Grado SR80i Crackling issue...not the usual culprits?
Jan 25, 2012 at 8:44 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

JamesW

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Hi Folks
 
First post and well, probably the first of many! 
 
Bought my SR80i's just a week or so ago and to be honest initially I felt completely underwhelmed with the sound they offer. The comfies that they are shipped with move them so far away from your ear it's almost impossible for them not to distort before they get to reasonable listening levels. I had a pair of Bose On-Ear portables before these and they were genuinely distortion-free, bass punch plentiful, no hassle headphones.
 
The Grados have already developed a very slight 'rattle/rasp' on mid/high-frequencies in the left can and easily distort being driven from an Onkyo A9155 amplifier via unequalised iTunes songs. This occurred almost from the first 2 hours of listening, not high volume stuff either!
 
Everyone has mentioned the Grado 'grattle' and I have done the usual checking for hair and creases in the diaphragm, none present!
 
Would the next course of action be to disassemble the left can and check everything is in order, I can't think of anything else which would cause this feint buzz.  
 
So initial comments:
 
Very, very cheap looking plastic for what are £109 headphones in the UK
Totally different in terms of volume/distortion level from the Bose On Ears
Shoddy build quality? Seems it!
Standard comfies are absolutely rubbish.
 
I have now reverse modded the comfies and they're the most uncomfortable phones i've ever had but the sound has definitely improved. The driver cloth mesh has also been removed, definitely improved things further.
 
Not feeling the love at the moment! Why did I listen to reviews? 
 
Convince me otherwise!
 
Thanks
 
James
 
Jan 25, 2012 at 8:57 PM Post #2 of 4
What genres are you listening to? How long have you given it to burn in? If you're listening to rock, you should be in heaven with an SR80i.
 

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