[Tigress]

Hi guys,

I am a first year student in musical profile at the university of montreal, and thus I don't have a lot of money to spend on my favorite hobby: music.

After hiding on these forums for a while invisibility, I finally saved some money for a few months and bought a Grado SR125 because it is getting a lot of good and positive reviews.

So I receive my headphones. And they sound OK, "not bad" like we say in Quebec...but really uncomfortable..really...

But..after a 5 or 6 hours of listening the other day, I remove the headphones and noticed there was blood in my ears!!! I was ascared because I thought that my ears canal was bleeding!

It turns out that the Grado pads have rubbed againt my ears so bad, that my ears become red and then they bleed...ouch!

So I called the wheeler dealer I bought the headphones from him to complain to him that my ears are bleading, so he sais that he will not take them back because it have been more than 30 days of purchase, and that these headphone are not meant for women!!! (because we have delicate ears)

So I am really dishearted and dissapointed that my investment in thease headphone was in vain. I am back to my 5$ Costco headphones, while watching my Grado Sr125 just sit there.

Is there something to be done?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[kite7]

You can try to get HD414 pads or better, wash the bowl pads so they become much softer. Sorry about your discomfort

 

[obobskivich]

what kind of sexist pig is going to tell you Grado's aren't meant for women (did you slam the phone down, or tell him to stuff it, and then slam the phone down?)

you might try the "comfy" pads (the pads the old SR-60, and new SR-60i/80i/125i have)

the other suggestion is to wash the pads, theres this weird "goo" that Grado puts on them (I think its there to make them stiffer), when you wash them, this stuff should get removed, and they soften up

also consider bending the headband a bit, to relieve the clamp pressure a bit (so they don't push as hard on your ears)

another question, how are you wearing them? a bit forwards, or a bit backwards? (I wear them with the white part touching the outer part of my ear, opposite of how meier audio suggest you wear hps, made all the difference in the world for comfort and imaging for me)

yeah, if bending, washing, and repositioning doesn't work, new pads would be the suggestion, either Grado comfies, or the Sennheiser HD414 pads

 

[Bullseye]

Sorry for your ears. Welcome to Head-Fi

First days I recommend you really take your time to find the perfect fit with the headband and the bowls. My ears are also very sensitive (I am a man, though ) and first days, because i did not wear them on correctly, the white thing of the drivers touched my ear. It became very hot and i realized soon enough to take them away. It was quite painful.

Then the bowls have to adapt to your ears, to their form... i recommend you start wearing them increasing the time of usage every day. First day start by one hour, next day push it a bit further....

After 1.5 months i can wear my headphones for 3-4 hours non stop without hurting my ears and feeling very comfortable. I have not stayed listening to music more than that because i had to go do some other stuff.

I recommend you do not give up on this headphones. They are excellent headphones and make you enjoy your music.

I hope your ears do not bleed again

 

[Tigress]

Hi obo and thanks for replying and helping.

Yes, I slammed the phone to his face, but I was almost crying because to me these headphone are expensive..I save for more than 3 month to get them.

I will try to wash the pads to see if they might be getting softer... hopefully.

I wear them tilted slightly backwards because I have a weird haircut that stop me from putting them more to the front.

What is the "comfy" pads and the HD414 pads? are these pads from other headphone but compatible with the SR125? where do I look for such pads (preference in Canada)

Thanks.

 

[Tigress]

Thank you Bullseye I will try your advise as well.

 

[kite7]

I'm not sure where HD414 pads are sold within Canada, the best I could do is find sellers from the US on ebay
Sennheiser HD414 HD 414 Reverse Grado Upgrade Pad SR60 - (eBay.ca item 280307607652 end time 27-Feb-09 12:09:55 EST)

You can also check out this site for comfy pads, he is located within Ontario
STEREOTYPE AUDIO

They are compatible with all grados, except for igrados

 

[obobskivich]

the "comfy" pads are a different pad from Grado themselves, the new model of the SR-125 (yeah, don't kick yourself too hard for this) comes with them, its a flat foam pad that sits over your ear

the HD-414 pads are the weird yellow pads you'll see in pictures of some members' Grado's (usually SR-125's or SR-225's)

when I had SR-225's (same pads and build as yours), it took them a while to get "used to me", and me a while to get "used to them", supra-aural was a learning experience for me (coming from Sennheiser HD 580's, which sit around your ears and only touch the sides of your head), as well as the Grado comfort, although after enough time using them and bending the headband a bit (I ended up not washing them), I could wear them for 4-6 hours at a time

bending the headband out (just hold the earcup part and VERY GENTLY strech it a SLIGHT bit wider than it is right now) can relieve some pressure on your ears, by loosening them up a bit (the little piece of paper that comes with them talks about this too), that was a big factor for comfort ime, simply having them clamp "less", and they didn't bite into me

washing the pads will get you a softer foam bowl, it basically "breaks them in" faster, search for a guide on it (I dont' remember if you're supposed to use detergent or not, I'd just go with warm water and let them dry out in the air, personally, given that I'm pretty conservative in throwing chemicals on stuff randomly)

I know TTVJ sells Grado earpads, don't know if TTVJ ships to canada

no idea for the HD 414 pads (Sennheiser might still stock them?)

::edit
totally ignore the shopping advice given to you by the guy from Denver (me), listen to the guy from BC (kite7), nickel says he probably knows what he's talking about, lol

 

[Tigress]

Thank you Kite for you assistance.

But...18$ for foam pads??!!

I am in the wrong domain!! Maybe I should be learning how to manufacture pads for 10 cents and sell them for 18$ ...ahahahah

But this is seriously expensive!!

You think I can find something similar in Dollarama?

 

[obobskivich]

well, thats the price you pay to get the manufactuer's brand name on it, along with other considerations (most people buying these as singles aren't buying them as replacements, if you get where I'm going with that

)

honestly, try tweaking the 125's as is (because ime, those c-pads will ruin the midrange a tad), which is free, give it a week or so, if you still can't stand them, new pads are probably in order

 

[Kenix]

If the harshness of the material is bothering you, then I would definitely try washing the pads first, maybe even wash them several times. A lot more cost-effective than buying new pads altogether and will be sure to soften them up at least a little.

 

[Bullseye]

Yeah i thought the same about pads. And I have heard sr60 with flats and the other ones with bowls and I prefer bowls. You can try to do the headband trick (I also did it myself) At first i had the wrong idea it had to clamp my head, but later I realized just staying on top of my head was enough to give me comfort. And they will not fall when headbanging

You can also wash the pads, but I have not done that myself. I recommend, though, that if they have blood you should wash them... :S

I hope you can finally start enjoying your grados. Sorry about your wallet.

 

[obobskivich]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/how...05/index2.html

shampoo seems to be the #1 suggestion for cleaning them out

hey, you could have a tropical breeze scented pair of grado's! (no idea if you use scented shampoo, and no idea if scented shampoo could damage them)

 

[Tigress]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/how...05/index2.html shampoo seems to be the #1 suggestion for cleaning them out hey, you could have a tropical breeze scented pair of grado's! (no idea if you use scented shampoo, and no idea if scented shampoo could damage them)

yes, I use scented shampoo...it smells like the beach...but this is a different topic

 

[Tigress]

Weird...when I look at the 325i pads, i see ones that look like mine

Quote:

Yeah i thought the same about pads. And I have heard sr60 with flats and the other ones with bowls and I prefer bowls.

Oh! you mean I could lose some clearence with the "comfy" version? like less detailed sound? hmmm