[plonter]

I have a few monthes old SR325e. Suddenly in the last month or so, they becamse too warm and bassy and all the beautiful highs and mids are gone.   My rig is fine,there is nothing wrong with it..listening with the HD800's their sound just right.
Any ideas what happened?    could it be related to the pads somehow?   

   I am frustrated,missing my beloved grados.

 

[kramer5150]

The pads are probably starting to wear and soften.  This is a normal occurrence with Grado L-cush pads.  The foam softens over time.  It is a gradual thing, and psychologically I personally really don't notice it day to day until (maybe) one day I will swap headphones back and forth and it becomes more obvious.
 
Of course theres the whole driver burn-in thing too.

 

[plonter]

Thx, I guess I'll have to buy new pads and see if that's indeed the case.

 

[Sefelt103]

I'm not sure it is the earpads. It would be rather expensive if you had to replace them every few months. Compared to the HD800 most headphones will sound warm and bassy. Perhaps the SR325e character becomes less neutral with burn in ?

 

[plonter]

I also have SR80e's that came with S pads so I planned to get a pair of L pads for them anyway,I will put the new one on the 325's and see if that's the problem.  Although the L pads are relatively new,I did switch it a lot between the 325 and 80's so maybe all this messing accelerated the wear process a bit.  I don't dismiss the case that it is indeed burn in, and if this is the case than burn in turned to be really bad thing for me (usually considered good thing) cause it took all the magic away.
 
Is there a chance that this is actually a drivers problem? 

 

[HPiper]

  I also have SR80e's that came with S pads so I planned to get a pair of L pads for them anyway,I will put the new one on the 325's and see if that's the problem.  Although the L pads are relatively new,I did switch it a lot between the 325 and 80's so maybe all this messing accelerated the wear process a bit.  I don't dismiss the case that it is indeed burn in, and if this is the case than burn in turned to be really bad thing for me (usually considered good thing) cause it took all the magic away.
 
Is there a chance that this is actually a drivers problem? 

It certainly could be. You could send them in to Grado or just call them and see what they think might be going on. They are still under warranty at any rate.

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

It could be burn-in, but it could be the pads. Disintegrated pads will worsen the sound considerably - as was the case on my old (silver) SR325is. However I also experienced burn-in that worsens the sound, which happens to me on my MS1 (old cups). After a while the overall sound was mellower than they was at first. In my case the highs and the mids are still there, but the bass just got too much. The bass bleeds into lower-mids, moving my MS1i towards the SR60i - which is not necessarily bad for everyone, but to me it is.

 

[GreenBow]

I think I read of this happening on the e-series thread. I think it was joseph69. Anyway he sent them back to Grado and they came back fixed.

 

[Amish]

That's strange. I don't have the e version but my 325 is old. And it is just as bright as ever. I still have the original L pads too and they never got soft. If anything they got harder.
 
I have a new set of the G cushions still in the bag. Need to try them out sometime.

 

[gregorya]

Please let us know how the new pads work. If it is indeed a burn-in related issue, that would be good to know too. I often wondered if there were cases where burn-in might actually be perceived as burn-out (changes that negatively affect the sound).

 

[Amish]

  Please let us know how the new pads work. If it is indeed a burn-in related issue, that would be good to know too. I often wondered if there were cases where burn-in might actually be perceived as burn-out (changes that negatively affect the sound).

Will do.
 
My 325 have hundreds and hundreds of hours on them. In the last year I have hardly touched them but when I have they sound just as bright as ever. Makes me wonder what is happening to those that have taken the brightness out of them...

 

[gregorya]

  Will do.
 
My 325 have hundreds and hundreds of hours on them. In the last year I have hardly touched them but when I have they sound just as bright as ever. Makes me wonder what is happening to those that have taken the brightness out of them...

 
Strange isn't it? If they suddenly seemed significantly different after hundreds and hundreds of hours, then perhaps it is the degradation of the pads.

 

[Amish]

My 325is headphones sound fantastic. I don't even remember what they sounded like at the start. lol But hundreds of hours later they sound wonderful.
 
 
OP's issue is strange indeed.

 

[L1C4]

I really don't understand why they had to make a change... Sennheiser has their flagship models, and Grado has just as uniquely defined ones -- SR225i, SR325i, RS1, RS2. I don't get why they thought they would generate more sales by de-emphasizing their former products.

 

[defbear]

There is a app called Cardas Clarifier available for .99 on Android and IOS. It purports to degauss headphones by playing certain tones through your system.and headphones. There is also the Ayer effacasious disk for $19.99. I believe the Cardas app came from this disk. They both work. I thought my 10 year old UE 10vi iems had died. Purchase the app or disk. Listen to a well known song. Run the app or disk. Listen to the same song again. I was simply flabbergasted!