Sound Clarity Detail Price Low impedance for portables

Funny looking - who cares Not very portable - who cares Sound quality takes precedence over both as far as I'm concerned.

Was torn between these or the Koss PortaPros since they will travel with me. I listened to the Grados and was instantly sold. May get the Koss anyway for traveling, but for the most part I use these to and from work on the train and at work, so I'm okay with the larger size. As far as sound quality, let me tell a story. I'm listening to MP3s (encoded myself so they are decent ones but we all know you lose some detail), on my IBM laptop (sub-par headphone output at best), listening to Creed's My Own Prison, and right out of the box (10 minutes breakin time so far), I can hear the guitarist's fingers sliding down the strings. I have a very nice set of home speakers (Paradigm Reference Studio 100v2) and I've never heard it on them at even high levels. Never heard it on any other headphones either. That's just an idea of the detail they reproduce. Bass, Mids, and Highs are perfect (I can see how some would say the bass and mids are a bit light, but out of the box it is great with possibly a TINY less mid than I like normally, but I'm sure after the break-in it will fill in that tiny bit and more. The bass is perfect level to match the highs, which are detailed as heck and not at all bright. Amazing and balanced sound out of the box, I can only imagine what 30 hours of pink noise will do to these suckers. All this for $80. Incredible.

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Various Sennheiser Studio phones.

Clarity. Bass. Well balanced mix of sound.

Comfort. As long as you break them in first, nothing else at this price.

These bins are AMAZING! They live up to all the magazine reviews. They seperate every sound you hear (which means you don't have to make yourself deaf by blasting out your fave tunes to enjoy them). BEWARE: even though this works well to maximise clarity, if the song is poorly recorded, expect more annoyance than enjoyment (every little error will be emphasised). Don't let this put you off though; I haven't found any CDs that this is a problem with. If you prefer MP3 audio however, aim for 160kbps as a minimum, although 192kbps sounds best. Bass has enough strength and is taut enough for you to enjoy all types of music. I have tried these bins with Rock, Classical (the nearest concert replication this side of £100/$150), Jazz, Dance, Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, etc... Near enough everything (including games). I personally cannot fault them in any sound related issue. However, for you bass lovers at the back, I would suggest you look Sennheiser's way (my second choice). Don't expect the amazing clarity and sound seperation at this price though! NOTE: You will be fully rewarded if you take the time to break them in. Pump radio static through for a few hours (or days) at a reasonable level to do this. Mid-range and treble is also outstanding. The clarity of the whole experience leaves sound above reproach (at this price anyway). The only problem I have found with these wonderful creations are to do with comfort levels. If you have big lugs like myself, having these bins on for to long will begin to hurt. Unfortunately, there isn't a remedy to get rid of this completely, but if you flex the headband it will ease about 80% of the pain. I personally STRONGLY recommend these bins. If you can live with the tiny comfort problem, you will own a set of bins you will be proud of. Yes they work with portable audio sources (I haven't noticed a power drain), and yes, they even make these audio sources sound top quality!

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Sennheiser, Sony, and a few other bins.

Very good sound quality - no obvious flaws in this respect. Smooth, detailed and good dynamics.

Not the last word in comfort - the cable could be longer.

Definitly one for the short list...

Great Range! - nails lows, mids, and highs After some adjusting - a very comfortable and pleasant experience. Well built. Definitely worth the money... for the slight increase in quality with other headphones, the SR80s will probably be my last pair of cans (until I have to buy a replacement - not too soon I bet).

Comfort, until you work them in, might upset.

As many have said, when I first got my set of Grado SR80s, I was disappointed. I was upgrading from Koss UR-20's at $25 bucks to, what I was told was, the best cans you can get anywhere near this price range. I guess there is a very long break-in period with these. Actually, it is a very gradual process... I really didn't notice the vast improvement until I put my UR-20's back on and laughed my ass off. Since I haven't listened to many quality headphones, other than this, it is hard for me to make a comparision to others in the price range. Still, I can tell you that these are just awesome... and I'm sure if you are actually researching these, you must have had some good advice. Highly Recommened!

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Not even close.

Beautiful, warm sound

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WOW.....is all i can really say. These cans are just brilliant. After readings many, many reviews (most of which from this site). I must admitt that when i first heard them out of the box, they were terrible. But after a good 30 hours burn-in, i couldnt believe the difference. Highs were crisp and sharp, mids were warm and lows were precise and tight. All i can say is if you dont have theses headphones, GET THEM NOW!!!

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Crappy Sony's, Sennheiser HD-1, other crap sony stuff

Sound is amazingly pristine with limited brightness. Price point should be mostly acceptable for anyone.

I have a big, wide melon. I'm not going to assert that these things are really comfortable, but I tend to sit down and work on music for 5-6 hours at a time. Then again, my shaven and rather latge head could be a significant part of said issue. Sounds are low in bass from the jump, but the issue is resolving itself quickly.

I'm reasonably sure that I'm still in the break-in period. They are getting better, but that's only a small thing, as the sound was amazingly clear straight out of the box. These SR-80s have made me modify all of my tracks because of the clarity of the bass (I fiddle about with a bit of techno/electronic stuff). I may have a bass problem (I'm not sure that a self-help groups exists for that or not, but I may need to find one). The more bottom end, the better, in my opinion. I was using one kickdrum in a track that did overload (the right side only)of these cans, but the drum was too loud. Again, I have a problem. I switched that drum sound out for another, and the sound is now pristine from both sides. I don't know why that would effect only one side, but that's the story. I'd like to reiterate that I'm still in the proscribed break-on period.

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Lots and lots of fancy DJ headphones. Sony, Sennheisers, Koss, your mom's favorite ones, AKG, etc....

Great sound at a great price.

A little uncomfortable for long listening sessions, especially with glasses. Proper adjustment helps fix this.

I have a long term project restoring my 78's and out of print LP's. Part of the process involves isolating a defect, such as a click, listening to it, correcting it and listening to the correction. This involves playing short bursts of a recording over and over. It doesn't bother me since I'm zoned into the task, but it drives my wife crazy! With her blessing, I searched for a good set of headphones to replace my aging Sennheiser 414's. I wanted really good quality and accuracy, but couldn't justify paying a huge sum. My research pointed to Grado's and I settled on the SR80's. These are great headphones! In addition to helping me with my restoration work, I listen to music with them. They are neutral with great detail, no distortion and great tonal balance. You won't be thumped into oblivian by the bass, but it is realistic and detailed. Two things will help you enjoy these headphones even more. Adjust the headband be flexing it a little. They will be more comfortable for long listening sessions. Secondly, take the time to break them in. Play radio static (white noise) at a moderate level for a couple of days straight. It will really open them up.

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Sennheiser 414.

For the money, the best headphones I've ever heard. My coworkers have all sampled these and a few of them are heading off to buy a set for themselves. One comment summed it up best; "it sounds like I'm surrounded by the music". Although the style is dated, they seem to be fairly robust with a good quality cable.

Can become uncomfortable after long duration (2+ hours nonstop). I find that a simple adjustment allows me to continue listing comfortably. Not really really a weakness, but something to be aware of: reproduces all sounds on the recording, even if they're bad.

I decided to purchase these headphones after reading many reviews on the internet, including many here. Overall I'm extrememly pleased with these cans, and my only real issues are what have already been discussed in many other reviews. I found that the break-in period is indeed true and a noticable deepening of the bass and a smoothing of the highs took place. I've put about 25 hours on them so far and the smile keeps coming. What I have found is that your music source makes all the difference in the world. I've used my laptop (Dell Inspiron playing MP3's) and a Panasonic SL-MP35. The laptop doesn't seem able to produce a high quality signal, with low and mid-end distortion being introduced. The MP35 sounds too harsh when playing a basic music CD, but sounds great when playing MP3's. Go figure. What I've found is that if the source CD is a poor recording, you'll hear all the bad stuff, but if the recording is good, it sounds really good. My current favourite so far is any of the Flim & the BB's cd's. I work in an team type of setting (software development) and I find that the headphones have to be very loud before my coworkers to hear anything.

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AKG's (various models), old Sony headphones and a small set of Sennheizers.

Great sounding cans

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Outstanding headphones. If you are looking for headphones look no further. You may spend more but the price to performance stops here. Many more dollars you will spent to get a bit more performance. Hey it’s your money indulge yourself. Enjoy the music Doug Little

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Sony, Koss

Still happy with them after two years of ownership.For some reason they sound much better connected straight thru to my dvd player using it's tiny volume control.When I hook them up thru my preamp using the tone controls they are not that hot.However,no matter what form of music used as long as it's a "good" recording ,these cans are really a deal ! Not the best headphones for cranking loud but low to moderate volumes is where these really shine.I still give them 5 stars.