Hi, im pretty new to Grado and would like to do some mods on my SR80e headphones, any help would be appreciated
so i found these on ebay and was wondering if they would improve the sound? i know aluminium and wood sound different
but i think metal looks cooler. would anyone suggest i get these? thankyou in advance.
They look lovely (I actually saw these on eBay a couple of days ago and admired them).
I seem to recall a post that listed the order, from most to least impact, of various modifications to a set of headphones. I can't locate it, so from memory and personal experience (YMMV);
For the same set of drivers and same input the largest change is going to be the chamber between driver and ear. Of these, modding or changing the pads offer some of the most dramatic changes by reducing or increasing the volume of air, the distance to the ear and whether the surface(s) of the pad reflect or absorb sound at different frequencies. I would include adding material in front of the driver to absorb or reduce specific frequencies (often done to 'tame treble') and the mods that add spacers to move the driver further from the ear.
Next is modding the cups behind the speaker. Assuming you aren't sealing open or semi-open, nor porting closed headphones then modifying this area includes adding material to absorb sound or damp reflection, adding mass to the driver to try to increase inertia. There are threads that examine the effect of wood sleeves vs aluminium sleeves for Grados, or replacing plastic with either of these. I've seen reports that the surface of the interior of the cup plays an important part - that raw wood has a different sound than that same wood sealed or oiled; that modern, high end Grados (esp. those with metal bodies) have a kind of glue or caulking applied roughly to the surface. There were tests with dowel placed on the back of the driver seems to have no impact on the sound (implying that the cup's impact, at least for Grados, is largely at the interior surface). There have been experiments with attempting to produce wooden bodies that are 'tuned' to resonate. Of all these mods, changing the volume of the cup has more impact than anything else, even for open backed headphones.
For well soldered cables of appropriate gauge (I've run across entire discussions on what constitutes 'appropriate' and frankly lack the knowledge to do more than follow along) and decent connectors, changing cables to higher quality or exotic materials and configurations may make a difference noticeable to some, but not to others. At this point, you start to approach the point of diminishing returns. A well trained ear with decent equipment and source may well benefit from such modifications or improvements, others less so.
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If those cups have the same internal dimensions as the SR80s, then I'd be surprised if you notice much difference. The surface of the interior is closer to the surface of plastic than wood is to either - I'd expect a greater difference from a raw wood interior (either sleeves or full wood body) compared to either plastic or metal. I'm not sure that the increased mass is going to make a noticeable difference - and what difference it may/may not make will depend on how well you manage to fix the drivers in the new shell.
With all that said, they are gorgeous, will look unique and the experience gained from modding and testing will give you a better appreciation for what changes impact sound and what you do and don't like.
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PS, I'd appreciate any input or corrections on the relative impact of modifications from those with more experience (or even just different experiences).
