Grado SR125 Headphone Review

Not Just for Audiophiles?

by Josh Walrath

Music

            This is the area where the Grado SR-125’s were designed for, and this is where they do their best.  Sound is amazingly accurate, yet it still has a very warm feeling.  The user can simply close their eyes and put in their favorite recording and they will instantly be transported to a wonderful soundstage where their music sounds as clean and as pure as they have ever heard it from top end speakers.  The bass response of these cans is nothing short of amazing, and in pieces that take advantage of low frequency effects will open up as never before.  The midrange is also well represented, and the human voice is reproduced with such fidelity that it is hard not to imagine that the person or group is singing for anyone but you.  The outstanding high frequency response adds the subtlety needed to convince the listener that they are not sitting in their chair at home, or in a small office.

            Closing the eyes is absolutely key to fully enjoying these cans while listening to music.  The brain will allow the eyes to override every other sense, so when keeping the eyes open, the user is not fully immersed into the sonic sensation that the Grados represent.  Once the eyes are closed, the soundstage opens up beautifully, and the recording really comes to life.

This is a very serious looking plug, and one that would probably hold up a 150 pound person.

            The unfortunate thing about the SR-125’s is that in some situations they can be too accurate!  Recording flaws will be accentuated with these, as compared to a looser set of cans or desktop speakers.  So if a user’s CD or MP3 file has errors of this kind, they can be somewhat painful to listen to.  Errors such as a low, background hiss, or peaks and valleys of sound where it shouldn’t be, will affect the listener’s pleasure in very profound ways at times.  Products such as Creative’s Media Source can help to clean up these recordings that may be sub-par, but often it also removes the fine details of the recording as well.

            When using near pristine source material, these headphones are an absolute joy to listen to.  Late at night, when I want to relax, I turn the lights off in my office and send the wife and kid to bed.  I put on the Grados and listen to some of my favorite CD’s and MP3 files.  Few things are able to relax me more than this, and one can easily lose themselves to the joy of listening.

DVD Playback

            I have listened to these headphones in two different scenarios, and they sound great in each.  The first is at the computer playing a DVD on PowerDVD 5.0, the second is on a Sony DVP-S7000 (one of the first high end DVD players).  In both situations the SR-125’s performed excellently.  Voices and action are distinct, and at no time is the sound muddled or dropped.  Even in complex scenes with many things happening, the SR-125’s are able to reproduce the sound without a problem.

You can see part of the metal strap that hides inside of the headband.  For people who like to wear their headband tight, this is not a very comfortable solution.  In the course of testing I learned to wear these loose, and the results were much more comfortable.

            When utilizing the HRTF functions of the Audigy 2 ZS, the SR-125’s are able to reproduce the 3D sound very clearly and very convincingly.  The home theater really starts to sound like a large theater with a great soundsystem.  I could find no flaw with these headphones while watching DVD’s.

Gaming

            This is the area where Grado definitely did not design these for, but in producing such an amazing product, it works out very well for this market.  Audio fidelity for games is not high on the list for the people doing the sound, but it is becoming more and more important as both the hardware for the source files, and the hardware for the actual sound reproduction are improving in great strides.  With the upcoming release of Half Life 2, and the recent release of Doom 3, audio is making some great strides in the gaming environment.

            The outstanding bass response of these headphones, as well as the midrange, helps to bring current games alive.  The high end again provides the subtle effects to create a more believable environment.  The use of HRTF effects on a good soundcard will enable the user to immerse themselves into the gaming environment much more effectively than with standard speakers.

            In all aspects of gaming, from music to sound effects to dialogue, the SR-125’s can reproduce them all without a problem.  Playing Doom 3 with these is an experience not to be missed!

Next: Conclusion

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