Start Here
The shelf for a first good pair, or a first good anything. Nothing here is a compromise you will want to trade out of in a year.
The aluminium-housed top of the Classic Series entry range, and the most divisive headphone Grado sells.
Open back
The outside of the earcup is a grille, so air and sound pass through it in both directions. That usually buys a more spacious, less boxed in presentation, and it costs you privacy.
All headphones
Which one
If you are buying headphones and have no idea where to begin, start with an open back at the bottom of this shelf and listen in a quiet room. If the room is not quiet, or somebody in it is asleep, you want a closed back or an in-ear instead and the price barely moves.
If you already know you want to be able to hear what is going on around you, a Grado does that better than anything else at the money, and it is the least neutral thing here.
Nothing on this page needs an amplifier. Spend the amplifier money on the headphone first and find out whether you want a second box later.
Which one
If you are buying headphones and have no idea where to begin, start with an open back at the bottom of this shelf and listen in a quiet room. If the room is not quiet, or somebody in it is asleep, you want a closed back or an in-ear instead and the price barely moves.
If you already know you want to be able to hear what is going on around you, a Grado does that better than anything else at the money, and it is the least neutral thing here.
Nothing on this page needs an amplifier. Spend the amplifier money on the headphone first and find out whether you want a second box later.
Worth knowing
Below this, the answers get cheaper and stay good. A Koss KSC75 is about twenty dollars and is still the most headphone anyone sells for the money, and a Porta Pro is about forty and has been in production since 1984. We do not stock either one.
Ask before you drive and we will tell you what we can put in front of you. The listening room is free and by appointment.
Worth knowing
Below this, the answers get cheaper and stay good. A Koss KSC75 is about twenty dollars and is still the most headphone anyone sells for the money, and a Porta Pro is about forty and has been in production since 1984. We do not stock either one.
Ask before you drive and we will tell you what we can put in front of you. The listening room is free and by appointment.
Worth reading
All guides
Where you listen, how closely you listen, and what it takes to drive the thing. Answer those three and the catalogue narrows fast. Picks at every step.
Five headphones around $200, including a used one we would spend the money on ourselves and one that costs half as much, plus what to check before you buy a used pair.
Impedance and sensitivity tell you whether a headphone needs an amplifier, and for most of the headphones on this site the answer is no: here is how to read the two numbers, and which ones actually...
For a first pair of in-ears: the Truthear Hexa at $79.99, the Sennheiser IE 200 as a second pair once you know in-ears fit you, and who should skip in-ears entirely.
What you get either way
The listening room
Third floor at 215 East Lewis Street in Livingston, by appointment. An hour in the room settles this faster than anything either of us could write.
How we grade
Used and consigned gear is graded at the worst axis and never averaged. Every defect is named on the listing and the standard is published, so as described is something you can hold us to.
