Real owners lean toward the Sennheiser HD 650: 75% of 316 owners recommend it, vs 60% of 55 for the Grado SR80x.
Verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube owner comments — affiliate reviews excluded. Sample sizes differ; judge accordingly. How we score
“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”— Hunter-97-G on Reddit
“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.”— srmd22 on Reddit
“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
“What an incredible difference they make to everything I had before! You can listen to a track and hear subtle details that you did not even know they existed. Wow!”— @marco83 on YouTube
“HD650 with a bum driver, but I was able to solider the voice coil back on, so they work normally again. I had a pair 15 years ago and always regreted selling them.”— kindofbluetrains on Reddit
“I find the HiFiMan Sundara & the Fiio FT1 Pro both more useful for mixing - the Sennheisers have a much more condensed/flat sound with less bass extension than either of those”— @reallyoldcob on YouTube