[wje]

Koolkat,
 
I plugged my Grado SR-225i Woodies into my headphone output of my motherboard.  I then fired up some Ben Harper - his music tends to have some acoustic mixes, good percussion, good vocals and some electric guitar, too.  I used Foobar and the FLAC version of format.   Below, you'll see my screen image where I had the EQ set to flat.  I didn't notice any "congested" sound with my setup.  Though, there are plenty of variables that could be at play here (chipset on motherboard, version of drivers, etc.)  However, what I did notice when it came to the sound was horrible, screechy sounds.  The bass and mid-range frequencies were virtually not there.  Lots of upper frequency scratchiness, though.  Certainly, not something I'd want to use on a daily basis.  For me, it's back to the Squeezebox or my Walkman / FiiO combo.  I'm much, much happier with the sounds that come from these setups for my situation.
 

 

[koolkat]

Thank you for taking the time to help me out Wje, much appreciated.
 
I suppose we hear things very differently or maybe like you said it was the drivers or chipset that was causing the difference. I just listened to Ben Harper's Fly One Time on Youtube and it was great. No harsh highs, no screechy sounds, no bloat, no congestion. Anyways, I've got a good deal for the E7 used, so the rest will go to the woody cups savings. I'm getting the E7 on Monday night and will report back with a review. 
 
Quote:

Koolkat,
 
I plugged my Grado SR-225i Woodies into my headphone output of my motherboard.  I then fired up some Ben Harper - his music tends to have some acoustic mixes, good percussion, good vocals and some electric guitar, too.  I used Foobar and the FLAC version of format.   Below, you'll see my screen image where I had the EQ set to flat.  I didn't notice any "congested" sound with my setup.  Though, there are plenty of variables that could be at play here (chipset on motherboard, version of drivers, etc.)  However, what I did notice when it came to the sound was horrible, screechy sounds.  The bass and mid-range frequencies were virtually not there.  Lots of upper frequency scratchiness, though.  Certainly, not something I'd want to use on a daily basis.  For me, it's back to the Squeezebox or my Walkman / FiiO combo.  I'm much, much happier with the sounds that come from these setups for my situation.
 

 

 

[GravitySmacked]

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? 
 
 
 

 
 
[size=10.0pt]May well be worth getting a dedicated soundcard, decent ones can be picked up pretty cheap and they make a hell of a difference.[/size]

 

[wje]

Quote:

[size=10.0pt]May well be worth getting a dedicated soundcard, decent ones can be picked up pretty cheap and they make a hell of a difference.[/size]

Yes, that is also some good advice.  I had a PCI-based Philips sound card that was pretty good from about 8 years ago for its audio capabilities.  After building and rebuilding my computer, I just ended up going with the on-board sound so I could make the process simpler of working on my computer.  Now, we just use the built-in speakers on the monitor, so in my case, the on-board audio is sufficient.  Now, if I used it with my headphones, that would be an entirely different situation.
 

 

[JamesMcProgger]

 

Spoiler: EVA00

dont mind me, just dropping a pict
 

 

 

 

[lextek]

So I have a pair of vintage (18+ years old) SR60s that a driver finally failed on. I picked up a new pair of SR60is from a fellow Head-Fier in mint condition. Please don't take this as a knock against Grado. They just felt "cheaper". I popped them apart. No heat simply pulled the cups apart, which were crooked.. I thoughtnthe new shroom design added volume, but it does not. Inguessnthey offer more volume, but I don't understand how whenthe end is open.
For kicks I weighed my old drivers compared to the new ones. Same 23.3 grams. I poked three holes to vent the driver, added some dampening to the back of the magnet and swaped the cable for a Cardas I had. It was a fun day.

 

[kongmw]

Quote:

 I popped them apart. No heat simply pulled the cups apart, which were crooked..

hmmm could it be that the previous owner had opened the cups before and didn't do a good job putting them back? I had to steam mine for a good two to three minutes before prying them cups open. 

 

[lextek]

hmmm could it be that the previous owner had opened the cups before and didn't do a good job putting them back? I had to steam mine for a good two to three minutes before prying them cups open. 

They didn't look like they had been opened.

 

[wje]

Quote:

So I have a pair of vintage (18+ years old) SR60s that a driver finally failed on. I picked up a new pair of SR60is from a fellow Head-Fier in mint condition. Please don't take this as a knock against Grado. They just felt "cheaper". I popped them apart. No heat simply pulled the cups apart, which were crooked.. I thoughtnthe new shroom design added volume, but it does not. Inguessnthey offer more volume, but I don't understand how whenthe end is open.
For kicks I weighed my old drivers compared to the new ones. Same 23.3 grams. I poked three holes to vent the driver, added some dampening to the back of the magnet and swaped the cable for a Cardas I had. It was a fun day.

I think it might be well worth your investment to have Grado repair your old SR-60 headphones.  For $35.00, they'll take care of you and ship them back to you in about 2 weeks.   They're just located in Brooklyn.
 

 

[howzitboy]

whew finally finished reading this post and the previous one (wanted to finish that one quickly before its deleted). what a fun topic! take a pair of headphones and make them better!! i dont have a pair... yet. still checking ebay or amazon for a nice, cheap one to try mess around with.
 
and i know its an old topic but i was reading about Grado using the same drivers in diff headphones with the better ones in the more expensive ones. I remember reading about computer chips long ago and it reminded me of the same thing. Intel would get a bunch of chips made, then they would test each one to find the speed of it. they were all made the same but some came out faster then others soo... I was wondering if Grado does the same thing. test a bunch of speakers and use the ones that came out "better" in their higher models..
 
just food for thought...

 

[buffalowings]

Quote:

whew finally finished reading this post and the previous one (wanted to finish that one quickly before its deleted). what a fun topic! take a pair of headphones and make them better!! i dont have a pair... yet. still checking ebay or amazon for a nice, cheap one to try mess around with.
 
and i know its an old topic but i was reading about Grado using the same drivers in diff headphones with the better ones in the more expensive ones. I remember reading about computer chips long ago and it reminded me of the same thing. Intel would get a bunch of chips made, then they would test each one to find the speed of it. they were all made the same but some came out faster then others soo... I was wondering if Grado does the same thing. test a bunch of speakers and use the ones that came out "better" in their higher models..
 
just food for thought...

that's how they do it exactly, closer tolerances between each driver
 

 

[jinteddy7]

Yay, hope to get back my sr60i's today which were sent to be woodied 3 weeks ago ... will post pics when received!

 

[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

Yay, hope to get back my sr60i's today which were sent to be woodied 3 weeks ago ... will post pics when received!

where did you sent it?

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

So I have a pair of vintage (18+ years old) SR60s that a driver finally failed on. I picked up a new pair of SR60is from a fellow Head-Fier in mint condition. Please don't take this as a knock against Grado. They just felt "cheaper". I popped them apart. No heat simply pulled the cups apart, which were crooked.. I thoughtnthe new shroom design added volume, but it does not. Inguessnthey offer more volume, but I don't understand how whenthe end is open.
For kicks I weighed my old drivers compared to the new ones. Same 23.3 grams. I poked three holes to vent the driver, added some dampening to the back of the magnet and swaped the cable for a Cardas I had. It was a fun day.

Sweet mod!
 
After 18 years, I think you got your 60 bucks out of them )
 
If you're looking to get rid of those to a loved home, I have always have room under my roof!
 
The "i" cups don't do anything for sound in my opinion, they just look more interesting now. Grado build quality is hit or miss, all my new ones I've bought feel pretty good.  Another thing I've found is that SR325 alu cups don't really affect that sound that much, the driver is more or less attached to the cup and swapping to an SR-80i cup didn't really do much for me. Thats why I think people should definitely go with full wood, and not just slip-ons if possible.

 

[Brooko]

Chris - have you ever tried a wooden liner with the aluminium slip-on cup?
 
Just interested to see if anyone has.  I bought Twinster's old cups off his MS2is.  I pried the plastic inner/liner out - and it's an interesting sound (kind of hard to describe).  Definitely strengthened the highs and upper mids.  As soon as I can afford it - I'm going to order woody inners from Marty - but was going to try and get a slip-on style inner and cup - so I can alternate between full woody and hybrid wood/aluminium.
 
Just wondering if anyone else had tried this?