Quote:

wje said:

 
Those were actually the SR-325i, and were designed as a 50th anniversary edition.  The gold color was OK, but I didn't think the sound was too impressive.  Putting a driver into a plastic sleeve and into an aluminum cup doesn't do wonders for the sound.

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Thanks for the clarification. These gold SR325i might have collector's item appeal but they might also be the worst 325 version. 

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devouringone3 said:

 I love my SR325-0 and SR100-0 just as much as my HP1 and -2, I think the difference in sound is really minor and not a strictly negative on
 
 
 

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     The HP1000i beats all the other SR series with HP1000 drivers (stock HP1000 too). You can confirm that (or disapprove that  ) when you get yours back.
 
Quote:

devouringone3 said:

 
Solely based off that, I think difference in the sound of the current Grados is almost entirely due to the quality of the drivers. I know it's a bold thought to have.
 
 

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Interesting thought but there are other factors involved. I recently had a pair of Magnum V4 drivers put in a RS1i body, They became a better sounding pair of RS1i, different from the full mod Magnum V4 in a 325 body.
People's impressions on Grado headphones can be all over the shop partly due to the massive same model variation and quality control issue. You never know what you are getting. Think PS1000....

Quote:

pcf said:

     The HP1000i beats all the other SR series with HP1000 drivers (stock HP1000 too). You can confirm that (or disapprove that 

) when you get yours back.
 
Interesting thought but there are other factors involved. I recently had a pair of Magnum V4 drivers put in a RS1i body, They became a better sounding pair of RS1i, different from the full mod Magnum V4 in a 325 body.
People's impressions on Grado headphones can be all over the shop partly due to the massive same model variation and quality control issue. You never know what you are getting. Think PS1000....

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I'm pretty sure I'll be confirming and not disapproving!
 
PS-1000, maybe the enclosure makes it more diffcult to get "right" every time. Or maybe it's just the critical attention and interest it receives on Head-Fi, as a flagship headphone, that generates more drama from conflicting review statements than there would have been for another of their non-flagship models.
 
I modified my sentence a little actually:
 
"Based off that, I think improvements from the SR60i to the RS1 in sound quality of the Grados are in most part due to the quality of the drivers, and not so much material and geometry of the cups."

Quote:

devouringone3 said:

"Based off that, I think improvements from the SR60i to the RS1 in sound quality of the Grados are in most part due to the quality of the drivers, and not so much material and geometry of the cups."

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I think this is probably a big part of the equation, however I think you underestimate how much effect plastic has on the tone and timbre of a Grado. My first mod on my SR60 was a pair of cocobolo cups fashioned with a drill press. It was a pretty simple mod. I heated up the glue holding the outer cup of the SR60 to the driver housing with a hair dryer, pulled the two pieces apart and inserted the separated housings into their new wood housing. Just doing that improved the sound. Later I had some wood cups custom lathed out of African Blackwood and some driver housings lathed out of African Mahogany. To assemble this mod required the cable be desoldered from the drivers, and the drivers liberated from their plastic housing, by inserting a paring knife between the driver and the housing and working your way around the driver by tapping it in with a hammer. Once the driver is liberated from the plastic housing, it can be placed in the wood and the cable resoldered.to the drivers. This process again yielded sonic improvements. I repeated this process with an SR225, which again yielded significant improvements, and then compared the sonic improvements to my HF2, and an MS Pro. I'm sure Wayne (wje) can chime in here as well, but what the drivers are housed in makes a difference, not only sonically, but economically. That Magnum build in the OP can probably be put together for around 450 to 500 dollars. Quite the bargain for cups that look that damn good, and drivers as killer as the Gradoesque Magnum drivers Rhydon provides
 
 
@ linuxid10t
 
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I recognize these...  They may or may not have been on my desk for a while...

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Sounded pretty shweet didnt they

Quote:

kneeljung said:

I think this is probably a big part of the equation, however I think you underestimate how much effect plastic has on the tone and timbre of a Grado. My first mod on my SR60 was a pair of cocobolo cups fashioned with a drill press. It was a pretty simple mod. I heated up the glue holding the outer cup of the SR60 to the driver housing with a hair dryer, pulled the two pieces apart and inserted the separated housings into their new wood housing. Just doing that improved the sound. Later I had some wood cups custom lathed out of African Blackwood and some driver housings lathed out of African Mahogany. To assemble this mod required the cable be desoldered from the drivers, and the drivers liberated from their plastic housing, by inserting a paring knife between the driver and the housing and working your way around the driver by tapping it in with a hammer. Once the driver is liberated from the plastic housing, it can be placed in the wood and the cable resoldered.to the drivers. This process again yielded sonic improvements. I repeated this process with an SR225, which again yielded significant improvements, and then compared the sonic improvements to my HF2, and an MS Pro. I'm sure Wayne (wje) can chime in here as well, but what the drivers are housed in makes a difference, not only sonically, but economically. That Magnum build in the OP can probably be put together for around 450 to 500 dollars. Quite the bargain for cups that look that damn good, and drivers as killer as the Gradoesque Magnum drivers Rhydon provides
 
 
@ linuxid10t
 
Quote:
 
Sounded pretty shweet didnt they

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Yeah, but to my ears the V4 is more refined than the V3.5.  I love the wood on the cups, but the headband...  The headband is infuriatingly unstitched...  Going from listening to my friend's SR225i to the Magnum V3.5 was a pretty big difference.  The Grado was waaaaay too bright to my ears.  Also, I really wasn't too crazy about the cable's flexibility.

I think I maybe getting rid of my Magnum.  it's brand new but I think overall, I prefer the Fostex.