SennGrado Thread

[Paul Graham]

Just received the first pics of completed cable and adaptor made for me by cCasper TFG. 
I'll just leave these here.....
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fleasbaby]

  Just received the first pics of completed cable and adaptor made for me by cCasper TFG. 
I'll just leave these here.....
 
 

 
The Hirose to 1/4 inch thing is genius. I really like that...thought I would do a brag post of my own. Posted this in the Grado Mods thread:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/119314/post-your-grado-mods/5565#post_11015075

 

[Paul Graham]

Brandon's got sick skills!
I was just expecting a regular adaptor cable, 
I love what he's done with this

 

[Makiah S]

Signing in with some impressions.

My build:


Appearance: I love the Victorian or Steampunk look of these things. Black walnut cups from 7keys and pads are Zonk G-crush. Headband is from a set of Urbanear Plantains. Drivers are flush mounted to the rim of cup, with a thin strip of duct tape around the driver to improve the friction fit. Confession: my son laughed when I wore them for the first time. 

Cost: With disciplined shopping and patience, these probably cost me $160 to assemble.

Comfort: Despite the large ear pads and wooden cups, these things are incredibly light. They are also very comfortable. A note for those with more prominent ears: Even with  large size G-Crush pads, the plastic on the face of the driver may touch your ears. 

Isolation: Non-existent. With the open ended cups and open-celled foam of the earpads, these are about as open as a headphone can be. 

Soundstage: The lack of isolation is offset by a wide soundstage and very good instrument separation.

Sound: You'd never guess that these SennGrados use drivers from low-cost Sennheiser portables. The veil is gone.

Vocals have a nice presence. Highs aren't overbaked or tiresome. The bottom end is good, although there is a bit of mid-bass hump, which I'd categorize as fun. In general, these work really well for rock.

A note about DIY variability: YMMV

Amps: I listened to these with devices ranging from a iPod nano to a Project Polaris amp. They all sounded fine and sufficiently loud, with the usual caveats that some amps work better than others.

Overall: Up until the SennGrados, I didn't have a set of phones that were easily amped and worked well with rock, so these babies are keepers.

Bwah, and there's like one sharp notch on that stinkin driver too that hurts xD, well I figured the fit out, so yea I also enjoy them! Very easy to listen to and to amp with a great sound! I actually took my Senn Grado and MS1i-W with me this weekend, both sounded very nice! 
 

  Brandon's got sick skills!
I was just expecting a regular adaptor cable, 
I love what he's done with this

That he does ^^ 

 

[Paul Graham]

Teaser Time!
Thanks @JoeDoe 
 

 

 

 

[Makiah S]

  Teaser Time!
Thanks @JoeDoe 
 

 

 

ooooh, ahhhh  

 

[thelostMIDrange]

I've got a few hours of tentative listening in trying some makeshift mods. some preliminary impresssions on this particular set.....

I'd say the sound signature is 80% sennhieser and 20 % john/nephew grado sound

there seems to be a broad mid color that is not absolutely natural or accurate. Seems to be somewhat responsive to tuning. so it's encouraging!
 
more thoughts.....i hear a fair bit of sennheiser 600650 in here. Very enticing and interesting the mids really are the center piece of the driver. smooth with some wamrth. then it gets s litte strident through the upper mids which is the main issue. the treble is nice but mellow and not quite enough grado presence for my taste.
 
played with several materials in the back and directly affixed to the back of the driver. changing that material and /or applying it to the inner walls seems helpful. the sound seems to wash out if the walls are bare and slick
 
I have also been tinkering with a cylinder in the center of the cup right behind the magnet all the way to the end with sandpaper affixed. This with some wall treatment seems to help shift the midrange more towards natural. So that's where I will focus my efforts.........
 
in any case, glad I looked into this thread, and thanks for the time and effort to weed through drivers...... =
 
This is all with flat pads and flush mounted drivers, plugged straight in to a vintage pioneer and LINN turntable
 
I seemed to feel it necessary to drop the lowest bass eq down a notch and raise the top slider a notch as well.....they seem to require more power than most grado/magnums and would probably would benefit from a matching amp, If the issues can't be resolved with mods.
 
 In comparison to an outsanding example of a magnumIV id say these are a not as competent but compared to other version s i'd say the faults are about equal in graveness  Looing forward to tweeking these if I don't lift the solder pads.They look pretty delicate to say the least.
 

 

[Makiah S]

. Very enticing and interesting the mids really are the center piece of the driver. smooth with some wamrth. then it gets s litte strident through the upper mids which is the 2nd issue. 
 

Yea even with walnut cups, the upper mid range has a touch more grain than I'd like. But for what it's worth it's acceptable. The Senn Grado and MS1i are my open back travel buddies, I take the MS1i in with my if I'm alone and run it straight out of the HM901 if I'm going to b walking around or waiting around any where. If I'm staying w ith a friend and I'm going to be sitting in one place [which I do fairly often] then I take teh Senn Grado and my amp, I can actually fit the Grado Twins I have into my little Soft Case with my hm901 my amp and everything else! So I think for the size and portability of it, the Senn Grado is pretty stellar!
 
I have how ever a Senn Hesier HD 600ish on the way to me. I want to see what this Sennheiser Vail/warmth is all about. Going to amp it with a Schiit Vali for the FULL Senn Heiser effect as it were 

 

[7keys]

 
I've got a few hours of tentative listening in trying some makeshift mods. some preliminary impresssions on this particular set.....

I'd say the sound signature is 80% sennhieser and 20 % john/nephew grado sound

there seems to be a broad mid color that is not absolutely natural or accurate. Seems to be somewhat responsive to tuning. so it's encouraging!
 
more thoughts.....i hear a fair bit of sennheiser 600650 in here. Very enticing and interesting the mids really are the center piece of the driver. smooth with some wamrth. then it gets s litte strident through the upper mids which is the main issue. the treble is nice but mellow and not quite enough grado presence for my taste.
 
played with several materials in the back and directly affixed to the back of the driver. changing that material and /or applying it to the inner walls seems helpful. the sound seems to wash out if the walls are bare and slick
 
I have also been tinkering with a cylinder in the center of the cup right behind the magnet all the way to the end with sandpaper affixed. This with some wall treatment seems to help shift the midrange more towards natural. So that's where I will focus my efforts.........
 
in any case, glad I looked into this thread, and thanks for the time and effort to weed through drivers...... =
 
This is all with flat pads and flush mounted drivers, plugged straight in to a vintage pioneer and LINN turntable
 
I seemed to feel it necessary to drop the lowest bass eq down a notch and raise the top slider a notch as well.....they seem to require more power than most grado/magnums and would probably would benefit from a matching amp, If the issues can't be resolved with mods.
 
 In comparison to an outsanding example of a magnumIV id say these are a not as competent but compared to other version s i'd say the faults are about equal in graveness  Looing forward to tweeking these if I don't lift the solder pads.They look pretty delicate to say the least.
 

I'm a little curious, are your impressions here with the  200II drivers or 100ll?

 

[thelostMIDrange]

200ii.....is it a different driver? or are we not certain one way or another?

 

[Saoshyant]

Hmm, not sure.  I have a 200ii lying around, but I've never taken it apart to examine the driver.

 

[7keys]

  200ii.....is it a different driver? or are we not certain one way or another?

Not sure but I think Wje could possibly know.

 

[fleasbaby]

  Not sure but I think Wje could possibly know.

 
He noted what he thought might be lighter bass in the 200 drivers, and indicated a preference for them (I think). @wje?

 

[No_One411]

  Teaser Time!
Thanks @JoeDoe 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

What do you think of the recessed drivers?
 
At first, I was hoping for similar effects to the MS1000 mod, but it ended up making the sound really thin instead. 
 
I ended up pushing the drivers further up so they were flush with the edge of the cups.

 

[Paul Graham]

I haven't got a clue, I haven't got them yet.