the drivers and cable seem to be of decent quality.  The rest of the materials would not be out of place in a Dollar store.  I knew this going into buying them so I'm not upset, I just hope they hold up over time.  This is the biggest gamble I'm taking.  I'm surprised that Grado does not up the design and build quality a bit purely for advertising.  Seeing these things has to be a pretty big turn-off for many buyers.
 
In the end, I'm rating this an overall 5 because the sound quality for this price point is really where the substance is at.  I can put up with everything else as long as they work and continue to sound great.  I'm delighted to sat that my high expectations have been met. For the genres of music i enjoy, these headphones are perfect.
 
These songs really shined for me:
Angra- Course of Nature
Dreamtale- Mortal Games
Gamma Ray- Hand of Fate
Харизма- SoS
Heavenly- Virus
Highlord- Hand of God
Holy Knights- Glass Room
Olympos Mons- Locked in Chains (This one blew me away)
Pathfinder- Beyond the Space, Beyond the Time
 
 
 
  
 
 

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.
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
Paid MSRP at baybloorradio.com, which has a high markup. Picked these over the SR325is because they were significantly lighter. Reviewed with a Nuforce uDac.
 
Audio: What can be said about the Grado house sound? It's a love-or-hate intimate style. Electric and acoustic guitars simply rock on this headphone, as do instrumental pieces with few key instruments. However, the bass is rather anemic at stock.
 
Design: Being lightweight is good. However, free rotation of the cups is an issue, and there is crimping on the cable near the Y splitter. The left side gave out after 2.5 years due to this crimping, but the fine folks at Ring Audio (http://www.ringaudio.com) repaired it nicely.
 
Comfort: I find them quite comfortable, but I have small ears. They are amazingly light at 200g, and if you wash the bowl pads to soften them up, they become even more comfortable. People like to complain about the vicegrip clamp out of the box, but it's easy to bend the headband to your desired clamping level.
 
Recommended buy if you are aware of the bass deficiency and can work around it.
 
EDIT (Aug 2011): The bass (and as a result, audio quality) can be improved greatly by using the vent mod. This is preferred over taping the bowl pads since it won't muffle the midrange. By venting 7 small pinpricks on the felt around the driver, the bass of the SR225i increases to the point where it's slightly less powerful than that of the HF2. Of course, if you prefer even more bass, you may vent all 10 holes and make all the holes larger. The star ratings for audio quality and overall reflect the sound with the vent mod; -1 star at stock.
 
EDIT (Feb 2012): Decided to vent all 10 holes, then enlarge two of the pinprick holes all the way. Wow! Now they sound almost as good as an RS1i, and so sound quality and overall rating are now 5 stars!
 

It's just like the title says: these are the priceerformance sweet-spot of the Grado line. 
 
I've owned/auditioned the SR60i, MS1, MS2i, and now the 225i and these are the ones I'm keeping.
 
The slightly warm sound does most things well:
Bass is textured, however, some may find it thin. I find it a touch warm of analytical - in other words - fun.
Mids are addictive. Very forward (Grado - duh), but not so much that the other freq ranges are belittled. Female vocals and guitar solos sound great.
Treble is certainly better than the 325/MS2 treble of terror - detailed yet forgiving. Electronic music and classical recordings alike show details wonderfully, however, have yet to become sibilant. 
 
My FLAC recordings of artists ranging from Bill Frisell to Biz Markie, John Mayer to Joey Badass, George Szell to George Thorogood, all sound great. The soundstage certainly isn't huge, however, the great instrument separation and sense of left/right makes up for it.
 
I'll be recabling at some point, as the huge cable is the only real downside to the 225s. The L cushes aren't great but I prefer them to the flats and G cushes. Perhaps I'll give em a bath to soften em up! 
 
Btw, I highly recommend the tape mod on the L cushes for a little extra bass for those who may be worried about not getting their fix. It is by no means a basshead mod, but certainly adds a little extra bump in the proverbial trunk.

I owned Grado SR80i's in the past and kept reading that the SR225i's were better, so I went to exchange my SR80i's for the SR225i's. And they were right, these were better! Everything that the SR80i's had, the SR225i's did better! The sound was even clearer, although bass seem to stay to the same. To compensate for this, I used an EQ.
 
Now the cons for these cans are the same for the SR80i's. The design is the same, except now there is a metal grill instead of the plastic that is found on the SR80i. The wire length is pretty much the same, except the SR225i's might be a little longer since you have to use a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter (The SR225i has a 1/4 jack). The wire might be a little thicker than the SR80i's, I might be wrong, but the difference isn't noticeable.
 
Now the worst thing about these headphones are the pads. The SR80i's utilize the comfy pads, the SR225i's have the "bowl" pads. After a short period of listening, your ears will be in utter pain from the exposed speaker (In the center of the pads). I constantly have to adjust the headphones or take breaks, because my ears kept pressing against this hard surface. I haven't done so yet, but I may buy separate comfy pads and switch them out and do the "quarter mod". I can always switch between the two.
 
Although, these are very uncomfortable, I would highly recommend these headphones, because they sound suuperb. These are considered to be the "sweet spot" of the Prestige series. To compensate for the comfort, I suggest either getting comfys separately or Sennheiser 414 pads, like others have mentioned.

If you want an introduction to the Grado sound look no further to the SR225i.  The special Grado sound is liked by many but also hated by many as well.  The best way for me to explain the Grado sound that it has characteristics of Warm sound with a nice touch of Brightness.  It is bright but not to the point of hurting your ears.  Because of this you will not find any of the Grado headphones to be netural sounding at all (colored sound).  I like my stuff colored (I like tubes as well, eh) so this is not an issue, but I will say it because that's the fact about any Grado.
 
The design for the most part is good but it is mostly plastic (some of the lettering is coming off) and it does take a very long time for the headphones to get comfortable.  I think the only major con of these headphones is comfort.  After a little awhile the headphones fit on my head just fine but it just took too long for that to happen.
 
Some people also say that the lower end Grados doesn't have enough bass.  For me the SR225i does a great job with bass (and great bass impact I must add).
 
Overall for $200 you really can't go around with the Grados.  The midrange really shines on these headphones. 
 
Note as of 06/09/10:  I should had add this in the review but an amp makes a big difference with the Grado headphones (or any headphone period).  Invest in a good one because a good amp will add in the suppose "missing bass" to the Grados.

I was searching for a "fun" headphone that I would enjoy listening to. I started looking at the SR80i's and the SR60i's, until I tried the SR225i and couldn't go back. There was a big difference in sound and comfort for me. Perhaps it was only the bowls (I didn't try the lower models with the bowl pads) but there was enough of a noticeable difference for me to opt for the higher model. What I noticed was a great increase in instrument separation, slightly increased soundstage, and improved clarity. Additionally, I found the bowls to be much more comfortable than the "comfies", which made my ears warm after only 15 minutes of listening. The vinyl headband was not a big problem for me. I found the clamping pressure to be perfect, and not as strong as the Sennheiser 558/598's I tried.

For $200, these are not the most balanced or do-it-all headphone out on the market in the price range. There are obvious flaws with the headphone, mostly with the lack of neutrality, build quality, and comfort for some (though I had no problems with this). There may be a lack of "oomph" in the bass for some people, and the soundstage is nothing to brag about. However, these were never meant to, I think, be serious reference or studio quality headphones. They were meant to make you enjoy your music, and to get your feet tapping. If you are looking for a complimentary headphone or a rock centric headphone, look no further.

      I bought these over a year ago, and then for some strange reason bought a pair of Hifiman HE-5LE's about two weeks later.  I of course went nuts over the 5LE's, and set these aside for many months. Fast-forward to now, and I barely take the 5LE's out of their case, as these have become my favorite all around can, with the 5LE's being reserved for high-rez and well-mastered material. 
      I understand that Grado are a polarizing headphone, and I believe I understand why.  Most headphones that I am familiar with require a lot of power, and fairly high volume to sound their best.  In my experience, that method of listening to headphones ruins the Grado experience.  They do have a significant treble bump, and they do sound harsh on a lot of material.  However, I find that when I listen to a them at low volume, the harshness disappears, the bass seems more full, and the overall presentation is pretty good.  To get the most out of my ortho's, I need significantly more volume.  With the 225i, just about a hair above speaking volume, and I'm set with no need to boost bass or treble.
      I cannot say that these are neutral, or even accurate headphones.  But I can say that detail retrieval is excellent, and they are very revealing of the quality of source material. Not to the point of the 5LE's, but they are still impressive, to me, for a $200 purchase. That being said, I don't see myself buying Grado's for family during Christmas or birthdays.  I really don't think these are for everyone. But if you like low-volume listening with a good amount of presence and detail, these are exceptional headphones.  They definitely make me want to try other Grado's, especially the GS1000.

This is my first purchase of a higher end set of cans.  I consider over $100 to be high end.  The most expensive earphones I've purchased before was the $80 in ear phones from apple w/microphone.  I didn't think they sounded that bad until I purchased the Grado's.  I read a bunch of reviews and did some research before I decided on the Grado's.  I went to a local audio store and decided to have a listen.  I tested out the SR60's through the SR325's.  Though they all sounded great, I could tell the difference between all of them.  Without going into details, I can tell you that the sound stage gets a little better with each step up.  My plan was going into the store to buy the SR60's because I wanted to stay under $100.  As I listened to each set over and over again, I kept going back to the SR225's because of the fullness and amazing details I was hearing.  I really enjoyed the SR325's because there was little more bass, but I couldn't justify the $300 price tag.  I've been listening to the SR225's for a couple of weeks now and can't believe what I've been missing until now.  These cans are truly amazing and I would gladly pay $200 or more for good set of cans.  Now, I'm looking into something more on the bass end, like the DT770's or something from Ultrasone.  

I got to hand it to Grado, The SR-225s are the best, the experience worth more than the $200.00 retail price. As you move up the Grado chain of headphones, one thing is familiar; the company lowers the overall bass response, giving you a more open vocal performance, and detailed bass/viola/cello tunes.
 
Nowhere is this case so true than the SR-225s. Bass is strong and the highs are very open and detail, but you don't hear any nasties in the upper end.  In one word, these cans are supremo. One word about the price I paid. I bought them on consignment for 60 clams at Audio Studio in Cambridge.
Another good thing is costumer service. If anything happens to any grado, just ship them back to the Brooklyn address w/ a note of what's wrong, and they will fix and and ship the repaired cans back to you. t will come with a bill, but it's far better getting any grados fixed than to buy the same pair.      

I purchased these after having realized that I'm not a big fan of the Sennheiser soundstage. I was looking at he HD595's, but similarly to the 555's, I found them to be a little too broad of a sound for me, without picking up on detail. I heard Grado's prominent mids and respectable high's would be good for me, and I fell in love with the sound immediately. The high's at first are a bit too forward maybe before wearing them in, but they soften up with use, and the bass is subtle and punchy without being boosted or muddy (I find the bass to bleed too much with the sennheiser 5x5 headphones, and have never been fond of overdone bass in the first place).
 
NOW...the cost this greatness comes at for me is a dilemma regarding comfort. The bowl pads these come with are on ear, and not well cushioned. I know some people do not mind this, but I find after 20 minutes or so of listening, my earlobes begin to ache from the uneven clamping on them. There are replacement pads, and various mods to remedy this however.
 
In general, I find the grado's to provide excellent clarity, respond favourably to hardware EQ modifications, and are VERY easy to drive. Generally these sound fantastic with rock, metal, and some folk/bluegrass. A lot of people do not prefer these for classical, but I think that depending on the type of classical music, these can be very good (Classical romantics such as Felix Mendelssohn, as well as more moderns like Debussy and Berlioz sound great).
 
If you're looking for an affordable set of phones, and aren't just looking for something bass heavy to complement your Michael Bay DVD collection...I couldn't recommend these enough. These headphones provide me the experience of finally being INVOLVED in what I'm listening to, rather than being just a witness to sound...just be ready to shop around for mods or different pads if you find them uncomfortable at first.

My favorite in the Prestige series, the Grado SR225i is a superb sub$200 headphone. The SR225i is much more controlled than the SR125i and a bit smoother than the SR325i. Retaining the excellent Grado midrange and intensity, the SR225i also adds a bit more space to its presentation than the lower models. Comfort wise, the SR225i can be quite stiff and tight on the head when first worn, but they loosen over time. The build is sturdy without being overwhelming. The SR225i sounds great unamped, but when paired with just a simple hybrid tube amp, they really blossom in the bass department without muddying up the sound.
 
Overall, the SR225i is a great introduction to the Grado sound and an excellent addition to any headphone collection.

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.

Coming from the 80i, MS1i, to the 225i they are a cut above the rest, really cannot fault them.  Well ok, the cable is like having a power cord hanging from your neck, and there not the most comfortable headphone ever made, but sonically i cannot fault them.

I actually got to play Santa at work and get these for a coworker because of good performance on his part. He was cool enough to let me listen for a while and I really liked the sound. I've never heard an open-back design before and I really liked it.
 
So I listened to some Heather Nova and heard a loop in Ruby Red that I had never noticed before. It was pretty obvious. I played other stuff too and all the music had more distinct layers than I'm used to. I've got some good AKGs and I've heard the layering that the NuForce Icon HD brought to those cans. I was impressed to see that I got pretty close to that feel with these Grados unamped. Quite surprised and pleased. The bass was also quite nice. Only a few high treble sounds were a bit sharp. Maybe some burn-in will help.
 
I think these are really neat but I'm still mixed on the sound leakage issue with open back cans.

I will do later

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.

I previously owned a pair of Klipsch Image S4 earbuds after reading a review on C-Net about how good they sounded. After hearing music with the Klipsch I started to crave for a richer sound.
I came across head-fi and searched for the best cans in my price range.
There were two contenders it came down to the Grado SR225i and a pair of Sennheiser's for which model I can not recall.
After calling around local audio shops I finally found the Grados. They didn't have a display pair but the owner of the shop was nice enough to open a brand new pair for me to test out. I feel in love instantly.
The sound quality was like nothing I had heard at that point in my life (I've heard better now, but I was only a high school kid at the time and Dr. Dre "Beats" were considered amazing by most people my age).
So I bought them and never looked back.
For how worried I was about breaking the plastic things or ripping out the cord (the head pieces rotate in a full 360 degrees and I was always worried I'd over rotate one side too much a single way and it would snap off) they have held up more than a few years.
They still sound good for the money, I'd recommend them for any person who doesn't want to spend a crazy amount of money or invest in a full dac/amp setup.

I don't own these anymore and never properly reviewed them, here's a brief memory I had of them.
 
I bought these used on Head-Fi to satisfy my "need" for the Grado sound after selling my SR80i and buying the Ad700s. I soon after upgraded my Ad700s to Ad900s and still missed the "Grado sound." I was excited to try these, very excited. I was expecting a harsh, in your face sound that kicked my ears butts. What I got was boring. 
 
The previous owner had claimed 20 hours of use so I let them play for 20 more hours before making judgement. As much as I tried I could not get into these headphones, especially when compared to my Ad900. I honestly felt my Ad900 were better in every aspect. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, etc all sounded boring, no heart at all. I believe it has something to do, possibly with the stock cups, but I just didn't like these. After 30 hours they were back up for sale and I was disappointed.
 
I wish I could have captured the Grado sound I had missed from my SR80i, but it wasn't here.