[ljokerl]

Quote:

Are these scores comparable with those for the IEMs? I.e. is a 7/10 for a circumaural for sound quality the same as a 7/10 for an IEM?

 
Not on purpose but they seem to correspond reasonably well (within 0.25-0.5 point or so).

 

[johanchandy]

Quote:

I have those cans aswell and I too find the bass sometimes overwhelming, the phone it´s pretty dark, if you don't want to spend to much I can recomend any good Koss like the KCS75 or the portapro or even the ktx1, if you can spend a bit more any good grado would do a better job on metal (it's my fav type of music along alternative rock).

In the end even though I wanted closed back head phones I settled on the Grado sr80i's just to understand what the hype of the Grado sound was.....and boy was I surprised! Its exactly what I wanted! I wished the highs were a bit more smoother but I've read an sr80i with smoother highs are the sr325i which is way more expensive. Thank You for the recommendation sinquito.
 
Some thoughts-I bought the sr80i's for 145 bucks including tax here in Canada(ouch) and the sad part is that it is not 3 times better for me over the Samson SR850's which I got for 40 bucks including tax, they are actually quite comparable to each other. Those Samson's are crazy value, slightly more laid back but more of an all-rounder and much more forgiving to poor recordings and they have a lot of bass although I feel the bass on the Grado's are perfect for me although I feel like they don't extend too low(these have a surprising amount of bass, more than I expected after reading a lot about Grado's). I am planning to mod my sr80i's. Both of these changed quite a bit with burn in and they still have a ways to go(the Grado's increased in volume, the sound became more full, the highs became less harsh and fatiguing whereas the Samsons highs became less harsh as well and its bass became more defined and tighter over time). The Grado's sound a bit clearer and sound like they resolve better(this could be because of the amount of bass it has and because of how mid-centric these cans are, and in comparison the SR850's sound like they have slight hollow/echoey sound and sound a tad bit more congested when a lot of tracks come together although they are not so genre specific as the Grado's. All in all I am very happy with these two although their build quality leaves a lot to be desired.

Joker why don't you add the SR80i's to your shootout, I've read somewhere in your shootout that you've heard them, I am curious to know what you think of them. And also thank you for your earlier recommendations, your shootout it amazing!

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Quote:

Some thoughts-I bought the sr80i's for 145 bucks including tax here in Canada(ouch) and the sad part is that it is not 3 times better for me over the Samson SR850's which I got for 40 bucks including tax

 
Not so... or not unique I should say. The formula would almost look like 10x price = 1/x improvement. That may be overstating, but it certainly isn't linear. It gets less linear the higher up you go. At a certain point it seems like you are paying more for image and exclusivity, etc. But it's like that everything. Is a Ferrari many times "better" than a Ford? Not for most people. We're talking luxury items though, so it's hard to rationalize from the very get go.

 

[johanchandy]

Quote:

 
Not so... or not unique I should say. The formula would almost look like 10x price = 1/x improvement. That may be overstating, but it certainly isn't linear. It gets less linear the higher up you go. At a certain point it seems like you are paying more for image and exclusivity, etc. But it's like that everything. Is a Ferrari many times "better" than a Ford? Not for most people. We're talking luxury items though, so it's hard to rationalize from the very get go.

I agree and I'm aware of that. The point I was trying to make was that the Samson's sound waaay better than their modest cost.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Joker why don't you add the SR80i's to your shootout, I've read somewhere in your shootout that you've heard them, I am curious to know what you think of them. And also thank you for your earlier recommendations, your shootout it amazing!

I chose not to review them because the pair I had was not stock and it would not have made sense to include it in the context of this review. 

 

[johanchandy]

Quote:

I chose not to review them because the pair I had was not stock and it would not have made sense to include it in the context of this review. 

Ah that makes sense. What was done to them? I'm wondering if I should quartermod them or if I should just go and buy "Bowls".

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Ah that makes sense. What was done to them? I'm wondering if I should quartermod them or if I should just go and buy "Bowls".

Removed badging, metal mesh grilles instead of the plastic ones, and re-cabled/re-terminated. 

 

[Change is Good]

Ok, now on to this thread since you helped me find the perfect IEMs. I'm looking for some closed portable cans (preferably on-ear) with a detachable cable. Once again, I prefer a sound signature similar to my Q701 and GR07. Searching through this thread I found the Denon DN-HP700, but it has no detachable cable. Any other suggestions?

 

[sinquito]

Quote:

In the end even though I wanted closed back head phones I settled on the Grado sr80i's just to understand what the hype of the Grado sound was.....and boy was I surprised! Its exactly what I wanted! I wished the highs were a bit more smoother but I've read an sr80i with smoother highs are the sr325i which is way more expensive. Thank You for the recommendation sinquito.
 
Some thoughts-I bought the sr80i's for 145 bucks including tax here in Canada(ouch) and the sad part is that it is not 3 times better for me over the Samson SR850's which I got for 40 bucks including tax, they are actually quite comparable to each other. Those Samson's are crazy value, slightly more laid back but more of an all-rounder and much more forgiving to poor recordings and they have a lot of bass although I feel the bass on the Grado's are perfect for me although I feel like they don't extend too low(these have a surprising amount of bass, more than I expected after reading a lot about Grado's). I am planning to mod my sr80i's. Both of these changed quite a bit with burn in and they still have a ways to go(the Grado's increased in volume, the sound became more full, the highs became less harsh and fatiguing whereas the Samsons highs became less harsh as well and its bass became more defined and tighter over time). The Grado's sound a bit clearer and sound like they resolve better(this could be because of the amount of bass it has and because of how mid-centric these cans are, and in comparison the SR850's sound like they have slight hollow/echoey sound and sound a tad bit more congested when a lot of tracks come together although they are not so genre specific as the Grado's. All in all I am very happy with these two although their build quality leaves a lot to be desired.

Glad you like them, to be honest the only Grado headphone I have heard is  the Alessandro MS1i which I own, originally I wanted to buy the SR60i because I'd read it was the best bang for the buck you can buy on headphones, but then read that the SR80i sounded a little better  and it wasn't all that expensive, oh but I was wrong, it is very hard to buy Grados outside the US, since I live in Mexico it was way easier and inexpensive to buy the Music Series 1 which for what I read it sounds something like the SR80i and the SR125i, but tunned for guitar driven music as Alessandro sells equipment for guitarists. I love how they sound with anything but they excels with metal and alternative rock, but to be honest I don't think these are portable or meant to be use on the move, I use them with my laptop and I'm really happy, I have them for more than 3 years and I haven't had a single problem with them, they look like when I took them out of the box.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Ok, now on to this thread since you helped me find the perfect IEMs. I'm looking for some closed portable cans (preferably on-ear) with a detachable cable. Once again, I prefer a sound signature similar to my Q701 and GR07. Searching through this thread I found the Denon DN-HP700, but it has no detachable cable. Any other suggestions?

AKG Q460 but really it's not as good as the GR07 or HP700. 

 

[johanchandy]

Quote:

Glad you like them, to be honest the only Grado headphone I have heard is  the Alessandro MS1i which I own, originally I wanted to buy the SR60i because I'd read it was the best bang for the buck you can buy on headphones, but then read that the SR80i sounded a little better  and it wasn't all that expensive, oh but I was wrong, it is very hard to buy Grados outside the US, since I live in Mexico it was way easier and inexpensive to buy the Music Series 1 which for what I read it sounds something like the SR80i and the SR125i, but tunned for guitar driven music as Alessandro sells equipment for guitarists. I love how they sound with anything but they excels with metal and alternative rock, but to be honest I don't think these are portable or meant to be use on the move, I use them with my laptop and I'm really happy, I have them for more than 3 years and I haven't had a single problem with them, they look like when I took them out of the box.

Yes I love these! These Grado's were more or less an impulse buy, in hindsight I would have saved a bit of money if I wen't with the ms1i's as Grados are quite expensive here in Canada as well. I use these at home and use my modded K518le's as my portable's. All in all I'm quite happy. Are you using the stock pads?
Quote:

Removed badging, metal mesh grilles instead of the plastic ones, and re-cabled/re-terminated. 

Wow that seems pretty extensive....Nice!

 

[Change is Good]

Quote:

AKG Q460 but really it's not as good as the GR07 or HP700. 

 
Yea, I've been curious about the Q460 since I purchased the Q701. But since you say it is not as good as the GR07 or HP700, I might have to pass and just deal with my GR07 as my portable set. If the HP700 had a detachable cable it would be perfect. Close portable cans aren't a must, though... it's more of a want so I can have two different options when on the go (in-ear or on-ear/over-ear). Thanks again for all your help.

 

[sinquito]

Quote:

Yes I love these! These Grado's were more or less an impulse buy, in hindsight I would have saved a bit of money if I wen't with the ms1i's as Grados are quite expensive here in Canada as well. I use these at home and use my modded K518le's as my portable's. All in all I'm quite happy. Are you using the stock pads?
 

Yeah, stock pads here, I'd read that the bowls and some yellow senns do wonders with them, maybe I will buy some yellow senns in the future as they are cheaper than the bolws. What kind of mod did you do on your AKGs?

 

[johanchandy]

Quote:

Yeah, stock pads here, I'd read that the bowls and some yellow senns do wonders with them, maybe I will buy some yellow senns in the future as they are cheaper than the bolws. What kind of mod did you do on your AKGs?

Nothing much, I took the foam inserts out and replaced the stock pads with the pads on an Organic brand headphone which looks identical to the Coby cv-185. These pads are circumaural and not on ear and the fit is a bit tight(don't know if the Coby has the same pads). The sound changes quite a bit to the better and the K518 now sounds like a much better headphone(bass is much tighter and not boomy although it reduces in quantity a bit which I liked, mids and highs are more pronounced). I'm planning on replacing these pads with the velour Senn hd 25 pads when I get a chance to do so as I read here on head-fi that these are pretty comfortable.
 
Stock the k518le's sounded decent but the bass was a bit boomy and overwhelming, the mids and highs were a tad veiled as well, but imho after modding they sound much MUCH better!, the veil is gone and the bass is much better(tighter). An absolute steal for the 45 bucks I paid for these.
 
Regarding the pads for the Grado's, I'm wondering if I could make my own Bowl pads from the foam inside the box the Grado's come in. I'll give it a shot tmr..

 

[aspher]

wooo...many thanks for the review.Love dt1350,