[xaval]

Bloated and muddy is indeed strange - that's not how a SR60 sounds.
 
Maybe a source upgrade would change that then. The FS section can be a good place for a budget amp or amp/dac within your price range.

 

[koolkat]

Nah my SR60 sounds plenty bright. 
 
Both my laptop and my Clip+ makes everything sound bloated imo.
 
They just don't sound sharp enough.
 
Not sure if the E7 will change this, that's why I considered getting the cups. 
 
 
Quote:

Bloated and muddy is indeed strange - that's not how a SR60 sounds.
 
Maybe a source upgrade would change that then. The FS section can be a good place for a budget amp or amp/dac within your price range.

 

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

Installing + the price of the cups itself would exceed 90 dollars, so I'm pushing that back to a later date. I've also had my 60s for less than a month. I was hoping that the E7 would make music sound clearer because right now it sounds like bloated and muddy. I set the EQ down a few dBs in the midrange to counter this. 
 


 

 
Thats really odd, I play my 80's in lecture halls (low volumes) out of a Lenovo T60 series laptop and it's just fine?
 
In fact theres not even a world of difference between that and my new Mini-I DAC!
 
If you have 90 dollars to spend, why not just sell your 60's and move up to SR-225's? I get that this is the mod thread, but at least with SR-225's you can upgrade to higher end sound without taking a huge loss in case you don't like how they sound? 

 

[koolkat]

Hmm... maybe I should audition the E7 first before buying it. Some swear it makes the music clearer, separates the instrument better, as compared to crappy onboard audio. 
 
._. 
 
My EQ looks like this
 

 
 
It kinda sounds like I'm in the bathroom. 

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

Hmm... maybe I should audition the E7 first before buying it. Some swear it makes the music clearer, separates the instrument better, as compared to crappy onboard audio. 
 
._. 
 
My EQ looks like this
 

 
 
It kinda sounds like I'm in the bathroom. 

 
A good DAC will do all of the above, it's just really difficult to believe you're having such a hard time with a Sansa clip or a laptop? Some people run these things out of Macbooks and they're happier than a clam... I get lazy and the SR-225's go into the headphone jack of my desktop like 50% of the time and I forget to plug it into my DAC, although lately with the latest purchase of the Matrix pair I bought, I always remember
 
I'm not sure if source/amp is more important than headphone at this point, some people can live with onboard sound if it means they can go plug into a better source later with nice headphones..
 
I'll let the other guys wake up and tell you what they think buddy

 

[Twinster]

I don't know about your laptop but the Sansa Clip+ sound is pretty good with Grado. Make sure you the EQ is not on. Are you sure that your SR60 are not damage? (Busted driver maybe???)
 
Quote:

Hmm... maybe I should audition the E7 first before buying it. Some swear it makes the music clearer, separates the instrument better, as compared to crappy onboard audio. 
 
._. 
 
My EQ looks like this
 

 
 
It kinda sounds like I'm in the bathroom. 

 

 

[koolkat]

They're not damaged. None of my headphones are damaged but somehow the music sounds very muffled, bloated-ish, congested even? It's because of the Grados' inyoface sound sig, it's just the way music sounds... ಠ_ಠ I'm using real lossless audio, so definitely not bad mastering.
 

 
 
 

 

[Questhate]

Koolkat, you aren't crazy!

I started off with a 225i, and then bought a 60i to start modding. In comparison, I found the 60 to be muddy and congested...basically everything you're describing. The E7 won't help much because even through running my E7+E9 didn't help much in that regard. Even wooden cups didn't make a difference in terms of bloat/muddiness.

The L-cush pads help a little but in widening the sound stage and giving things a bit more room to breathe.

I didn't really fix my problem until I did a recable and driver venting. For cabling, I found everything to sound clearer, more defined and basically unfiltered. Some people don't hear much difference, but I found that it did wonders for my 60i, which I could never fully enjoy before. Apparently Grado thinks the same since the only difference between the 60 and 125 is a better cable. Chris makes some sweet looking cables.

With driver venting, I must be crazy because apparently I'm the only one that thinks this. But I can't deny what my ears tell me. I thought it was only supposed to affect the bass, but I found it cleared lots of congestion in the midrange too. It sounds counter intuitive because usually more bass can muddy a midrange, but then the 60 was never muddy because of the bass bleed but rather lack of definition.

Obviously YMMV, as everyone seems to have different experiences. But I just wanted to tell what I personally found to work for me. When modding my 60 I kept comparing to my stock 225 and could never get over what you described until I did the above. I even described the congestion I found irritating somewhere between page 15 - 25 in this thread I believe.

 

[wje]

Quote:

 
I just read all that out loud and I figured the best thing to do would be to get an E7. I think it's still too early to get a cup or cable upgrade. 
 
I'm pretty horrible at modding... When I do order the cups, I might have to get someone else to install it for me. I already have the HD414 pads which are more comfortable than the Q-modded comfies I have, but I prefer the SQ of my sr60s with the Q-modded comfies.
 
Thanks for the help Wje.
 
 

You could probably make the comfies even a bit more comfortable by applying a thin additional layer of foam under the existing foam.  I found my Q-modded comfies to flatten down too easily and then led to discomfort.
 
What genre of music do you listen to, if I could ask?
 
 
 

 

[koolkat]

For me, the Q-comfies were too hard on my ear cartilage. I just Q-modded my yellow senn pads and they're a lot more comfortable than the comfies.
 
I'm not sure what genres these are but here are some of my favourites
 
The Killers - Mr Brightside, All These Things That I've Done, Bones, Read My Mind
Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent, Old Yellow Bricks, I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor.
Buckcherry - Sorry
Yellowcard - Dear Bobbie, Shadows and Regrets
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Coldplay
Snow Patrol - Open Your Eyes (beautiful song and music video)
Angus and Julia Stone - Just a Boy, Big Jet Plane
 
...in no particular order
 
Quote:

You could probably make the comfies even a bit more comfortable by applying a thin additional layer of foam under the existing foam.  I found my Q-modded comfies to flatten down too easily and then led to discomfort.
 
What genre of music do you listen to, if I could ask?
 
 

 
 
To be honest, it's not the headphones. It's my source that's for sure. Maybe I just like my mids a few dBs down. I find that in very dynamic (for the lack of a better term) songs where there's a lot of guitar, bass, drums and vocals mixed in, EQ-ing the mids down a little helps to make everything sound crisp and organised. I did some serious listening earlier on and I found that the Grado really shines (imo) on acoustic songs.
 
Examples: PB&J - Young Folks, Yellowcard - Dear Bobbie, Taylor Swift (lol) and John Mayer.
 
Thanks for sharing though 

 
Quote:

Koolkat, you aren't crazy!

Obviously YMMV, as everyone seems to have different experiences. But I just wanted to tell what I personally found to work for me. When modding my 60 I kept comparing to my stock 225 and could never get over what you described until I did the above. I even described the congestion I found irritating somewhere between page 15 - 25 in this thread I believe.

 
 
I'll find a way to audition the E7 and see if it improves the sound. I'm fine with the way my headphones sound most of the time. I have two different headphones for different types of music so when one doesn't quite deliver I just switch to the other. So it's not that my headphones are defective. Playing something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pVf63tdBAE on Foobar or Clip+ is just madness. Everything's a mess, lol.

 
 

 

[wje]

Quote:

For me, the Q-comfies were too hard on my ear cartilage. I just Q-modded my yellow senn pads and they're a lot more comfortable than the comfies.
 
I'm not sure what genres these are but here are some of my favourites
 
The Killers - Mr Brightside, All These Things That I've Done, Bones, Read My Mind
Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent, Old Yellow Bricks, I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor.
Buckcherry - Sorry
Yellowcard - Dear Bobbie, Shadows and Regrets
Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Coldplay
Snow Patrol - Open Your Eyes (beautiful song and music video)
Angus and Julia Stone - Just a Boy, Big Jet Plane
 
...in no particular order
 
 
 
To be honest, it's not the headphones. It's my source that's for sure. Maybe I just like my mids a few dBs down. I find that in very dynamic (for the lack of a better term) songs where there's a lot of guitar, bass, drums and vocals mixed in, EQ-ing the mids down a little helps to make everything sound crisp and organised. I did some serious listening earlier on and I found that the Grado really shines (imo) on acoustic songs.
 
Examples: PB&J - Young Folks, Yellowcard - Dear Bobbie, Taylor Swift (lol) and John Mayer.
 
Thanks for sharing though 

 
 
 
I'll find a way to audition the E7 and see if it improves the sound. I'm fine with the way my headphones sound most of the time. I have two different headphones for different types of music so when one doesn't quite deliver I just switch to the other. So it's not that my headphones are defective. Playing something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pVf63tdBAE on Foobar or Clip+ is just madness. Everything's a mess, lol.

 
 

I don't think those artists have a dark, muffled sound to their music type.  You might be right about the source, though.  Are the music files in MP3, or FLAC format.  Have you tried any WAV files directly from a CD?  What about the sound card on your computer.  If the sound card is below par, then throwing $$ into everything else might not be such a good idea.
 

 

[WhiteCrow]

i so hitting up 32ohm looking for the ps500's,
wait...they are only $595 I MUST TRY THEM,and if I like them I may wave good by to my RS-2's...**** YOU GRADO!

 

[koolkat]

I've got about 60 tracks in lossless format out of over 300 tracks. 
 
The tracks I listed sound great on my SR60s.
 
Some songs that sound like crap on my Grados are metal tracks where there's a lot going on at the same time. One of the solutions to this is to EQ the mids, move the vocals a little further away, give more room for other instruments to play out. It really makes the track sound less congested and vocals crisper, though a little recessed. 
 
I've got onboard audio, no dedicated sound card. Getting an E7 may be what I need to solve the congestion and bloatedness or it may not. I'll have to audition them first. Btw Wje, what sound card or DAC do you use? Or do you run your Grados out from a stereo receiver? 
 
Hopefully this'll be my last post regarding DACs and other stuff that's got nothing to do with modding
Sorry for the derail 

 

 

[wje]

Quote:

I've got onboard audio, no dedicated sound card. Getting an E7 may be what I need to solve the congestion and bloatedness or it may not. I'll have to audition them first. Btw Wje, what sound card or DAC do you use? Or do you run your Grados out from a stereo receiver? 
 

Ah, I see.  The ol' AC97 "built-in" audio on a computer motherboard.  That certainly may be the culprit.  I don't use my computer for audio - other than to host files that I play through my Squeezebox devices.  They are using the Burr-Brown DACs on them.  If I use my headphones with the Squeezebox, I play them through either my Onkyo or Yamaha receivers.  Mainly, though, I use my Sony Walkman MP3 player, a LOD cable and the FiiO E11 amplifier.  I'm most content with the Walkman / FiiO combination - even over the Squeezebox and receiver setup that plays my FLAC-based files.
 
I should try my on-board sound card with my computer to see how the sound really plays out.  I'll do that later tonight and post some impressions based on how it compares to my other devices.  I'm not expecting too much, based on your results.

 

[koolkat]

Quick note before I head off to sleep.
 
Try listening to some Avenged Sevenfold or that type of music.
 
The intro is sounds AMAZING, chorus sounds congested, outro sounds AMAZING.
 
 
One of the reasons I'm going to be sticking to acoustic songs for the time being.
 
Sometimes less is more. 
 
 
Have a nice day!