60% of 55 verified owners recommend the Grado SR80x, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
“Man i loved my SR80x's when i owned them. But that cable! It's so hard to manage and i absolutely hated when i touched my skin. ended up returning them for some sennheiser hd560's.”
“Grado SR80s were my first decent pair of headphones too, and I still love them - still have them and listen to them something like 15 years later.”
“Using chinese components. And a lot of glue... You'd think with all that American Engineering, we could not use Glue, and instead use... maybe screws?”
“i just recently got my sr80x's and i still dont like the cable. its thick yes but it just. ough i dont like how it feels and operates”
“SR80x (120€ new) was my first audiophile headphone over two years ago. They were so good that within a week I returned them to upgrade to SR225x”
“I own a pair of SR80x’s and they’re not the best headphones I own but man on a good orchestral track they just sparkle to a level nothing else I have can achieve”
“can be pretty fatiguing (at least on my Grado headphones. I hear the treble has been smoothed a bit on the new x series). They still sound amazing though”
“I guess I was lucky to discover SR80X and Dekoni at the same time, because without the latter I would probably be using Sennheiser :)”
“IMO no. I don’t know how people like grados at all. They’re even worse than OG beyers when it comes to treble. It’s an ear rape”
“They're too harsh to me with the g pads but I do like what they do to the sound otherwise (especially the staging.)”
“I could not get over the absolute garbage that is the cable on that thing. Made the headphone completely useless for me.”
“Jammin to Nightwish on my 80x right now ironically. Out of my plethora of headphones vintage to new. Only the Stax come out ahead.”
“I don’t find the sr 80 to be low resolution, not as resolving as it gets obviously but definitely better than a lot of cans.”
“these grados are bright but not as much as people say and i listen to them without eq”
“I’m not really impressed with mine. They don’t sound super clear to me like my AirPods sounds better.”
“I don't think the Grados are that bright, but it is certainly bright tilting.”
“I love my grados, but the 80s aren’t worth it.”
“I do feel I can hear enemy footsteps better in terms of direction, as well as the subtle nuances of each gun.”
“yeah its too bright sounding for my liking.”
“very bad DJ headphones, but overall pretty decent cans”
“I like the light weight of the 80X especially since I use them on walks or doing chores around the house.”
“After using them for over a year now I can say these are the most fun headphones I've ever tried.”
“after the Grado started to fall apart”
“Love my Grados (60x, 80x, 125e and 350e)”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
“You can separate the cup assembly probably wrapping around a heated blanket. Hot glue's melting point is not all that high. Temp just needs to be hot enough for it to turn gooey.”
“I've noticed that they sound fuller with better AMPs... They scale really good. Usually they are connected to a xDuoo XA-02, which gives almost 1W at 32Ohms trough the 6.3 😅”
“It's been like this since the original SR60's/80's. This is why I always get the 60's. I can't tell much of a difference that warrants spending the xtra money for the 80's.”
“I've got the SR80x, they're pretty easy to drive I think. I don't have the V6 but I do have the Sonata and the Sonata HD dongles dacs and they power the Grados just fine.”
“For anyone who has these that wear glasses, how's the comfort? My friend owned the SR60x model and when I tried those on, the pain became unbearable after a few songs in.”
“The only difference is sr80 has a de-stressed driver which if I remember correctly means there is less bass distortion, but I only have the 80 so I can't tell if you really hear the difference”
“You can get this (this seems to be easiest and cheapest solution to your problem). You can reuse the original gimbals, and attach them to the headband assembly.”
“Ehhhhh, 60 and 80 are similar, they have some changes going up, the 225 I tried was an old model, they do make some sound changes from generation to generation”
“the headband is often the only part that breaks on Grados, the drivers not so much, this is what aftermarket parts are for. I really wish Grado would make their rodblocks out of aluminium or something though.”
“I wear glasses with thick frames, they're fine but it's likely depending on what kind of frames you have for comfort. The driver size/pads on mine are likely the same size/fit as the sr60x. Maybe go with different pads?”
“Thought I just posted this, but anyway, I have the SR80x's with Dekoni Grado pads and mine are really bassy. I have to eq the bass down”
“With the caveat that the caps need to be soaked in hot (not boiling) water for a minute to loosen the glue, this is a good suggestion!”
“I'm literally waiting for my first Grados (also the 80x) right now... They are "out for delivery" and can't get here too soon.”
“Or check Etsy or google "DIY Grado style headphones" if you want to abandon the crappy build quality but save the drivers.”
“Why wouldn't it be able to drive them? Grado's are low impedance and high sensitivity. They can run off almost anything.”
“Someone is gonna post how much they hate this headphone. Don't listen to them. If you like it you like it.”
“I'll do a detachable cable mod and change the blocks and cups, should last a fair bit longer like that”
“Not that the cable breaks, but it has the mind of its own and is annoying to deal with.”
“I prefer lower volumes personally a lot of the time. It's definitely wider sound.”
“You want more bass? Open up the SR80x and then use a ballpoint point to poke holes in the felt. This is called the holepunch mod and will give you more bass. The higher-end models with more bass have some prepunched holes in the felt. My GH4 has 5 holes. You can punch up to 10 holes!”
“The only semblance of a difference I could find between them was a comment on the video saying the SR80x drivers are supposedly better matched and another commenter on this thread saying the SR80x drivers are de-stressed, whatever that means. Would such things even make a real difference?”
“Or go around taking all the old glue off and replacing with hot glue.the drivers won’t come out of there sleeves and the sleeves very rarely come out of the plastic cups.what I do is pull the sleeves up about ten mm hot glue the sleeve on the edge of the cup then quickly slide the sleeve down in to the cup so the glue…”