mistersprinkles1983 OP t1_jefn0ce wrote on March 31, 2023 at 5:40 PM

Reply to comment by DJGammaRabbit in Some cheap headphones are so good it's almost ridiculous. Buy the HE400SE and SHR840A. by mistersprinkles1983

Another thing that I think is worth mentioning is that, depending on what you're looking for and how far you want to stretch your budget, bluetooth headphones have gotten gooooood in the last couple of years. Really really good. All the ones that are worth buying are $300 USD and up, BUT, you have a few advantages on hand. 1) You buy ONE thing and you're done. They sound right out of the box because they are self amplified. No need to buy any dongles or anything which means more junk to stuff in your bag or pocket. 2) No cables! No more getting tangled in cables or snagging the cable with your leg and ending up with headphones on the floor. 3) They always sound right. No fiddling with "Should I get THIS dongle DAC or that dongle DAC. But so and so said it sounds better with XYZ. It's a pain free experience.

My personal favourite full size bluetooth headphone that I own is the Sennheiser Momentum 4- but it's firmly in basshead territory. It has classic veiled Sennheiser upper treble and very prominent and tight sub-bass- but not in a way that makes the mids sound crappy. These headphones are phenomenal for electronic music IMO and they do vocals in a very pleasing way. Battery life is up to 60 hours and they charge fast on USB C. Call quality on these is the best regular phone call quality I have ever heard absolutely anywhere. Idk how they do it but they make crappy phone audio sound like a skype call. It's magic. Also if you're walking downtown in high wind with trucks driving past the person on the other end can't hear shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit it's spectacular. I will say that if you're going for Bluetooth headphones, make sure your phone supports at least BT 5.0 and AptX. That's going to give you the best experience. The Momentum 4 are $300ish USD and very worth it. If you're even a bit of an audiophile don't even look at the Sony's. Do look at the Bowers and Wilkins PX7S2 and the PX8 but those are starting to get into the big bucks. I also have the Focal Bathys which is the second most expensive bluetooth full size after the Mark Levinson 5909. Bathys is worth it but I only have them because I'm a curious single loser with no wife or children and I can buy stupid things that I don't need. If you can afford the Bathys they're delightful but you don't need to go that extreme coming from SR80s. I think the Momentum 4 might be ideal for you in terms of cost effectiveness and providing what sounds like an upgrade coming from your Grados.

Having said aaaaaaaaalll that, if you LIKE Grado (Grado sounds great I just hate the way they look. I've had SR80/125/225 myself) and you want good grado, Get SR325's and pick up a decent quality Dongle DAC. That's going to put you above the Momentum 4 price wise but will arguably give you better detail and a more natural sound, which might be good depending on what you listen to. Still open back though so hard to blast loud on public transit etc.

DJGammaRabbit t1_jeft2or wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:19 PM

This is where I'm at, cycling between sr80x, 325x, gw100x and any other brand that's supposedly way better for the same cost. I emailed Grado asking very specific questions about the GW100 sound and all I got back was "the GW100 is very, very good" 😂. I'd be happy with any of these. Public transit not an issue but I do want to ride my bike with these, cables or not, I'm that guy lol. The 325 I probably wouldn't take outside.

mistersprinkles1983 OP t1_jeftmvk wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:23 PM

Ya Grado is a strange company... All you have to do is look at their headphones. They look like they sound awful, but they don't sound awful. Very strange indeed. The 325 can best be described like this:

SR 60: YesSR 80: Yes, and then someSR 125: Even more Gradoey goodnessSR 225: Gradoey goodness with graveySR 325: Extra tasty crispy Gradoey goodness, and they painted it silver so it looks more expensive.

Every step you take up from the SR 60 just sounds like a better SR60 all the way up to the 325. Again, Grado is frickin weird. I don't know of any other company that has 5 of the same headphone, literally, looks and all, where each step up is just (It's like the cheaper one, but with peanuts).

So, if you got the 325, your reaction, almost guaranteed would be "This is better". Not, "This is different" or "ooh I like XYZ"... just "This is Grado-er than the other Grado"

I WILL say that, if the GW100 is the wireless grado, that's a stupid product if I ever saw a stupid product. Bluetooth- so highly mobile... and open back? So "Take them on the subway train and annoy absolutely everyone with your k-pop"? I don't get it.

DJGammaRabbit t1_jefuwlf wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:31 PM

Those are perfect descriptions. The GW was made just to fit in lol.

mistersprinkles1983 OP t1_jefvm8v wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:36 PM

Ya definitely don't buy the GW that's just a batshit crazy product. So I take it you're looking for an all-rounder right? Because you only have the Grados now so I'm guessing whatever else you get needs to be well rounded? I really think you should check out the PM3 you know.. The more I think about it I think you're really not going to be disappointed with those and if you factor everything in they're cost effective, punch above their price, and are a really truly decent and very well made headphone. You should listen to them. They scratch that planar itch very well. Inarguably superior to 400SE IMO (at 3x the price mind you)

DJGammaRabbit t1_jefxnqm wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:50 PM

My SR80 were stolen from me ten years ago by a drug addict friend from HS. He came in to use the washroom, took a little long and when he left my pills and headphones were gone =(

I used the SR80 for every genre and even tried mixing with them which they were terrible for.

I used to press them to my head to get more bass (I even wore grass cutting ear protection over them to squeeze to my head, my poor elf ears) and when I did they were almost excellent. Whereas other boomy cheap headphones had boominess what they didn't have was control and authority down to 20hz. I want a new headphone to have the same clarity effect where in first listen you're like alright, what the fuuuuck. They sounded like a purity, like hearing an angels voice. Since I've never heard anything as good I look at each other headphone and think they can't be as good unless a higher Grado 😂.

One song that comes to mind is floyds hey you. That guitar intro just rang into my brain with such a metallic, clear and separated twang, I could taste the strings. Really made school bus rides enjoyable. I also lost 135lbs by biking with them. I put toilet paper under the pads to catch the sweat and had the cable stretching out from a backpack. I probably looked like a time-travelling radio operator ghost buster. I'll look at the PM3 but I am kinda sold on Grado already.

mistersprinkles1983 OP t1_jefuggo wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:28 PM

One thing I do really want to stress is that the fun of collecting headphones is in the differences and getting to the point where you decide "These are for pop" "These are for techno" "These are for jazz" and you have a good rotation going. If you get any other grado below their "premium" line it's just going to be a slightly better version of the same. It will obsolete your current grados so you never use them again. Wouldn't it be more fun to buy something that was totally different and sounded totally different to add some variety to your life? Just saying.

DJGammaRabbit t1_jefvk8x wrote on March 31, 2023 at 6:36 PM

On my budget, no, and I trust Grado enough to throw money at them. I've got $200 ATM and another $200 will take another month. I started looking at headphones like 8 months ago and bought cheap Marley IEMs for the time being. I had $500 for the 325x and it slowly dwindled into groceries. I'm not sure if my phone even has BT 5.0.