The xCan has various tonal advantages over the BTR 5:
1.) It pushes the bass even lower and makes it more defined.
2.) It is tidier in the entire frequency range, which means that you have better imaging of the musical performance.
3.) And that is really serious, the stage representation is much wider and deeper.
In general, Grado headphones harmonize very well with ifi audio amps, my first choice for Grado is always the iDSD Signature, with which, depending on the model, I can repeatedly influence the bass and treble, thus also the spatial presentation, through xBass & 3D.
Whatās surprising so far is that I like the stock pads better than the large g cushions. My impression going in was that that the g cushions would be more comfortable and better sounding. Maybe more listening time is neededā¦
The stock pads absolutely sound better than the Geekria G pads imo, I also prefer the comfort, especially once they break in more, so donāt doubt yourself here.
So far these seem like a keeper, they have a unique place in the mix with my other cans.
I definitely prefer stock pads over G-Cush.
The tamber seems on point. Iāve read mixed reviews on this, but for the instruments I know best (piano and acoustic guitar) these sound on point, including piano impact and guitar string decay. Iām sure thereās better, but so far it sounds right to my ear.
No complaints about vocals. Definitely not as forward as the Sennheiser HD600/650/660s lineup. But I like that it is different, bringing the instruments forward in mixes where Iām used to focusing on the vocals being forward (turns out thereās a whole band hiding back there!)
I like that the headphones themselves are light, keeps them reasonably comfortable (grado comfortā¦ itās an acquired taste for sure). But to quote Zeos: this cable feels like an old vacuum cord! A nice vacuum cord for sure, but still a big heavy mass of rubber and wire. The cable weight must be close to half of the overall weight!
Just to round out my testing last night I watched Army of the Dead on Netflix with them. I usually watch movies with the DT800 600ohm balanced on the Jot2, so Iām used to wide sound stage and detail in movies. With the Hemps the detail and imaging is good, not DT880 good, but still very good. Sound stage was wide enough to not make the movie feel claustrophobic, but not as wide as I would like for the movie to feel really out in front and around me. The special effect explosions had okay rumble - a little EQ helped that out. But the Zombie screams were almost haunting - very clear, detailed, and intense. Almost creeped me out to be honest. Not my favorite movie watching cans, but if you want to feel hipster audiophile, they are a solid movie experience!
I love how well these portray voices and the like, weather itās in movies, games, or music. A particular example for me is the beginning of Invisible Man by Queen. It sounds like there is a Freddie Mercury directly behind each ear and you can almost feel his breath.
I also canāt agree more about the timber. Grados are the most natural sounding headphones Iāve yet tried.
I noticed this too, itās a strange headphone because itās warm with great timbre and tonal balance. However it dosent feel like vocals are necessary the main emphasis, felt like other instruments like drums, bells etc really stood out in mixes more! Used to most warm headphones that make vocals be the stand out but these actually do it differently. In a very enjoyable way
I actually thought the cable felt more like a garden hose lol
Underneath that techflex type sleeving itās the same type of rubber sheathing theyāve used in their previous e and is versions, however underneath the larger Y split the cables are impregnated with some plastic unlike previous generations. It makes it almost impossible to separate the cables for other projects/cables.
So I was looking around for any KPH30i earpad mods on the web, and I came across this blog post by headphonesty:
Somewhere in the KPH30i section, they mention the G-Pad mod (KPH30i Ultras), but they also whip out an aftermarket G-Pad that can use Leather, Merino Wool, or A hybrid of both:
The author for the Headphonesty blog post also provides some graphs that compare the stock KPH30i, G-Pads, and the Wool pads.
Apologies if this was already posted before. However, I thought I had to share, because this could be a possible comfort panacea to Grado headphones. I will also repost this entire post in the KPH30i thread to spread the gospel.
I have the leather pads on the SR325e and RS2e. They are a lot more comfortable and in terms of sound they increase the stage as there is more distance between the driver and your ear and also increase the treble slightly.
I recommend them over the stock Grado pads in those models but whether or not you see them as a worthwhile upgrade will depend on if you want to spend that much and your existing opinion of the Grado pads.
