Grado - SR80e

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.

Grado SR80e's or the AKG K240s. I have a pair of Meze Classics but they mostly live in the case.

Grado SR80e with Grado G pads

Over the last decade or so, I’ve collected quite a few low fi and mid fi headphones. In a given month, I listen to all of them and a number of IEMs besides. For the price of one $1000 US headphone, I have a wide range of choices, depending on the music I’m listening to. All of my headphones have been purchased used or at a steep discount. They were purchased off of FBM, craigslist, eBay and various retailers who do sell some used items. Most of the headphones I have were $100 a pair and none over about $150. Also, I don’t sell something once I’ve acquired it. I just keep using it or repurposing it. In closed backs, I have the FIIO Ft1 and HiFiman HE R10D. In open backs, I have the Sennheiser HD 58x, GRADO 80e, the FIIO 350 ohm FT3 and the Audio Technica R50x. In planars I have the Monolith m1060c and the HiFiman Sundara. I’m running all of these balanced with the exception of the Grado. Also, I mix and match with my headphone amplifiers that are both balanced: IFI Zen Can solid state class A and Apos Gremlin tube amplifiers -each of which cost $150 or less. I believe I get more enjoyment out of my group of headphones then I would from one “ endgame” headphone - which rarely turns out to be an actual endgame headphone based on what I’ve seen in Reddit. Anyway, what I’m listening to the most right now is the FT3 on the Apos tube amplifier and the R50x on the solid state amplifier.

Grado SR80i Edit: I think I pretty much always cared. Had a lot of headphones growing up. But it was the grado that make realized how much I cared and started looking more carefully into what I was buying.

Beyerdynamic DT-880. Mine is 250 ohm impedance so I put it through a headphone amp. But it has lasted over 14 years for me at this point and I've been able to mix bass a lot better than I used to with the Grado SR-80i I had before. Not only does it have clear bass, it also has been comfortable, with a well defined stereo field.

Closed back would be a pair of Sony MDR v-600s that were gifted to me by my boss when I worked at a record store in the late nineties. Then for open back would be Grado SR80e. I loved those very much and were really eye opening for me… then they stopped sounding good. IDK. They just ended up sounding thin and lifeless. I quit listening to headphones because of it. Then I decided to buy a pair of Meze Lirics and that changed everything. I am a card carrying Meze fan now and own a number of their headphones.

The Grado SR80 were the pair for me that really opened my ears.

226s would be overkill. The SR80 series is a great set of headphones.

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

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.