[BillyBenBilly]

I had an interesting recent experience with TTVJ Flat Pads I wanted to share and see if anyone else experienced something similar. I tried them on my Grado SR-225's with my Woo Audio 3 w/ various NOS/Used tubes and my Pioneer DV-414 cd/dvd player. I absolutely hated what they did to the sounstage, bass and, well, just about everything else. Since I just bought some AKG 501's and wanted to offset their cost, I decided to sell my SR-125's that I mostly use when listening to music using the cd drive on my computer when surfing the web, etc. I was sitting at the computer listening to a wonderful cd, Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson", and decided to try them on the SR-125's. WOW!!!!!!!!!!
..........What a difference.......and in a very positive direction. I couldn't believe the absolutely wonderful difference in the one application and the simply horrid degredation in sound, in my humble opinion, in the other application. I went back and forth between the 2 setups with and without Flat Pads and the difference was consistently present.

Aren't SR-125's and SR-225's very closely related? It must be mostly the difference in the other components that makes the difference.

Bottom line. I'm keeping both the SR-125's and the Flat Pads. I'll figure some other way to pay for the AKG's.

Has anyone else run into a similiar situation?

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

I just listen to bowls all the time...and they have a strange tendency of also sounding good all the time.

In soundstage-dependent and midrange-heavy songs, the flats color the music in an undesirable way, I find.

But if you listen to a lot of bassy stuff, the coast is generally clear.

 

[apostate]

So far I have only used my (Woody)225 w/ flat pads with a TAH/iPod or iMac and direct from the iPod headphone out. I was amazed at how much of a change there was from the bowls. I thought gsferrari was exaggerating a bit is his review thread to make a point on the differences between the pads. Little did I know the sound really does change that much.

They sound a little better, to my tastes, directly from the iPod since it seems to be a little light on the bass which pretty much fixes the only complaint I have with them (overly heavy bass on some songs).

All in all I like the flats much better than the bowls but definitely have my eyes on the C-Pads. To my ears the flats are a bit too bass heavy and the bowls make the treble way to prominent and somewhat piercing (though nowhere near the 125s).

If the flats where a 1 on a scale and the bowls were at the opposite end at 10 I guess I'm shooting for about 3-4.

Ant

 

[SDA]

apostate, I felt the same way and ended up going with quarter-modded HD414 pads. They sound nice and full without being overly bassy... on a scale of 1/flat to 10/bowl, I'd put them at 3-5 depending on how much you mod them. I've heard you can get them pretty bowl-like if you put them on backwards and such, but I found that too uncomfortable.

I've heard that the bowl pads are really bad on the brighter Grados (SR-80, SR-125), but that the SR-225 goes with pretty much everything to some degree. I've only heard them on the MS-1, though, so take what I say with a cubic foot of salt.

 

[apostate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDA I've heard that the bowl pads are really bad on the brighter Grados (SR-80, SR-125), but that the SR-225 goes with pretty much everything to some degree. I've only heard them on the MS-1, though, so take what I say with a cubic foot of salt.

I'd actually tend to agree with that. I listened with the bowls for the first week or so I had them and they were tolerable which I never found the 80 or 125 to be. Every once in a while a very high note would be enough to make me wince though (even at the pretty low volumes I listen at).

EDIT: Worth noting that that was while they were burning in. Haven't heard anything vaguely shrill since. Still don't like the bowls nearly as much as the flats, to my ears they are still pretty bright, but I do still enjoy an occasional listen with them.

I'll likely give the 414 pads a try next and see how that works. I see the C-Pads in the future one way or another though since my 225s are already Woodys, that combination really seems appealing (with the Beyer pads/covers dyed black).

Ant

 

[GoRedwings19]

I use flats with my Ps-1's but still can get enough bass out of them. I like using bowls on my Rs-1's more specifically reverse bowls. But I generally use any type of pads depending on how I want my music to sound.

 

[BillyBenBilly]

Thanks for your observations. I was just supprised by the difference between the bowls and flat pads on the 2 closely related grado headphones. Life is sometimes like that.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBenBilly Thanks for your observations. I was just supprised by the difference between the bowls and flat pads on the 2 closely related grado headphones. Life is sometimes like that.

I think you should give the senn pads a try too. They are more comfortable and very inexpensive. You can buy two, mod one, and leave the other stock. The pads are especially comfortable unmodded... but sound a little better with a hole cut in them. You can pick and choose depending on whether you want more comfort or slightly better sound quality if you buy two pair.

Just for histories sake..... here is the original senn pad post from September 2002.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17159

 

[BillyBenBilly]

Thanks Earl. The more I read on Head-Fi, the more I learn, and the more I learn that here, there is no such thing as leaving well enough alone.