Alessandro Grados

[radical_edward]

My first post, a short thesis on Grado pads!:

Reverse modded 414s have a bit more bass punch, and are very comfortable.

Bowls have a touch less bass but cleaner mids and highs.

Basically, the bowls leave all parts of the ear directly exposed to the sound, but those with big ears (myself included) may find the pressure edge of the ear uneven due to the way that the bowls sit.

The 414s foam covers more of the ear, which muffles highs a touch, but the comfortable foam provides an even pressure. The smaller cutout means that they focus the bass into the ear canal very effectively.

With my MS-1s, the 414s are the pads I use the most mainly due to comfort. Tracks with prominent kick drums and punchy bass can get right inside your head in an unsettling way with these pads though.

I make/mod a lot of amps and loudspeakers, and like to warm up my ears before analytical listening to new kit, so use MS-1s with bowls and a homebuilt amp.

One last point, bowl pads look stock, but reverse modded 414s scream "Head Fi addict" in bright yellow, so if you want people to come up to you and talk hedphones when you are out and about then the 414s are the way to go.

 

[VR6ofpain]

Quote:

Originally Posted by F107plus5 I suspect that they may be close. I don't have bowls yet so I don't know how far the ears are kept from the housings, but with my reversed 414s the distance seems to be about half an inch or perhaps a bit less due to some squish and ears slipping inside in places. 3/8" is probably more accurate. oops...looking at pictures of bowls shows that they may have a more open chamber volume than the Senns as well.

On both the SR80 and HF1, the bowls and reversed HD414 pads sound immensly different. Think of the HD414 being between bowls and flats, but closer to the flats side.

 

[norseman8485]

Newbie question: do Grados sit over the ears or around them? I'm thinking of getting the MS1 due to all the positive reviews here but I've had bad experiences with comfort of the over-the-ear style.

 

[radical_edward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by norseman8485 Newbie question: do Grados sit over the ears or around them? I'm thinking of getting the MS1 due to all the positive reviews here but I've had bad experiences with comfort of the over-the-ear style.

Bowls sit (mostly) around the ear, 414 and flats sit on the ear.

 

[nickchen]

Great job, Edward!

Looks like my 414s are sonically perfect for my needs - I had that "suspicion" anyway. If there wasn't that ugly 1980ish colour...

 

[m00hk00h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickchen Great job, Edward! Looks like my 414s are sonically perfect for my needs - I had that "suspicion" anyway. If there wasn't that ugly 1980ish colour...

Why not recolor them? Shouldn't be any problem...?

m00h

 

[nickchen]

Yes, I already asked my wife to organize some black stuff for colouring the pads, but she is the "forgetting type". Looks like if have to organize that myself...

 

[nelamvr6]

OK, here's a dumb question:

Does dying the 414 pads with Rit affect the comfort? You know, surface texture for example?

I've never dyed anything before.

 

[jriems]

I find I like the bowls best with my MS-1's. One thing I did when I first got them was to wash them - I put both pads into a tube sock, knotted the sock so they wouldn't fall out, and threw them in the washer with a load of darks. Afterwards, they came out a bit softer, and they smelled a heck of a lot better since I used Downey in the rinse cycle.

I also bent the headband out a bit to remove some of the inward pressure against the ears. Now I can wear them for an hour or so before I need to readjust for comfort.

I like the sound best with the bowls as well: less congested, leaner bass, better sense of "air." If only Grado could make these things as comfortable as Beyerdynamic phones... [sighs]

 

[F107plus5]

I like my 414s yellow! I never sit on them in partially darkened rooms! I can always find them when I missplace them too!

Anybody ever dye bowls yellow? Seriously; I'll be getting bowls with my next cans(MS2i) and I'll probably try them on my MS-1s as well and see if I like them any better than the reversed 414s. May even try flats just for fun. After all, this stuff IS, after all, Fun!!