What's the difference between reversed bowls, bowls and taped bowls?

in my case the reversed bowls tortured my ears to the extent I couldn't even focus on the music, while the bowls used as intended are completely circumaural (I haven't got big ears ) and they only touch the driver screens ever so lightly...

At the same time for many the bowls (as intended) as semi-supra aural and that seems to mean torture... this is something you really need to find out for yourself.

Soundwise, the reversed bowls seem to be somewhere between normal bowls and flatpads... but as said before I personally can't confirm this.

...and then you can still use taped bowls, the yellow HD414 pads, quarter modded HD414 pads, reversed HD414 pads, comfies, quarter modded comfies, jumbo bowls, sock modded bowls and Headphile C-pads... but a search should bring up more info/impressions on these.

I personally have only tested bowls, HD414, quarter modded HD414, reversed quarter modded HD414, reversed bowls and comfies and for my SR-60 and MS2i I prefer (sound and comfort-wise) unmodded, unreversed, used as intended, bowls

I'd say this is a pretty good analysis, although, interestingly, I had just the opposite reaction to the bowls/reversed bowls experience. I found it extremely uncomfortable with my (relatively) small ears resting inside the bowls and against the driver screens. Bearable, but markedly diminishing the joy of the listening experience. Reversing the bowls for me increased the comfort level considerably, and so that's where I expect to stay. As far as sound is concerned, I have noticed little if any appreciable difference listening to a wide range of rock, pop/rock, folk-rock, country-rock, soft rock, alternative and singer/songwriter song files--mostly in lossless/wav--among others. There may technically be a difference, but I don't hear it. OTOH, there is a difference between the comfies and the bowls that I would say is significant, so much so that I don't think I could ever go back to the comfies. I fact, I know I couldn't.

I'm all about using the bowls as designed, but I do switch to my quarter-modded comfies for working out. Yes, it totally collapses the soundstage, but w/the drivers practically resting right on my ears, it does seem I can play my fast-paced workout music at an even lower level while still hearing the details. But most importantly, it leaves my bowls dry so I don't have to put on headphones soaked with cold sweat later after I shower.

@ TY: I have used quarter modded HD414 pads on my SR60 in the office for a while (just because the yellow pads made them look sooooo cheap and I could leave 'em on my desk without worrying ), but you, Torula Yeast, are the first person I've met to work-out with grados... I applaud you! BTW, which model? Not the SR325i surely?

@ Shoreman: I have pretty small ears, but they are also positioned very flat against my head, so only 0,5 cm of each ear actually touches the screen driver in a very soft way. The ring of the bowls carry all the 'weight' so after a bit of headband bending (another great thing of grados IMHO) I don't really notice they are on, even the heavier MS2i and even wearing glasses.

@ OP: if there is one thing I've learned so far it's that there is no 'general rule' when it comes to comfort/sound preference and grado pad options. Everyone will have to try for themselves and choose what works for them (without paying attention to what others say)...

Luckily you can experiment a whole lot for cheap (they mostly come with bowls so standard, reversed, sock modded and taped are free and non-destructive in any way) and Senn HD414 pads (pretty much like softer comfies) are $5 shipped from ebay (so standard, quarter modded and qm-reversed are cheap too) and the reversed bowls give an idea of what flatpads would sound like...