Grado - SR125x

I recently made a previous post on this sub regarding reccomendations on some open-backs since ive been very curious about them for a while and have only ever tried closed backs. For all the suggestions, (which alot of them ended up being way over the budget, unfortunately) I ended up going through a couple of headphones to try, namely the ATH-R30X and the Philips SHP9500 Both solid options and are relatively agreed upon to be great for their price point, the Philips especially i've seen MANY praise them, saying that they're the best budget headphones, how comfortable they are, and.. i didnt like them. To me they were.. muffled sounding, even. I could definitely tell they were pretty wide but honestly? I could barely tell where anything was, it was like i was in a cloud of mist, with noises being far away yet i couldnt ever tell where they were coming from. They felt airy and loose? Almost. And suprisingly they were bassy to me, despite everyone mentioning their lack of bass, i genuinely thought they were pretty booming. A big characteristic i felt was just how seperared the bass was from the rest of the track, not exactly a bad thing on its own but to me it felt like the bass was the only clear thing i could really hear. The mids felt.. foggy, somehow, muffled. And honestly despite them being described as bright i thought the treble was just fine. Not standout in any way, they were just.. Meh. I wouldve wanted more. The ATH-R30X was much of a bettter experience. The pads were so soft, it was genuinely my first time ever having pads like them. Ive had velour pads before, but it didnt felt as soft as the R30s. Though i will say they are *Small*, even for someone like me who is on the smaller side, i could still feel just how small they were. My ears felt like they didnt fit, the pads were so shallow. Though the build quality was great the headphones themselves felt worse than my M40Xs. As for the sound? Their soundstage is great! I could definitely tell it was pretty wide, and the imaging is very noticably clearer than the phillips. To use the same analogy, the fog was definitely still there, but it was alot clearer on the R30Xs. Other than that, they sounded alot more similar to my M40s which was nice, they werent as muffled compared to the Philips (Though i did still feel like they were a tiny bit muffled). Definitely on the warmer side, some of those lower frequencies were wonderful on the R30s. (Ice Cage by PROJECT ACES has an especially nice rumbly kick(?) drum(?) thing and it sounded great on the R30s, those lower frequencies were definitely caught) But i was definitely still missing the treble. After comparing to my m40s, i really did notice that i simply just preferred how my m40s sounded like. Yes the R30s were wider but now i truly understand that wider, doesnt always mean they sound better. And yknow what? After all that i finally admitted to myself that maybe, i would like the Grados. I always seemed to want more treble, and i liked brighter headphones but i was genuinely scared to at first. The community seemed so *split* against them. What if i didnt like them? What if i didnt like how they fit? What if they just sounded awful? ..And yet all of this happened to the Philips SHP9500 which almost everyone ive heard agreed it was fantastic. So i bit the bullet, i got the grados. Honestly? A part of me always wanted them, but i never caved because i was so worried since everyone seemed so mixed on them. And yknow what? I absolutely ENJOY them. They're absolutely fantastic for me and what i listen to. The upper frequency detail was amazing and i heavily enjoyed it. That was always something i wanted more of, yet i never actually did realize it. The bass was tight, but not overbearing. I honestly dislike alot of bass, they make me feel overwhelmed and especially if they're boomy i just cant handle them. The bass on the grados felt refined to me. And the mids? My god were they clear. Hearing instruments from it felt so detailed. Strings, Piano, Guitar, they were wonderful. Vocals too. And with its frequency response, percussion just sounded so juicy to me. They were great. All of this just made me realize even more that, yeah, everyone's hearing is different. Something a majority of people agree is good, might not be for me. When i heard grados described they always sounded great to me. I wanted the sparkly sound signature. Yet hearing all the mixed reviews about them always put me off. I thought "Ill just get a more widely agreed upon pair" and moved on. Now after finally having them, i can say for certain that to me and my ears. Grados are awesome.

New? Ft1 pro, the regular Ft1 is good but not "big ass easy to drive planar magnetic that come with both 3.5 and 4.4 cables. For about 200 But year on year, used grado sr60, 80, 125, and 225's. Used pristine 125e's are like 50 bucks everywhere and they're just a fabulous set of cans, and durable as hell.. But new, its the Ft1 pro, no contest. Or iems. Moondrop kadenz are just astonishing for 200 bucks. But the simgot em6l are also amazing for 100.

The nyczaj pads on those grado x drivers make them so good

Grado SR series. They're open-back. You can hear everything.

Im an audio guy and after many years of optimizing playback solutions imo there are two very clear answers: Sennheiser 6XX for full size, and Etymotic ER2XR for IEMs.  The sennies can be found new for around 200 and the Etymotics are around 130 new. I found them uncomfortable and the cables are definitely microphonic but you can get aftermarket tips. For pure $/sound i think they are the strongest I've ever personally heard.  Another outside option is Grado SRs, for under 100 I love the sound. Build quality and comfort is meh but they look cool and sound excellent. They aren't a great match for every genre though, read up if interested. 

i really can recommend my ie600 for this record, enjoying it with my Grados and Maxwell as well.

The headband on Grados are made from thin metal inside the faux leather exterior and you can bend it out of shape really easily to make it as tight or loose as you like. Mine pretty much sit over my ears and don't squeeze at all.

That’s why you need AT LEAST 10 sets of headphones! The only over/on eras I can wear individually are my 25 year old Grados. The only thing that prevents me from gluing AirPods Pro permanently to my head is battery life.

For rock music, there is nothing else like grado, try to find a secondhand one to fit your budget better, but you really need to try it on your own at least once before buying anything else. It's open back, which mean it will leak sound everywhere and much more suitable for home usage. It also doesn't sound that good for most other genre, but man they do the meanest guitar shred I've ever heard