[TDL-speakers]

Are the drivers in the Grado SR80 the same as the flagship Grado headphones?
 
My SR80s are the old model.
 
Regards.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Are the drivers in the Grado SR80 the same as the flagship Grado headphones?
 
My SR80s are the old model.
 
Regards.

This is the million dollar question.
 
Take your SR80 drivers, get them housed in some woodies and recabled. Instant high-end Grado.
 
Very best,

 

[TDL-speakers]

Steady On! I'm not ready for that move

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

This is the million dollar question.
 
Take your SR80 drivers, get them housed in some woodies and recabled. Instant high-end Grado.
 
Very best,

Oh god..give me a break. I don't think we're that dumb, but I get your point.
 
I sure wish an SR-80 could sound like even the 225i. Definitely doesn't use the same driver.
 
I do imagine many, many of their products use the same drivers. Maybe 225i and 325i? Any ideas? I was thinking maybe SR-80 and SR-125?
 
I would hate myself if I bought the RS2 and it had used the SR-225 driver. Knowing my luck it probably might. Of course you are paying for the wood etc.
 
I do wonder which models shared drivers, but I've never seen such a list and it'd probably annoy the heck out of Grado.
 
 
 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

Oh god..give me a break. I don't think we're that dumb, but I get your point.
 
I sure wish an SR-80 could sound like even the 225i. Definitely doesn't use the same driver.
 
I do imagine many, many of their products use the same drivers. Maybe 225i and 325i? Any ideas? I was thinking maybe SR-80 and SR-125?
 
I would hate myself if I bought the RS2 and it had used the SR-225 driver. Knowing my luck it probably might. Of course you are paying for the wood etc.
 
I do wonder which models shared drivers, but I've never seen such a list and it'd probably annoy the heck out of Grado.
 
 
 

 
Who said anything about someone being dumb? Relax.
 
I have the SR325i and SR60i. The difference is minimal. You can't tell if it's the housing material or the drivers. One is plastic. One is not. Changing pads/cups/bowls makes more sonic impact than changing actual headphone (I bought all the different cups & bowls). But I'm fairly confident that if you take the cheapest Grado, the SR60i, and re-house it in something else, like 325 house or some woodies, you'd pretty much end up with a higher level Grado. This isn't to say anything bad against Grado. This is to say the SR60 is simply that good, being the base model. Now, I would expect that their higher end models have a different series of drivers. But I'm pretty settled that the prestige line is the same driver, or at least, the drivers are not that different. That's why I got the SR60 and then SR325 side by side, just to see, if a higher level Grado is worth buying for $295 or whatever, instead of a $80 SR60. Verdict for me: no point in getting any presitge series Grado above the SR60. You'd likely be better off getting the SR60 and with the extra money you didn't spend, have it modded to be housed in wood backs and a new cable. Get a way better headphone for the base cost of the 325 or at least close. Again, the higher end Grados like the RS2 and so on, I would hope have actual different drivers (better ones). But let's just say... I'm not very confident that they're that different.
 
And my point in the previous post was that we don't know what drivers are where, it's very secretive unlike some other brands when it comes to that.
 
Very best,
 
 

 

[thelostMIDrange]

......

 

[JBAndradeIV]

They're definitely different.  Anyone who has heard the 60s and the 225s can tell you that.  Same materials for construction, huge sound difference.  

 

[tdockweiler]

Sorry, I shouldn't post when I'm dead tired and hungry. Wasn't try to be rude there. I don't even know why I said that.
 
I had the SR-80 for years and I've almost owned it as much as my first HD-555. Never liked it much at all and spent many hours modding it, but did not upgrade to wooden cups. You could be right that upgrading to wood cups might make it sound like a more expensive model. I'll never know and I'm sure someone here will tell us if this is true! I think BilaVideo told me this once.
 
I got the SR-225 recently and was expecting it to be like a just a VERY slight upgrade from the SR-80. To me, it was worth the extra $100-$120 for sure. Biggest improvement was when it came to detail and sound clarity.
 
Now it would be interesting to see how close an SR-225 with wooden cups is to say an RS2. I bet it'd be a closer match.
 
If you google all the Grado drivers, many of them look a bit different. Could be just different holes on the back. Who knows.
 
I always guessed that many the SR-60 and SR-80 drivers are the same. Then maybe the 225i and 325i are as well. Too bad I don't own both.
 
For a few minutes I've been tempted to buy the RS2, but there's no way it could really sound like a $500 headphone. I don't know what a $500 headphone sounds like to begin with...I certainly have no problems paying extra for the wooden cups and upgrades.
Sure is one nice looking headphone.
 
I still don't think Grado actually makes their own drivers, but I won't go there..

Not that I care or it matters! The DJ100 driver looked oddly similar to the one found in my SR-80. Many drivers do and this doesn't mean much.
 
What really hurts is looking at all those Grado frequency graphs. Just very minor differences between models when it comes to the graphs.
 
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Sorry, I shouldn't post when I'm dead tired and hungry. Wasn't try to be rude there. I don't even know why I said that.
 
I had the SR-80 for years and I've almost owned it as much as my first HD-555. Never liked it much at all and spent many hours modding it, but did not upgrade to wooden cups. You could be right that upgrading to wood cups might make it sound like a more expensive model. I'll never know and I'm sure someone here will tell us if this is true! I think BilaVideo told me this once.
 
I got the SR-225 recently and was expecting it to be like a just a VERY slight upgrade from the SR-80. To me, it was worth the extra $100-$120 for sure. Biggest improvement was when it came to detail and sound clarity.
 
Now it would be interesting to see how close an SR-225 with wooden cups is to say an RS2. I bet it'd be a closer match.
 
If you google all the Grado drivers, many of them look a bit different. Could be just different holes on the back. Who knows.
 
I always guessed that many the SR-60 and SR-80 drivers are the same. Then maybe the 225i and 325i are as well. Too bad I don't own both.
 
For a few minutes I've been tempted to buy the RS2, but there's no way it could really sound like a $500 headphone. I don't know what a $500 headphone sounds like to begin with...I certainly have no problems paying extra for the wooden cups and upgrades.
Sure is one nice looking headphone.
 
I still don't think Grado actually makes their own drivers, but I won't go there..

Not that I care or it matters! The DJ100 driver looked oddly similar to the one found in my SR-80. Many drivers do and this doesn't mean much.
 
What really hurts is looking at all those Grado frequency graphs. Just very minor differences between models when it comes to the graphs.
 
 

 All about perception really and what conveys truth to you ~ I'm a big fan of that rock reference record ~ Keith Richard's 'Main Offender'
~ impossible not to run into it at meets, Hi Shows and audio display auditions.
 
I'm still waiting for a headphone to give a more authentic rendition than my 325i on my rig ~ and yes, I'm talking about a comparison with
an LCD-2 ($1200AUD) , HD800 ($1500) being supported by a V800 DAC ($1,193AUD) and Sugden Masterclass HA-4 Class-A headphone amp ($2895AUD)
running in full XLR cabled balanced mode.

 

[Danthrax]

No they aren't the same.
 
/thread
 
I see a new thread like this every time I log in.

 

[Harry Manback]

I see threads like this often too.  The only problem I have is that nobody has proven that the drivers are different.  They just SAY that they are.  I personally think that they are all the same because of this:
 
http://www.gradolabs.com/page_reviews_detail.php?review=16
 
 
Note this paragraph:
 
"I'm not sure what he's done to his driver that makes it compatible with the larger volume of air, but Grado has accomplished wonders. The driver is the same old Grado driver that is in all his headphones: 32 ohm impedance, 98 dB per one millivolt, he claims. I found I couldn't play the new flagship models quite as loudly as the old flagships (the RS-1s, which could play painfully loud) straight out of my Sony portable CD player. The driver might lose two or three dB of loudness in an ear-cup that is nearly four times greater in volume than the old ear-cup."

 

[White Lotus]

I'm yet to see definitive proof as well.

 

[speedking]

I'm 99.999% sure there are 2 types of drivers for the "i" series and the non"i" :
- Standard copper driver for iGrado , SR60 and (maybe) SR80!
- UHPLC copper driver for the rest!

I was wondering how Grado can recognize each model's driver since there are no marks on them (except "GRADO 32")...???

 

[stacker45]

I'm 99.999% sure there are 2 types of drivers for the "i" series and the non"i" :
- Standard copper driver for iGrado , SR60 and (maybe) SR80!
- UHPLC copper driver for the rest!

I was wondering how Grado can recognize each model's driver since there are no marks on them (except "GRADO 32")...???

 
Well!, if I'm not mistaking the GS/PS1000e, have 50mm drivers, while others have 44mm or 40mm, so there are at least two different ones, maybe more. 

 

[speedking]

probably they are bigger but before "e" they were 40mm (at least my GS and my SR60i)!