I spoked to the retailer, and they immediately proposed to replace them, but they would also contact Grado to find out that was going on, as they were not happy at all. The retailer is also listed on Grado UK website as an official outlet, so I think it will be sorted out by means of a replacement pair. Although it has no effect on comfort, and looks are unimportant also to me, I'm just concerned with resale value.
Anyhow, back to more interesting stuff, more pads research. Today the Greekia "LL" pads turned up, plus some random ebay sellers version of L pads, which looked absolutely identical in every way to the Greekia L pad....
So, I had a range of pads per the attached image, which I decided to try and rank with both the 325e and the Hemp, of course the big assumption here is that the headband material on the Hemps doesn't adversely affect sound quality
To put this into context, I see the tonal balance as a simple plane rotating around a central axis, that axis being the mid range. To the left is bass, to the right treble, I'm looking for significant changes in that balance along with any noticeable changes in detail retrieval, and comfort, there are bound to be more subtle effects from different pads. I think the other huge caveat here is that no two heads + ears are the same shape, so position of driver relative to inner and outer ear will be different for each person, so not much point in going into the fine detail of each pad, but maybe useful as a rough guide.
Thanks to
@Gippy for providing a concept / template! I tried to put what I recalled from reading that review out of my mind, but obviously it's had an influence
The scoring I've used is based on a scale of -3 to +3 where -ve number are rolled off, and +ve are lifted. For reference, first off is an AKG 550 Mk3 to put into some context!
Bass = +3
Treble = -3
Proximity n/a for this comparison.
SR325e
| Pad | Bass | Treble | Comments |
| F | +2 | -2 | Close to AKG territor, veiled, though smooth with huge punch! |
| L | -1 | +2 | a bit shouty, and uncomfortable |
| Geekria LL | +1 | -1 | Loses a bit of sparkle, but comfy! |
| Geekria L | -2 | +3 | Mostly too bright and lean, opposite of F. Even by Grado standards this is extreme. |
| Geekria L + tape | +1 | +1 | Best compromise tonally, could experiment with tape position etc |
Hemp
| Pad | Bass | Treble | Comments |
| F | +2 | -3 | Not for me, too veiled and no delicacy |
| L | -1 | +1 | Better than the F pad, |
| Geekria LL | +1 | 0 | Good bass, but ever so slightly recessed treble loses sparkle. Did I mention comfort? |
| Geekria L | -2 | +3 | Ugh, almost as bad as with the 325e |
| Geekria L + tape | +1 | +2 | My favourite so far, best balance of soundstage, bass level, and open top end. |
Given the cost of Geekria pads, it's worth buying a set of each (I haven't tried their G pad yet) given how big a difference they have on the tonal balance. I couldn't reliably detect much of a difference in detail levels, and unfortunately my wife is not sufficiently interested in helping with a blind A/B experiment!
I would add that the pads have a similar overall effect on both phones, which are at different ends of the Grado spectrum. For me, the Hemp with stock pads is a bit dull sounding, lacking in sparkle, the Geekria with blue tape offer a more pleasant balance, which is best described as a more detailed and sophisticated presentation than the 325e on stock L pads. The treble is as sparkly, but smoother, the bass is stronger, and overall more detailed. I like the Hemps a lot, but are they worth the extra over the 325e, given what I can affect with pad changes; that's a more difficult and less clear cut answer.
