Donald MacGregor

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I just cannot endorse these things. Uncomfortable, horribly made and harsh sounding, they may be good for those who like slam but there is no refinement here at all. Mine fell apart, the cups rattled on low bass notes and I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. There are lots of better options and for not much more $$$ there are really great headphones like the AKG K240s and the Shure SRH440s. Do yourself a favor, if you only have $60 to spend, buy the Koss PortaPro at $45 and save for one of the other models I'm mentioning.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Got it for a bargain nearly new ( 1yr old mint condition ). Paid US$35 off ebay.

Sounds just great for that money. Okay, so it pales to a real audiophile setup. No one disputes that. I use it with my Ipod at work, unamped and it blows away any tiny buds (Shure/Klipsch/UE) for that price.

I know what good systems sounds like. I have an old Marantz/Accuphase/Castle system in my living room, and a Cello/Sonus Faber in my bedroom. I have buddies who own Macintosh/Krell/Burmeester setups, and we play CDs & SACDs in each others home regularly.

So before any snooty audiophile starts a bilious rant about how MP3 will never trump the "real thing." Chill. I know what you are going on about.

I have never been into headphone gear. I only wear headphones when I jog with my Ipod.

But lately, I wanted a setup at work where I can blow off some of my music when I burn the midnight oil.

So I turned to the internet and the story of the Grado's came up the most positive. I have no real bias, and through my whole life I have one principal - buy 2nd hand. Someone else pays for the depreciation, and being audiophiles, people can't resist upgrading. So I am forever collecting other peoples discarded well cared for or nearly new gear. Its amazing why people keep chasing sonic nirvana by paying ridiculous prices for incremental upgrades.

Annyhow, these cans arrived in their original box with nary a scratch. Mint.

Plugged it into my Ipod and was instantly wowed ... before this, I stuck with the regular "white buds" from Apple.

But what was really amazing was the quality of sound upgrade when I plugged it into my jogging Ipod shuffles ...

This was a pleasant surprise. These small shuffles are well endowed. Steve Jobs and the dudes who designed this little gadget must love music as much as I do.

Taught bass, open mids and great musicality.
Has a touch of bright sibliance.
Needs to be played loud to be enjoyed.

Good for rock, jazz, blues and male voices
Not so good for orchestral or female vocals (too much sibliance ... )

Definately not the last word in absolute detail, clarity or soundstage. But hey ... it is so much better than some small costly home systems I have heard!

I can't tell you if its better than other similarly priced cans or even the cans that have stratospheric price tags. But if you have never tried headphones, or have been using small buds. Give these a try and be impressed.

cicli-raffa

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $59.00

Summary:
I purchased this set of cans, after the numerous rave reviews I have seen online. Well they do sound great, but I was expecting a lot more. I guess if you don't have an audiophile setup home, these probably sound the business for you, but to me they seem to be lacking that wow factor. Anyhow for the price they are a TRUE steal.
I have to lower my vote due to the flimsy build quality, they Y cable join seems very delicate and I am sure it will break over time.
I use these for all style of listing, from casual ipod to film recording and finally to film post production. On certain types of music these cans just don't do it for me, as in jazz. They lack that clean and smooth sound, but on the other hand while listing to my post production sfx with a lot of rumbling sounds, they wow these cans really shine!

Strengths:
Price

Weaknesses:
Flimsy build quality
Not Smooth Sounding

Similar Products Used:
All AKG stuff from 80-present

Phil Canard

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.61 of 5, 33.00 votes

Price Paid:  $69.00 from John Fort Audio Vide

Summary:
The much cheaper SR60 replaced my SR200. The SR200 was even less comfortable. I bought the soft earpads from John Fort and that helped the SR200 and SR60 comfort quite a bit. The SR200 was tighter in the bass, but less extended than the SR60. The SR200 had smoother treble, but that counted little on rock music. The greater comfort of the SR60 made me wear them more often. I admit the SR200 is better in an audiophile sense, but not by much, and the cost difference does not justify buying the SR200 in my opinion. Either model is an excellent Rock-N-Roll set of cans if you can get used to the ergonomics. I wanted a better all around set of cans, so I replaced them with the AKG K601. It 's a better set of cans all the way around, but it set me back $210.

SR60 is 3-star, SR200 is 3.5-star, and K601 is at least 4-star in an absolute sense.

Instead of buying an SR60 or SR80, I would pay a few more bucks and order the AKG K530 out of Europe or wait for it to appear in the USA. A K301 XTRA or K401 XTRA sometimes shows up on eBay at a SR60 price. They have the new AKG Varimotion technology which in my opinion obsoletes the Sennheiser and Grado models even at much higher prices. It has an uncanny ability to sort out complex passages and reveal inner detail you never heard before, sounding completely natural the whole time.

Strengths:
Low cost. Good for rock music.

Weaknesses:
Not the best as far as comfort is concerned. The new AKG Varimotion technology has obsoleted its competitors.

Similar Products Used:
AKG K601, Grado SR200, Sennheiser HD450-13II/600R

Price Paid:  $69.00 from OneCall

Summary:
These headphones are incredible! At $69.00 they are a steal for someone looking for a well built quality set of cans. I read all the reviews online for a good month before purchasing these cans. I would agree with all of them except comfort. I find them fitting perfect against my ears with no discomfort whatsoever. I took the chance of buying these based on the reviews and I must say I have not been let down one bit.

Before stepping into the quality headphone community I was mainly into my hybrid tube amp and was very biased against MP3's. After hooking these cans up to my ipod I was blown away. I find myself using these with my laptop while gaming or just casually listening to my MP3's.

Strengths:
Build quality. Clean and crisp. Efficiency. Retro-looking.

Weaknesses:
The cord can twist easily but the pros easily outweigh the only con I can think of for the Grado's.

Similar Products Used:
Sennheiser HD-437