Grado SR 60

A maz ing!

You can pick up every sound with the Grado SR 60 headphones that you cant pick up with most other headphones top quality sound i'm delighted with them.

Ive only had them for a day and am in love with them. hope they don,t break.

Having reviewed numerous headphones that I own. I thought I would like to inform anyone buying these headphones what they are really like and if they deserve the accolade they have been given, the answer in one word YES. Without a doubt the Grados, no matter what sound source you use to listen to your music, will enable you to hear parts of the music you have not heard before. Try playing a track on your equipment that you really know with your normal headphones and then listen to the same track with the SR60s, WOW is the only word to describe your reaction. The music from my 40gb ipod has never sounded better, even though I have pairs of Bose Triport IE and Triport Overear plus B&O A8 and Sennheiser 580s, not a bad selection. Treat yourself go out spend £60-70,(depending where you get them from) and enjoy your music like never before. My last point on sound. You will need to play music through them for 24-48 hrs to really hear the drifference, also no need for a headphone amp, my ipod does the job brilliant.

Enjoy the music.

Well, I am a professional audio engineer working in the Classical arena. I admit that I don't use the SR-60s for monitoring on-the-job, but that's because you can't judge sound quality or stereo image using headphones alone, monitor speakers are absolutely required. However, I use the SR-60 for all my recreational listening with CD or .wav media. I love the things! With CD's I have engineered, I'm very pleased with the sound and imaging. You will need a good headphone amp on account of the extremely low impedance of these phones, but the good news is that an outboard amp will dramatically improve the sound in other ways. In my opinion, individuals who question the response of these 'phones are probably hearing the problems inherent with their built-in headphone amp. Try the SR-60s with a CMoy amp using the Burr-Brown OPA2132 op-amp (+/-9VDC, R5=100-ohms) and you'll hear what these phones are capable of. With a REALLY high end amp, they're even more incredible! You simply can't go wrong with these headphones, for the price! By the way, Koss phones always break after only a couple weeks.

I bought the Grado SR 60's they're great. I also had a chance to pick up the RS2's for a really good price so I jumped on them. They are incredible. The only problem with the Grado's is when it comes to travel, they're open air and therefore not good for taking on a plane.. they're also awkward to pack and you don't want to mess them up, so I bought the Shure earbuds instead of looking to another cumbersome set of noise cancelling headphones, they are great for travel nice and compact and have sound quality similar to the SR60's. They have three levels of earbuds, I bought the "cheap" ones at 100 bucks, they also have some for 179 and some for like 500. I think the 100 dollar ones are great, especially if you have other good quality phones for home use b/c the BEST cans will sound rubbish when you have the rumble of a jet engine in the background. I also read in some random review that the sound isolation from the earbuds is as good as any noise cancelling. Can't vouch for that opinion, but it was on the internet so it must be true.

I use headphones in conjunction with Walkmans and personal Minidisc players, and I demand a superior quality of sound. I have a pair of Sennheiser MX-500's, which are excellent in-ear phones, but these are, unsurprisingly, no match for the Grado SR60's. These are fabulous headphones for the money. The bass is deep and punchy, the treble sweet and refined, and the sheer smoothness to the sound is breathtaking compared with cheaper units. These headphones make my Sony cassette Walkman sound amazing. Heartily recommended.

I've been using a pair of "cost effective" (under $30) headphones and, to date, have been satisfied with them. Actually, I felt I made a good selection based on price verses performance. My MP3 collection was no longer limited to the speakers that came with the speaker. Only after I plugged in my new Grado SR60 headphones did I immediately know what I was missing. A new dimension, a renewal, was added to my music collection.

The SR60s are an open type of headphones. It means the ambient noise is not shut out as in closed headphones but, dollar for dollar, the sound quality is much better. The tone is well balanced over the spectrum, not bassy, not tinny. The music is clear and crisp. There now seems to be a more spatial quality. If you're looking to shut off the noise around you closed headphones have their place but I'll take the higher quality, thank you.

These headphones are relatively light and work well with my MP3 player, giving it a bit more warmth. The headband is not quite as comfortable as some but the earpieces are soft and fit firmly but not tightly against your ear.

This was the ultimate test. There's a female voice that says something 3 minutes and 36 seconds into the Pink Floyd song "Great Gig in the Sky". For 20 years I've wondered she said. I've tried to make it out on several occasions and now I know. This doesn't mean I'm going to tell you. Buy your own.

By the way, I'm giving my old headphones to my kids.

I expect a great deal of my earphones and I am now satisfied (totally) with the Grado's variation (SR80..but is probably not much different to the SR60s).A joy to behold!

I bought a set of these headphones a little while ago for use with my hi fi separates after some research into different headphone makes and models. I looked at a set of Sennheiser 590 going cheap at a shop near ware I work, and although I was slightly impressed with their sound and extreme confront they turned out to be nothing compared to the excellence of the Grados.

The first time I heard the 60's I was more concerned with the 80-pound price tag rather than the sound. -You must understand I am a student, and that happens to be a lot of money to me, especially as I hadn't envisaged spending that on a set of headphones. When my friends enquired as to the cost of these vintage looking Grados they fell about laughing. - However the sound soon made me realise I simply had to have a pair of these. The sound was-and still is-fantastical the best I've heard; the bass clear, pure and well defined, where as the higher frequencies are very exact and distortion free. Even on the most of 'extreme' frequencies of Leftfield and The Prodigy can't stop the Grados from doing their job. They simply never distort no matter what the sounds you push through them.

Classical music too sounds well coped-with and extremely enjoyable. G.F. Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks has a huge lifting presence and power about it that smaller earphones (or earbuds) simply can't come close to. Vivaldi changes too; it has a greater fuller sound than when listened to through cheap speakers or cheap headphones you use for the television.

Change the music to REM, The Verve and other such guitar based bands, and you can hear individual instruments plainly on their own from others. You can also hear instruments and vocals, which were completely inaudible on the recording before you listened to it through the Grados. In short these headphones give the best listening experience I've ever had, with only electrostatic headphones only being able to top the Grado performance.

They do need a little time for the drivers to brake-in. I did detect a little vibration coming from them when I first bought them whenever I played a particularly low frequency track through them at some volume; though after the initial couple of months they'll be fine.

They are so very light in weight, the construction is to a minimum. There are no thick foam headbands or absurd earmuffs here, they are minimalist and not sporting any fancy gimmicks that claim to give 'Mega Bass,' or 'ultra low weight'. These headphones are simple, simple in internal design and simple in external design, they are for those who care about great sound and not whether their headphones will make them look cool.

The foam pad which the user's ear sits next to is more comfortable than that of the previous models, making wearing them for a couple of hours perfectly comfortable. As their design is minimalist these headphones aren't as comfortable as they could be, (Sennheisers are usually the best for comfort as a rule;) though with the newly designed foam ear pads they are perfectly exactly for some lengthy listening.

They don't happen to be over physically durable either, which isn't surprising considering the build. They're not designed to be thrown about and abused, and would brake very easily if you should sit on them, far example, so treat them with some respect and don't take them out of the house.

The Grado SR 60s do happen to designed in an 'open' fashion, meaning there are little holes on the sides of the headphones allowing the sounds to resonate better, and overall improve the quality of the sounds when compared to a set of 'closed' design headphones. (Please consult a good hi-fi magazine for more information on this subject as I won't profess to know too much.) The down side to having 'open' design headphones is every decibel of music is audible by those in modest proximity. The Grados leak sound, and they leak sound a great deal, so they're not for use on any form of public transport, or in a place where people are likely to take offence to your music. Sitting on a crowded bus in the morning on your way to work with a set of these headphones bleating out the Wu Tang Clan is likely to result in your being assaulted.

There is just one matter about these headphones that may put off some potential buyers, the look of them. They have a 1930's BBC radio presenter style about them that may not be to everyone's taste. They don't look particularly conformable ether, with the thin plastic and metal headband not seeming all that inviting. Having said that, you don't buy Salvador Dali to listen to it, do you? No. In the same light, you don't buy a set of headphones to hang then on your wall and muse over. It's not really the looks you should be after.

The cable is also a little short at around ten feet which can be difficult if you have a listening chair more than a few feet from your hi-fi, though it is at an impressive thickness. A gold plated adapter is supplied with the headphones allowing them to be used with both sizes of jacket socket. This is very handy as it allows you to use them with your hi fi separates at home, and a portable. (Talking of portables I have recently plugged these headphones into my portable Sony Discman, and I can tell you it has never ever sounded quite so brilliant. These headphones would probably make a cassette tape player sound good!)

When compared with a set of Sennheiser headphones the sound is the most obvious difference after the comfort. I had a good listen to a few sets of Sennheiser headphones especially the 590s (please note I didn't have the chance to try the much acclaimed 580s and 600s,) and I can honestly say that that although these Grados are cheaper in financial terms, the sound was far batter. They seemed to be more detailed in sound, better in weight and not sounding nearly so bright and uncomfortable. The sound on the Grado SR 60s was just better all round. They stir emotion, Sennheisers sadly don't.

At the end of the day, these are 80 quid ear Jacuzzi's. They are simply fantastic sounding and the fit is not all that bad at all. Buy some, and buy some Radiohead and Vivaldi to listen through them at the same time; with a good CD/MD player you should be immersed in sound.. (Steer clear of MP3 though, it's complete nonsense, and never sound have been invented.)