[schaaf]

First off, I know these are completely different animals in that one is open and the other closed. 
 
I'll start off by saying that I currently have a pair of 225i headphones running un-amped from my iPhone 5 playing lossless files. They're broken. I think. I loaned them to someone for a while, and I bet they got turned up way to loud because now i have a "driver rattle" at certain frequencies and volumes. 
 
I'd like to replace them with something that's 
A) Easy to drive
B) Fun to listen to.
C) Has some soundstage.
 
Listen to mainly acoustic stuff, but pretty much all genres are represented in my music library. 
 
The closed factor would be nice for when I'm around the wife and she doesn't really want to hear Dave Matthews.
 
I'm looking for anyone that has heard both headphones to give me sort of a "what will I be missing" rundown. 
It doesn't necessarily need to be the "e" version either. 
 
I know that a closed headphone isn't going to give me a grand, wide open, sweeping soundstage, but it can't really be any worse than my current 225's.
 
I'm also open to any other suggestions in the same sub 250 dollar price range. 
 
 
Anyone have any thoughts? 
 
Thanks!
 
S-

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I'll start off by saying that I currently have a pair of 225i headphones running un-amped from my iPhone 5 playing lossless files. They're broken. I think. I loaned them to someone for a while, and I bet they got turned up way to loud because now i have a "driver rattle" at certain frequencies and volumes. 

 

Have you checked Grado troubleshooting threads? it's a well known issue that hair or other debris can easily get inside the driver housing from either side, and 99.9% of the time it's hair, pet dander, or other such debris causing the rattles, not driver damage. This can be dependent on volume as well as frequecies, as the resonant frequency that causes the most movement on the drivers against the debris or the moving the debris itself against the driver might not be loud enough sometimes.
 

Originally Posted by schaaf /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I know that a closed headphone isn't going to give me a grand, wide open, sweeping soundstage, but it can't really be any worse than my current 225's.

 

Actually, barring at minimum the AKG x7xx series or even the Sennheiser HD6x0, the differences between open back and closed back headphones is a bit exaggerated. If a closed back headphone has controlled resonance within the chamber, then the soundstage will only be slightly smaller - what matters more than soundstage size is precise placement of each instrument against the other. To wit, when you wear the SR225 right on top of your ear canals, the stage only seems wide because you hear the drums way off to the right and left, but you don't hear the guitars any farther than that, right? So if you visualize all that, it just looks like Reed "Mr. Fantastic" Richards is playing the drums laid out across the stage, or your guitarists are standing right next to the vocalist on either side. By contrast I've noticed many people assume a headphone has a smaller soundstage just because the drum roll and piano don't go all the way from left to right.

 

When I had my SR225 I listen to them slightly forward of my ears (the rear half of the earpads resting on my earlobe, driver isn't aligned and slightly forward of the ear canal), ditto with my brother's SR80i. With the too strong L and R image thus reduced, the MDR-1R for example doesn't sound too far "behind" in terms of soundstage; conversely, the SR225's relative/proportional soundstage image doesn't sound unnatural vs the MDR-1R.
 

Originally Posted by schaaf /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
The closed factor would be nice for when I'm around the wife and she doesn't really want to hear Dave Matthews.
 
I'm looking for anyone that has heard both headphones to give me sort of a "what will I be missing" rundown. 
It doesn't necessarily need to be the "e" version either. 

 

You won't be missing all that much, save for the eye-popping dynamic range on Grados, which it might not really have that much to begin with on general purpose mobile devices. Using a mobile phone, the Prestige series Grados particularly those with the L-cush pads tend to sound generally a bit thinner - easy to drive as they are this is what they tend to sound like when you don't have a real amp or a good DAP running them. By contrast the MDR-1R, likely due to its closed design that isolates better both ways (keeps noise out, keeps its own sound - particularly bass - in), has decent enough bass on smartphones and an amp just controls the bass better.

 

Comfort is another matter entirely as they fit differently. While you might feel a bit of pain from wearing the Grados as tight as they need to be (and they press on your earlobes, regardless of how the on-ear pads are worn on the ear), the MDR-1R won't press on the earlobes but if you have slightly larger ears they can feel a bit cramped. The fit was too snug around my ears - great isolation but my earlobes were folded on the top in there. They also got kind of hot, but I do live in a humid climate.

 

One thing however that the Grados have going for them aside from preference for its fit in this case is how easy it is to replace the earpads (heck, every part of a Grado is easy to replace). just order from a dealer for $20, pull out the old ones with zero effort, then slip the new ones in. Done. AFAIK, the MDR-1R's is glued or something, so when the leather(ette?) wears out or the foam itself gets too squished, it's not going to be as straightforward as with Grados or even the more popular German cans.

 

Personally, if I was in your position, I'd open up the SR225 first and check for debris. If that works well enough, I'll just save the $250; if I'd still spend that anyway, I'd rather toy around with the SR225. First, reterminate its cable with a 3.5mm plug so you won't have to deal with the bulky adapter when using a phone with it. Second, I'd get a Headphile C-Pad* adapter so I can use a Beyerdynamic earpad on it for better comfort. I'm planning on getting a used SR325 next year for use with my laptop when I'm working (I currently have a good IEM, so I'm not really rushing this) or with my gaming rig (my IEM can't do gaming virtual surround as well as even cheap Creative headphones on the same USB soundcard, which is why a second fullsize headphone makes sense for me), solder on a new 3.5mm plug on it myself and then order the C-Pads. Of course, you'd still have to sit a bit farther from your wife if you go with this, as it won't do anything about the wide open ass-end of the headphone chamber.

 

 

 

*Here's the addy for the c-pads: http://www.headphile.com/page15.html. If he has any stock Grado cables with the 3.5mm plug lying around you could check if he might be willing to solder it on for labor cost and get the stock cable for free; or just replace the plug on the SR225 (AFAIK the 6.35mm cables have more copper conductors in them than the 3.5mm cables, but I could be wrong).