[MD1032]

For this really quick test, the track is "The Real Me" from the remastered Quadrophenia. I have like 15 minutes to do this comparison before I mail this guy's SR-80i's back to him...lol. Preface: the SR-60i's have an overall balanced presentation and are a great entry-level 'phone, period, so let's see what happens as we work our way up.

By comparison, the SR-80i are really muffled-sounding, but the bass is more substaintial and much more in-your-face. Clearly, the SR-80i's are suffering from the switch to the comfy pads, so let's just switch those out here...they used to come with the bowls and before that the flats, and as a result, the regular SR-80's sound much cleaner, stock. Now what's interesting is that if you take the SR-80i's and put the bowls on them, they not only sound way, way better, they sound better than the SR-80's, which sound just slightly too tinny or bright with the bowls and have slightly less bass. I was really surprised... Grado is really holding these back by putting the comfies on them.

So here's a rudimentary breakdown in terms of overall fidelity/resolution:

1) SR-80i's with bowls
2) SR-80's (stock bowls)
3) SR-60i's (stock comfies)
4) SR-80i's (stock comfies)

But let me emphasize that the SR-80i's with bowls really just kick the ass of every other setup listed. If I could keep any of those four, stock, it would be the SR-60i's, but the SR-80i's with bowls are terrific and far better. I can't compare right now but I know from experience that you can "fix" the brightness in the SR-80's by switching them to their true, old stock form, with flats!

Hope this helps some people. I might add more later.

 

[donunus]

nice writeup. Its nice to know the sr80is sound nice with bowls

 

[Henmyr]

What about the SR60i's with bowls?

Thanks for the comparison btw

 

[fraqture]

I find that with the SR80i's with bowl pads especially the upper mids can be a tad shrill depending on the way the song is recorded. In that respect these cans are just dead honest: cheaply recorded tracks are hammered down by these 'phones whereas a good quality recording is very much rewarded. I find this to be more so the case with Grado than with other cans I've tried, which are better all-rounders. The comfies are more comfortable for me (what's in a name? ) but do take some definition off the bass.

 

[MD1032]

Yeah, I didn't get to listen in-depth so much... I'm really just talking in terms of my opinion of what is a "balanced" presentation... what I perceive as the most realistic in terms of the balance between mids, treble, and bass. For me, hands-down, the SR80i with bowls won but the SR-60i is surprisingly well-balanced, certainly miles ahead of my iGrados, which are the old ones with the foam in them. Really, I was surprised by how similar the sonic signature of SR-60i/comfies and SR-80i/bowls was, but in the end the 80's are more even in the treble and more detailed.

I'll be doing a somewhat short comparison in the future comparing the SR-60i, SR-60, SR-80, and hopefully MS-1, and putting flats and bowls on all of them.

 

[the_equalizer]

Hmm... I'll have to give my SR-80i's a try with my SR-225's bowls.... but, oh! how much more conmfortable my SR-80i's are compared to my SR-225's (but how much more better my SR-225's sound..) !!!

cheers !

 

[Sharinglungs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I didn't get to listen in-depth so much... I'm really just talking in terms of my opinion of what is a "balanced" presentation... what I perceive as the most realistic in terms of the balance between mids, treble, and bass. For me, hands-down, the SR80i with bowls won but the SR-60i is surprisingly well-balanced, certainly miles ahead of my iGrados, which are the old ones with the foam in them. Really, I was surprised by how similar the sonic signature of SR-60i/comfies and SR-80i/bowls was, but in the end the 80's are more even in the treble and more detailed. I'll be doing a somewhat short comparison in the future comparing the SR-60i, SR-60, SR-80, and hopefully MS-1, and putting flats and bowls on all of them.

Looking forward to the comparison. Could really be helpful for the entry level Head-Fi'er on a budget.

 

[donunus]

a more detailed comparison between 80i with bowls and 60is with comfies would be great. I noticed that one needs time to get adjusted to the bowls sound sometimes. It would really be funny if in the end the 60i/comfies wins over the 80i/bowls

 

[Za'afiel]

60i+comfies similar to 80i+bowls? my guess then is that the 60i are real harsh.
reminds me of someone who thought the rs1i was no different from the 60i. haha.

i forgot exactly what, er, i think it's in the cable, but otherwise considering the similarity of these cans, i'm still under the impression that it's the pads that make much of the difference between these models...

it would also be more interesting if ts could get a hold of a couple of bagels.

 

[donunus]

and I compared 60s to 60is and the is were richer and smoother so the 80i must be pretty smooth