Hey TheNervousGerman, welcome of the forum!

The BeyerDynamics are nice cans, but so are the Grados. What do you listen through (i.e. what do you plug the headphones into)? Your SR60s might not be the weakest link so if you are only interested in better sound quality you may be better off spending your money elsewhere.

Try to listen to a pair of Beyers, using your mp3 player. Are you recording your music in "lossless" files? If not, you'll need to start doing that, because with good cans you'll really hear the quality issues with mp3. As Struts said, Grado is well respected and really makes several great "serious" cans to begin cutting your audiophile teeth on. Roll around over at Head-Fi if you want to see some really opinionated views of cans, mixed with a lot of really good information.

BTW, I favor AKG and Ultimate Ears.

Dave

For improved sound I would investigate the following:
a) if you are listening to music in a lossy comressed format like MP3 or AAC try a lossless format like FLAC, ALAC or WMAL instead
b) listen to how your Grados sound when driven by a dedicated headphone amp (there are even portable versions such as the Headroom Total Airhead and the Ray Samuels Hornet).

The above steps will improve the sound quality more than any change of cans. Grado SR 60s are superb headphones for the money, I very much doubt that they are the weakest link in your current listening chain.

Great advice, guys. And welcome to the forum, Nervous.

Good advice, just one thing to add: When you start getting into bigger cans, your mp3 player won't be able to drive them, so they won't sound their $$ worth.

IEMs, on the other hand, sound just as good (some say better) and don't require any additional amplification (although they have their own drawbacks).

X2 on IEMs if you don't amp.
Even consider a custom (molded to fit your ear)

Some audiologists charge as little as 20.00 per pair for the impressions to make the molds.

LiveWire, FreQ (pronounced freak) prices start out as little as 99.00, plus impresssions.
The top < FreaQShow MM is a 3way driver comparable to some of the 800.00 customs but the FreaQs are only 350.00

Head-Fi.org will educate and addict you and drain your wallet , but you will have fun on the way to the poor house.
The headphone world reminds me of audio of many years ago. A lot of excitement, small manufacturers with REASONABLE prices and a lot of fun.

If you get an amp you might want to support a fellow German: Jan Meier.

I have a Meier home amp (cantate) and a portable Meier Move. Both are excellent.

But my best amp is the DarkVoice337 a tube beast that some at head fi consider one of the best out there , yes, they like the WOO6 as well :-)
Transporter>DV337>AKG701 is some good sonic bliss.

There are times when I enjoy phones as much or more than my speaker based system.

Thank you so much! I have tons of music. Do you know of any kind of converter that would make it into FLAC? quote

If your music is aleady in a lossy format you can't restore the lost data, so it would do no good to convert it to flac or alac.

OTOH, if you have the original CDs you can re rip them in either flac or alac. If you use Itunes, ALAC is probably easiest.

Yes, see my post above.

Quote:

Are there any amps that are, you know--fairly portable?

Ray Samuels' models:

http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/sr-71
http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/tomahawk
http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/hornet
http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/predator

Grado labs

http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/ra1_amp.htm

Headroom

http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/the-mobile-line/

Are there any amps that are, you know--fairly portable?

The meier headsix
The Meier Move

IThe Headsix is the Move w/o the usb DAC. Buy it through head-fi and it's cheaper.

I have the Move which is one of the top rated portables by Skylab, a well regarded reviewer at head fi.
The Move ties for 2nd place with a few others.
I think he ranked the IQube#1 but it is 500.00 ?

The Move is a fantastic portable and even drives the difficult 701's pretty well, and that is saying a lot.

There are many great portables out there. Start surfing head fi and you will get an idea what is around