Welcome.
You made a very good choice for your first set of decent phones. Here are a few tips and words of wisdom from one who has been down the Head-Fi road and back several times over the last 5 years:
Going from a stock pair of ibuds, or cheapo headphones packaged with consumer grade electronics to a pair of Grado SR-60s will likely be the best, most intense and dramatic "eargasm" you will ever have for the rest of your life. IMO, the SR-60s get you about 75% of the way "there" in the world of good headphones. And to make such a dramatic leap from ibuds to the SR-60s can be quite a mind blowing experience. But it is pretty hard to go from say a pair of SR-60s to a high end expensive pair of headphones, and achieve such dramatic results (eargasm) that one would get from going from ibuds to the SR-60s. The law of diminishing returns kick in pretty hardcore beyond the SR-60s, or at least that has been my experience (and I have owned quite a lot of headphones and headphone related gear over the years).
So my advice to you is: enjoy the SR-60s and cherish them for a good long while before you decide to start throwing a ton of money at this hobby. After you have spent a good long time just enjoying the crap out of the SR-60s, THEN ask yourself if you really want to start throwing a bunch of money at higher end headphones, sources, amps, cables, etc. in order to squeeze that last 25% out of the sound quality that one can achieve through a pair of headphones. To achieve that last 25% can cost several thousands of dollars - ask me how I know...
So instead of jumping head first into the hobby by throwing a bunch of money chasing that last 25%, try the following things (on the cheap) to improve the sound quality you are hearing (sometimes quite dramatically) through your SR-60s:
For listening at home, instead of listening to lossy MP3s, dig out that old CD player that I am sure you have laying around the house somewhere, and connect it to your home theater amp/receiver. Plug your SR-60s into the headphone jack of your home theater amp/receiver, dust off your CD collection, and enjoy. This could easily prove to be a very dramatic improvement in sound quality.
For listening on the go with your DAP, consider re-ripping your CD collection to at least 195kbps if your MP3 collection isn't already ripped at that bitrate (or higher). 128kbps is fine for stock ibuds or headphones, but not so great for a decent set of headphones. Going from 128kbps to 195kbps will definitely improve the sound quality, and listening experience with your SR-60s. If you have a large storage capacity on your DAP, you may want to consider 256kbps. Ripping to MP3 format is always a balance of sound quality versus file size. I can very easily hear the difference between 128kbps and 192kbps, can just barely notice a difference (if I try REALLY hard) between 192kbps and 256kbps, and I can't tell the difference between 256kbps and lossless. Some claim they can (and good for them, I guess), but I certainly cannot. So I always shoot for at least 256kbps when I want the best sound quality to file size ration. In summary: always shoot for at least 192kbps or better for your MP3 collection.
The cool thing about Grado headphones is that you can "roll pads". Try flats, reversed flats, bowls, reversed bowls, Sennheiser HD414 pads, taped bowls and sock mod. Swapping pads of various types can change the sound ranging from subtle to quite dramatic. This is one of the beautiful things about owning a pair of Grado phones - if you have a bunch of different types of pads on hand, it is like have 3 or 4 different headphones in one. NOTE: Brand new pads can be a little pricey, so shop around here on Head-Fi for sale threads, and Ebay for lightly used pads.
Since Grado headphones are supra-aural (IE rest ON your ears), there is the potential for discomfort during a long listening session. Don't be afraid to bend the headband out such that the pads rest more lightly on your ears. I am pretty sure that Grado stills ships instructions showing one how to do this with the purchase of a brand new pair of Grado phones.
I hope you find my advice useful. If ever a time in my life came that required me to get rid of all of my pricey headphone gear for some reason, my "go to" budget phones would be the Grado SR-60s. I could easily live happily ever after listening to CDs, and powering a pair of SR-60s through my home theater amp/receiver headphone jack.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is all about enjoying the music - never forget this point. I would rather see you follow the advice I have given you in this thread, and instead of spending hundreds of dollars on headphones and related gear, buy a bunch of music.
Best of luck on your Head-Fi journey.
P.S. If you absolutely feel the urge to dive headlong into this hobby, and you have the wallet to back it up, save up enough money to go straight to the top of the Grado line. For a reasonable sum of money, I suggest the RS-1s. If you are willing (and able) to spend the big bucks, I would recommend a pair of PS-1s. Just keep in mind that if you go down that path, in order to get the most out of those pricey phones, you will likely want a good source and amp (my favorites with Grado phones has always been a tube amp of some sort). At that point you may as well spring for some decent cables to hook everything up with - bluejeans cables are wonderful and affordable, and can be fabricated to lengths you specify. All said, you are looking at several thousands of dollars to get to that point - so once again, you will have to ask yourself if it is worth spending that much time, effort and money to pursue that last 25% of sound quality. The law of diminishing returns can be an expensive, nasty little b**ch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by oddity /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Today I got to demo a pair of Grado SR60i's and SR80i's...
WOW.
I am a life long musician and have owned countless pairs of "studio" headphones, and none of them compare.
Even though they were powered by a cheap-o Boostero Radio-Shack special, they sounded phenomenal. I ordered a set of SR60i's off of Amazon and I am practically rolling around on the floor gibbering waiting for them to show up.
Now I just need a decent amp to power them....
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