McMahonWeb

I am admittedly a slight audiophile.  Definitely not an extremist in the area, I just like things to sound good.  All of my music in iTunes is ripped lossless (from CD) when possible, although there are a few 256k and tracks in there (mostly from the iTunes Plus music thanks to gift cards).

Of course, all that time and space spent getting high quality audio into iTunes is pointless unless I can get good sound out through nice speakers or headphones.  I have had good speakers for a long time at home, but I never purchased a decent set of headphones.  I have had a set of Sure in-ear monitors for a long time, which do an OK job.

I went on the hunt for good headphones many months ago.  I worked through a list of manufacturers that I already knew made headphones, reading reviews, and going to a couple local shops that actually have them out to listen.  In the process of researching, I stumbled upon a brand I had no experience with – Grado. I read many great reviews about the several headphone models they produce, but was wary to the brand, as I had no history with it (I suppose that is the impact of marketing).

One afternoon, I went to a local shop called Champagne Audio.  They are what you expect from a small, high end audio dealer.  A lot of toys way out of my price range. While browsing through the many headphones, there I saw the Grado line.  I could not believe someone local had these!  I had even been in this store before, and had never seen them.  The salesman behind the counter hooked me up with a book full of CD’s, a nice Rotel CD player, a Pro-Ject headphone amp, and all the headphones I wanted to try. Great service.

I stood there for more than 45 minutes just listening, swapping CD’s in and out, and listening even more.  After swapping out different headphones, including other brands like Senneheiser, I kept returning to the Grados.  They are not even top-of-the-line in the Grado pack.  They were the SR125 model.  They are on the high end of what I wanted to spend for headphones, but they are well worth it.

The open design of the headphones, combined with great hardware, make for a very nice listening experience.  Of course, there is a slight downside to such headphones.  While they produce great audio, they are not so efficient on power consumption.  The truth is, you can get a 1/4″ to 1/8″ headphone adapter to fit your mobile audio player, but it really will not sound that great.  The little headphone amp in those players are designed for highly efficient headphones.  To truly enjoy these headphones, you will need a good headphone amplifier.

Right now, I am listening to them plugged in to an old stereo Denon receiver, which is hooked to my computer.

There are many headphone amplifiers, some are even designed to be portable.  I used a Pro-Ject at the store to test with.  Grado actually makes their own model.  A company called HeadRoom makes portable amplifiers to work with your favorite MP3 player.  You can even try to make your own.

If you are looking for great headphones, I suggest you try out the Grado line.  You won’t be disappointed.   Just be sure to have a good headphone amplifier to drive them.