Grado SR80X

£129

The SR80 are what the Brooklyn-based company counts as its first-ever pair – built on the Grado family’s kitchen table in 1991, and the foundation upon which it built its open-back headphones empire.

The SR80X are billed as budget on-ear headphones, suitable mostly for home use due to their wired, open-back nature, meaning they inherently leak sound both in and out. Surrounding noise will be audible to you (unless you’re listening to heavy metal at high volumes), and the music you’re playing will be audible to others (especially if you’re listening to heavy metal at high volumes).

That open-back characteristic is flagged aesthetically by the distinctly holey ear cups through which sound leaks. Unsurprisingly here, Grado continues to stick diligently to the industrial aesthetic for which it is known. Inside the SR80X is a new, fourth-gen 44mm driver, which uses both a more powerful magnetic circuit for improved efficiency and a newly designed, lower-mass voice coil and diaphragm to further reduce distortion.

These Grados never feel poorly driven or out of their depth, no matter how sophisticated the electronics we partner them with. They might be considered budget headphones, but their class-leading transparency means they can satisfyingly participate in a more sophisticated set-up.

Everything we like about their predecessors – their nimble-footedness, expressive, rolling dynamics, and insight across well-defined frequencies – has been inherited, and the punch and panache that have made the Prestige models such born entertainers are very much also part of the Sr80x’s sonic signature.

The pay-off for their exceptionally open and dynamically fluid delivery is one that is pretty leaky, but if you can live with the fact that these are headphones best suited for quiet environments and ‘me’ time, you won’t be disappointed.

At this money, the SR80 model remains the finest in the market.