[Mani ATH 87]

Any pics of Dubstep Girl modeling these headphones? It might have an influence 

 

[Zuqi]

An excellent review, very straightforward and easy to compare.

 

[whirlwind]

Nice job....I could not agree more with your Grado 325 review.

 

[Kayvin]

I auditioned the same set of Grado's and could not agree more with the initial impression. It was so terribly bright it was hard to listen to at the usual comfortable listening volumes, really turned me off of them. Its good to know that this goes away after a short time of listening. I'm not sure how long the set has been up for audition at the store but i can only assume that it had been a short time. I was on a SS amp at the time and switched to a tube amp (can't recall the names of them) and this helped a bit to warm them up. 

 

[tseliottt]

I've heard all of these and OP reaffirms what I heard. Except she's a bit too polite in her critiques. The highs on the DT990s and Grados are way too harsh. The Bass on the DT990s is muddy compared to the D2000s. And the HD650s are just horrible at retrieving detail, and conjuring any sort of excitement. I simply don't understand the appeal of the Senns. Especially at their absurd price. I haven't heard the AKGs though, and this review makes me even more curious.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

Quote:

I've heard all of these and OP reaffirms what I heard. Except she's a bit too polite in her critiques. The highs on the DT990s and Grados are way too harsh. The Bass on the DT990s is muddy compared to the D2000s. And the HD650s are just horrible at retrieving detail, and conjuring any sort of excitement. I simply don't understand the appeal of the Senns. Especially at their absurd price. I haven't heard the AKGs though, and this review makes me even more curious.

 
perhaps.
 
the WA6-SE with 6ew7 tubes really tamed the highs on most of these headphones, the dt 990 where only bright the first few days of burn-in, and the grados where only bright at higher volumes, and worse on poor recordings,though generally it was tolerable. their brightness really helps extract a ton of detail, much more than the others. the dt 990 rolls off in the sub-bass, but i wouldn't call it muddy, though the denons do perform the bass better than the beyers. the hd 650s are actually quite detailed, but you need a good amp to really bring out their transparency, or else the "veil" congests the sound. i found the hd 650s to be extremely enjoyable, and compared to my old hd 650 setup (entry lvl SS amp, portable amp, and soundcard), it was much much better. it just doesn't seem like it since the other headphones here are brighter, though they ain't as smooth as the 650 (i know the denons and beyers in particularly tend to have more grain in their sound).

 

[ravager]

Thanks for your impressions, Dubstep Girl. This was the first roundup I read and I helped me choose my (excellent) Grado SR325is as a replacement for the SR80i set I had been using for a little over a year. I drive them with my NAD 316BEE and am very happy with the results. Forward, is an understatement, but that suits my listening style perfectly. In fact, I was blown away with how these cans sounded with My Bloody Valentine, compared to the 80s and my IEMs (Shure 210). There is a much wider soundstage and the mids are so immediate. (Is that a good description?) And I won't even go into detail about the listening bliss I felt while listening to "The Guitar Trio".
 
Thanks again. Head Fi is costing me money, but I am learning much, and I would say my music listening pleasure has trebled in the past few months. : )

 

[Dubstep Girl]

glad you are enjoying them! 
 
they're one of my favorite headphones in this price point, they're a little bright on some setups, but they really bring out the details quite nicely, especially for a headphone at this price! 

 

[ravager]

They were actually sounding overly bright to me lately, and I found out why. I was using iTunes through that NAD (via analog output on the airport express) and I had the stupid Itunes equalizer enabled. Wow, do I feel the fool. Turned that off, and suddenly the 325s became much more tame, but kept the wider soundstage and beautiful mids. And since I was trying to get used to that artificial brightness, they obviously don't sound at all bright anymore! It is all about perception... Definitely pleased.

 

[radiofrog]

Thanks for this write-up, Dubstep Girl.  It's helped me focus on which cans I want to audition.  For an audiophile noob like me, it's helpful to find an article on headphone impressions written in "English." 

   It makes it easier to translate the other reviews I've been reading.

 

[frikase]

Quote:

Glad to see that I'm not delusional.  After reading so much about how hard the K 701/702s are to drive and how they require hundreds of hours of burn-in, I was very surprised that they sounded the way they did (and gave the D2000s the beating that they did, IMO) straight out of the box with only the FiiO E7.

 
Would the e10 be able to power the k702 well enough?

 

[liamstrain]

Quote:

 
Would the e10 be able to power the k702 well enough?

 
Yes

 

[CheeseWithWorms]

About the grado sr325is.
 
Would it tear my ear drums if i listened to them at very, very high volume?
 
This overly bright ''thing'' worries me.

 

[Dubstep Girl]

very very high volumes, yes.
 
unfortunately with many bright audiophile headphones, the louder you get, the more obvious the treble becomes. at loud, its not a problem with the 325is, but completely blasting them as loud as they go, yes.

 

[Tony1110]

You'd probably blast out the drivers too. I listen to music way too loud but I never found the 325is too bright. They're awesome, fun headphones. Wish I hadn't sold mine.