Grado SR125E Headphones Review

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

 The Grado SR125e, an astonishing wonderful pair of headphones. These absolutely glamorous headphones are made of strong materials that you'll know for sure won't leave any wear over time. The headphone itself is made of Polycarbonate which is what you'll normally find in loudspeaker flagship woofers which are used to absorb stray sonic vibrations and just overall have a great experience. It has the rare ability of being extremely mobile and flexible and is lightweight and thin yet still keeping a strong vintage vibe eye popping appearance. Something that Grado Labs refuses not to mention whenever there discussing these pair of headphones is there cable design that you won't find on any ordinary pair and even most expensive headphones utilizing the UHPLC copper voice coil wire which will produce sound unimaginable and rich vocals and a warm harmonic experience that is extremely pleasant to the ears. Additionally, unlike most flagship headphones and through opening the headphones I have determined there is a neodymium magnet and basically Units with neodymium magnets are easier and have more power than devices that utilize ferrite magnets. They also have more bath and handle high tones which obviously improves sound. Some other nice things to note is that it includes a 3.5" male but in adapter for aux for amplifiers, dac's etc which I find very useful.

 

   Besides all the noticeable good things about the Grado's I want to talk about on some disadvantages. The majority of these things you'll probably not notice until some days with the unit itself and also probably won't be a deal breaker but it's worth noting definitely. The ear cups are somewhat small and so its irritating due to its small size but this can be easily fixed with some nice leather size-able ear-cups that are typically sold on amazon but I got mine on an audio shop. Now this isn't even really a problem for me but the headphones don't have sound insulation / passive noise reduction or to put it simply noise cancelation but like I said, I don't find that in my criteria when I'm purchasing headphones but for some that may be a deal breaker. 

 

That concludes my short, yet hopefully helpful review on these extremely well built, sturdy yet flexible and state of the art headphones.

 

@Max_Settings

[Max_Settings]

If you are looking for feedback on this, you probably don’t want to hear from me. Because I’m about to shit all over everything you just said. But I won’t be that mean. Let’s just say hop off the Grado marketing BS that means nothing and these are very poorly built headphones that suck.

[Max_Settings]

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

The Grado SR125e, an astonishing wonderful pair of headphones

Disagree entirely

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

These absolutely glamorous headphones are made of strong materials that you'll know for sure won't leave any wear over time.

Not true at all. These headphones along with most Grados, even the $1000+ pairs are very poorly built. The ones in this series like the 60, 80, and 125 are notorious for breaking.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

The headphone itself is made of Polycarbonate which is what you'll normally find in loudspeaker flagship woofers which are used to absorb stray sonic vibrations and just overall have a great experience.

Saying "Polycarbonate" doesn't change the fact that they are plastic. And what on earth does that have to do with speaker cones? That correlations makes no sense. And honestly a lot of high end speaker cones aren't made of plastic.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

It has the rare ability of being extremely mobile and flexible and is lightweight and thin yet still keeping a strong vintage vibe eye popping appearance.

Mobile I'm not giving you because attached wire. The rest you can have.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Something that Grado Labs refuses not to mention whenever there discussing these pair of headphones is there cable design that you won't find on any ordinary pair and even most expensive headphones utilizing the UHPLC copper voice coil wire which will produce sound unimaginable and rich vocals and a warm harmonic experience that is extremely pleasant to the ears.

New flash, they don't mention that it uses that copper because that makes no difference whatsoever to anything. As for the rest that sounds like some BS some marketing firm would come up with to describe a headphone, and none of that is true because the headphones are a mess.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Additionally, unlike most flagship headphones and through opening the headphones I have determined there is a neodymium magnet and basically Units with neodymium magnets are easier and have more power than devices that utilize ferrite magnets.

Uh.........basically every headphone uses neodymium magnets.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

They also have more bath and handle high tones which obviously improves sound.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

d. Some other nice things to note is that it includes a 3.5" male but in adapter for aux for amplifiers, dac's etc which I find very useful.

Uh, you never plug headphones into a DAC.

23 hours ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

The ear cups are somewhat small and so its irritating due to its small size but this can be easily fixed with some nice leather size-able ear-cups that are typically sold on amazon but I got mine on an audio shop.

You don't change the pads on many headphones, especially Grados because that drastically changes the sound. Those Grados are on ear, and that is their intended use. Don't use non-stock pads on them (or don't use them at all)

 

Anyway, the SR125 suck. They are poorly built, with a thick attached cable. They have no bass, terrible mid rand, and sharp out of control highs.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

9 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Disagree entirely

 

Ok?

Quote

Not true at all. These headphones along with most Grados, even the $1000+ pairs are very poorly built.

Actually, I got my Grado 60s from the 1990s and they still work flawlessly without a scratch, the build quality is very good and I got it used AND I did indeed have a fair amount of wear on it.

It works just like if it was new in the package. Every function that worked right out of the box still works. Are you just pulling this shit out of your ass?

Quote

Saying "Polycarbonate" doesn't change the fact that they are plastic. And what on earth does that have to do with speaker cones? That correlations makes no sense. And honestly a lot of high end speaker cones aren't made of plastic.

Not quite, there not made of plastic. Its metal. And the actual speaker itself is polycarbonate. The material used is in high end products.

Quote

Mobile I'm not giving you because attached wire. The rest you can have.

New flash, they don't mention that it uses that copper because that makes no difference whatsoever to anything. As for the rest that sounds like some BS some marketing firm would come up with to describe a headphone, and none of that is true because the headphones are a mess.

Alot of audiophiles including myself recommend them and back in the day when harry pearson was still alive he rated the grado sr60s 10/10 for its price point and the rest, the same. 

Copper does make a difference and the headphone isn't a mess it sounds better than most headphones from this era at its price point. And actually they did mention it. 

Quote

Uh.........basically every headphone uses neodymium magnets.

uh.....no not quite.

 

Quote

 

thick attached cable

Well that I honestly don't care about. Its not in my criteria

Quote

 

. They have no bass, terrible mid rand, and sharp out of control highs.

 

Grado is known for outstanding mid-range and human voice reproduction and truthfully it depends on what your listening too. Have you tried the headphones? Certain music genre's don't work very well but stuff like Opera's, Rock sounds very well. Truthfully its a matter of what your listening too.

 

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

9 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

On 9/29/2018 at 2:38 AM, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

d. Some other nice things to note is that it includes a 3.5" male but in adapter for aux for amplifiers, dac's etc which I find very useful.

Uh, you never plug headphones into a DAC.

Typo, and I said AMP.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

@Max_SettingsDo you have a particular headphone at $150 dollars that you would recommend?

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

And I never said they were my favorite, far from my favorites but they are at least on my top 10 list at its price point.

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

And I forgot to mention this but when your using any model of the grado's I recommend a very good amp.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

74 people, upvoted that review. 

 

 

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

 

Has had em for 4 years... yup terrible build quality @Max_Settings

[Max_Settings]

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

1 minute ago, Max_Settings said:

No. Ewwww...

[Max_Settings]

Just now, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

No.

But they have amazing reviews, just like your Grados.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

1 minute ago, Max_Settings said:

But they have amazing reviews, just like your Grados.

Well, I guess they enjoy it. I don't.

Its a matter of opinon. Hey, they enjoy there music I enjoy mine.

 

Also, these people are not really audiophiles. They just want overpriced headphones for there phone for whatever reason based on alot of the reviews.

[Max_Settings]

1 minute ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Well, I guess they enjoy it. I don't.

Its a matter of opinon. Hey, they enjoy there music I enjoy mine.

 

No, all I’m saying is linking Amazon reviews means nothing to your point. And owning something for a long time and it not breaking doesn’t mean it’s not poorly built, it just means you are careful with it. Grado’s headband design snaps on the plastic adjust piece. Super common issue because they use the same headband on all their headphones.

[Max_Settings]

And they suck, just looking at the FR you can tell they suck. No headphones should look like that.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

it just means you are careful with it.

Mate, I literally said I treated it like shit and despite that works like a charm.

[Max_Settings]

2 minutes ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Mate, I literally said I treated it like shit and despite that works like a charm.

Google broken Grado headbands and then come back to me.

[Dackzy]

57 minutes ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Grado is known for outstanding mid-range and human voice reproduction and truthfully it depends on what your listening too. Have you tried the headphones? Certain music genre's don't work very well but stuff like Opera's, Rock sounds very well. Truthfully its a matter of what your listening too.

 

 

Actually no, not even close. The timbre is way off they have a weird shoutiness and grain to them. What grado is known for in the headphone community is for being your grandpa headphone and this is not to be mean, but that is honestly how they are being spoken about today. Lots of treble and upper mids. Nobody recommends grado outside of a very very small community.

 

You are also using Amazon reviews... I mean come on dude, that is in no way a sign of quality or anything close to that. I can go on amazon and find Beats with the same rating as your grado, but with a lot more reviews. They basically mean fuck all. It is the same as linking to a normal tech reviewer that has reveiwed some headset, ofc he is going to like it and give it a good review, because he hasn't tried anything better.

 

35 minutes ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

74 people, upvoted that review. 

god that dude made me laugh, the X2 are trash no way around it. Mid bass is bloated as fuck and leaks into the mids. If a dude likes X2 then I would just ignore that person with anything that is audio related, because it clearly shows that he hasn't trained his ears at all or he has some form of hearing damage in the mid bass area.

 

For what the SR125e cost I can get K612 or AD900x or HD 58X or HD 580, they are all more detailed than SR125, they don't have the same quality issues that grado headphones tend to have, the frequency responses are more even, half of them have removable cables, they all have a more correct timbre (some more than others). Where I live I can actually get a pair of new K612 and a used pair of HD 25 for less than the SR125 cost and both of them new for like $20-25 more than SR125

 

back to quality issues. Like this isn't that uncommon

Spoiler

 

I see it as you being lucky. I had a pair of Hifiman HE 560 at one point, they are notorious for having forks/headband break with just normal usage, like clean snap, mine didn't and I haven't treated them the best. Sometimes you are lucky to get a pair that doesn't break.

 

At the end of the day you are the one using them and the most important is that you like what you hear.

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

@DackzyI got mine for $80.00 Bucks and I can't find headphones better than that unless you have something. Even if you got them new ( $150.00 ). Also, if you don't use an amp they sound like absolute garbage but when you actually have a good amp it sounds VERY good. Also the sennheiser HD 580 are like twice as much new so I don't even know why your even comparing them to the Grado SR125e. 

 

Truthfully its a matter of opinon, and my opinon is the Grado SR125e's. The general opinon is good and I consider them good so I use them when I'm listening to music. I enjoy my music, you enjoy yours. 

 

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

1 hour ago, Max_Settings said:

Google broken Grado headbands and then come back to me.

My grado headphones aren't broken so I'm giving it a good review. I'm not going to google it. 

 

 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

I like my headphones. And I plan on upgrading to a Sennhesier 6xx once I sell my grado 125e's since I can't quite afford them. Grado is general is by far NOT MY favorite company making headphones but there 125e is my personal top 10 favorite at what I got them for. 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

Grado has been in business since like 1960s or something possibly even before then and they have quite the experience in Headphones ( mostly in cartridges ) especially in there prime. And when I first tried them I loved them. Now they have decreased in market share of course to do other brands becoming very popular. Still if you were in the era where they were in there prime and compared there headphones to other headphones of that time you would immediately pick grado.

[Max_Settings]

1 minute ago, InMiseryWeSeekPancakes said:

Grado has been in business since like 1960s or something possibly even before then and they have quite the experience in Headphones ( mostly in cartridges ) especially in there prime. And when I first tried them I loved them. Now they have decreased in market share of course to do other brands becoming very popular. Still if you were in the era where they were in there prime and compared there headphones to other headphones of that time you would immediately pick grado.

And that’s relevant now how? 

[InMiseryWeSeekPancakes]

1 minute ago, Max_Settings said:

And that’s relevant now how? 

I was just pointing it out...