[Fryguy8]

I've had a pair of grado sr225s for a while now (maybe 2 years?), connected to a denon receiver strictly for home use. Now that I've had them for a while, I'm beginning to get a bit bored with them. They sound great to me, but I'm always pursuing better. A few things about my listening habits

1. I listen to ALL SORTS of content, mostly computer content though, either very high bitrate mp3s or flac. And when I saw all sorts of music, I mean ALL sorts, from classical, to classic rock, to heavy metal, to techno, to rap, and beyond.

2. I almost always listen at low volume levels, sometimes moderate. Going by ear, since I can't exactly stick an spl meter by the headphones to get an accurate reading, I'd say 65db on average, 85db when I feel like going loud. This is relative to spl readings from my speaker setup. Like I said, I don't listen to headphones loudly.

3. I feel that my denon receiver drives these headphones fine at the levels I listen at. I'm not so sure an amp would benefit me.

With this said, what type of options do I have for a better headphone experience? C-Pads, get an amp anyway even though I don't think I need one, or new phones? I'm pretty happy with the sound of these phones, and don't think I'd want to shell out another $300ish for some higher end headphones.

Any thoughts/opinions?

 

[gshan]

I haven't heard them myself, but people do mention from time to time that the Beyerdynamic DT880 is good for low volume listening compared to others in it's range.

 

[Mercuttio]

For a nice compliment to Grado sound, try a high end Sennheiser! Your reciever will probably do them pretty well. A dedicated amp will always give you cleaner sound, though.

 

[Fryguy8]

Any specific senns I should be considering? I really like the "forward, aggressive" nature of the grados.

 

[Fryguy8]

Any thoughts on maybe getting a woody/c-pad set? Are woodies going to make much of a sonic difference, or are they mostly for appearances? I don't really want to spend the cost of my headphones on an upgrade...

C-pads I can see myself doing, however.

 

[DevilDog]

If you want better go with the RS-1. I wouldn't recommend the HD-595s in your case since you like the forward sound of the 225s, I feel those two cans are very similar in performance with the 225s being more forward.
I do think that a nice amp would help. My experience with receiver headphone out jacks isn't great. I, too, have a Denon receiver, it does well, but an amp will help.
Get the RS-1s.

 

[milkpowder]

Headphile woody/recable + C-Pads. That will really improve your Grados.