This afternoon I had the opportunity to compare the new AKG K701 and K601 with the Sennheiser HD650 (Cardas cable), the ATH-L3000 and the Grado RS1. The source was a C.E.C. CD5300 cdp and the headphone amps were the M³ and the C.E.C. HD53R. All headphones and gear were well burnt in (more...

Hi, the reversed Senn HD414 pads are a bit too loose on my RS-1 and they fell off from time to time So I thought about glueing a second layer of foam on the outside of the reversed Senn pads. Now they fit very tight. I dyed the Senn pads black and used the spare foam cover of my...

Hi, in theory the use of DIP-8 sockets for opamps instead of soldering the opamps directly on the board might reduce the sound quality. But I always thought that this effect is negligible and can't actually be heard. I'm quite surprised that a German audio engineer strongly advised me not...

Hello, I need your advice on electrolytic capacitors. Some days ago I ordered an upgrade kit for my Sony CDP-XA5ES cd-player and now I'm quite surprised that this kit suggests to substitute the original Elna Cerafine, Elna Silmic and Nichicon Muse capacitors with Panasonic FC and Panasonic...

Hello, some days ago I removed the stock cable of my HD650 because I was thinking about an upgrade cable and wanted to find out if that could be smoothly done. Unfortunately I forgot to write down how the plugs of the stock cable are oriented. The plugs are marked "L" and "R" on one...

Some weeks ago I finished building my M3. I used 3x OPA627BPs as opamps, the rest of the parts keep close to amb's recommendations on parts selection, gain is 9. As I'm a big fan of the Grado RS-1 with c-pads, I chose opamps and gain to suit my RS-1. Some days ago I found a very tempting...

I'm looking for an upgrade for my clone. Though the synergy of the RS-1s and the RA-1 is quite good as the tonal colour and the timbre feel right, I believe that the soundstage and sense of depth produced could be better. What makes me believe that? Well, I auditioned the Lehmann Black...

Hi, I'd love to share the pictures of my Grado RS-1 with my newly built DIY pads. They are ported pads (4 ports on each side, 7mm diameter) based on birch-wood and Beyerdynamic circumaural softskin pads. I used a part of my my bowl pads to fit the new pads on the drivers. The foam is ported...

Hello, has anyone used the pads offered by headphile.com? They are comfy Beyer circumaural velour pads that can be used on Grados (SR and RS) with adapters. These adapters are called Alpha-Port and Beta. The Beta should put the driver very near to your ears, the Alpha-Port uses a...