[sohcahtoa]

Hello,

I am looking to "upgrade" from my Grado sr80's and Beyerdynamic DT250-80's. I really like the bright clarity of the Grados, but they are abit klunky and uncomfortable. On the other hand, my Beyers are super comfy, but they are abit murky and lack the "punch" of my Grados. I also used to have a pair of the Sennheiser HD580, but I found them to be dark or flat sounding, although I could discern a wider soundstage. Amp-wise, all I have is a Porta Corda, and maybe the Senn HD580's simply required a stronger amp.

Source-wise, I am pretty low-tech. I have a Pioneer DVD Player (with brownburr dacs), a Rio Volt sp90 mp3 cd player, a Panasonic SL-CT570 portable cd player, my desktop and my laptop computer. I also use my Porta Corda connected to my DVD player to watch movies.

Music-wise, my tastes run the gamut, but mostly jazz, rock, electronica and jazz.

I don't know if I am getting the terminalogy right, but since I fancy the Grado sr80's, I must prefer "forward-sounding" headphones as opposed to the "neutral" sound of the Senn HD580s. Perhaps because I lack a truly powerful headphone amp or any sophisticated source equipment...

you get the drift, eh?
Preliminarily, I was looking at the AKG501, but also read they require a good amp and are rather neutral. They attracted me because they looked darn comfy

 

[radrd]

Maybe you should just go as high up on the Grado chain as you can afford? I have never heard any Grados, but if you like the 80s, you will probably like 125s or whatever higher-end stuff you can afford. Plus, IIRC, all of the Grados should sound good from your Porta Corda.

However, maybe someone who actually listens to Grados and knows something substantial about amps will reply.

I figured I would just get the ball rolling.