[Braheem24]

A good friend of mine had been looking to prchase a pair of bose headphones, with some research, I purchased a pair of SR80i for his birthday, after I tried them I immediatly fell in love with the detail in the music.
 
I did a little more research and decided on  SR-325is for myfelf.
 
The upper frequency detail is amazing and the soundstage is better then the SR80i but I cannot get myself to enjoy the music.
 
Whitney houston's voice is suddenly too shrilling to bear, Whitney has never been shrilling.
 
I can tell the SR-325is are undepowered with an ipod and I ordered a misterx mini3 to help them but I'm beginning to think it may benefit more from a tube amp.
 
Any help/advice is appreciated.

 

[Proglover]

you won't be the first one who can't stand SR325's treble..
Those cans have many friends......and foes.

 

[meltie]

As far as I know amps don't do much for grados. Rather send them back and chose a different model.

 

[baka1969]

First of all, amping Grados does significantly improve them no matter what the above poster has heard. I have owned enough Grados and amps and have enough personal experience to have formed my belief. What I will say is that I haven't found it difficult to find a decent amp to fully drive them.


I'll also say the SR-325(i), to me, is the most shrill and piercing of all the current Grados. They are, without a doubt, my least favorite Grado. I can not listen to them. I prefer the SR-225(i) over the 325(i). If you have the money the HF2 is my favorite and the RS1(i). IMHO the 225(i) is the best overall value though.

 

[andrewliu6294]

If you want a more relaxed presentation, consider the Alessandro MS-2 instead of the Grado 325i. A little more neutral, and less harsh.

 

[Kevin Brown]

Quote:

If you want a more relaxed presentation, consider the Alessandro MS-2 instead of the Grado 325i. A little more neutral, and less harsh.

 +1 .  You could also try the S-cushions (comfies) with the 325's.  Mellows out the treble somewhat. 

 

[eujaee]

Something you might consider before giving up:
 
http://gilmore2.chem.northwestern.edu/projects/showfile.php?file=grado_prj.htm
 
It is towards the bottom, under heading: Circumaural Earpads for Grados
 
I did the sock mod to increase comfort and it resulted in reduced harshness.  Threw in a little variation to help the sock roll keep its shape.  Cut the lips off 9 oz. plastic cups, glued them to the inside of the socks with rubber cement, and rolled the tubes around them.  There will be some experimentation with how thick to make the rolls as the thicker the roll gets, the further the drivers get from your ear, reducing harshness but also making the bass boomier.
 
I am stubborn and I will not let these headphones beat me.  But it might not be worth your time as there are plenty of others to choose from.

 

[Armaegis]

Or if you're not afraid of opening up the cups, a little dab of blu-tack (or any poster putty really) or felt on the back of the driver and button will tone it down a notch. Lining the inside of the driver cup also alleviates things a bit. With my friend's SR60, I damped it all using hot glue.

 

[I3eyond]

A relatively inexpensive set of headphones that I throughly enjoy more so than any Grado/Alessandro sound, even the RS-1, is the Audio Technia ATH-AD700s. 
 
The sound is just so much larger, that going back to the Grado sound, well, isn't as enjoyable for me.

 

[Nubster]

This is terrible information. Grados respond extremely well to amping. I have the 325i's and I LOVE them, amped. Off my iPod/computer I can hardly stand them. If you want to tame the brightness and really get the most from them I feel they do extremely well with a tube amp or a hybrid amp. See my sig...the amp I am using has a darn good synergy with Grado and with the rolled tubes they are very mellow and excellent sounding.
 
Quote:

As far as I know amps don't do much for grados. Rather send them back and chose a different model.

 

[I3eyond]

Must also agree Grado's respond well to amping.
 
Quote:

This is terrible information. Grados respond extremely well to amping. I have the 325i's and I LOVE them, amped. Off my iPod/computer I can hardly stand them. If you want to tame the brightness and really get the most from them I feel they do extremely well with a tube amp or a hybrid amp. See my sig...the amp I am using has a darn good synergy with Grado and with the rolled tubes they are very mellow and excellent sounding.
 
Quote:

As far as I know amps don't do much for grados. Rather send them back and chose a different model.

 

 

[Bilavideo]

A good friend of mine had been looking to prchase a pair of bose headphones, with some research, I purchased a pair of SR80i for his birthday, after I tried them I immediatly fell in love with the detail in the music.
 
I did a little more research and decided on  SR-325is for myfelf.
 
The upper frequency detail is amazing and the soundstage is better then the SR80i but I cannot get myself to enjoy the music.
 
Whitney houston's voice is suddenly too shrilling to bear, Whitney has never been shrilling.
 
I can tell the SR-325is are undepowered with an ipod and I ordered a misterx mini3 to help them but I'm beginning to think it may benefit more from a tube amp.
 
Any help/advice is appreciated.

There is no such thing as shrill.  What you have is a tonal imbalance.  Your 325i is delivering more treble, but not enough of an increase in bass to keep up with it.  The result is a tonal imbalance.  The more you hike up the volume, in order to get that bass, the more you end up increasing the HF - past the point of bleeding from the ears.
 
It's a problem of airflow.  To get more bass, you need more airflow.  To accomplish this, you need to either buy a premium amp, to hit it with more power and force more air, or you need to vent the driver.  Venting the driver is free.  It takes a few minutes and produces immediate results.  Grado does this with their top cans.  I have done this with recent 325s and the improvement was astonishing.

 

[Nubster]

Please explain. I am interested. Not sure I want to experiment with my 325's but I would like to know more.
 
 
Quote:

 Venting the driver is free.  It takes a few minutes and produces immediate results.  Grado does this with their top cans.  I have done this with recent 325s and the improvement was astonishing.

 

[BluFalcon]

Quote:

A good friend of mine had been looking to prchase a pair of bose headphones, with some research, I purchased a pair of SR80i for his birthday, after I tried them I immediatly fell in love with the detail in the music.
 
I did a little more research and decided on  SR-325is for myfelf.
 
The upper frequency detail is amazing and the soundstage is better then the SR80i but I cannot get myself to enjoy the music.
 
Whitney houston's voice is suddenly too shrilling to bear, Whitney has never been shrilling.
 
I can tell the SR-325is are undepowered with an ipod and I ordered a misterx mini3 to help them but I'm beginning to think it may benefit more from a tube amp.
 
Any help/advice is appreciated.

There is no such thing as shrill.  What you have is a tonal imbalance.  Your 325i is delivering more treble, but not enough of an increase in bass to keep up with it.  The result is a tonal imbalance.  The more you hike up the volume, in order to get that bass, the more you end up increasing the HF - past the point of bleeding from the ears.
 
It's a problem of airflow.  To get more bass, you need more airflow.  To accomplish this, you need to either buy a premium amp, to hit it with more power and force more air, or you need to vent the driver.  Venting the driver is free.  It takes a few minutes and produces immediate results.  Grado does this with their top cans.  I have done this with recent 325s and the improvement was astonishing.

This is something I'm certainly going to try.  I want to experiment on my SR60s first before tackling the 325s. 
 
BTW, you can count me as one of the true fans of the SR325is.  I think it's perfect for a lot of music I listen to.  But then again, I've always preferred the sound of sparkly highs. 

 

[Braheem24]

Do you have to take the casing apart to remove the 325 logo?