Agreed. I won't stir the pot anymore on cables/pads/whatever. The point of this thread is to gush about the headphones, not pick fights. That's on me, and apologies to all. Honestly.
SO ANYWAY, here's what happened when I tried the Hemp, sr225e, and sr80 with the F-Cush, L-Cush, and Geekria "comfort" pads. I didn't use the s-cush because ew no.
Geekria w/ Hemp: Softened, less immediate. More comfortable for sure, but the bass went up in a sort of "poofy" way (if you'll forgive the technical term). The overall sound is relaxed but less engaging. I think the occlusion of the speaker due to the opening being a smaller diameter it funnels the bass more, causing that bloomy effect.
Geekria w/ SR80: Oh baby. Opening the middle up brought them some extra energy compared to the all-over pad and I am a big fan this time. For under $100 this is absolutely stellar. I cannot find any faults in these at this price point. Honestly this just makes me want to get louder and louer and louder.
Geekria w/ SR225e: And here we see the opposite effect! Going with the flats here brought some extra bass out and tamed the treble energy. Similar effect to what happened on the Hemp. I think if you're someone who listens to music at a high volume or has a fondness for anything with digital production, this is a winning combo.
F-Cush w/ SR80: Once again, the added treble energy helps out, but the low end is still pretty damn good. If I had to recommend the SR80, though, I'd say to stick with the Geekria. There's a loss of fullness and (to my ears) the SR80 doesn't have the raw finesse so it isn't quite as fun.
F-Cush w/ SR225e: This is VERY intriguing. The sr225e has a bit of a "delicate" sound by default and that is ALL gone here. This combo is in your face, damn near aggressive about it (and I mean that in a good way). The bass is more potent, mids feel more alive. This would be my preferred pad on these just going off of the sound. This does come at the expense of the airspace effect, but that's just for personal preferences.
L-Cush w/ Hemp: No thank you. Far too polite. Bass is pulled back, the "oomph" is gone. That's all I got to say.
L-Cush w/ sr80: Everything feels so distant. There's a ton of space, but it really does sound like I'm listening to the sr80 "at a distance." I think for people who aren't a big fan of bass but want a cost effective "Grado sound," this would be the one to do. The issue here is that the sr80 isn't nearly as smooth across the spectrum so having all the extra mid/treble energy makes the music harder to listen to. For me.
I was worried I just didn't like the 225 pads, but I put them back on the 225e and I think they work on that model. The 225e is a more refined headphone than the 80 so it benefits from pulling back and letting the higher frequencies breathe.
For overall ranking, taking everything into account like price and the general character of the headphone, and just my PERSONAL feelings:
Hemp w/ F (by far)
sr80 w/ Geekria (budget king)
sr225e w/ F
sr225e w/ L
Hemp w/ Geekria (to sacrifice some sound for comfort)
sr80 w/ F
sr225e w/ Geekria
sr80 w/ L
Hemp w/ L (it doesn't "sound worst" but you lose what makes the Hemp what it is)
Songs used:
Chevelle - Piistol Star
RATM - Bulls on Parade
Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
Nirvana - Lake of Fire
Deftones - Digital Bath
It's funny that the Hemp is both the winner, the dead center, AND the loser, but I think that's because the Hemp with stock is just so ridiculously good that spoiling its sound hurts my soul a little bit. I would wager for a lot of people the Hemp w/ Geekria might be their number one. It's definitely mega comfy and pretty damn excellent, it just doesn't have that "punch in the face" quality that makes the Hemp so damn good, to me. Meanwhile the sr225E seemed to do all right with everything, depending on what you want, and the sr80 is just a total "yes get these and get them for everyone you know" with the Geekria pads.
