will do; I have a ton to listen to on them stillā¦
I can totally see where some others (including pricier Grados, but also including others) have more immediate āwowā if listening for technicalities, but already without much burn in (brain or headphone), these do make most of the music I have tried thoroughly engaging.
I like a lot of hard Rockā¦ Robin Trower, some of the heavier Los Lobosā¦ and think that stuff sounds amazing. But also solo classical guitar and string quartetsā¦ like other Grados I have. Itās a pretty divergent set of āspecialtiesā!
My problem is , now I need to hear RS2e, and some of the GS and GH series maybe. Itās like cocaine. I hear.
Typing more, said I was too tired, but somehow too obsessedā¦
I pretty much avoid as much as possible some of the larger headphone/audio forums. But I did go through a Grado thread on head-fi, lookong for more reviews. One gentleman there, screen name escapes me, was making a case for why he preferred the Hemps to all others, including Aryas he had. Timbre and liveliness and imaging over treble or bass extension, detail, or soundstageā¦ basically, for his values.
He said it way more articulately but that was the basic idea. I could see his point (though I have not heard Aryasā¦ but I have heard much more technically focused headphones. Love the Elex a lot , myself, for oneā¦ and thats not even Arya tier. But I could see choosing Hemps for a lot of the listening anyway, even with both right next to each other for the choosing).
Edit: I have more accurate thoughts on these pads a few posts down. I did some more testing and found this initial reaction to be inaccurate.
The yaxi Grado pads are a big NO for the Hemps. They muffle the sound and are not really any more comfortable than the stock F-cush pads. They are surprisingly scratchy when compared to the porta pro pads I also got (great upgrade for the porta pros btw) and not really any softer than the F-cush pads, although mine are well broken in, so this may not be totally accurate for new pads. The purple would look nice with the all black plastic models, but is not all that good looking with the hemp wood imo.
They might work if you did the quarter mod to them (like the donut pads) but at that point you may as well stick with the stock F-cush. Maybe they will be more comfortable after some break in. I should get some SR-60e to see if they sound good with those, LoL.
Also I might do some more testing just to see if the comfort actually does get better. The foam if a fair bit thicker than the F-cush pads, so if they get a bit softer and less scratchy then it could be worth it to cut a hole in the front of them and see how they sound.
What about TTVJ pads? There are some favorable reviews for it with the HF-3ās. I donāt know how they sound with the hemps. Frankly, I should put my HF-3ās up for sale one of these days since I am not too enamored with it. Not enough to try pad swapping.
I am revising my previous statement on the Yaxi pads. They do not sound as bad as I first thought. They seem to lower the perceived volume quite a bit, which came across as a muffled sound, but once you turn up the volume to mach the F-cush pads, they are much more listenable.
I still do not totally recommend the Yaxi pads as they seem to āfilterā the sound. The physical sensation of the sound that I love so much seems to be less, probably because there is foam in the way. Bass impact is less, sounds donāt have as much of a āgrowlā to them, and everything is just a bit less fun overall. Any change to frequency response is minimal.
Iām going to continue testing to see if comfort is any better for the Yaxi pads after some break in. If they are more comfortable, then I will try to do a quarter mod. The hole I will cut out will be the same as the F-cush pads instead of the size of a quarter though.
If I had to guess, they would probobly make the Hemps treble murder. Distence from the driver is not a good thing with these. Iām also willing to bet the comfort would be fenominal though.
So the Yaxi pads are softer in terms of compression and no more or less scratchy then the stock F-cush pads. They are overall more comfortable. Tomorrow Iām going to try to cut a clean hole in them to see if they can be made to sound like the F-cush pads.
I very much stand by what I said befor. The Yaxi pads seem to filter out a lot of the energy from the sound. Hopfuly with the material removed from the fromt of the driver this will no longer be an issue.
The purple really does looks terrible with the Hemps though. Every time I see it I just sigh at how bad it looks.
I think I should mention with all this talk if pads and comfort, my ONLY comfort issue is entirely caused by the fact that I wear glasses. Without glasses, I was able to fall asleep while wearing these last night with stock pads.
For the people who are expecting these, give the stock pads a chance. They should be fine as long as you are ok with other on-ears.
Step 4: press the socket down firmly and use the exacto-knife to cut out around the socket and make sure to keep the knife blade tight up against the socket.
After the quarter mod, the Yaxi pads seem to have much less of an impact on the impact of sounds. The foam in the way seems to have been at least mostly responsible for that. While the impact seems to be about the same (a touch less than the F-cush pads), the bass is less now. Also the overall sound is a bit less aggressive and a bit more open/wide. This is (I think) due to the increased distance the driver sits from the ear since the foam is thicker on the Yaxi pads. Even if it is a small change (2-3mm) it is still technically about a doubling of the distance when compared to the stock pads.
So in conclusion, the Yaxi pads are more comfortable, have a more open/wide stage, have less bass, and are less aggressive than the stock F-cush pads. Overall these are a good option if you dont mind trading some bass and intimacy for better comfort. Just make sure you do the quarter mod described above as it gets rid of the slight muffling effect.
Personally I will be sticking with the stock F-cush pads as the comfort is not really an issue and I prefer the way they sound.
