[Focker]

Quote:

Listening to Megadeth on the SR80i and loving every minute of it!  Paused a song and switched from HE-500 to the SR80i and it sounds tons better with the Grado on this album.  Kinda wish I had went with a 325is or RS1i instead of the HE-500 now.  My heart was saying RS1i but my brain went with the HE-500.  Stupid brain.

 
 
I love my 80s   I just got my RCA-to-mini cable connected to my Fiio E11 and am about to watch a movie with my 80s...good times!

 

[musiclover666]

I have been enjoying my 80is immensely since I got them. I got my flat pads and L cush pads today and have been doing some pad rolling. I will post some impressions later tonight when I can make sense of everything.

 

[detoxguy]

Quote:

 
Well the SR60i is made by Grado in New York, while the MS1i is made by Alessandro in Pennsylvania. The SR60i has a button stuck on the cups, the MS1i doesn't. Oh yeah and one other thing, the SR60i is $79 while the MS1i is $110.

Grado makes the Alessandro line. They are manufactured in Brooklyn.

 

[musiclover666]

Quote:

I have been enjoying my 80is immensely since I got them. I got my flat pads and L cush pads today and have been doing some pad rolling. I will post some impressions later tonight when I can make sense of everything.

 
After quite a bit of listening I think I have some impressions of the three different pads that I have. They are as follows:
 
Stock Comfies: slightly veiled/muffled, decent bass, midrange punch and treble sparkle is still there just a little recessed due to the pad. Very comfortable on the ears (hence the name)
 
Quarter modded comfies: opens up soundstage, lifts stock veil, more punchy, loss of bass, still very comfortable
 
Quarter modded taped comfies: no noticeable difference
 
Stock bowl pads/L Cush: very open sounding, enhances the Grado sound, really nice mids and treble, lacks some low end punch, fairly comfortable
 
Taped bowl pads/L Cush: didn't notice any difference from stock, apparently it is supposed to increase bass response. I used .5" Scotch/Cello tape. Perhaps I should try electrical tape.
 
TTVJ Flats: Noticeable increase in bass response, seems to darken the sound slightly, not as sparkly and bright as compared to bowls, somewhat uncomfortable.
 
One thing I have to mention in relation to the bowls is I have small ears which allows my ears to fit quite nicely in the bowls. I know a lot of people have the pads resting on the outside of their ears which would give an impression of a larger soundstage and less bass as well. The reason I mention this is that my ear is obviously closer to the driver since my ear fits within the bowl so I will be hearing the bowls differently than a lot of people.
 
Overall the sonic differences between the pads isn't that great (to my ears anyway), the differences are slight, not night and day. I still feel it's worth it to "pad roll" and see the differences that can be had.
 
I think I will be keeping the bowls on from now on, but I will always have the other two if the mood strikes to to do a bit of experimenting.
 
I haven't received my Senn. 414 pads yet, I will post some more impressions once I do.
 
Cheers,
Dan

 

[Focker]

Interesting read, Dan...thanks!
 
BTW, lol at your "note to self"

 

[musiclover666]

Quote:

Interesting read, Dan...thanks!
 
BTW, lol at your "note to self"

 
Thanks Focker! Yes, the differences are indeed subtle rather than night and day. The "Note to Self" is true, or so I have been told. 

 

[Focker]

Quote:

 
Thanks Focker! Yes, the differences are indeed subtle rather than night and day. The "Note to Self" is true, or so I have been told. 

LOL

 

[musiclover666]

I have been listening this morning with the flats on, I think perhaps I misjudged these too quickly. I quite like them. Hmmm...

 

[Posam]

Quote:

I have been listening this morning with the flats on, I think perhaps I misjudged these too quickly. I quite like them. Hmmm...

How's the comfort? 

 

[musiclover666]

Quote:

How's the comfort? 

 
Like I said above, the flats are a bit uncomfortable. Nothing I couldn't get used to though. I will continue to use them until I receive my Senn. 414 pads, and then see how those fair sonically. There definitely needs to be a cross between a flat and a bowl, for comfort, and for the boost in the low end, and also to retain the mid punch and high end sparkle. Perhaps the 414 will be the best of both worlds?
 
As an aside, I tried taping the bowls with electricians tape. There was a noticeable difference in the bass as a result, not as great a difference as the flats, but it was noticeable. The gap is definitely closing between the flats and taped bowls. Now I don't know which to pick. Perhaps I just need to pick one and relax and enjoy the music instead listening to the sound. 

 
Cheers,
Dan 

 

[devouringone3]

Yes HD414 is the best of both worlds.
 
It's the center / medium / do-everything pad (it will sound acceptably good on at least every Grados, and great on some of them).
 
bass / congestion of the sound <-->   Flats -- HD414 -- Bowls   <--> treble / harshness
 
Bowls can be "fixed" (they become more bassy, and not harsh anymore, which means more comfortable sounding, like the flats) to a certain extent with tape, I've had crazy good results on my SR325i, with 3M Scotch tape (and not the "magical one"), but you need to make sure to cover very much 100% of the surface (the one that is spongy) around the circumference of the pads, or else bass will leak and you'll loose the desirable effect. Using the same pads the effect works best on Metal/Plastic Hybrids > All Plastic > All Wood > All Metal, Grado models. I've tested with SR325i > SR200 > RS1 > HP2. Past the SR200 the effect was barely noticeable on my RS1.
 
Flats cannot be fixed with tape. Taped flats gives a little bit more bass, but I found it became exaggerate and too much, lol it was almost headache inducing for me, flats are already very bassy without tape. Taped HD414 changes absolutely nothing on their without-tape sound. But definitely I love taped bowls on my SR200 and SR325i, it's magical how it improves sound comfort, details, and balance... it simply makes your headphone give you more.
 
Comfort-wise it's: Quarter-modded HD414, reversed > Bowls with PX 100 pads under them > HD414 > Comfies > Flats ~~ Bowls (with a weightier Grado like a SR325is the flats are less comfortable than the bowls, but on a RS1 it might be the contrary).
 
HD414, comfies, PX 100 pads I always recommend to have a hole in them for better "liberated" high frequency sounds. Same principle, it makes your headphone give you more. I don't mod my Grados, but I quarter hole my pads (and use them non-reversed).
 
I personally like the HD414 pads for all my Grados but it's always best to fine tune to your taste. I have a RS1 that has too much bass for my taste, so I use bowls for it. I very much always couple bowls with a PX 100 pads great comfort: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/638099-REG/Sennheiser_089331_089331_Earpads_for_PX.html
 
My old RS1 was the contrary, it had too much highs, I used flats for it all the time, but it also sounded very good with HD414. You really need to experiment.

 

[musiclover666]

Quote:

Yes HD414 is the best of both worlds.
 
It's the center / medium / do-everything pad (it will sound acceptably good on at least every Grados, and great on some of them).
 
bass / congestion of the sound <-->   Flats -- HD414 -- Bowls   <--> treble / harshness
 
Bowls can be "fixed" (become more bassy, and not harsh, which means more comfortable sounding, like the flats) to a certain extent with tape, I've had crazy good results on my SR325i, with 3M Scotch tape (and not the "magical one"), but you need to make sure to cover very much 100% of the surface (the one that is spongy) around the circumference of the pads, or else bass will leak and you'll loose the desirable effect. Using the same pads the effect works best on Metal/Plastic Hybrids > All Plastic > All Wood > All Metal, Grado models. I've tested with SR325i > SR200 > RS1 > HP2. Past the SR200 the effect was barely noticeable on my RS1.
 
Flats cannot be fixed with tape. Taped flats gives a little bit more bass, but I found it became exaggerate and too much, lol it was almost headache inducing for me, flats are already very bassy without tape. Taped HD414 changes absolutely nothing on their without-tape sound. But definitely I love taped bowls on my SR200 and SR325i, it's magical how it improves sound comfort, details, and balance... it simply makes your headphone give you more.
 
Comfort-wise it's: Quarter-modded HD414, reversed > Bowls with PX 100 pads under them > HD414 > Comfies > Flats > Bowls.
 
HD414, comfies, PX 100 pads I always recommend to have a hole in them for better "liberated" high frequency sounds. Same principle, it makes your headphone give you more. I don't mod my Grados, but I quarter hole my pads (and use them non-reversed).
 
I personally like the HD414 pads for all my Grados but it's always best to fine tune to your taste. I have a RS1 that has too much bass for my taste, so I use bowls for it. I very much always couple bowls with a PX 100 pads great comfort: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/638099-REG/Sennheiser_089331_089331_Earpads_for_PX.html
 
My old RS1 was the contrary, it had too much highs, I used flats for it all the time, but it also sounded very good with HD414. You really need to experiment.

 
Thanks for the info and your impressions. I look forward to receiving my 414 pads next week. I was at The Source (like Radio Shack) and saw they had some pads that looked very similar to the PX 100 pads. http://www.thesource.ca/estore/product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=Online&category=Headphone+Accessories&product=3308221 I think I might go back and pick them up so I can give your suggestion a try. Did you use a hole punch to put the holes in the pads? Will the PX100 type pads work under all pads?
 
Cheers,
Dan

 

[devouringone3]

Hey yes, I'm also Canadian too so all Radioshacks became The Sources by Circuit City very much at the same time.
 
I bought fake PX100 pads by accident on eBay and they were just as good, yours should be good too (like in, not loosing particles and acoustically transparent good ).
 
Radioshack pads might still be these ones: http://www.head-fi.org/t/294623/grado-rs1-shack-hack-mod-56k-beware (or might not, because that's a old thread) they are a bit too big so you can't just apply them straight onto your Grados like the PX100, but follow the guidelines in this thread and you'll reach the same point. It's called "Shack hack" because the guy used Radio"shack" pads.
 
 
Actually I realized while making this short summary about what I knew about Grado pads, that three of my Grados are using, Bowls (RS1), Taped Bowls (SR325i), Taped Bowls (SR200) in conjunction with PX 100 pads but none have a hole in them.
 
I remember when I tried quarter modded HD414 for the first time, the difference was huge and exactly like people were saying it was (liberation of the highs, noticeably, and slight improvement in the mids, less noticeably). I think my A/Bing with non-quarter modded confirmed it too. Since HD414 and PX100 have the same thickness and are both by Sennheiser, punching a quarter hole (I will prefer to use a metal cap of a  bottle [I don't know, something like a wine bottle or a Glass Coca Cola] and a hammer instead of a coin and an exacto blade) should bear the same positive effects on SQ. I just need to find a metal cap to confirm it to you, I really want to do it as soon as I can, to not waste any SQ any longer, lol.

 

[Posam]

Quote:

Hey yes, I'm also Canadian too so all Radioshacks became The Sources by Circuit City very much at the same time.
 
I bought fake PX100 pads by accident on eBay and they were just as good, yours should be good too (like in, not loosing particles and acoustically transparent good ).
 
Radioshack pads might still be these ones: http://www.head-fi.org/t/294623/grado-rs1-shack-hack-mod-56k-beware (or might not, because that's a old thread) they are a bit too big so you can't just apply them straight onto your Grados like the PX100, but follow the guidelines in this thread and you'll reach the same point. It's called "Shack hack" because the guy used Radio"shack" pads.
 
 
Actually I realized while making this short summary about what I knew about Grado pads, that three of my Grados are using, Bowls (RS1), Taped Bowls (SR325i), Taped Bowls (SR200) in conjunction with PX 100 pads but none have a hole in them.
 
I remember when I tried quarter modded HD414 for the first time, the difference was huge and exactly like people were saying it was (liberation of the highs, noticeably, and slight improvement in the mids, less noticeably). I think my A/Bing with non-quarter modded confirmed it too. Since HD414 and PX100 have the same thickness and are both by Sennheiser, punching a quarter hole (I will prefer to use a metal cap of a  bottle [I don't know, something like a wine bottle or a Glass Coca Cola] and a hammer instead of a coin and an exacto blade) should bear the same positive effects on SQ. I just need to find a metal cap to confirm it to you, I really want to do it as soon as I can, to not waste any SQ any longer, lol.

I've done the shack hack for my bowls, I thought that the shack pads were a bit too big so i ended up cutting them smaller. Strange thing they seem to shrink while i'm wearing them (have to put them back in place all the time) but they fill back out when i take them out. I also found the radio shack pads to be too soft and my ear flattens them over long listening sessions however they still do improve bowl comfort quite a bit. 

 

[francoamerican]

Is there a definitive comparison of the HF2 vs PS500? It seems line they are believed to be very similar, if not an identical design. Yet the PS500 measure noticeably better on innerfidelity. There is the additional midbass hump on the PS500, but the distortion measurements on the PS500 are the best of any Grado.

I personally prefer the sound of the HF2 because of the less prominent BAss (from what I've heard) but the measurement performance of the PS500 intrigue me. Square waves and timing look better too.