Grado SR80i.....

[SpiceWeasel]

Got my new phones delivered today, my 1st proper hifi purchase. So far my 1st impressions are......Oooooooo
I wasn't completely blown away with the sound quality though if I am honest, although they are a HUGE improvement over either my creative pc speakers or via some gaming 5.1 headphones.

I take it headphones improve with some hours on them in the same way speakers do? I am going to leave them on overnight and see if things improve after a few hours of Them Crooked Vultures on repeat.

I suspect though that my current setup is really holding back the 80's. They are pluged into the headphone socket of the pc speakers via a creative x-fi soundcard, probably not ideal. I will be testing my new phones on my dads stereo system at xmas so I can compare them to his SR60. His phones deffinately sound alot better through his stereo than mine do from the pc, so I will be interested to hear how they compare and I should have a better idea of how good/bad my current pc setup is for music.

Looks like I may need to start saving for a proper dac headphone amp to connect to the pc.

 

[idc]

I don't particularly remembering my SR80s needing running. But I have to put my hands up and say, I have said before headphones don't really need running in, but my new Goldrings have contradicted that.

I have no doubt that how you are using them is holding them back. I look forward to hearing your comparison with the SR60s.

Two cheap ways of boosting their performance would be the FiiO E5 amp which you can connect to the PCs headphone output and then on to the Grados. It is under £20 on Amazon and cheaper elsewhere. Then the cheapest DAC/headamp I know of is the Firestone Fireye which is £61 from Russ Andrews and maybe cheaper from Firestone direct. I have not heard it, but I rate the Fubar DAC well.

 

[Anonymous]

Let us know how you get on with the SR80i's, whether they get better with use and if you decided to purchase an amp for them. I'm thinking of getting some proper HiFi headphones.

 

[idc]

Hi Inter. I had the PMA amp and if memory serves me right it has a good headphone out.

 

[Anonymous]

Brilliant, thanks idc, have not tried the headphone socket yet. I'll give the Denon a try with my Sennheisers and maybe get some better cans next year!

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Thought it was about time I updated this post. To my ears the 80i's deffinately improved after a few hours use, I am no audiophile so I will do my best to try and describe the improvements.
I left the phones on overnight on repeat for approx 12hrs, the next day I found the sound had really opened up and there was deffinately more detail than there was when they were brand new. Individual instruments were easier to follow and the bass for example was much more defined, kick drums for instance sound really punchy with some serious power behind them.

The first time I listened to riders on the storm (The Doors) was a funny experience. My pc is about 5ft from the front window (window directly to my left hand side when sat at pc) and when the song started I thought my god it must have started raining really hard outside. You can only hear the rain if it is really tiping it down, as it was dry when I got home from work I took the headphones off for a second only to find the rain had stopped. Funnily enough it started up again when I put the phones back on, I really wasn't expecting that from a £100ish pair of headphones.

I couldn't try my phones on my dads stereo as it was dismantled while he was redecorating. I did compare my dads 60's to my 80i's briefly by pluging them in to my brothers Nokia 5800. The 1st thing I noticed is that the 60s (old non i version) really lack bass, especially with punchy or low down bass. Instruments sound more realistic on the 80i's and seem to be easier to pick out, even my dad noticed this after a few seconds of comparison. I will reserve judgement though until I can do a longer test using his stereo system, nothing fancy but they will be plugged into the headphone socket on a Marantz PM7002 (I think). Should be an improvement over my pc setup.

I found the phones to be a bit uncomfortable at 1st but they have become more comfortable over time. A tweak on the headband really helped as well, maybe my big heeeed doesn't help. If I was being picky I would have prefered if they were around the ear instead of on the ear but I have been listening to Spotify for the last 4hrs ish and they are only now starting to become slightly uncomfortable. I think they should improve once they settle down some more though. Currently listening to Seasick Steve via Spotify premium, the guitars sound awesome......dude.

 

[Anonymous]

They do need breaking in but not nearly as much as some. If it's your first pair of Grado headphones they take a while to get used to, stick it out and you'll be rewarded. As you mention, the 60/80s are uncomfortable after a while, that's why they improve their pad design on higher range models I guess. Nevertheless, a real ear treat.

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[idc]

Great write up SW. I dont understand why the SR60s get the awards, when for not much more money (and sometimes less if you shop around) you can get the SR80s. I am sure you will get further improvements from an headphone amp, particularly sound stage and the feeling the music is outside of your head.

 

[plastic penguin]

Had similar problem with my SR 60i's, see my thread here:

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/t/343543.aspx

They are fine now. It took about three weeks of almost constant use to gain optimum performance.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Three weeks of constant use to get to gain optimum performance

, well I have about 30 hrs on mine now and they sound better than when they were brand new..... hopefully they will keep improving with some more hrs on them then.

I will deffinately be on the look out for a decent dac/headphone amp although it will be a few months yet before I can think about buying. What I don't know though is if it is better to get a combined dac/headphone amp like this for example, or to get a seperate head amp like the Graham Slee Novo and a seperate dac. The Symphony has a good dac and is more versatile but is the phone amp as good as the one in the Novo for example ? Are these all in one's a jack of all trades and master of none?

It would be good if the mag reviewed some more dac/headphone amps as there doesn't seem to be many in the reviews section of the site. Has the Symphony ever been reviewed by WHF?
With more and more people switching to pc based setups (Spotify or lossless files) I think the demand for these type of products will continue to grow.

I would rather save up a bit more and buy something that will do my phones justice, I think if I bought the budget equipment I would be wanting to upgrade it pretty quickly. The dac on my soundcard is not very good though, so any dac should be a big improvement.

Up until the other weekend I used to have a dual boot system (xp and vista64) with Spotify being run on xp. I have now formatted xp and vista and now run windows 7 ultimate 64, 40Gb for windows and 100Gb on another drive being used for all my programs/games. Not only does windows 7 work alot faster than xp or vista but the sound quality is alot better as well. If a different version of windows can make such a big difference to the sound quality im guessing a proper dac and headphone amp will have a huge effect. If only I had a spare £300 to spend....

 

[plastic penguin]

SpiceWeasel:

Three weeks of constant use to get to gain optimum performance

, well I have about 30 hrs on mine now and they sound better than when they were brand new..... hopefully they will keep improving with some more hrs on them then.

I will deffinately be on the look out for a decent dac/headphone amp although it will be a few months yet before I can think about buying. What I don't know though is if it is better to get a combined dac/headphone amp like this for example, or to get a seperate head amp like the Graham Slee Novo and a seperate dac. The Symphony has a good dac and is more versatile but is the phone amp as good as the one in the Novo for example ? Are these all in one's a jack of all trades and master of none?

It would be good if the mag reviewed some more dac/headphone amps as there doesn't seem to be many in the reviews section of the site. Has the Symphony ever been reviewed by WHF?
With more and more people switching to pc based setups (Spotify or lossless files) I think the demand for these type of products will continue to grow.

I would rather save up a bit more and buy something that will do my phones justice, I think if I bought the budget equipment I would be wanting to upgrade it pretty quickly. The dac on my soundcard is not very good though, so any dac should be a big improvement.

Up until the other weekend I used to have a dual boot system (xp and vista64) with Spotify being run on xp. I have now formatted xp and vista and now run windows 7 ultimate 64, 40Gb for windows and 100Gb on another drive being used for all my programs/games. Not only does windows 7 work alot faster than xp or vista but the sound quality is alot better as well. If a different version of windows can make such a big difference to the sound quality im guessing a proper dac and headphone amp will have a huge effect. If only I had a spare £300 to spend....

Slight exaggeration. Because I rarely use heaphones they were on for about 4 or 5 hours a day (not including weekends) it just seemed like an eternity. Plus my ears had to adjust to the sound difference. Sorry.

 

[idc]

SpiceWeasel:
What I don't know though is if it is better to get a combined dac/headphone amp like this for example, or to get a seperate head amp like the Graham Slee Novo and a seperate dac. The Symphony has a good dac and is more versatile but is the phone amp as good as the one in the Novo for example ? Are these all in one's a jack of all trades and master of none?

Many headphone amps and DACs perform multiple roles. Many DACs have headphone outs, my headphone amp has a DAC and it can be a preamp. I totally understand your comment about jack of all trades. Say you get the DAC you link to, I am sure it will do a great job because of the DAC in it. You can then upgrade the headphone amp part in the future by connecting the DAC to say a Novo. I did the opposite with my X-CAN, where I used its DAC at first and then upgraded to the Firestone. The difference was not huge, but since I am headfi all of the time, it is worth it for me.

I totally agree with wanting a group test of DAC/amps to see how each performs with the different roles. The test should include a test of the headphone out if it is there.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

No need to apologise PP, I read your 3 week comment as a few hours each day. 3 weeks of constant useage would be an insane amount of time for a running in period, although I guess some products may take this long to release their full potential.......maybe

I think a combined DAC/headamp would work out cheaper than going for seperates. A £300 box of goodies may even be overkill for my phones, although at least it should still work very well with better headphones if I ever upgraded in the future. One of the points I need to think about is size, a small box would be ideal as I can sit it on my pc desk. A DAC magic for instance would be to big if I went the seperates route.

The Novo (£240 ish, or less if I build the kit myself) will work well with phones costing upto £400ish, so will easily be good enough if I ever upgraded in future. The Symphony at £300ish might be a bit of a steal at the price as it has a very good DAC, as long as the headamp is as good as the Novo's that is. As JD would put it "the Symphony even has proper knobs".

I still have not decided what I want to buy yet, so I have plenty of time to consider a few options and hopefully read a few more reviews......hint hint nudge nudge WHF

 

[idc]

Firestone seem to tick all the boxes for you SW. They do headphone amps and DACs, so neither could be regarded as an add on and the size and price is right........

http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?lookup=1&region=UK&currency=GBP&pf_id=4589&customer_id=PAA1211011510441EIXYUYMZTHHOLNXX

Better link here to Firestone themselves and more products.

http://www.firestone-audio.eu/shop/products/headphoneampdac/index.php

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Thanks idc, that looks more like it price wise

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Help quick idc......anyone ?

This may sound like a stupid question but I take it the fubar4 is an upgraded fubar3 with a better spec dac and a few more inputs ? Reason I ask is that the fubar3 is 225 euro from Firestone, but the fubar4 is on special offer at only 125 euro.... "a special introductory super deal" as it's a new product. It even comes with the limited edition artwork (standard box available as well) which might come in handy for resale. I quite like the artwork tbh.

It looks like a no brainer to me unless I am missing something, should I be checking my bank balance right now as I might just be able to afford the fubar 4. Fubar3 and Fubar4

I don't want to miss out on a potential bargain, so can anyone offer any advice?

 

[idc]

I would go for the Fubar 4 asap. I read about the deal when I found the link, but it did not twig about the potential ! You are right , it is an upgraded 3 with more connectivity and sepearte DACs for USB and coax/optical.