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How would you rate the Grado stock cables?

post #1 of 10
2/22/08 at 7:52am
Thread Starter 
hi,

i recently bought a Grado RS2 and it sounds great. I find the supplied cables to have a big gap between the internal wire and the external plastic. How durable are these cables? i am a bit apprehensive since i the cable on my E4C broke within a year.

Should i consider upgrading the cables for better sound quality?

thanks
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post #2 of 10
2/22/08 at 8:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by niranhopper View Post
Should i consider upgrading the cables for better sound quality?
Yes, that would improve the economical situation of the chosen headfi sponsor immensely.
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post #3 of 10
2/22/08 at 10:11am
The only reason I would recable would be because the cable on the Grados is really annoying and gets twisted after the Y split. Also, I hate that gap after the Y split between the wire and plastic, and that my wires are kind of crimped by the split. You would think that for $200 they could have at least made them not crimp..
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post #4 of 10
2/22/08 at 12:12pm
I don't know about the RS2, but my SR80's seem to have a tendency to have the wires in the housing to break close to the contact points on the drivers. Seems like every year or so recently, I have been opening them up to resolder the contacts.

I would think that the people at grado would have to know about this design flaw... wire tension relief is a good thing.

I ended up just putting in jacks for the housing. Then I made a new cable using mogami mini cable... Turned out pretty well for a while. Sounded good to me, but I think I'm a little less analytical than some of the people on this site
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post #5 of 10
2/22/08 at 12:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldyrin2 View Post
I don't know about the RS2, but my SR80's seem to have a tendency to have the wires in the housing to break close to the contact points on the drivers. Seems like every year or so recently, I have been opening them up to resolder the contacts.

I would think that the people at grado would have to know about this design flaw... wire tension relief is a good thing.

I ended up just putting in jacks for the housing. Then I made a new cable using mogami mini cable... Turned out pretty well for a while. Sounded good to me, but I think I'm a little less analytical than some of the people on this site
Actually from what I've seen Grado uses a zip tie on the inside of the driver housing around the cable as a quick and easy strain relief.
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post #6 of 10
2/22/08 at 1:00pm
i don't have any issues with the sound quality of the cables.
in terms of form factor though, i don't particularly like the thick rubber housing and the loose fit. it's prone to twists and kinks and on top of that, it probably weighs more than the headphones themselves.
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post #7 of 10
2/22/08 at 1:33pm
The twisty cable thing really bummed me out, until I learned (thank you, head-fi search function) that it's caused by the rotation of the driver housing relative to the "Y". Now, I am slightly more conscientious about setting my cans down, or putting them away (something I should be doing anyway). The result - no more twisty.

My SR60s, which I owned for about 2 years, had very twisty, stressed-out looking cables, but I never noticed an effect on SQ. As far as recabling goes, I am pretty skeptical about the potential for cable upgrades to significantly alter SQ (esp. given the cost relative to the cost of the headphone itself). Then again, my only listening experience with such cans was at meets. My take is that you should recable for aesthetics or durability, but not for SQ.
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post #8 of 10
2/22/08 at 1:41pm
Other than getting used to the thickness of the cord. I have no problem with them.
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post #9 of 10
2/22/08 at 1:42pm
Here's my recable job with some old earbud stuff...

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post #10 of 10
2/22/08 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Sneis View Post
Actually from what I've seen Grado uses a zip tie on the inside of the driver housing around the cable as a quick and easy strain relief.
Ah I thought that was what it was
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