Iām sure this is not new news but I hadnāt seen it on this thread yet. I can confirm that the Beyerdynamic headband covers work really well on the Grado.
6 Likes
do you have any good pad recommendations? When i searched for pads on google i found these which look nice. not sure if their over ear though. the pleather ones
I just saw Zeos wall of headphones video and he had a pair of these at his desk. says he uses them a lot and they sound great on tubes. I was surprised that his wall had so many cheaper headphones on it. I thought by now they would have had more expensive items replacing them.
Actually for Grado SR60e or SR80e, I recommend generic earzonk L cushion pads. They are the same shape as the grado L cushion pads, but much more comfortable and sound better. The earzonk s cushion are also nice. I personally canāt stand on ear headphones, but the earzonk pads changed that for meā¦very comfortable.
3 Likes
Iāve been tempted to go down the modding path with these but I havenāt really messed with it other than pads and headband. What are some of your favorite mods for the SR60i?
1 Like
There are some easy mods and more advanced mods.
The easiest mod is the pad swap.
I personally prefer the dynamat mod. You have to open up the cupsā¦best way to do this is by using a hairdryer and applying heat evenly around the area where the cups are hot glued together. It takes about 2 to 3 minutes of heat for the glue to soften up, then you pull apart. You apply a dime sized amount of dynamat (or even blue tack) to the rear of driver. You also want to keep the 2 pin sized holes openā¦never seal these.
The other mod some people choose to do is poking holes in the driver paper (no more than 2 to 4 holes) for extended bass. With the sr series changing from i to e, Grado re-tuned the drivers by adding 4 holes stock, so this mod isnt as popular anymore. However, if you want more bass, this still works. Keep in mind this one is irreversible, so starting off with 2 holes and working your way up is recommended. In the picture below, you can see where someone used a ball point pen to poke holes in the driver damping paper.
When you get really advanced, you can build your own pair from the ground up. Everything in the pictures below are different parts. The only original stock piece is the sr60e headband metal band. The cups are turbulent labs rosewood cups. The headband cover is also from turbulent labs. The best cups are modified sr325e aluminum and mahogany from Bruce at Wabi Sabi (he does excellent work). The cable is a Mogami w2893 modified. The drivers are Nhoord Red V2 drivers. It was a fun project and the sound was great. I sold those a few months back for upgrade funds.
9 Likes
This is great! And that custom set is beautiful by the way. What does the dynamat mod achieve? I had heard about adding the holes, but I hadnāt heard of this one before.
1 Like
The dynamat mod helps to eliminate metallic type sounding resonance and vibration within the driver. It helps make the treble sound less grainy.
1 Like
What glue do you use to put it back together? If I do it I would like to be able to open it up again fairly easy so I figure that rules out something like super glue.
I also forgot to mention that the gimbals and rodblocks are black ceramic coated aluminum from Shipibo Audio.
2 Likes
You can reheat the glue to use it againā¦or if you have a hot glue gun, you can apply a new layer. Iāve also heard of people using rubber cementā¦but that can get messy.
2 Likes
Has anyone tried the SR60 with the G-Cushion pads Zeos recommends? At more than 50% the cost of the headphone Iād hope theyāre a pretty sizable upgrade.
Does anyone else find them to be magical on a tube amp? Is the SR80 any better than the SR60?
I havenāt tried the official ones but the cheap knock-offs are good. I canāt imagine thereās much difference since they donāt create any kind of seal. You just have to store them properly or the foam starts peeling off. If the headphones are hanging up theyāll be fine.
I would say yes but only on a transformer coupled low z tube amp (you have the tuba so you are covered there lol, hagerman actually designed the low z out with grado in mind)
2 Likes
So it turns out the nicer G pads are available for $24 every other day lol. I just ordered some but the estimated delivery date is July 29ā¦ wtf
Price history on these lol
1 Like
yeahā¦ I just spent the extra 20 bucks to not wait another month to try them on headphones i just got in yesterday. I got the Grado GH-4ās in and they sound amazing off the Tuba.
The L cushions to my years do not even touch the rest of my head the driver just sits right on my ear and it is pretty un-comfy after a few hours with needed adjustments done.
Hopefully the new set of Gās will help.
I hope you enjoy them as much as i do. They have not come off the tube. I am tempted to pick up a Little Bear B4-X now. Hopwfully it will be okay to run the Grados off.
1 Like
Iām glad youāre enjoying them. I ended up cancelling my SR60 order. I thinking I want to start off with something more high end. Figuring out which Grado exactly I want is proving to be difficult. They generally donāt get much attention from reviewers. And no major reviewer has done direct comparisons amongst the majority of them. Youād think Zeos would look into the rest of the prestige series since daily drives the SR60 lol
@M0N Whatās your experience with the Grado lineup? I see that you own their flagship, but of course I wonāt start there lol
So, I owned a 225e for the longest time, but didnāt really like it a whole ton. I like the 60 and 80e, but personally my faves of the line are their p series starting with the ps500e and ps2000e although admittedly thatās a deviation of the grado house sound. I also like their rs2 and rs1e, I think itās got a more pleasing signature to me than their gs line. I mainly end up using my ps2000e on various transformer coupled tube amps that I think really help it out
I want to try some of their special edition models some time, donāt have a ton of experience with those, but I hear good things bout the gh models
2 Likes
Dang. The SR325 is what Iām interested in the most at the moment. Was there something in particular you didnāt like about the 225? One just got listed on Headfi today.
I think the signature gets too peaky and the extra cost just doesnāt justify the performance over the lower end grado imo. I think it can be good if you like the signature but for me it was a miss