Hi everyone -
The silver paint on the little round emblems on my SR325i's ear cups is chipping off. In fact they came that way and when I ordered a second pair, the emblems were fine but the sliver/gray powder coating on the ear cups (or whatever it's called) was a mess - one ear side was uneven and actually lumpy, so those are definitely going back. I ordered a third set and the chipping paint was again present, although not as bad as the first pair. However, I did noticed a few things that troubled me: first, one ear cup swivel was much tighter than the other and second, where the cables enter the bottom of the ear cups, the cables could be pushed up into the ear cup and pulled out - kind of like there was about 2 inches of slack in there. The first two pair did not do this - the cables were firmly attached within the ear cups and could not be pushed up into the ear cups or pulled out.
I'd really appreciate feedback on these issues. I know these are mostly cosmetic issues, but for hi-end audiophile equipment, I expected higher quality control. Here, specifically are my questions:
1. is it common to have chipped paint on the edges of the circular emblems on the ear cups?
2. can the emblems be removed and replaced with ones that are not chipped? If so, how can they properly be removed and how/where can I get replacement? Will Grado send them to me?
3. I was told that the reason that Grado switched from brushed metal (which I much prefer) to powder coating was for uniformity issues, yet the uniformity on the powder coating is pretty bad. Has anyone else noticed this?
4. is is typical or by design to be able to push and pull the cables in and out of the ear cups? As I said above, on one pair there is slack that permits this, but on the other two pair the cables are tightly attached...
Many thanks!