[pcf]

Quote:

FATCAT, Do you have scientific evidence to back up your general statement of " 325' vs modded sr60's? 
 
I for one would like to hear what the technical differences you know of between the 325 & 60.....  

This is unnecessary and not very nice.
You asked a question: "Is it possible to get an sr80 or sr60 to SOUND LIKE or have the detail level of a sr325?" and he gave his opinion. Even if the thread turned into a heated disscusion, there is no need for you to ask FATCAT to back up his statement with "scientific evidence". Are you going to ask the same thing from the others? 
 

 

[Brumagician99]

Agree with above,
 
Who actually rolls with "scientific evidence" anyway??
 
And i'd just like to say, Bilavideo is an inspiration to all newbie Head fiers including myself... i'm not sure how many people he has positivly influenced .. probably in the thousands.
 
Its easy to say just go get this HF or that HF but price is always gonna be an obstacle for some,.. including myself. So why not try to get the best of what you have by modding? It Obviously works wonders... just look at the threads and responses from people who have tried.

 

[fatcat28037]

Quote:

 

Quote:

And $500 later you'll have a phone that still doesn't sound like a $300 325.
Quote:

If you want a 325 sound, buy one.  An SR-60/80 will NEVER sound like a 325.

No, it will sound better.  Vent the driver.  Damp the back plate.  Replace all plastic with wood.  Replace the stock cable with silver.  Replace the comfies with either bowls or jumbos.  Do it right and you'll end up wondering why you ever set the 325 as some kind of standard.  Of course, reasonable minds may disagree about what might happen.  My opinion is based on something else.

 
$500? The silver will cost you $50, $60 with shipping.  Adhesive felt will cost you $5.  So will a connector from Radio Shack.  Assuming you own a steak knife to remove the grill cloth and a ballpoint pen to vent the drivers, and can take cups apart yourself, there should be no cost for these steps.  The cost of the wood will depend on your choice, but given the amount involved, the real variable is finding a way to get it cut.  The cost of the screen is also negligible, even if you have to buy a pair of scissors or wire cutters.
 
Given that your numbers are off by 80%, I can only assume that you have either never tried it or are God.  Drop me a line when you've either made an attempt - or parted the Red Sea - whichever happens first.  A blanket assertion is not an argument.

My $500 estimate came from the assumption you were buying wood cups and Having then re-cabled. So lets go your DIY way and say $100 assuming you're able to resolve that wood cutting variable which, if you'd have done any serious woodworking you'd know is no small thing. So you now have $200  and hours of labor into these phones, and yes, they do sound different but they're NOT going to sound like a 325. At this point for another $100 you could have bought a new 325, had the exact sound you were looking for and spent your time listening to music instead of soldering and sanding. As far as sounding better than a 325, that is subjective and your opinion only.

 
Well, if it's purely subjective, you're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine, though mine is based on actually trying it and yours is based on a series of assumed - and faulty - conditions.  It didn't cost me "$500" but then I wasn't "buying wood cups and Having them re-cabled," as you assumed.  
 
I do like the crack, "assuming you're able to resolve that wood cutting variable which, if you'd have done any serious woodworking you'd know is no small thing."  Feel free to assume that I am not engaged in "serious woodworking."  Better yet, feel free to assume that I haven't.  I am what a woodworker is thinking about when he laughs so hard he nearly falls off his chair.  Be that as it may, l reject the assumption that you have to have "done any serious woodworking" to make a pair of wooden rings (one for a slip-on, two for full wooden housing).  I did it, and if I did it, anybody can - maybe even you.
 
Following the tips that have been shared, there's no reason the OP couldn't bring his SR60 up to at least the SR225 level without having to deal with wood issue at all.  Let the OP remove the front grill cloth, vent the drivers, damp the magnet back and get rid of that plastic rear grill (along with its plastic button in the center of the vent).  Let him also swap out the comfies and replace them with bowls.  Should he go and do so, he will have spent a whopping $20 on bowls and $5 on adhesive felt.  Not counting the trip to Lowes or Home Depot, he could do this much in 20 minutes or less.  How much he spends on a rear grill will depend on whether he wants one and on what he wants to make it from.
 
Nobody ever said it wouldn't take either thought or labor to make these changes.  He certainly never asked what he could "do" without having to "do" anything.  Nor is it an indictment of Grado that Grado provides the thought and labor for those who are willing to pay.  It's to be assumed that if you fix it yourself, it will take more from you than if you simply swipe some plastic.  But that was never part of the question to begin with.  The OP wanted to know what HE could do.
 
As for making a headphone sound just like an SR325, that was never really the goal.  The OP wanted to know what he'd have to do to make his headphones sound AS GOOD as the SR325, which is, to some degree, subjective.  After all, some people prefer the 325 to the RS1.  To them, the RS1 (and maybe the GS1000) aren't as "good" as their beloved SR325.  To each his own.  But I may be permitted an assumption or two, I assumed the OP wanted to move his SR60 up to a higher level - using the 325 as a gauge.  He wanted more clarity, better resolution, more detail, better bass, et cetera.
 
If it's all subjective, enjoy your cloud and I'll enjoy mine.  Being so much smarter, you had it all figured out in advance.  I, on the other hand, had to actually try.  To make matters worse, I came to the wrong conclusion.  Pity that.

My "crack" as you refere to it has more to do with the equipment required than the skill of the woodworker. You wouldn't find the tools required to make cups in the average guys workshop. 
 
The OP wrote, " Is it possible to get an sr80 or sr60 to sound like or have the detail level of a sr325?" Sound like, as good as, close enough. as good as    000 """  ""      
 
We'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[purrin]

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Enjoy your doubts.  If I had to choose between spending $300 on an SR325 and spending $65 on the material to make a silver upgrade with a four-wire silver braid, you know what I would do, because I've already done it.  Four feet of four-braid silver wire beats 10 feet of copper cable.  As for the difference in voice coils, tell me this: Who, besides Grado, uses the term UHPLC to describe copper wire?  Google it.  It's a made-up name.  If there's any difference in "standard" and "UHPLC" copper in the voice coil, why are the impedances identical?  The magnets aren't any different nor is the mylar or the plastic basket.  This is all unicorn tears.
 
Hearing is believing.

Actually, I have re-cupped, re-wired, and damped the driver of the older SR80s (the non-i). They definitely improved and I preferred them over SR-325 (which is my least favorite Grado), but they still didn't have anywhere the smoothness, cleanliness, and detail retrieval of even the RS2s. I did not however punch holes in the back, remove the screen, nor did I did not use silver for cabling. I eventually unintentionally destroyed those drivers as part of my experiments.
 
Oh ya, I believe the improvement with your mods, but to have the SR-6/80's "sound like" or "have the detail level" of the SR-325s, which have a very prominent treble (where a lot of the apparent detail comes from) is doubtful, although the increased bass slam is possible. Nickchen believed the drivers were sorted on production variances. I actually think the drivers from SR-325 on up are actually a little bit different from the rest of the series (different coatings on material, different magnet sizes, higher quality windings - note driver impedance will still be same if you wind more higher conductivity wire, but you end up with more control.)
 
To the OP: These mods are not trivial, but i's a piece of cake after you've done them. I'd find an old pair of Grados and practice disassembly and soldering. Your best bet is to just cut the existing wire and solder new wire on top rather than removing the existing solder and old wire (too much heat and drivers go bye-bye.) And finally YMMV. Bilavideo is a mad scientist capable of obtaining results mere mortals are either unable or unwilling to (i.e. sell PS-1000s to fund additional explosions, etc.) 

 And finally what you end up with could be something better than your SR-80, but it may not and probably will not sound like an SR-325.
 
 
P.S.
 

• Check out the HD graphs on the headroom site comparing SR-80 to SR-325. The drivers are different.
• Bilavideo, I like you and I mean all this in good spirit! 

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

i's a piece of cake after you've done them. I'd find an old pair of Grados and practice disassembly and soldering. Your best bet is to just cut the existing wire and solder new wire on top rather than removing the existing solder and old wire (too much heat and drivers go bye-bye.) And finally YMMV. Bilavideo is a mad scientist capable of obtaining results mere mortals are either unable or unwilling to. 

 
No guts, no glory, eh ?

Dude, how many of us have 'an old pair of Grados' just sitting around waiting for this sort of (mis)treatment ? I think the 'YMMV' part should be in bold, with a font roughly the size of the Michelin Man. My advice would be to get the cheapest pair of fullsize cans you can find, regardless of brand, pull them apart then try to put them back together, plug them in and check to see if you have done any damage. If you can do this without hurting the throwaways, *then* try something with that old pair of Grados that just happened to be hiding under the couch.
 

 

[Ham Sandwich]

If you google for "grado +rs-60" you can find a comparison of what was dubbed an RS-60.  SR60 drivers in a RS1 enclosure.  The SR60 drivers improved in the new enclosure but the softer SR60 treble (relative to the higher SR and RS grados) remained.  The OP asked about getting the detail like the SR325is.  Part of that extra detail IMHO is due to the hyped treble.  It's what I sometimes call faux detail.  Apparent detail due to treble peaks or treble boost.  The SR325is does have clearly improved true detail over the SR60, but it also has more faux detail.  I wonder if the OP is after some more of the faux detail or is after trying to extract more true detail out of the SR60 driver?  Is it possible to get the SR60 driver to deliver on more treble, SR325is style, through mods?

 

[Maverickmonk]

Quote:

 
2. If you are going to mod a pair of Grado/Alessandro phones, --please-- do so on the understanding that you could very well end up with an attractive paperweight. Start punching holes in things and you run the risk of damaging the drivers - clearly, the veteran modders know this, but I fear that newbies may not be quite so au fait with the internals of a headphone. 
 
 I fear that Bilavideo and others may be in the former group while many of us simply are not - unless you can get replacement Grados for very little money, I would think long and hard about any mod which requires irreversible changes to your headphones.
 
Just my 2 cents worth. 
 
estreeter

I agree that it can be dangerous and you can definately screw things up during the modification process, but I feel that compairing grado modds to disassembling cars is a little unfair.
 
I'm no Bilavideo, I'm no woodworker and I'm no genious. I am a freshman in college studing a liberal arts curriculum, but I have still managed a few grado-mods of my own. My grado's are my first decent headphone, and the first headphone I ever took apart. I have no lathe or other "advanced" tools, other than a tabletop drillpress, sandpaper, and a dremel. I've still managed to make passable wood cups, detatch/resolder the wires, and patch/make holes in the back of the driver, all without screwing anything up. Patience (and a little soldering experience) are really the only "skills" necessary, and I'm pretty lacking in the patience area too!
 
there are points to both views however, and like you said, new modders (like myself) should proceed with caution. The reward simply outweighed the risk in my opinion, and I'm glad I made the decision I did.

 

[Bilavideo]

 

If you google for "grado +rs-60" you can find a comparison of what was dubbed an RS-60.  SR60 drivers in a RS1 enclosure.  The SR60 drivers improved in the new enclosure but the softer SR60 treble (relative to the higher SR and RS grados) remained.  The OP asked about getting the detail like the SR325is.  Part of that extra detail IMHO is due to the hyped treble.  It's what I sometimes call faux detail.  Apparent detail due to treble peaks or treble boost.  The SR325is does have clearly improved true detail over the SR60, but it also has more faux detail.  I wonder if the OP is after some more of the faux detail or is after trying to extract more true detail out of the SR60 driver?  Is it possible to get the SR60 driver to deliver on more treble, SR325is style, through mods?

 
Here's a FR graph from Headroom.  It's supposed to represent the current-production Grado line (post 2009 "i" upgrade) but if you remember the graphs before that, you'll notice that these are the same figures as before 2009.  Back then, the SR60 and the SR80 differed in only one respect: The 60 came with comfies while the 80 came in bowls.  
 
In this graph, the SR60 has the best bass of any Prestige Grado, along with the lowest treble.  Surprisingly, the SR80 (which is the same as the SR60 in every regard except for the pad) has the worst bass of any Prestige Grado, along with the most treble output - apart from the SR325.  Why would the bottom-line SR60 have the best bass but the worst HF while its near-twin, the SR80, has the worst bass but some of the hottest treble?  The answer is obvious: It's the pad.  Smaller pads emphasize bass, at the expense of treble; larger pads emphasize more treble but at the expense of bass.  Along those lines, the flats have the most bass while the jumbos have the most treble.
 
When people say the SR60 can't possibly compete with the SR325 in HF detail, I have to laugh.  Look at what happened when all we did was just the pad!  Look at how the differences compressed like an accordion.
 
Of course, the SR325 still has the highest HF spikes.  I'm not sure in what universe having higher spikes above flat makes a headphone "better" but the most obvious difference between the 325 and all the other Prestige Grados is the difference in housing.  A less obvious difference is in the grill cloth.  I don't know what magic powder or solution, added to the 325, would give its driver less mass - so it could spike higher.  Usually, adding something to a driver is more likely to make it pound deeper, something this chart seems to deny.  I suppose one could argue that it's the wiring (voice coil and cable) that are producing these differences, but then look at this:
 

 
In this graph, the 325 has the least emphatic bass but still ends up with the peakiest highs at 2 kHz, 5 kHz and from 8 to 10 kHz.  Clearly, these are not the result of superior voice coils and cabling.  What's different about the 325 and the Grados above it?  It's the aluminum housing versus wood (All of the woodies have higher bass output).  If the SR60 were to have its plastic housing replaced by wood, what do you suppose the difference would be, in terms of bass response?  I can tell you, straight up, it's not even close - and that's before you vent the drivers.
 
As for matching treble for treble, look carefully at the following chart:
 

 
With its comfies, the SR60 digs deeper than even the RS1 while the SR80 (in bowls) has the lowest bass output.  Clearly, it's the pads.  With the comfies, the SR60 has the least HF output of all the headphones shown here.  But clad in bowls, the SR80 hits much closer to the 325.  There are distinct moments - at 2 kHz and 5 kHz - when the 325 and RS1 share higher spikes (the SR80 has a 5 dB spike analogous to the 325/RS1's 5 kHz spike, but at 4 kHz).  Still, when the 325 and RS1 are having their 9 dB spike at 9 kHz, the SR80 is only a dB off.  Considering differences such as the lack of back-plate damping, the plastic housing and the sonic costs of plastic grill mesh and that plastic rear-grill button, it's the surprising that the HF response doesn't pose a higher gap.  Would fixing these sonic sandbags make a difference?  Anecdotally speaking, I can only say yes.  The SR60 is much clearer when you remove these issues.  If the SR80 - with its bowls - was hitting some of the same highs (minus a dB) while employing a plastic air chamber, how hard is it to believe that the same headphone - with all of the mods previously discussed - would bridge the gap enough to make your jaw drop?
 
In this FR graph, the 325 remains the "king of spikes" among all Grados, including the PS1000, but notice how the SR80 remains hot on its trail:
 

 
Given the various ways in which an SR80 with bowls remained a different headphone from the SR325, I'm not surprised that differences would show up on these FR graphs.  On the other hand, if this is a criticism of the SR80, how much more so would it be of the GS1000 and the PS1000?  Why not say that these other cans - costing three to five times the price of the 325 - are never going to sound like an SR325?  It's because such a statement would be laughable.  It can only be uttered - with a straight face - against the SR60 because everybody "knows" the SR60 is such an inferior driver.  Truth be told, the 325 might well be the king of Grado treble, for better or worse.  But once you clothe the SR60 in bowls, like a traditional SR80, a lot of the tonal issues get displaced.  And that's before a series of serious tweaks are employed to increase the bass, clarity and treble of the headphone.

 

[purrin]

 
Quote:

 
When people say the SR60 can't possibly compete with the SR325 in HF detail, I have to laugh.  
 

It can't. The SR60/80 driver is too limited. I've put SR80 drivers in RS2 shells with a re-cable - those still weren't as clean, detailed, and refined as the real RS2s. Also FR graphs are a bad way to infer capability of detail retrieval. Harmonic distortion graphs (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) along the entire frequency range and CSD / waterfall plots will tell you a lot more.
 
You can modify SR60/80s to make them sound better, but it's doubtful you can make them "sound like or have the detail level of a SR325." You can't just clean up a driver that sounds inherently more "dirty" to the extent necessary with new cups, silver wiring, dampening, pads, etc. Maybe a new voice coil made of less resistive wiring with more windings would to the trick though. 

 
In the words of the OP "What would be the mod to accomplish this?" There is no one "mod" or even simple set of mods to do this assuming that it's possible. What you are talking about is a complete reconstruction of the headphone. I beseech you! Do not send others down your path of madness!!! 

 
One caveat: It also depends on the quality of the source/amp. The differences among the Grados aren't as noticeable with a low resolution source, i.e. (the more recent iPods, most portables, etc.) So yes, in this respect, maybe it is possible to reconstruct SR-80 to have the detail level or a SR325.

 

[Peterman]

I asked Fatcat what he knows technically / scientifically the differences to be between the 2 phones.
How is that mean? Am I missing something here?
 
I guess I am trying to get at what are the technical differences between the 60 vs 325 inside. Drivers, Coil, Cable etc...
 
Its just a simple question not to be blown out of proportion, lol
A person's opinion is fine & I would appreciate these opinions if they stated  WHY they are saying it.
 
I can tell you why an Audi A8L is Different than a A4 via the engine, aluminum frame etc... There are technical reasons why one car is better in certain areas....
 
This I would like to know about the Grado differences... Then to know if a 60 can be modded to have detail /sound like a 325.
Why does Grado keep things so secret?  Even secret special cookies have the ingredients on the package.
 
I guess don't mind me I've had a little too much coffee this morning & THNX to ALL for the opinions & knowledge ~ I've learned TONS about headphones on this site !

 

[Bilavideo]

 

Originally Posted by purrin /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
[The SR60] can't [compete with an SR325]. The SR60/80 driver is too limited. I've put SR80 drivers in RS2 shells with a re-cable - those still weren't as clean, detailed, and refined as the real RS2s. Also FR graphs are a bad way to infer capability of detail retrieval. Harmonic distortion graphs (2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.) along the entire frequency range and CSD / waterfall plots will tell you a lot more.

I don't know what to tell you about your results.  You and I are friends, and I respect you more than you know.  When you tell me your mileage varied, I believe you.  I'll spare you a litany of "yeah buts" and just accept your results as contrary data.  Regarding the FR graphs, I never said they were the end-all/be-all of sound analysis.  There's more to sound than frequency response.  At the same time, however, FR graphs do tell us something - namely, "frequency response."  These graphs show that the SR60, wearing comfies, has more objectively verifiable bass than any other Prestige Grado, including the SR325.  In that respect, the OP is already getting more bass with the comfies than he'd get by going to the 325 with bowls.  When the comfies are replaced by bowls, however, such "bass" plummets.  The SR80 has the lowest output of any Prestige Grado, when it comes to bass response.  At the same time, this "muted" HF - for which the SR60 is commonly excoriated - evaporates.  The SR80 has plenty of HF and even rivals its higher-priced siblings in that department.
 
With respect to harmonic distortion graphs and other forms of data, keep in mind that what's being analyzed is a whole system, not a driver.  An SR60/SR80 is going to generate a different reading than a 225 or 325.  Be that as it may, here are some graphs.  What leaps out to you?
 

 
I'm assuming that less total harmonic distortion is a good thing.  Looking at the blue and red of the SR60/80 - even in their plastic enclosures and with all of their obvious drawbacks - I'm wondering how a graph like this one is much of an indictment.  The big spikes on this graph seem to be those of the 325. Was the goal to get as many of these in as possible?
 

 
I think this chart speaks for itself.
 

 
What am I supposed to be getting out of this graph?  Too bad these guys put a key in front of the most important part of the graph.  
 

 
What do you get out of this chart?
 

 
Or this one?
 
Given that we're looking at whole systems, and not just drivers, I'm not sure the science is conclusive, notwithstanding the pretty colors of these graphs.  I remain unconvinced that there is anything, in the drivers themselves, that predermines how far they can be modded to make a better headphone.

 

[Brumagician99]

 
Quote:

Who actually rolls with "scientific evidence" anyway??
 

 I take this statement back - thank you Bilavideo for another great analysis!! Its a joy to read
 
Who actually rolls with "scientific evidence" anyway?? Bilavideo does!!!

 

[Spelaeus]

I'm enjoying the discussion here, it's very informative. But I've ended up with two questions from it. Mind you, these are not meant as criticisms of anything said previously but rather honest questions about things that just don't seem to quite add up for me. I have a feeling that this is largely due to gaps in my understanding about sound reproduction anyway... But as is:
 
1) Given that the SR60, 80, and 125 all have the same stated range of frequency response of 20-20k, what would account for the stated range of the SR225 at 20-22k and the SR325 at 18-24k? Again, this could well be due to gaps in my understanding, but while I can certainly understand how the housing could alter the overall balance of the headphone in terms of frequency response, I don't quite see how it could account for changes in the range.
 
2) To my knowledge, if we discount differences in the drivers, the only difference between an SR80 and SR225 both using bowls is the metal screen on the 225 as opposed to the plastic on the SR80 (Mind you, Grado claims that the SR225 and SR325 use a different voice coil wire than the lower models, but we'd have to ignore that if we are to assume that they use the same drivers). If this is true, would it not stand to reason that one could achieve something similar to an SR225 just by re-screening an SR80? While I know there is some disagreement over just how big of a change a re-screening makes, I doubt that very many would claim that just re-screening an SR80 would bring it up to the level of an SR225. And I certainly doubt that the screen alone could account for the differences in frequency response range stated above. So wouldn't that bring us back to differences in the driver itself? The only other difference that I can think of is that the SR225 has closer matched drivers (within 0.05db as opposed to 0.1db), but here too I doubt that a difference of 0.05db of maximum driver mismatch between the two models would account for the different sound signatures and level of detail. I have relatively sensitive hearing, and I know I find it virtually impossible to perceive differences below 0.25db, and even that's a stretch.

 

[Bilavideo]

 

Originally Posted by purrin /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
You can modify SR60/80s to make them sound better, but it's doubtful you can make them "sound like or have the detail level of a SR325." You can't just clean up a driver that sounds inherently more "dirty" to the extent necessary with new cups, silver wiring, dampening, pads, etc. Maybe a new voice coil made of less resistive wiring with more windings would to the trick though. 

You can definitely make them sound better and some of these mods - like venting the drivers, damping the backplate and removing the grill cloth, along with the plastic grill and back button - cost less than $5 and present no danger to the drivers at all.
 
With respect to cleaning up "a driver that sounds inherently more 'dirty'," I'm not sure the driver is dirty to begin with.  To be sure, the diaphragm is made of plastic film (Mylar), suspended on a plastic basket, but so are all of the other Grados.  I see no evidence the film is any different in diameter or thickness.  I see no evidence that the magnet is any different, either in size or magnetic force.  The only internal difference I can talk about is the use of UHPLC copper in the voice coil versus standard copper.  As the voice coils are identical in size, employing the same gauge of wire, the only difference there could be is in the inherent conductive difference between UHPLC copper and standard copper.
 
So what is UHPLC copper?  Google it and you will get 4,920 results.  I'd like to tell you that I clicked on every one of those results but who has the time?  I did, however, scroll through the first 100.  Guess how many tracked back to Grado?  Take a wild guess.  The answer is 97.  A company called Millipore sells fittings for a UHPLC filtration system.  So does Kinesis USA.  So does an outfit called Idex: Health & Science.  So, unless I'm missing something, this UHPLC wire is just a name Grado gives to its wire.  I don't see any other headphone maker using UHPLC copper wire.  The term has no meaning outside of Grado Labs.  It is a marketing ploy.
 
The good news is that there are actual terms, used in the industry, such as OFC (oxygen-free copper) and OFHC (oxygen free high thermal conductivity).  While OFHC is used in cryogenics, OFC gets used in audio.  The ASTM International sets international standards for an exhaustive list of materials, including copper.  Of the many compositions that can be called "copper," there are three that apply here:
 
C11000 or ETP (Electrolytic Tough Pitch).  It's the wire you see in just about everything.  It's not "oxygen free."  It's 99.9% pure, with an oxygen content of .02 to .04%.  This wire conducts just fine.  In fact, it meets 101% of the IACS standard.  It has a conductivity rating of 100%.
 
C10200 or Oxygen-Free Copper (OF).  Despite the name "oxygen free," it's not.  It simply meets a threshold of 99.95% purity, with an oxygen content of .001%.  It has the same conductivity rating as ETP.  For purposes of purity, silver is counted as copper (since it has a higher conductivity).
 
C10100 or Oxygen-Free Electronic (OFE).  Despite its name, this copper isn't oxygen-free either.  It simply meets the highest threshold of 99.99% purity, with an oxygen content of .0005%.  It has the same conductivity rating as the other two, but it's the closest thing to pure-pure as you're going to get.  Because of the extra hurdles in processing, it's the most expensive.
 
Grado doesn't say its copper is OFE, which means it probably isn't.  That's okay, however, since it really doesn't matter.  You're not buying a voice coil for the copper.  You're buying it for the conductivity, which is 100% across all three.  I see no evidence that "UHPLC" copper provides any audible difference in sound.  Nor does listening to different headphones, constructing different environments around the drivers, really say anything about the sound difference in using one form of copper over another.  Since Grado doesn't use a standard recognized by anybody else, there's no way to really know what, exactly, Grado is selling as wire.  Even if it were the more expensive OFE (which it would then be able to market at such), it's hard to imagine that a difference in purity of less than eight-hundredths of 1% would make an audible difference.
 
Furthermore, if this is what we're calling a "dirty driver," when Grado's "matching driver" standard for the 325 is .05 dB, I have to wonder whether these "details" missing in one headphone and showing up in another aren't byproducts of the environment in which they're being placed.  There is far more difference between the plastic, mahogany and aluminum housings than there is between a voice coil made from ETP and one made from OF or OFE.  Nor should this be a construed as a criticism of Grado's wire, which is every bit as good as everybody else's.  
 
Go back to that first episode of the first season of Mad Men.  Why is the tobacco in our brand of cigarettes any better.  "Because it's toasted."  But isn't everybody's?  "No, theirs will kill you.  Ours is toasted."
 

Originally Posted by purrin /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
What would be the mod to accomplish this?" There is no one "mod" or even simple set of mods to do this assuming that it's possible. What you are talking about is a complete reconstruction of the headphone. I beseech you! Do not send others down your path of madness!!! 

 
           THIS!! 
           IS!!!!!!
           SPARTA!!!!!!!

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

 
 
I'm no Bilavideo, I'm no woodworker and I'm no genious. I am a freshman in college studing a liberal arts curriculum

 
And I'm no genius either, but my IT degree did acquaint me with the humble spell checker
 
(ok, typos happen, but of all the words it had to happen to - keep this up and you could very well end up in an Apple Store )