Grado modders go Magnum - Page 101

I spent half a day visiting foam suppliers and manufacturers and none have the expertise to manufacture the pad i want due to it having to have a mould to produce. I shall have to search for other manufacturers in the next few weeks. Worst comes to the worst, i will email Grado giving them the designs for my new pad urging them to consider making it. lol =) chances are slim but who knows

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimensiid 

Finally!!! 

 

Dimensiid, those are beautiful!  Really diggin this pair.  Nice pictures..

What are your impressions so far? 

What amp is that?

Where can I obtain a headband like the one in the picture above (non swivel)...anyone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC44 

Dimensiid, those are beautiful!  Really diggin this pair.  Nice pictures..

 

What are your impressions so far? 

What amp is that?

 

Where can I obtain a headband like the one in the picture above (non swivel)...anyone?

Thanks!

The Sonokeling woodies are from the same batch (Indonesian groupbuy) as Rudi's:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/576717/grado-modders-go-magnum/1395

I've been burning in the Magnums with various metal, symphonic prog stuffs, hard rock and even some extreme metal...really loving the sound! Sweet, lush, transparent and I can hear micro details previously missing using MS1i.  For hardrock and prog, I prefer the Magnums...but for full blown metal with lots of guitar distortion...I'm still reaching out for my MS2i.

The amp/DAC is a Topping D2...very nice hardware for a budget price.

The headband is cannibalized from cheap Chinese noname brand headphones...around USD 12. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimensiid 

The amp/DAC is a Topping D2...very nice hardware for a budget price.

 

For those of us in the U.S., we can find the Topping products at Parts Express.  They're essentially all based on the T-amp chips and some are designed just as a headphone amp, another is a headphone amp / DAC and they even have a speaker amp that produces 25 w.p.c. @ 4 Ohms.  Their products seem to run in the $80 - $200 range.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sluker 

I have the JDS labs build of the O2 and I don't really find that it pairs all that well with Magnums.

I prefer my Mags with a warmer signature source. I like the O2 with warm phones like the LCD2 and it even sounds good with the T50rp's but the sound with the Magnums tends to be kind of "cold" and analytical. Plus the Mag's don't really need the kind of power that the O2 puts out. I have mostly been using mine with the HM 603 player/DAC and really enjoying that combo right now.

I will be interested to see what you think of the DAC as I am in the market for a new one but was going to wait for the new Shiit.

 

You were right about the O2.Analytical and a bit boring when paired with Mags

I think the better options for driving the Magnums are Class A or Tubey amp.I've built a Szekeres amp, and even when the parts are not exotic, they sound very good with the Mags : Much better soundstage, seperation, better low response, and a warm, sweet sound sign.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinteddy7 

I spent half a day visiting foam suppliers and manufacturers and none have the expertise to manufacture the pad i want due to it having to have a mould to produce. I shall have to search for other manufacturers in the next few weeks. Worst comes to the worst, i will email Grado giving them the designs for my new pad urging them to consider making it. lol =) chances are slim but who knows

You might try contacting Todd the Vinyl Junkie, they have the flats made by the same folks that made them before, the small batches are why cost is higher. Todd may be able to help act as a middle man and sell them, or he may be able to put you in contact.

Here's the link for the flats at Todd's store: https://www.ttvjaudio.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=127

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intel386 

 

You were right about the O2.Analytical and a bit boring when paired with Mags

 

I think the better options for driving the Magnums are Class A or Tubey amp.I've built a Szekeres amp, and even when the parts are not exotic, they sound very good with the Mags : Much better soundstage, seperation, better low response, and a warm, sweet sound sign.

It makes total sense that the Szerkeres would sound great. The principles for what make a good Grado amp should apply to the Magnums. That is to say, voltage swing is secondary to high current. The Szerkeres is, as far as I know, the amp that can push the most current. Most Mosfet based output stages can drive low impedance cans well. I'm not sure about commercially available builds, but Millett Starving Students and Mosfet Maxes should do well, too. Another great option, more or less designed for Grados is the Torpedo.

That said, the Szerkeres is technically not an amp, but rather a slightly-less-than-unity-gain buffer. Amps that sound slightly inferior with Magnums could easily be retrofitted with the Szerkeres, which would reduce the voltage swing slightly, and for higher-impedance cans may hurt sound quality, but for low-impedance cans should maximize current.

Regarding vintage gear, a lot of it has been found to sound great with low-impedance cans. I have a feeling that a lot of that stuff was able to have massive output currents, and even with the resistors off of the speaker outputs, the amount of current is still sufficient to sound superior.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootsit 

You might try contacting Todd the Vinyl Junkie, they have the flats made by the same folks that made them before, the small batches are why cost is higher. Todd may be able to help act as a middle man and sell them, or he may be able to put you in contact.

Here's the link for the flats at Todd's store: https://www.ttvjaudio.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=127

Thanks =)  there are two more foam companies which i have yet to see. If they do not work out then to TTVJ I go! =)

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootsit 

It makes total sense that the Szerkeres would sound great. The principles for what make a good Grado amp should apply to the Magnums. That is to say, voltage swing is secondary to high current. The Szerkeres is, as far as I know, the amp that can push the most current. Most Mosfet based output stages can drive low impedance cans well. I'm not sure about commercially available builds, but Millett Starving Students and Mosfet Maxes should do well, too. Another great option, more or less designed for Grados is the Torpedo.

 

That said, the Szerkeres is technically not an amp, but rather a slightly-less-than-unity-gain buffer. Amps that sound slightly inferior with Magnums could easily be retrofitted with the Szerkeres, which would reduce the voltage swing slightly, and for higher-impedance cans may hurt sound quality, but for low-impedance cans should maximize current.

 

Regarding vintage gear, a lot of it has been found to sound great with low-impedance cans. I have a feeling that a lot of that stuff was able to have massive output currents, and even with the resistors off of the speaker outputs, the amount of current is still sufficient to sound superior.

To me, the Millett Starving Student sound a little too speedy, not as natural,open,smooth and sweet as the Szekeres.Maybe because of my Millett is different to the original ( I used 12AU7 instead of 6GM9 and the output caps are not exotic ), but I think the main reason is the design.

Peter has used the filaments of the tube as the current resistor, the MOSFET biased with pretty low quiescent current, and a switching-type adapter has been used as power supply.All of those things made the Millett SS an easy and cheap to build design, as it's name : Starving Student.

My Szekeres has been modified with Virtual Battery Operation power supply and a CCS, like the Andrea's Power Follower 99 loudspeakers buffer.Maybe those mods make my build sound better, but they don't have voltage gain and are not as cheap and easy-to-build as the Millett SS.Actually, they're quite costly

Btw, any of you guys think that the gray version of V4s are lack of top-end extension, detail and the low response is worse than the black V4s ? I have both grey and black V4s, and i'm feeling that grey V4s are not better than the black ones

That makes sense, Intel, particularly given the variability in heater resistance. Have you considered adding a CCS and a linear power supply? Something like the sigma 25 can be built very easily/inexpensively. I built one for my Millet Hybrid for ~$5, and I bet that would make a big difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinteddy7 

Thanks =)  there are two more foam companies which i have yet to see. If they do not work out then to TTVJ I go! =)

Jinteddy, you should take a look over at the "post your grado mods..." thread, a user named Errymoose posted some pad mods where he merged a HD414 pad with a Beyer pad, he only reported results for speech, so I don't know. But, the HD414 pads may yield the noise leaking that is imperative for Grados, and the Beyer pads are circumaural. He did report greater isolation which is likely a problem, but hey, it's an idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootsit 

Jinteddy, you should take a look over at the "post your grado mods..." thread, a user named Errymoose posted some pad mods where he merged a HD414 pad with a Beyer pad, he only reported results for speech, so I don't know. But, the HD414 pads may yield the noise leaking that is imperative for Grados, and the Beyer pads are circumaural. He did report greater isolation which is likely a problem, but hey, it's an idea.

 Thanks for the link =) i have two more foam companies to visit. If none are interested, i might even post up drawings of what i had in mind. =) I was really excited with the design i drew up but now am just dissapointed that i cant find the resources to make the pad i want . =( oh well haha

So while we're on the topic of Magnum amplification, I'm wondering if anyone out there can comment on pairing with Schiit amps (such as the Asgard or even the Vahlhalla). I built my first pair of Mags (thanks to you guys!) and I'm beginning the search for my ideal pairing. Anyway, I've heard Schiit amps pair well with Grados. Would the same logic apply to the Magnums to some extent?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoItGoes 

So while we're on the topic of Magnum amplification, I'm wondering if anyone out there can comment on pairing with Schiit amps (such as the Asgard or even the Vahlhalla). I built my first pair of Mags (thanks to you guys!) and I'm beginning the search for my ideal pairing. Anyway, I've heard Schiit amps pair well with Grados. Would the same logic apply to the Magnums to some extent?

My guess would be, yes. But, I've never used any Schiit product. That said the Szerkeres has been regarded as among the best for Grados and can be built for under $50, $30 if you have a case.

You shouldn't really need amplification for a 32ohm headphone, but if you felt the need I'd say get a DAC and then something like an Objective2. There is now the option of the ODAC/O2 combo from JDS Labs, which should be somewhere near $200. You really just need something with a lot of current vs. voltage swing. I'm currently using a Cavalli Compact Tube Hybrid and O2 with my Magnums and I really can't say what I like better. They both sound good to my ears. The CTH has more slam and airyness and the O2 is smoother and cleaner sounding. I guess it depends on what I'm listening to.