Grado SR60 headphone review for Music Lovers [long] (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

I bought mine in 1997 I believe and just have the stock ear pads. They work fine for me. I don't use them everyday though...

 

[PaulHeroy]

Wow, nice review in the original post Carlo, and it's fun to read through this thread. I've been a Grado fan for... I'm not even sure how long now, but I have a pair of HP-2s, predecessor of the curent RS line. They went for about $495 back in the day, though I got them for a nice discount via mail order. (And that was when M/O meant an ad in the back of High Fidelity or Audio magazine! Damn, more memories...)

Anyway, I loved them so much but I sure didn't want to bring phones that expensive on trips etc. At the time I had one of the $40-50 Sennheiser phones for that purpose, but as soon as the SR-60 came out I snagged a pair. I just recently bought replacement pads for both Grados from headphone.com the "comfies" annoy me a bit compared to the original (and long ago fallen apart) set, but I'll have to try the hole mod.

I've had a few pretty good phones over the years... the most comfy and still good sounding set in use is the Sennheiser HD580. I had a set of Signet TK33 electrostats that I got for an unbelievable price on closeout, almost 20 years ago. They came with their own amp and non-standard connector, which made them non-portable and a bit unwieldy to use but WOW what a sweet sound. They fell apart after a while, and it took me years to work up the courage to actually get rid of them. The Grado HP-2s were the first dynamic phones that made me not pine for the Signets.

 

[Wayde_R]

Today I had the pleasure of testing the Grado SR60s, 325s and some Sennheiser HD 600s plugged into a really nice Antique tube headphone amp switching between an Ipod (with 320 bit mp3s of my fav tunes) and an Arcam CD player for some CD sound.

Without going into too much detail, I love the Grado sound. I guess it's just a personal preference and I can understand why it's not for everyone. First, let me say that the SR60s stack up well against their more expensive counterparts (the 325s). You have to listen for the details to come out in the 325s and the bass holds together a little better in the 325s. But it's not a significant difference. Now, compare that to the Sennheiser HD 600s and you can tell this is significantly different approach to making a headphone. If I may be so bold as to say the Sennheiser's seem to try to be "better" where as the Grado's seem to try to appeal to those who love that "bounce" they have.

It's probably been said in this thread before, the Sennheiser's are probably better suited to classical, jazz, that kind of thing. Grado's are better suited to rock music or anything with a lively tempo. The aluminium cans of the 325s had this fun sort of bounce to the bass that I really loved. If I had the money, I'd have bought the 325s. But since I presently own the SR60s and love 'em I don't feel I'm missing much.

I took my Grado's home and dusted off an old NAD pre-amp in my basement. Lo and behold a Phones jack. Before buying the Grado's I used to ignore those things. My old pre-amp suddenly has new value. I'm listening to it right now powering up my SR60s, the sound is comparable to what I was listening to earlier but definitely not quite there.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, wish I could've gotten my hands on the SR60's to try out before buying my Sennheiser PX200's recently. Had been hearing good things about those cans for the longest time, except their comfort level, but I didn't want to spend the $$$ w/out a trial first. Still, I do listen more to classical and jazz and not much in terms of rock, so if that common wisdom is true, then I guess I'm probably not missing too much.

_Man_

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Actually the Grados sound terrific with classical due to the high level of detail.

 

[Danny Tse]

I use a pair of Sennheiser PX200 everyday on my work commute. Need the closed design so that I don't disturb others with my music (today was Van Halen) and the PX200 also does a good job of isolating me from the noise generated by a speeding train.

But the SR60 is a definite step-up when compared to the PX100/200.

 

[Peter Kim]

Thanks for your impassioned and beautiful review, Carlos.

I was vaguely aware of Grado Labs and only as a cartridge manufacturer. After your review, I spent hours into early mornings for several weeks reading countless online reviews and comments.

But I had alread been burned several times in a short time span with failed promises by a couple of Sony's and a B&O. I was gun-shy after shelling out close to $300, only to nearly cringe when listening to all three.

But I kept returning to your review. Several times. And finally, tonight I drove almost 30 minutes to the nearest dealer. I was set on buying a pair of Grados blind/deaf, that's how much delight and satisfaction your voice carried.

The guy at the store was friendly and unassuming and let me demo a brand new pair of 60's. He must of witnessed an expression of surprise and relief wash over me since he only smiled and walked away with a knowing look.

I ended up buying the Grado SR-80 only because they were on sale for $80. I returned home four hours ago and haven't removed them since. I haven't listened to music for this amount of uninterrupted time for over 15 years.

Thanks to DanielCo, once I buy "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty and pair it with these Grado's, I'm going to cry.