SR325is

Grado 325is with Jumbo pads. Makes them so much more comfortable and laid back compared to bowls or flats. Also just picked up Koss KPH40s and some Yaxi pads and they are certainly hitting that 'just put on music and chill' vibe as well.

I owned two Grado’s, sr80i and sr325 and used both as all day, listen while working headphones. I’m convinced they contributed to my development of tinnitus. They were fatiguing to the point of pain and ringing. Returned the 325, gave away the sr80i. YMMV but they’re not for me.

Sent my Maxwells back as well. They have a problem where the volume is too low on some headsets. Support try and gaslight you into thinking the problem is your ears. Not fussed with a mic so have settled mainly on my Grado SR325 with the pads from that Polish guy that makes custom ones.

My 325s are perfect

I bought a Boss IR-2 for similar reasons: protecting my wife's sanity and our baby's sleep. I use an IR-2 with a pair of Grado SR 325s with Dekoni over-the-ear earpads for my late evening/night playing. I tried and returned several studio monitor headphones in the $200-$500+ from Sennheiser, Akg, and Beyerdynamic: they all sounded fine (some great), but they were all too uncomfortable for long term wear and aggravated my jaw and ear joint (I have TMJD). The Grados aren't the most neutral headphones - the studio monitors I tried were all more accurate than the Grados, but the Grados still sound good and are comfortable. I'm playing guitar in my living room/office to unwind, not mixing and producing an album. I guess the point I'm making is to not discount comfort.

I bought both a week ago, I’ve decided to keep the QC Ultra 2nd Gen and just returned the B&W. The sound is a bit better for music over bluetooth with the B&W but the ANC is not a patch on the Bose. The sound quality on the Bose is still plenty good and there’s very little between them using wired usb c audio with a lossless source. The immersive / spatial audio mode on the Bose is excellent for gaming and TV/film, I know it’s coming to the B&W but we don’t know when or what it’s like. The clamping force and comfort is much better on the Bose, they feel significantly lighter. The case size is significantly more compact with the Bose. I like that the ear pads are user replaceable with the Bose too as I plan on keeping these for a good few years so will likely need to replace them at some point. The B&W do look and feel more premium but the Bose 2nd Gen do look lot more premium than the 1st Gen to me, Bose are also not as creaky as I was expecting given they have a folding hinge. If you just plan to use them at home for short periods of music listening in a quiet room and don’t need the most portable product maybe go B&W but if you plan to use them out and about, for travel and a mixture or music and TV/film I’d definitely go Bose 2nd Gen. Oh the Bose go louder overall too. Hope this helps.

I know what you mean about the earcup rotation, I think theres a logic to it though… If you go into a store and play with a pair that fully rotate 180 degrees then compare to the QC Ultras I find that the others feel really loose and flimsy so I think they’ve stuck to a 90 degree rotation to avoid that feeling and it’s probably less stress on the ear cup cable too imo. Yep totally, you can hear the background noise quite clearly so imagine what a jet engine while travelling would sound like. The Bose are right for your current use case for sure. The Px8 are nice but it would depend on your use case again…. if you really want an audiophile sound for home use then I would avoid closed back headphones altogether. I use some wired open back Grado 325’s at home and they’re far superior sounding than any of the headphones we’ve discussed today and a steal at £250 over here. My pleasure. Happy to help!

I have the SR325s and they are amazing.