I was looking forward to reviewing these headphones, which were provided by Grado to headphonereviews.org. Grado's a big name in the industry, and i'd never heard anything by Grado before, so I was quite excited about the review.

When they arrived I removed them from their very cool box and immediately plugged them into my iPod Touch - most users of portable headphones like this will be using an mp3 player, not a home sound system or amplifier. I was immediately under-whelmed by the sound quality - it was flat, and a little lifeless. I figured they'd need some time to burn in, so I left them playing at a moderate volume for a few days.

Unfortunately my second impression was much the same as the first. The cymbals are muffled, their detail in the high end isn't there. The midrange sounds a little muffled, like there's a pillow between you and the music. The bass is there, and extension's ok, but it's quiet - you need a strong bass boost to bring it up. Comfort's good, but I find equal length cords annoying - split length cords are much more convenient in my opinion.

While these aren't bad headphones by any stretch of the imagination, they're really not great when compared with other in-ear headphones in this price range. I prefer the sound coming from my low end creative earbuds, which cost about 80% less.

Overall I can't recommend these at the price Grado are asking.