Out of the box a sharp smell of quality and you immediately realize that Grado Labs SR60 is something outstanding. Everything about these headphones signalizes that we are dealing with a product for quality conscious people. The industrial, almost military look of the design, the thick cables, large earpieces, all of it….

Our – modestly speaking – enormous expectations are being completely fulfilled when these headphones find their place on the head. The soundstage is balanced and honest, and no single part of the frequency spectrum is given special emphasis. There are, simply speaking, no flaws at all in the soundscape; flaws that could take one’s attention away from the music. The attention stays where it ought to be – at music itself.

Elvis Costello is a bit hoarse today. He is sitting right in front of me, singing about how nothing adheres to him like Ivy does, and it’s so beautiful, so beautiful, so….

There is an enormous wealth of detail in the reproduction; space is convincingly spanned out; you can easily point at where in your imaginary room the musicians are seated. These are the headphones you can use with your super stereo setup – without any embarrassment at all. I dare put forward the assertion that you will search in vain, on the Norwegian hifi market, for headphones carrying the same high qualities – if you do not double your headphone –budget.

These qualities also encompass an extraordinary degree of carrying comfort. Large, soft cushions lightly searching contact with your ears for a perfect joining – staying there until batteries (MP3 player’s!) are flat; the thought of a listening pause is unlikely to occur.

Should you be inclined to keeping it a secret what you are listening to these headphones are not the right thing for you. This open construction is hiding very little for the eavesdroppers around you; but, on the other hand, they’re letting sound signals that can be useful and important to you, e.g. when out in the traffic.

Conclusion:

What is there to say? Definitely, these ‘phones seem to be perfect match for a decent MP3-player. Both sound reproduction and carrying comfort is in a class by itself. The Grado Labs’ SR60 has to be considered a bargain, and a product everyone should give a listen, before they decide which headphones to buy for their MP3-player.