Grado Prestige

Pros: great natural sound that feels like your are on stage

Cons: cost, and could be a bit more comfortable

Summary: The SR325i had the most natural sound of any of the cans I tried. They were great when listening to jazz, rock, blues, or classical. I look for every excuse to listen to music with these every chance I get. While they sound best with a home system they are easily driven with an portable players like an iPod. The sound even from iPods with files using high resolution sampling is great and noticeably better than with the lower end cans. All the Grado cans were good, but each level has a slight improvement up to the 325i. The base was much richer with the sr325i than the sr225. I did not appreciate significant improvement between the sr 325i and next level rs2 which I found more muted.

I enjoyed the natural "on stage" Grado sound more than the Sennheisser or AKG.

Compared with Grado sr 80, 125, 225, rs2. Sennheiser 555, 595,650, AKG k 601, k701and Shure e500. The Sennheissers and AKG's were a little more comfortable. The Shure E500 are more portable, comfortable, and offer sound isolation, but still lack the natural sound I hear with the Grado or Sennheisser 595. The Sennheiser 595 were the closet to the Grado. However, I enjoyed the sound from the Grados much more. The Grad 325i are easily comfortable enough to listen to for over 2 hours of music.