Grado SR-60: Great sound, odd styling!

OVERVIEW
On the recommendations of Headroom (www.headphone.com), Hi-Fi Choice (Great Britain) and Consumer Guide (which had rated these headphones as "Best Buy" for years), I decided last Monday to order the Grado SR-60 headphones from Headroom for $69, and then spent another $15 for the optional donut pads. Here is my analysis:

THE GOOD
Performance
When I received these headphones, I thought they were going to sound terrible. I had very low expectations for them: Their styling harks back to the 1950's! That styling is a "Love It!" or "Hate It!" affair. But one listen to them and I was floored! These headphones produce bass that is deep, clear and detailed without being muddy or boomy; the SR-60's midrange is liquid and detailed, not hollow or can-like; the treble is detailed and clear, not harsh or sibilant. (This performance is with the optional donut pads; the supplied comfy pads color the sound somewhat.) In fact, the SR-60's actually outperform many headphones that cost up to $200 (except for the higher-priced Grados and some Sennheisers).

Grado Labs rates the sensitivity of the SR-60s at 98dB@1mV, but to my ears (and everyone else's), 98dB on the Grados sounds more like 108dB. The Sennheiser HD495 headphones, on the other hand, claim a sensitivity rating of 106dB@1Vrms, but on those headphones, 106dB sounded more like 86dB. In this comparison, don't be fooled by these headphones' 32-ohm impedance rating. A home receiver or a dedicated headphone amp is recommended with the Sennheiser HD495s, while the Grado SR-60s work very well with practically any source.

THE BAD
No headphones are perfect. Aside from the "retro" styling of the SR-60 (and all other Grado headphones from the SR-80 through the RS-1), the cable is too thick for easy portability. At least the SR-60 (and SR-80) terminate this overly thick cable with a 3.5mm stereo mini-plug (for portable use). Grado also supplies a 6.3mm adapter for home use.

Comfort
Some reviewers have complained about the pressure that the SR-60s place on the listener's ears, and I tend to agree on many of those complaints. At first, with either set of Grado pads, I found them rather uncomfortable; with the "bowl" pads, my ears began to ache after an hour of listening. But things improved significantly the more I used them, so now I can wear them for several hours at a time.

All open-air headphones leak more sound to the outside than closed designs. The Grados leak more than most, but I don't find that annoying unless I have the volume set too loud.

BOTTOM LINE
If you have a good portable CD player (such as my Panasonic Shockwave Metal SL-SW850/860 or a Sony CD Walkman with G-Protection models D-EJxxx), then do yourself a favor: Spend the extra $69 on the Grado SR-60 Prestige Series headphones. Your ears will thank you for it.


[The following statement was added by LetItRut on 11-17-00 at 8:35 AM CST.]
I found another revelation about Grado headphones in general: In this day and age of mass-marketed consumer electronics imported from the Far East (i.e. China, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia), all Grado headphones except the bottom-of-the-line SR-40 are made entirely in the USA. In fact, Grado's factory is located in Brooklyn, New York.