[philosoraptor]

Well, hello everyone. I'm a long time lurker and i've been on the market for a new set of headphones for a while now. I own a 'soundstage mod' pair of Sennheiser 555s and I am looking for an upgrade.

I listen to things that tend to pertain to the guitar and/or heavier styles of rock. It varies from Opeth to Joe Satriani. Naturally, after lurking through the site, I am lured by Grado. I have heard amazing thing about this brand, and although I love my senns, I think I need an upgrade to a set of cans that fit my music better.

This takes me to my question. Would you guys recommend the Grado SR325is? They are just in my price range and seem to fit the bill, but I am not sure if I should go for it. Any feedback, comments, or remarks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[joelpearce]

Others can speak better to the full range of the Grado line, but your feelings on the 325 will really depend on your tolerance of brightness. Many people prefer the 225 sound instead. There's been lots of discussion on the Grados for you to look at, though.

There's no question, though, the Grados give a more engaging sound for that style of music than the Senns.

 

[St3ve]

The general consensus is that Grado do very nicely with rock and metal. Personally, I never found the 325is to be overly bright - but I think it has a lot to do with the volume you listen at. I may well be in a very small minority who actually prefer my grados for 'cleaner' ensembles (jazz, acoustic) - I found that a bit more space (like a Senn might give you) works nicely with heavier material (like opeth). That said, the 325is (and other higher-end grados) have great tone, and voice guitar like satch beautifully, and can be very involving.

 

[aimlink]

Of all the Grado's, this one is the one that pushes the Grado sound envelope the most. Be careful... it's not for everyone. I'd sooner suggest an SR225 than the SR325is. I personally didn't use mine for heavy metal since they were too bright and strident with some of the thrash metal I'd listen to such as Metallica and Megadeth. I also had difficulty with it and Iron Maiden/Judas Priest. OTOH, I love them with Ambient, New Age, World stuff.

 

[lazure]

I have the SR-225i. They render distorsion beautifullly and I would heartily recommend them for metal. I don't find it to be a particularly versatile headphone, but for that genre, it's perfect, IMO...

 

[Paganini Alfredo]

I have a set of 325s en-route, gonna be here tomorrow. I guess I'll let you know how they sound! By the way, its gonna be interesting cause I mainly listen to rock and fairly certain I'm a treble-phobe. I mean I can't stand it. Maybe I should have gone with the 225s but I got lulled by some comments on the board with the 325s saying they were 90% of what the phones in the RS series were.

 

[outlawdon]

No.

Based on my recent experience testing out the SR325i, SR225i and my modded SR80i, I'd skip the SR325i. I also listen to a lot of rock, hard rock, and metal.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aimlink /img/forum/go_quote.gif Of all the Grado's, this one is the one that pushes the Grado sound envelope the most. Be careful... it's not for everyone. I'd sooner suggest an SR225 than the SR325is. I personally didn't use mine for heavy metal since they were too bright and strident with some of the thrash metal I'd listen to such as Metallica and Megadeth. I also had difficulty with it and Iron Maiden/Judas Priest. OTOH, I love them with Ambient, New Age, World stuff.

I'm a new SR325is owner. I've had them for less than 2 weeks. But yeah, a little harsh and strident with some of the heavy metal is right. I knew they would be like that going in. I gave them a good listen at the store before buying them. I didn't buy the SR325is for heavy metal. I got them for blues, bluesish rock, jazzish music, acoustic music, bluegrass, SR325is friendly rock, and similar.

For the heavy metal on the SR325is I've been experimenting with EQ. Just a little bit of a dip in the 1K to 6K region tames them a bit and makes the metallica and similar music more tolerable. I still need to experiment with different pads and other easy mods.

For the heavy metal and similar I still plan to use my old SR60. It is much more forgiving and doesn't need or want any EQ. In addition to the harshness of the SR325is, the extra detail it presents isn't always friendly to heavy metal which isn't normally well recorded. You start hearing recording and production defects rather than music. The SR60 doesn't suffer from those problems.

My brother has an older SR225. It's a better Grado for heavy metal than the SR325is. The SR325is though is better for the music genres/styles that I bought it for.

And I've got my D2000 and HD600 which both do metal differently than the Grados. So plenty of choices to suit my heavy metal and hard rock listening moods.

 

[clarinetman]

Yes, I would definitely recommend them.

As others have said, they're rather bright, but I listen to rock and metal with them without any brightness issues; I actually greatly enjoy this characteristic.

 

[Roger Strummer]

It depends a lot on what subgenre of metal you speak of, but if you refer to plain heavy metal (say Judas Priest) then the 225 (and depending on how sensitive you are to bright sound, the 325) are very good. But for other things, like progressive metal (Symphony X/DT/Fates Warning) or somethings in power metal, they are not that good, and HD600, pro900 or a well driven HD650 are a lot better IMO.

 

[markkr]

I'm hung up on the very same decision, except I already have the 225's and want either the MS2i or the 325is... just cant decide...

 

[Palpatine]

I listen to a lot of older AC/DC, Accept, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. I think they sound great with the sr225i. You could save a bit of money instead of buying the sr325i.

 

[Lex2]

Agree with Palpatine above. Rob Halford on the SR325i doesn't sound as great as he does on the SR225i.

Bruce Dickinson might be OK on the SR325i though.

 

[captian73]

I hate to say it, but absolutely not. I hate to go against the Grado faithful, of which I kinda say I am, but the after the iGrado's, SR60, 125, Alessandro MS-1 I thought the next step should be the 325's.

I found that they were too one dimensional. they were brilliant, unbeatable at classical and jazz but flawed with everything else.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sr3...6/#post6367224

I couldn't get on with the SR325i's and so they had to go. I had my eye on the Ultrasone Pro 900 but the driver door on my Toyota went, and I was crawling throught the passenger door to get in my car. just done £220 on that, so my Pro 900 has all but gone.

Many people say stick with the SR225's but I say; what's wrong with a pair of Alessandro MS-2's? I love my MS-1's.

 

[Roger Strummer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Palpatine /img/forum/go_quote.gif I listen to a lot of older AC/DC, Accept, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest. I think they sound great with the sr225i. You could save a bit of money instead of buying the sr325i.

Except for Iron Maiden, I share the same opinion, but for IM I think the next commentary applies to the SR225 also (in a lesser extent)


Quote:

Originally Posted by captian73 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Iron Maiden - Bring you daughter to the Slaughter is very hard work. As with Green day, all I’m getting from the 325's is guitars, overpowering guitars and little else.

I could not agree more with this opinion. And not being able to clearly listen to Steve Harris bass is like taking away a significant portion of what makes Iron Maiden good, and this also applies particularly to prog and power metal.