[runningman1960]

Am I going insane? My  first pair of quality headphones (about 7 yrs ago) were the grado sr80, which at first I was a little disappointed with. But then after about 7 or 8  months they morphed into the best sounding cans I've ever heard. They satifsfied me for another 3 yrs at which point I was bitten by the upgrade bug. Since then I've purchased the denon 1001k, denon ah-d200, grado's own sr325is, Sennheiser hd650, and a couple portables (koss porta pros, senn px100). Realizing that I needed a good amp to drive them, I bought the Kicas caliente....exellent, and a portable amp "practicle devices- xm5".....xm5 ( with buf634) is one of the best purchases in music I've made, it's that good. Eventually my girlfriend persuaded me into giving her my sr80's, so the majority of my listening was on my home system, giving pretty much equal time to the hd650,sr325is, and the ah-d2000 ( I love them all for different reasons). The sr325is are great for pop/rock, jazz, acoustic; and the denon d2000's are great for rap, hip-hop, jazz and best surround sound I've heard for movies. The hd650's are like the middle child, they are good at everything, and don't do anything wrong, but they don't bring the same exitement to the house as the other two lunatics. My one problem was that I wasn't satisfied with my portable cans, I really missed my sr80's and my girlfriend wasn't about to give them up.
   Good news is that I just bought a brand new set of sr80i. It's been about a wk, and they are really starting to sound nice, I'd forgotten just how nice. I hooked them up to  my home system, and i was shocked to find that they sound amazing out of the caliente, and with the xm5 for portable use, I was in heaven. Seven yrs later, and a wallet that's much lighter, I realized that you don't have to spend alot of money to get outstanding sound. My other more expensive headphones aren't nessesarily "better" just different... Am I the only one to discover this or as I began,"am I going insane".

 

[Prog Rock Man]

No you are not going insane. What you have experienced is why they say "sorry about your wallet" around these parts as you can so easily get bitten bitten by the upgrade bug. You just got lucky and the first cans you bought were the ones for you. Others have to search much further.

 

[Abovetheair]

Everybody has there personal opinions. You just like the lower in grado sound

 

[runningman1960]

Maybe you're right, but they do everything flawlessly...then again, I might enjoy beer more champagne

 

[supersleuth]

There's a reason why the SR60/80 have garnered a thick sheaf of glowing reviews since their introduction. They really do punch above their weight and they remain among the greatest bargains in audio.

 

[Zombie_X]

 
They are great cans for sure. 
 
I was originally was going to get the HD800, but convinced myself they aren't that huge of an upgrade and instead I recabled my DT880 so they were balanced. I mainly use the DT880, but for portable I use the GMP 435S.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

My other more expensive headphones aren't nessesarily "better" just different... Am I the only one to discover this or as I began,"am I going insane".

Everybody discovers it. Few admit to doing so. And many delude themselves into thinking that it cannot be. This is why we have hundreds of threads and topics discussing why something is "better" than something else.
 
There is no reason why your SR80i should not be giving you musical thrills. I doubt that they are holding anything back from you.

 

[Mochan]

You're not insane, you're actually the most sane person on this board. The crazy people are the ones spending thousands of dollards on gear that only has 2% or 3% better sound than a $100-$200 setup. 
 
I've never felt that gear under the $200 was inherently inferior to more expensive gear. I find that this is the best value actually. After you break the $200 barrier the returns keep getting smaller and smaller, for people with limited resources I strongly advocate Mid-Fiism. 
 
 
Incidentally, I just came back to an SR80i setup myself, though mine is heavily modded. But I am perfectly happy with them. Could I get better sound by getting an RS1 instead? Well yes, but the price is not worth it to me. I wrote in a review before that people getting a Grado SR60 shouldn't feel shafted that they are getting a "crippled" version of the more expensive Grados. The SR60 is everything the more expensive models are in soul. This is true of a lot of audio gear. 

 

[runningman1960]

Thanks Mochan,
   I'm glad you're enjoying your sr80i's, I've never heard modded ones..... sounds interesting.

 

[Mochan]

Grados are just so much fun to mod, because they're so easy to take apart.  
If you really want to get the most for the dollar modding lower end models IMO is the best way. You get to tweak the sound to the way you like it. Here's the thread I made on the modded SR80.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/500525/the-100-grado-that-beat-the-m50-in-bass

 

[runningman1960]

 

.
 

 
Wow, They look impressive, nothing like stock sr80i's. It appears they might have the soundstage of the RS1's, but w/killer bass.

 

[runningman1960]

Hi Beagle, I guess the journey is most of the fun...
 
Quote:

 Everybody discovers it. Few admit to doing so...

 

[Arkaium]

This was the thread that finally pushed me into my first purchase.  Thank you.  I've been struggling so much with all the options (far more expensive options), and I found myself quite reluctant to the notion of buying hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of equipment to make a 300-400 dollar headphone sound great, but through it all I kept wondering why I didn't just get a cheap pair of Grados.  Deep down I knew I wanted headphones that would sound good unamped, with even the possibility for some portable use (although the open back makes that less likely in the end).
 
Years ago, when I told my cousin (he lived in NY at the time) I wanted good headphones, he immediately told me to get Grados.  I'd never even heard of them.  My biggest reluctance was the issue of comfort, which I'm sure I'll probably still have to some degree.  There's really no way they can be comfortable in comparison to the HD650s, the DT880s, or the D2000s, but I think the bang-for-buck factor should, as long as headphones aren't UNCOMFORTABLE, be the deciding factor.
 
I've ordered my SR-80is from Shoreline Music (thru Amazon) and eagerly await the chance to tear into my library of music anew.  Mochan's extensive—albeit quite cool looking—modding (I'm not much of a modder), are there any accesories folks would recommend?  People seem to mention the L-cushions (the ones that look like bowls, right?).  Should I get a stand to keep the cable nice and straight?
 
Out of curiosity, does anyone with the low-end Grado's have the recently released remastered Beatles Mono set?  That's one collection I've always been a little disappointed by with my other mediocre audio equipment, and I'm very excited to hear them on my incoming SR-80is.  I'm also a big Muse fan, I'm guessing that the Grados, being suited to rock, will fit that bill nicely?
 
Thanks for the thread!

 

[supersleuth]

For comfort, just remember that the headband is plain steel, not spring steel that wants to retain its shape. You can bend it as much as you want to get as loose a fit as you want.

 

[Townyj]

After all the phones ive been through i have ended up back with a pair of MS-1's.. They put more of a smile on my face all the others failed to do. So your not the only one to do a full circle!