22% of 55 verified Grado SR80xowners don't recommend it — based on real owner comments from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
For balance: 60% recommend it. This page collects the complaints so you know what you're signing up for — read the full owner report for both sides. How we score
“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?”— KaosC57 on Reddit
“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”— Lithominium on Reddit
“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”— Environmental-Drop30 on Reddit
“I could not get over the absolute garbage that is the cable on that thing. Made the headphone completely useless for me.”— theDaniLand on Reddit
“I’m not really impressed with mine. They don’t sound super clear to me like my AirPods sounds better.”— Congcord on Reddit
“I love my grados, but the 80s aren’t worth it.”— L8_4_Dinner on Reddit
“yeah its too bright sounding for my liking.”— acoolrocket on Reddit
“after the Grado started to fall apart”— Microundeas on Reddit
“that glue thing really isn't cool”— Optimistic_Human on Reddit
“my ears start to hurt really bad”— Ok_Essay3396 on Reddit
“The cables absolutely suck!”— T173n on Reddit
“I'm a bit disappointed”— Kyber92 on Reddit
Not complaints — practical notes from owners that didn't affect the score.
“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 😅”— Civil-Tea9016 on Reddit
“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.”— Chok3U on Reddit
“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.”— Lanky_Independent_85 on Reddit
“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.”— dw_5384 on Reddit
“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”— Individual-Ride-2496 on Reddit
“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.”— dautolover on Reddit
“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”— nopunterino on Reddit
“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.”— After-Suspect-545 on Reddit