Grado SR80e headphones advice

kmufc77

kmufc77

kmufc77

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Hello,

Im always listening to music but ive never really had a high end pair of headphones.

Ive owned several Razer headsets over the years including:

Razer Adaro
Razer Kraken
Sennheiser HD 203
Razer Electra

Currently using Pioneer SE-MS5T-T headphones

https://www.pioneer-audiovisual.eu/eu/products/se-ms7bt?headphones

I assume i can link this as its not a PC retailer? please delete link if not


I also have a fair few headphone amps £50 price range, with a dedicated sound card in PC

Im looking at getting a much better pair of headphones, but don't have the funds to spend £300 on a high end pair of Sennhesier or similar

I have just seen Grado SR80e and they have excellent reviews for a pair of headphones does anyone have experience with these and im guessing they would be far better than what i have or have ever listened with before?

Im looking at ordering today for a Sunday delivery so any prompt replys with be most appreciated.

Thank You
 
Do you have noisy or quiet environment?
Closed design needed for isolation of external sounds allows easily strong bass, but otherwise it's challenge/drag for sound quality.
Especially if you want to be able to get best immersion in games.
Open design has easier time in balancing overal sound, while also being less heat insulating especially with velour pads.
Which lowers sweating risk of ear improving comfort.

What's they use, that "music enjoyment", or gaming/movies and general use?

Also do you want neutral bass with maximal details, or some above neutral strength bass?
Though not that particular Grado would have even properly neutral bass, while having strong treble.
(and then people complain about Beyer's treble, while DT990 at least has good bass as balance to it)
Bass neutral AKG K702 would have strong lower bass in comparison.
 
Quiet environment, being used for lots of music, gaming and movies netflix, prime etc.
As for bass i use a amp to boost boast currently, but generally i do like bass with music (being a bass player :) )

Excuse my lack of detail, but im very novice when it comes to earphones, will they be a big improvement over my Pioneer SE-MS5T-T headphones?
 
In that case it's definitely better to forget anything which doesn't have at least neutral bass.
That Grado is pretty much antithesis of strong bass headphone.

With closed design wouldn't expect that great sound quality from that SE-MS5T-T.
There's actually easy way to test accuracy of headphones.
If you have close to average head shape there should be good sense of direction and even feel of distance in first minute of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1_20T8x_OI

But now I have food cooling, so I'll continue after short pause.
 
If you want bass the Philips Fidelio X2 are close to your budget - currently a bit discounted at some places but I've limited experience when it comes to using them for gaming. Sony MDR do a pretty good range of good sound quality with decent bass capabilities and OK for gaming though mostly closed back designs.

I've not tried those Pioneers so no idea how much of a difference there is from them.
 
Apparently that SE-MS5T-T has pretty neutral bass, with possibly even slightly below.
But without actual frequency response measurements it's hard to say.
Getting neutral bass is hard in closed design, with it giving bass more feel and as result bass easily becomes either strong, or then below neutral.
And human hearing sucks donkey balls as measuring instrument and without any reference point is unreliable.

Anyway while open design struggles in getting strong feel of lowest "rumbling" bass, good open headphones can give overall good bass and balancing it more easily with rest than closed design.

~£120 Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro is also overall very good for its price in gaming.
It's not at best level for picking details like foot steps etc, but getting better in that means giving up on bass strength/"fun factor".
There aren't much headphones at same balanced level without price increasing heavily.
Of course movies also like good bass.
Straight cable equipped Pro Black Limited Edition seems to be now also available for same.
("normal" Edition has always straight cable and more decorated construction/look)

AKG K712 does overal little better for "competitiveness" in gaming, though while having little less bass feel.
Price is just lot higher at £250.
And AKG's "automatic" headband adjustment doesn't work as well for more different head shape/size than manual adjustment.
Also replacement ear pads cost arm and leg compared to DT990's pads and AKG doesn't sell spare parts to consumers unlike Beyer.
(you can buy basically every single part of DT990 for DIY repairs)

Fidelio X2 should be quite similar to DT990 in sound.
Though it's quite heavy weighting 100 grams more than 290g DT990 and even more compared to DT990 Pro.
And you'll need to look for some third party replacement pads.
 
Rroff said:
If you want bass the Philips Fidelio X2 are close to your budget - currently a bit discounted at some places but I've limited experience when it comes to using them for gaming. Sony MDR do a pretty good range of good sound quality with decent bass capabilities and OK for gaming though mostly closed back designs.

I've not tried those Pioneers so no idea how much of a difference there is from them.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice
 
EsaT said:
Apparently that SE-MS5T-T has pretty neutral bass, with possibly even slightly below.
But without actual frequency response measurements it's hard to say.
Getting neutral bass is hard in closed design, with it giving bass more feel and as result bass easily becomes either strong, or then below neutral.
And human hearing sucks donkey balls as measuring instrument and without any reference point is unreliable.

Anyway while open design struggles in getting strong feel of lowest "rumbling" bass, good open headphones can give overall good bass and balancing it more easily with rest than closed design.

~£120 Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro is also overall very good for its price in gaming.
It's not at best level for picking details like foot steps etc, but getting better in that means giving up on bass strength/"fun factor".
There aren't much headphones at same balanced level without price increasing heavily.
Of course movies also like good bass.
Straight cable equipped Pro Black Limited Edition seems to be now also available for same.
("normal" Edition has always straight cable and more decorated construction/look)

AKG K712 does overal little better for "competitiveness" in gaming, though while having little less bass feel.
Price is just lot higher at £250.
And AKG's "automatic" headband adjustment doesn't work as well for more different head shape/size than manual adjustment.
Also replacement ear pads cost arm and leg compared to DT990's pads and AKG doesn't sell spare parts to consumers unlike Beyer.
(you can buy basically every single part of DT990 for DIY repairs)

Fidelio X2 should be quite similar to DT990 in sound.
Though it's quite heavy weighting 100 grams more than 290g DT990 and even more compared to DT990 Pro.
And you'll need to look for some third party replacement pads.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the several detailed posts, they have been very very helpful
 
kmufc77 said:
Thanks for the several detailed posts, they have been very very helpful
Click to expand...
Myself own AKG K702, K712 and Beyer DT990.
(+ retired tape keeping pieces of plastics from dropping HD595 Sennheiser which can now rot all it wants)
K702 is pretty much at "aural god mode/wall hack" level for binaural sound gaming with its neutral bass analytical sound.
"Fun factor" isn't that great, with bass basically "staying in back seat to details."

Though with us humans lacking single standardized head shape I'm now waiting when Creative starts releasing their "Super X-Fi" tech products.
With head and ear shape customizable HRTF algorithm good headphones are basically capable to completely realistic feel of directionality and distances.
Current algorithms are based on average head shape.

As for what binaural recording could give for music:
Though also that needs good heaphones for best immersion.
 
I have another question concerning something else, it may seem odd to some i dont know :)

I want to connect 2 headphones into my Fiio A3 at the same time but have the option to mute 1 at a time, the reason being i want to use a few pairs of different headsets for different things, odd i know :)

There are tons 3.5mm splitters that give you the option to have 2 connections, though i only want to have 1 headset playing with one muted, just to save the hassle of disconnecting, connecting all the time.

EDIT:

Ive also bought the Grado sr80e btw, much appreciated with all the replys and help with different headsets suggestions, im now in the process of getting the sound right with different effects settings with my dolby headphones software with my Xonar soundcard, taking a while, but can say these headsets are the best ive owned so far, happy, but just getting those settings right with software and headphone amps is taking the time.
 
3.5mm audio switch (/selector) would do the job of routing signal to one headphone at time.
But if headphones need different voltage, then volume is going to jump up and down when switching them.
 
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