[radi9red]

Hi folks,
 
i'm writing this from singapore and i'm a current user of Grado Gr10.  i have been listening to grado gr10 for past 1 month and this is the only single armature earphone that kept me in awe. It has really wide frequency range - low bass to powerful mids and detail clear treble.  
 
I'm comparing this against my other earphones
- UM miracle , UE 900 (lune cables), Seinheisser ie800 (tape mod on stock cable) , tdk ie800 and yamaha eph100sl
 
Grado GR10 pros -
- awesome mids
- extremely clear vocals and mid compared to all my other earphones
- wide soundstage
- fits a good variety of genres.
 
cons -
- hissing sibiliant on some high pitch vocals ( it happens to couple of songs from various female vocals) - Its definately not the recording as those are 320k and i didn't experience them on my other earphones.
- bass has quality with impact but could be improve on bass depth
 
 
Okay - i tried to examine the design of the earphone and i realise that here's what is causing the occassional hissing vocal mids
 
i) Grado Gr10 earphone drivers (efficient and easy to powered) - driver is located quite near to the tip and on close insertion into ears - the relative distance of the driver to eardrum is pretty near. 
 
ii) upon closer inspection - each earphone has a small black rubber ring and a piece of filter ( a lot of holes & mesh)  that you can remove ( for cleaning) - this is also being mentioned in the grado gr10 user instructions.  - the solid black rubber ring took up 20 percent of the nozzle size when fitted on to nozzle - it forces the sounds to be squeeze past the remaining 80 percent nozzle size into the tips then reaching your ear drum.    So we have a nozzle design that 100 percent of the sound is squeezing out from the 80 percent hole since 20 percent is blocked by that black rubber ring.
 
 
Here's what i did.
 
Step 1  - remove the black rubber ring and filter on both sides of earphone. - check the grado instructions on how to do that.  it doesn't void your warranty don't worry.   Keep it safely for future usage
 
Step 2 - i grab a small square cut out lipton tea bag (or any other tea bag) - the paper like material and use it as filter replacement - size square or round - ensure it's 50 percent larger than the nozzle size
 
step 3 -  i place the square piece of self-made filter - put it on top of the nozzle tip to cover it completely - use your fingers to mould the filter paper to round nozzle shape.
 
step 4 - with the self- made filter that is now on top of the nozzle - -- put back the ear tips - for me i'm using comfy tips.
Don't worry about the filter dropping off - it wouldn't as firstly - it's larger than the nozzle and covering it like a cap.. and it's secured by your silicon ear tips which straps it over the nozzle.
 
Step 5 (optional) -  if ever you find the sound a little bit muted (i don't feel it that way) - but you might do - simply get the finest sewing needle you can find - remove that Lipton tea bad filter we have made - using that needle to punch several small holes on the filter.  mount that back and see if it helps.  what it will do is that it will allow more sound to pass through quicker - which will help to improve clarity (mids and treble).
 
 
I discovered now
 
1. it reduces the high pitch mids
2. it creates better upper bass and depth of mids - it's still wide soundstage but has better depth
3.it's has that classic sound similar to a shelf speaker (remember in the 1980, 1990s - the shelf speakers also has a black cloth like mesh in front to damper the sound and improve the bass ? )
 
 
okay - let me know if this mod works for you !! have fun