Headphones
Grado SR 225i
The SR225i are a nice 'sweet spot' in Grado headphones. Delivering distinct sonic punch, musical immediacy and tight low-end impact, these cans move you out of the back of the audience right inside the music. Their look may be old-school retro, but the performance sounds perfectly up to date for audiophiles and music lovers. Precise factory-matched drivers present a terrifically clear, detailed tone with clean focus ideal for rock, instrumental and modern jazz recordings. Low 32 Ohm impedance allows use with any audio source with no amp needed. Made in Brooklyn USA.
Sorry, Grado Labs products can only ship within USA due to manufacturer restrictions!
HeadRoom is now a fully authorized Grado headphone recable specialist! Please call us if you are interested in re-cabling your Grado headphones with our exclusive HeadRoom/Cardas 'Fat Pipe' upgraded headphone cord!
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Product Features:
- Huge audio 'bang for the buck', perhaps tops in Grado series
- Tremendous clarity of detail and dynamic sound quality
- Easily replaceable earpads
- Made in Brooklyn USA
What's In The Box:
- Grado Labs warranty insert
Applications:
A HeadRoom favorite amongst the Grado 'SR' series, the SR225i is one of the best-sounding open earpad ['on-ear'] headphones available near $200. The strong suit of the Grado SR225i is the intensity of its "you're-there-on-the-bandstand" sound and its textural, eye-blinking musical impact -- which it can deliver in spades. The bass response is tight and punchy while the mids & highs are significantly more refined and better controlled than in lower-tier models. Improvements to this SR225 "i" edition include a beefier, more durable headphone cord, re-configured element drivers, and a more rigid driver housing. The SR225i works perfectly with all portable audio players, but we recommend mobile users get some type of headphone amp for a fabulously detailed, dynamically extended and smoother tonal presentation. The sound will also gain musical transient 'quickness', stronger low-end flow and more acoustic authority with a good headphone amp. Regarding the fit and ergonomics, some feel the SR225i wearing comfort improves if you gently (gently!) bend the headband to better conform to the top of the head for a more personalized fit. The available Grado Labs 'Soft' style earpad cushions ['S-Cush'; $15 pair; sold separately] offer a mildly softer grade of foam mesh padding (and a different feel on the earlobes) and may help alleviate the issue for sensitive listeners.
The SR225i are well but simply designed with drivers precisely factory-matched to .05dB tolerances and voice coils made of Grado Labs' own ultra-high purity, long crystal, oxygen-free proprietary copper elements. The SR225i has a simple, flexible headband design and metal height adjusters connecting the earpieces to the headband, allowing for up & down adjustment plus full 360 degree rotation. This handy feature is ideal for laying the headphones down flat for storage or traveling. The short straight connecting "Y" cable measures only approximately 5.5ft and is permanently attached to both L/R earcups. It comes terminated to a full-size 1/4" inch plug. If you need to plug into a small mini-jack on your audio source, you'll need a Grado 1/4"-to-1/8" mini-plug adapter ($14.95). For listeners needing a longer cord reach, please check out the Grado Labs 15ft extension cord ($39.95)
Specifications:
- Warranty: 1 Year
- Manufacturer Warranty: 1 Year
- Headphone Type: Earpad
- Connector Type: 1/4
- Weight: 8 oz.
- Impedance @ 1kHz: 32
- Detachable Cable: No
- Cord Length: 5.5ft (approx)
- Cord Type: Straight Y
- Coupler Size: Medium
- Ear Coupler Type: Earpad
- Acoustic Seal: Open
- Isolation: 0
- Sensitivity: 98 dB/mV
- Noise Cancelling: No
- Wireless: No
- Microphone: No
- Driver Type: Dynamic
Additional Resources:
- Manufacturer's Website
- http://www.gradolabs.com/
- Product Reviews
- Cool Tech Zone Gundeep Hora Sept. 2005
Average Rating
Posted by J from Midwest on 2013-04-22
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Unbeatable value and sonic detail
Cons: A little bright - of course, they're Grados! Headband requires user adjustment (ie bending).
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Posted by NA Blur from Bozeman, MT on 2011-03-10
Recommend Product: No
Pros: Excellent Sound Quality, Detail, Fun
Cons: Burn in period, comfort, price over SR-80i
Fast forward 10 years, 8 sets of headphones, many amps and other audio goodies. I was listening to my EH-250's at the time and a work buddy of mine had on, sure enough, a pair of SR-80's. My curiosity overwhelmed me and I convinced him to let me borrow them and do some comparing. What I found was astonishing. The same delightful Grado signature with that impactful bass.
Always looking for upgrades I purchased a pair of SR-225i's in hopes they would improve on the SR-80i's sonic signature. Looking back I was not sure what I was thinking because the SR-80 is truly amazing. Especially so coming out of a decent head amp. What I found was...
The headphones straight from the box sounded bright. The SR-225i's come stock with the bowl pads, not the more impactful bass flats. I noticed the detail was extended slightly over the SR-80's and the highs brighter. The soundstage was a little better, but slightly flat as expected for a mid to low level Grado. After performing a ton of testing, burn in, and reading I found a few mods that can really help the SR-225i. The first of which is simply to apply some electrical tape around the outer circumference of the bowl. This keeps the bass from filtering out of the earcup. The difference is subtle, but pleasant. Over the next 8 days I noticed the bass slowly come to life. This is what I really enjoy about the Grado headphone. Once the bass impact shows up you click your heels together just like Dorothy did.
If you look at the charts the SR-225i is virtually identical to the SR-80i in every way. Even Grado admits the only real differences are the vents for the driver and the a dB driver match of .05. This gives a slightly better bass response for the SR-225i as well as a more balanced audio performance. At GradoLabs.com the 225i's show a frequency response of 20Hz to 22Hz. The bass is not any more extended than the SR-60, but the highs move up 2kHz. This accounts for the brightness.
Personally I find the comfy stock pads more pleasant and the sound differences are extremely subtle.
After hundreds of hours of listening the 225i is just not worth the upgrade from an SR-60 or SR-80. Both ends of the frequency spectrum start to widen at the 325i level, but the only jump I really enjoyed was to go to the RS-1i.
A note about the comfort and bass. If they hurt your ears after a while I found two simple solutions. The easiest is to wear a cap or a headband when you listen to Grados. It seems to protect the critical part of the outer ear the can hurt over time. The second is to place a small bit of very thin and very breathable cloth over the driver mesh. This gives just enough relief for your ears and actually extends the bass a tad by further filtering the driver.
If you have a pair of 60's or 80's and want to upgrade I would go with an AKG K 271 from here or all the way up to the RS-1i.
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Posted by Mr.Phil from Indiana on 2011-01-07
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Dynamics, Can play most genres well
Cons: Flimsy feeling, Some may find uncomfortable
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