Grado Headphones

[bmwuk]

As you may or may not know, I have a new born child at home and I'd love to listen to my movies on headphones.However, my Shure 425's basically block out all noise and leave me "in the dark" from outside noise, which would include my baby monitor and my baby itself. I am considering a pair of Grado SR80s since if I recall, are open air designed so I can hear outside of my headphones. Can you confirm this to be the case and can you tell me how loud they are to someone not far away from me. The goal is nice sound without the sound carrying too far and also being able to hear outside if necessary. Thanks.

 

[PaulyT]

I don't have any experience with Grados. But there are a number of "open" full-size headphones. AKG K701 comes immediately to mind. I think most of the Senns are also at least partly open. Yeah, if you can hear sounds from outside, they can hear yours. You're thinking about, say, using them in bed? Yeah your wife will hear it, for sure. Whether it's too loud to be practical... can't really say. The only solution to this I can think of - and we set something like this up at one of our GTGs when we were doing headphone auditions - is to get a small mixer and microphone, and mix in the mic with your audio stream. That way - with closed headphones or IEMs - you can hear what's outside without sound escaping the other way. Maybe there exists some device built for this that you can simply plug into your headphone line... seems like somebody must have thought of this?

 

[Flint]

I have a pair of SR80 headphones from Grado and generally never recommend them. Why? They are shrill to me... too harsh in the top end. They also have a rather tight which sits partially on my ear. Since I wear glasses, this smashes my outer ear over my glasses and causes pain after about 20 minutes of wearing them. None of my other headphones fit anything like that.

I'd recommend the AKG K240 in that price range for an open back headphone.

 

[Flint]

Having said that about the Grado SR80, I should point out that I still have mine and I use them nearly every day at work. I keep them in my cubical and when I am watching videos or listening to conference calls/online presentations I wear them.

Why? Several reasons:
1 - They sound very decent and clear (compared to any budget cans I could put in my cube),
2 - I really don't want to wear headphones for too long a period of time because my office tends to have drop by visitors and hallway meetings which are the engine of the work and if I get lost in a Symphony for 60 minutes, I could miss out the benefits of being there, so these kinda make me take them off for a break every 20 minutes or so.
3 - I don't love them, so if they get damaged or stolen I won't cry for days and I try to raise funds for a replacement pair.
4 - They reflect my status by being higher end technology, though not flashy (yes, perception is VERY important in the office).

There you go...

 

[bmwuk]

Okay, thank you for the input.

The TV is in the living room, the baby crib is in the next room, so it wouldn't be watching TV in the bedroom or near the crib. I can't imagine the output noise of the Grados or the AKGs to other other people would be even close to a normal television volume.

The trick is I can't watch many movies consistently through the TV speakers due to the dialogue being just right but the action sequences being too loud or the action being just right but I can't hear the dialogue for jack.

What I want is to hear both without disturbing my children and wife when I really want to sit down with a movie at night. But I was hoping the open air or partially open would still allow me to hear any baby cries or the monitor, or whatever else. The Shures do not allow for that.

Am I thinking about that right? As for the mixer, that may a bit much for my intended setup (RCA to mini running from the blu-ray to headphone amp, then to headphones.

 

[PaulyT]

Oh ok, then I think you'd be ok; the noise from open headphones certainly won't be LOUD in the next room. Someone might be able to tell you've got them on, but I wouldn't imagine it would be disruptive at that distance.

 

[bmwuk]

Oh ok, then I think you'd be ok; the noise from open headphones certainly won't be LOUD in the next room. Someone might be able to tell you've got them on, but I wouldn't imagine it would be disruptive at that distance.

And I could hear baby or the monitor? Thanks.

 

[PaulyT]

Yeah. An open headphone really blocks no incoming noise - which can be advantageous, or not...

 

[bmwuk]

Ok, then I pulled the trigger on the AKG K240s for $69 at amazon.com. Will get them Wednesday (thank you friend's Prime account).

 

[PaulyT]

Flint, have you heard the K240? I ask because they describe them as "semi-open"... don't know where that falls in the spectrum of openness to ambient noise. I haven't ever heard this model myself. Then again, the T1 is also described as semi-open, and it lets in *everything*...

 

[Flint]

I own a two different pair of K240, the DF model and the newer Studio version. For all intents and purposes, they open back headphones.

 

[Botch]

I own the K240's and always thought they were sealed, but ya sure by golly, they ARE open back!
I guess that's why I've drifted away from phones; I have no external noises to block out.

 

[bmwuk]

And Botch, I want the sound from the outside. Otherwise I'd just use my Shure IEMs.

 

[bmwuk]

AKG K240s arrived today. I posted a beginning review of the amp I bought so not much time to listen to them. Good news, I can hear my baby cry and my wife talk. Good news you say? Yes! Because when they're in bed I can watch movies at quality volumes without disturbing them and still being able to hear what is important around me.

 

[PaulyT]

:handgestures-thumbup:

 

[walls]

Good choice, I have owned a couple pairs of Grados and found them very uncomfortable and thoughtbthey sounded quite thin. Which is exactly what one wouldn't want for TV and movies.

 

[Dentman]

Wow glad i read this. Im getting ready to make the move to headphones and was set on the Grados. Guess ill scratch them.

 

[GreatDane]

When I owned the Grado 325i I had 3 types of foam pads.

1. "Flats"- I think these were more of a custom pad that Todd The Vinyl Junkie sold. These were flatter than any other. They offered increased bass and subdued higher frequencies. They sounded the best for my tastes. Comfort was better than the "bowl" pads which are the stock pads.

2. "bowl" - maximum upper frequency delivery.

3. "comfies" - these probably fit many types of headphones but I only used them on the Grado. They are solid foam across. The only advantage is they are the most comfortable but lack the added bass from the "flats" and sound dull compared to the "bowls".

There are probably some other ideas people have had but my time with the 325 was 7 or 8 years ago.