GRADO - SR80x - Prestige Series - Open Wired Stereo Headphones

Product Information

Grado could have fixed this ages ago, when it introduced the salad bowls with the GS1000 but it has taken an indeviating course and told its customers to simply wash and mash the pads until they crumple with less height. Chunky plastic earcups inlaid with grilles and the metal prongs that attach cup to headband create the look of radio-operator cans. Personally, I’ve never liked closed models, though I own some closed AKG, but I’m old enough to remember the old Koss ‘head crushers’ from the 1970s. When Sennheiser came along with the HD414, not only did they sound like music rather than tea cups, but they were blissfully comfortable too.

In 1996, John Grado discussed why he started using mahogany for the cups on the Grado Reference Series One headphone. “The idea of using wood just came to me one night,” explained John Grado. “We went through quite a few species of wood before finding this mahogany—which type, we’ll just keep our secret for the moment. When you’re building speakers, you’re supposed to want a dense, really hard wood—well, that’s not mahogany. But it works really well—I don’t always spend a lot of time figuring out why something works; sometimes I’m just satisfied that it does. Maybe the mahogany has a lower resonant frequency, or maybe its resonance just doesn’t emphasize something in my driver—I’m not saying it would work in all cases, but it seems to work well with our driver.” So what species of wood sounds the best? Hi Dennis. Thanks for the kind words. Grado modifications are a slippery slope… there’s always just one more tweak you want to do! 😉 But at least there's foam padding inside to keep the headphones safe, and a 3.5-to-6.3mm adapter. But that’s it. When you’ve worn a particular brand of headphones for that many years, you know what to expect from a comfort perspective and these are dramatically better. A Prayer for Lester Bowie by David Sanford Big Band was one of my top jazz releases of 2021 and a glorious recording to really test the SR80x and compare them to my budget favorite, HiFiMan HE400se headphones.

The SR80 have spawned many variants within the company’s Prestige Series in the three decades since, and the fact that they are still a part of the all-new Prestige X Series makes them the longest-running Grado model. The all-new Grado SR80x succeeds the 2014-released, multi- What Hi-Fi? Award-winning SR80e from the previous Prestige E Series.

For full extension, you need the G Cush salad bowls, but they distance the ear from the driver to such a degree that bass is lost, probably because of the porous side rims. What you end up with is too shrill for everything below a GS-1000. That’s where venting the drivers helps balance things out. With fully vented drivers, you can pop a pair of salad bowls on and get a very nice combo of airy treble-happy Grados with great thump. Iem: westone w40 g2, b50, shure se215, 64 audio 4 drivers, fiio fa7, unique melody 3dt terminator, campfire audio Vega 2020. The SR80es come in a thin cardboard box that may be damaged by the time you open it if you buy online. AB31, AB32, AB33, AB34, AB35, AB36, AB37, AB38, AB41, AB42, AB43, AB44, AB45, AB46, AB47, AB48, AB49, AB50, AB51, AB52, AB53, AB54, AB55, AB56 Any extended warranties offered by Peter Tyson are free. We do not include any form of insurance terms such as accidental damage or loan equipment cover.Grado has changed their driver design over the years. While the same basic driver is used for multiple models, there are driver differences throughout the current lineup, including closer driver matching on higher-end models. The SR80x headphones are where the Grado Prestige series began. Stepping up on the SR60x model, the SR80x features de-stressed drivers for a broader and more open sound. The style has stayed the same since 1991, making these headphones a true icon of headphone design.

They are ideal for CLASSICAL listening, providing a warm, rounded satisfying sound picture, but with plenty of detail, whether in the overlapping vocal lines of Andrea Gabrieli’s (sixteenth-century) choral music, or in the glittering orchestral accompaniment to Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto (twentieth century - with flashes of percussion coming through the texture to brilliant effect). They’re not the most relaxing listen and some won’t like the uncompromising nature of the midrange they present, but clarity relative to the price is excellent.

The HiFiMan HE400se are only slightly more expensive than the Grado SR80x and definitely aimed at the same type of customer. Listen with surgical precision through this metal and wood hybrid lineup. Including our flagship headphone, this family is assembled from mahogany tone-wood, clad with powder-coated or chrome plated aluminum. Substantial, influential, and unequaled sound & fury. I have owned my Grado 225s for well over a decade now and recently replaced the pads with some softer to the touch, yellow numbers that are easier on my ears and bright enough to make them stand out on my wall amongst my other ‘phones. The story of the SR80x holds a special place in not only Grado's ears, but the ears of hundreds of thousands of listeners. The first pair was built in 1991 and Grado wouldn’t be here today without it. With its soundstage, world renowned mid-range, and speed, the SR80x is worthy of being the longest running Grado headphone.