So I have been listening to these phones for the last few weeks;
First I should tell you what I have done. Originally, I took just took the canisters off my 225s and switched on the ones given; bass was definitely upped a bit, and sound stage seemed larger. The sharpness of my sr-225 had not really changed, but I suddenly seemed to notice sibilance where there was none before...I spent a week listening to them, kinda hoping it would go away, (as sad as it is, I like the feel of the aluminum cups, feels higher quality than the cheap plastic on most sr models and I'm a sucker for aesthetics ) Than I took them off.
When I had them off I took a close look at the cups. The inside of the aluminum chambers were completely filled by a plastic ring which held the back screen in place! So the cups where about twice the length of my previous plastic sr-225 canisters, but still plastic!
So I took out the rings. I thought this would be of help, increasing the size of the chamber, and leaving it with a harder resonance material than the plastic rings....but it was no good at all. Suddenly the bass was boomy and sloppy, and the treble was tight and piercing - It sounded like I was at the end of a long drain pipe with somebody playing on the other side.
So I looked for some dampener.
I had some blue tack from a previous simple mod I had done on my drivers; Placing a small pea size blob on the back of my sr225 drivers had tamed some of the bright well increasing bass extension. So I took a stick of the blue tack and rolled it on the inside of the chamber, in place of where the plastic had been.
Now it sounded as if I was underwater. Bass still boomy and sloppy, but now the mids where almost gone, all high frequencies muted to an unbearable boor.
Figuring I had just gone from one extreme to another, I took the blue tack out, rolled it with a rolling pin, and cut strips using about 1/3 as much blue tack a before, placing them back in the cup around the outer perimeter. I also removed the buttons from the middle of the screen. From research done on head-fi it seemed to make a negligible difference for most, but I figured any little bit could help.
Now I love them.
The bass seems to go farther with greater impact. Sound stage is much larger than my stock sr-225s both wider and farther. The highs, the reason I bought Grado in the first place, are smoother than ever, with out loosing any of the excitement that I loved about my sr-225s as stock, and all traces of sibilance is gone.
I than ordered an upgraded leather headband from jmoney audio. I have a feeling the aluminum cups are here to stay, and needed a more comfortable way to keep this new weight on my head ;P
Once again, thanks to Vonrip.
Feels like I have a brand new pair of headphones, and the best part is that if I did want to listen the way it was before, all it takes is about 30 seconds to switch the original canisters back on, and everything is right back to how they where brand new.
