Well, I have both and have listened to both a lot. I think the Grado SR60s have a significanlty better sound quality than the KSC-35s, but I did feel compelled to cut a quarter-sized hole in the soft earpads of the SR60s, and this increased the sound quality of the Grados about two-fold, at least for my taste. They went from pleasing to dazzling. The KSC-35s are good enough to enjoy music tremendously. The weaknesses, to me are that the bass sounds great but not LOW, and the highs on the KSC-35s sound to me a little too sparkly, like something's missing just below the highest frequencies. The Grados sound smooth and bright in the high end and the bass is low and balanced but a little weak. They are both pleasing in a similar way to me, in that they both have a very natural and unforced sounding presence in the mid-range, where I feel most of the music is. I wouldn't want to do without either one, if I were in your shoes I'd get both (obviously, since that's what I did). I got the 20-buck deal on the KSC-35s. Prefer them greatly to the 15 buck KSC-50s mainly due to fit issues.