Grado SR125 Headphone Review

Not Just for Audiophiles?

by Josh Walrath

Belying their nondescript box, herein lies some of the finest headphones made.

            Anyone who has more than a passing interest in high end audio products has probably heard of Grado.  Grado is a very small company based out of Brooklyn, NY that caters to the audiophile market, but their products are not all just aimed at the high end.  The area where Grado is most well known today is that of high quality headphones, or in audiophile terms, cans.  Grado’s designs are like nothing I had ever seen before, and when I first saw them I was not impressed by the physical appearance.  I still had a lot to learn at that time.

            Grado Labs has been in business for almost 50 years, and during that time they have created some astounding headphones as well as phonograph cartridges.  While these products are well known in the audio field, they are relatively unknown in the computer and multimedia field.  Grado’s headphone products span from the Prestige Series SR-60 which retails at $69, to the Reference Series RS-1 which goes for $695.  While the RS-1 series may be a little overkill for computer and multimedia uses, the Prestige Series lineup are well placed (and well priced) to address this market.

            All of Grado’s cans are handmade, and the same family that started Grado Labs continues to run it.  Their models do not change much through the years, but when products are this well built, and sound this good, there is very little reason to change. 

Initial Impressions

            I have listened to a few high quality headphones in my life, and these have come from the likes of Aiwa, Sony, and others.  I have listened to some digital reference type cans, as well as the entire range of inexpensive to expensive.  I also feel I have a very good ear and can distinguish slight nuances of sound and pitch.  For quite some time I had been very impressed with a set of Sony Digital Reference headphones, but then I was in for a shock.

The headphones are well packaged and protected, and underneath is the prerequisite warning about listening at moderate levels.

            At a LAN party, a friend of mine who works on sound production for video games brought a pair of Grado SR-225’s.  This was my first sight of Grados.  I quickly offered my friend another set of headphones that I had lying around, because I thought the ones he had looked a bit cheap.  He merely laughed at me.  I wasn’t sure at the time why he wanted to use these cheap looking, beat up Grados when I had a decent set of Yamaha headphones at the ready.

            After a night of LAN action, I decided to find out exactly what these headphones were about.  So I did a search on Google and discovered a large amount of information about Grado and their products.  Needless to say, I felt a fool for trying to foist off a cheap set of Yamaha headphones when my friend had something far, far better.

Out of the box it becomes apparent that the wire connecting the headphones is not exactly petite.

            With this in mind I went down to the local stereo store and saw that they had a set of Grado SR-125’s.  These were priced at $150, and while I shied away from that price initially, I finally buckled down and paid that price.  While there I was able to directly compare the Grado 125’s to a similarly priced set of Sony Reference headphones.  The difference to my ears was absolutely amazing.  I quickly pulled out the plastic and purchased the Grados.

Next: Out of the Box

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