I would appreciate if you could get and compare the geekria pads and your TTVJ pads. Iām curious if they have a similar sound, but I donāt want to end up spending more on pads than I did for the headphones (Iām pretty close at this point).
right on, i was looking at their site yesterday, seems like a nice upgrade, especially the comfort. Really like how yourās turned out.
Sorry, Iām new to Grado and not too familiar w/ the pads. Which one are the geekria pads and/or TTVJ?
Geekria is a brand; you can find them on amazon and such.
TTVJ is Todd the Vinyl Junkie
He also has ādeluxe flat padsā for Grado
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Oh sorry. I confused you for elementze. Regardless, these are both options if you want to try more pads. The geekria add a good amount of bass and are rather comfy. They fit a bit loosely and compress over time during long listening sessions, but they are only $10 and still sound great. Elementze can tell you about the TTVJ pads.
These are the geekria pads.
These are the TTVJ pads. There is also a $50 āupgradedā version.
So @elementze, can you get the geekria pads and compare them to the TTVJ pads for us?
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Yes, Iāve actually already tried the Geekria pads 
And for reference, I have only tried the āupgradedā version. I asked TTVJ what the difference was and he said: āThe flat pads and the deluxe are the same pads but the deluxe have been treated and sound more open than the untreated pads. So yes, they do look the same but they do not sound the same.ā Since Iām a sucker for snake oil I just ordered the āupgradedā version. So my comments below are with regard to those.
Comfort: Geekria are much softer and immediately more comfortable. The TTVJ feel like new stock Grado pads, rough. Iām assuming theyāll break in over time. It really didnāt bother me. Something I definitely noticed is the Geekria are much more comfortable when wearing glasses (as I tend to do while working and listening). The TTVJ are pretty rough with glasses on.
Sound: (Iāll do my best here, Iām not a particularly experienced reviewer) Geekria have a more noticeable impact on treble. If you think your Grados sound to bright, these will definitely help. The low end I thought was comparable between the two, maybe a slight edge to the Geekria having a warmer overall sound. I attribute most of this difference to the size of the opening. The Geekria cover the outer rim of the monitor. Whereas the TTVJ do not cover any of it. I suspect if you cut the Geekria pads back the sound would brighten up. I never tried that.
I like the detail in the TTVJ, much closer to the L pads in that regard. And doing an A-B comparison with Geekria I felt like the Geekria were muffled slightly. Part of what I like in my Gardos is the clarity, so the TTVJ were the winners for me. Compared to the L pads the TTVJ really bring up the low end, really nice improvement in bass response. Absolutely no sound stage! Borderline negative soundstage - all of the instruments feel like they are in your head, between your ears.
In the end, Iām running with TTVJ pads and really enjoying them.
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Update: the earzonk S-cush pads are just slightly thicker stock S-cush pads that come in red and blue and are a touch more scratchy. The size of the hole in the pads seems to be irrelevant, at least with the earzonk S-cush pads. I cut a 28mm diameter hole in one set and a 31mm diameter (the same as the geekria pads) in the other and there was no perceptible sound change. Also the 31mm hole did not sound the same as the geekria pads.
This means that the only factors left are the material of the pads and the distance they hold the driver away from your ear. Sadly the micropore tape was delayed so I wonāt be able to test that idea until tomorrow (hopfuly).
The only pads Iām still testing are the geekria pads, the earzonk L-cush, and the Yaxi hole punched (40mm hole).
Iām also tempted to get the TTVJ upgraded pads but I also donāt want to spend $50 on pads for a $100 headphone that I technically already have good pads for. I think I have a pad swapping addiction.
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Found this and thought I share with yāall.
Seems to be the cheapest option for a padded headband replacement. I canāt vouch for quality but other things Iāve gotten from accessory house have been good.
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Just be careful not to put those pads down on anything. Mine started peeling after I swapped them onto my KSC75s.
Apparently Modhouse (of argon fame) makes leather headbands for Grados, although they donāt seem to be padded like the Shipibo, turbulent labs, beautiful audio, and accessory house ones. They are only $20 so this seems to be the best option if all you want is a nicer headband for the SR225e and under. Right now they are in sake for $15 but options seem limited and/or they are out of stock (itās unclear).
So I was testing if the micro pore tape did anything, and when I took the tape off to compare to without the tape, some if the screen came off.
And as you can see, neither screen is centered properly and they are both a bit small.
that is honestly kinda scary
This is mostly my fault as I was taping over the outer ring of holes to see if that boosted bass (it does not) and the tape pulled up the edge. But in the bright side the tape is now a bandaid!
The other side had a small amount of fraying so I covered that too. Also the geekria pads cover the edges, so itās not like this is likely to happen under normal circumstances.
TLDR: these are great headphones. The geekria pads have the most bass and less treble and are probobly the sound most people will prefer while the earzonk pads are more of a traditional grado sound with less bass and more treble. None of the the other pads I tried did anything better than these two options.
Full thoughts on the SR80e:
These are great headphones that, for $110 (with pads), are a no brainer. These are bright, but rarely, if ever, harsh or sibilant. It takes a really harsh track to make these hurt. This goes for all the pads I tried, but especially for the two linked above. The mids are pretty great. Strings and anything acoustic sound wonderful. The only issue I have with these headphones is that the upper midrange can be a bit shouty, but the geekria pads fix that. As for the bass, with stock pads itās kind of lack luster but with any open faced pad Iāve tried it improves to being more than enough for the genres these accel at, with the geekria pads making the bass rather astonishing for what these are. (Iāll talk more about the pads later)
Soundstage and imaging are good. Not the widest but very open, so you donāt get that sense of there being a hard outer limit to the stage. The imaging is pretty much average. Also I donāt get that ālinear soundstageā Joshua Velour mentioned. It sounds like any other headphone in terms of front and back staging.
The Hemps did timber the best Iāve heard so far, so I had slightly high expectations for the SR80e. Thankfully they pretty much lived up to those. They are not as good as the Hemps but are still very natural sounding. They are pretty much on the same level as the HD58X in terms of timber. Nothing sounds metallic or plasticy to me and everything just sounds like you would expect.
These excel when it comes to dynamics. They make sounds hit hard and make music just so lively. This seems to be a trait most Grados have (Gutenburg raves about this a lot) and itās probably my favorite thing about Grados. When a note hits, it hits hard. This is why I love that KODO Heartbeat album so much. Every drum hits with such authority. I should mention that this means these are not laid back or relaxing to listen to. These are exciting and lively, but some could find this fatiguing.
Time for the pads. The geekria pads reduce the treble a bit and boost the bass. The treble is probably a bit ācongestedā compared to other pads but nothing that I find objectionable, especially since the treble is never too sharp with these pads. The bass is the real star of these pads. It is kind of funny how good the bass is on these headphones with nothing more than a pad swap, especially since Grado is stereotyped as having no bass. Itās mostly mid bass, but the sub bass is pretty decent, maybe a bit less than the HD58X. The shouty-ness in the upper midrange is also pretty much gone. These are also very comfortable pads. The foam is soft and not at all scratchy and they stay comfortable for at least 3 hours for me. The only issues I have with these pads is that they fit rather loosely on the headphone and the foam probobly wonāt last all that long (maybe a year of heavy use) but they are only $10 so itās not the end of the world if they need replacing every so often.
The earzonk pads are very nice. Theyāre about the same quality as the F-cush pads that came on my Hemps. These are probably the longer lasting option. Sadly they are not as comfortable as the geekria pads. They only touch a thing ring and put a fair amount of pressure in the top of my ear. They are good for about 2 hours at most for me. Sound wise, these are more what one might expect from a Grado. The highs are brighter but still rather smooth and rarely sibilant (takes a harsh track to make these harsh). These also seem to be the clearest and most open/wide. The upper mids can still be a bit shouty, but not as much as stock pads and only on rather shouty songs. The bass is still better than stock pads but not as much as the geekria pads. Sub bass is surprisingly similar to the geekria pads, but mid bass and overall bass impact is less. These are a great option overall and you should get these and the geekria pads. They are only $10 each so that brings you up to a wopping $120 and you have three sound varuations to chose from.
Depending on the pads, these can can handle everything from classical to EDM. It may not be the best at everything bit it can do any genre justice. I particularly like classic rock and metal with the geekria pads and classical/orchestral and anythung acoustic with the earzonk pads.
Iāll probably keep using the geekria pads since I like the added bass and if they only lady a few months befor they need replaced Iāll get the TTVJ deluxe pads.
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Great review! I totally agree with this. From my limited experience with Gradoās so far, I just feel thereās some āheftā to the music and I canāt put the headphones down.
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I got one of those accessory house padded headbands for my SR80e and it arrived today.
This is a great comfort upgrade as the stock headband is basically just for looks and provides no real padding. The quality is rather nice for $25 and the padding is more than enough for such light weight headphones. The leather is not as nice as the stock leather headband that came on my Hemps but is still leagues better than the vinyl that these come with. Itās either pleather or real leather, I canāt tell, but either way itās either pretty nice pleather or decent leather. The pading is a bit softer than the beyer padding for reference and is not memory foam, which I think is good since this foam is lighter and wonāt make the headphones top heavy.
The one reservation I have about recommending this headband, or any Grado upgrade headband, is how difficult it can sometimes be to remove the metal band from the rod block to install the new headband. Iāve removed three rod blocks so far, two from my Hemps and one from these, and I only managed to get one off in one piece. The first one I broke was my fault as I did not know what I was doing, the second one I got off in one piece with no real damage, the third one I had to split open with a screwdriver and hammer. It seems like my pair of SR80e had the entire slot for the headband filled with supper glue so no matter how hard I pulled, twisted, or worked the headband, it would NOT come out, even with the assistance of tools like pliers and vices to get better grip. I putt the headband in a vice so the jaws where closed just enough as to stop the rod block from fitting through but not gripping the metal band and pulled down with my full weight with a pair of pliers on the headband and it still didnāt come out. I had to use the one I got off my Hemps in one piece to replace the one I split off the SR80e. The headband is much nicer, but the process to install it can be a bitch if you are unlucky like me.
If you are willing to take the risk, which will cost you $50 for a set of aluminum rod blocks from Shipibo if you break the stock ones (at least thatās the only option I found that doesnāt require a 3d printer), then this is the process to remove the metal band from the rod blocks.
Hold the head band near the rod block and twist the rod block side to side. You should hear a snap/crack sound of the glue breaking. Next, rock and twist the headband back and forth while pulling (hard). If your lucky it will come apart easily enough.
A possible indicator that you may have problems removing a rod block is if there is an excessive (and I mean EXCESSIVE) amount of glue on top of the rod block and on the end of the headband.
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With all the positive comments about the geekria pads, I picked them up as well. Thanks all for the recommendation!
Why are yours open to the edge of the driver? Mine cover about half of the outer holes as you can see in previous pictures. Did you put them on backwards?
Also is that a blue tooth mod?
Edit: I just tried reversing my geekria pads but they are too stretched out to fit correctly that way.
Lol good catch, I did. The sound was not good, theyāre on the right way now. I didnāt take a new picture.
(I wasnāt sure which way they should go at first.)
I added mmcx connectors a few months back, and thatās a bluetooth cable from aliexpress.
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