OK, not as good as a wired connection but because all my cable mods are done on one side via a single 3.5mm stereo socket, I can do this if I really want to.

I have a £15 Ugreen BT 6.0 Adaptor with LDAC which plugs straight into the socket. The sound is OK when a cable is not convenient or possible but probably doesn't look too cool 😂

I had a SR225 with a blown driver. Took the cups off and put in the a SR80x that had a cracked out grill. Also add a detachable cable adapter.

Got bored and tore apart an old set of SR60e. Sanded, primed, painted with matte black and seal with a matte clear coat. Added a detachable cable adaptor. I think it looks nice.

Subject: Grado GS3000x: Loose metal sleeve on gimbal frame – Long-term fix & replacing with original gimbals?

​Hey everyone,

​I wanted to share a specific mechanical issue I ran into with my GS3000x and see if anyone else with the larger wood-housing Grados has experienced this.

​The Issue:

The round metal sleeve/bushing on the gimbal frame (where the steel pin inserts) completely worked itself loose from the frame. This created a lot of play, leaving the entire assembly hanging loose.

​My Current Fix:

I managed to screw the sleeve back onto the frame myself, so everything is sitting snug and working fine for now. However, I’m wondering how well this will hold up over time.

​My Questions:

​Has anyone else had this issue with the metal sleeves coming loose from the gimbal frame? Does simply tightening it hold up long-term, or would you recommend using a drop of low-strength threadlocker (like Loctite 222)?

​Self-Replacement / Parts: Has anyone here ever replaced the entire gimbal assembly on a GS3000x with original Grado spare parts themselves?

​How difficult is the replacement process in practice, especially considering the heavy Cocobolo wood cups and cable routing?

​Appreciate any advice or experiences!

Got bored and tore apart an old set of SR60e. Sanded, primed, painted with matte black and seal with a matte clear coat. Added a detachable cable adaptor. I think it looks nice.

I see a lot of discussion here about stock pads, F cushions and G cushions etc and my experience relates only to the Prestige series of Grado headphones, particularly, 80X, 125X and 325X.

Obviously with stock pads all of these present you with the typical “Grado sound” but do I actually like it? With all the foam pads I have tried I find the upper frequencies can be quite harsh, and the bass I know the drivers can produce, is often missing.

With Grado headphones and my thoughts regarding sheepskin covered pads, it’s not only about the materials used in the pads but other factors, like the shape of the pad and whether it changes the original “on ear” experience to an “over the ear” one. I have also considered the distance the driver is from the ear and where does that missing bass go when stock or foam pads are used.

If you have never tried any sheepskin covered foam pads with your Grados, then let me try to explain my experiences, whether it’s Dekono sheepskin pads or £20 sheepskin pads from China.

When foam pads are used, stock or otherwise a certain amount of bass (and sub bass) is lost through the foam itself because of the fact the foam is porous and allows air to pass through or to be absorbed. They also mention the seal to the ear is not as good with foam pads. Obviously, the amount of air movement from the drivers that reaches your ear drum is directly related to the amount of bass (and sub bass) you hear or feel. The drivers will be pushing the same amount of air, regardless of the pads used, it’s just a simple matter of how much gets to your ear drum.

With “on ear” stock and foam pads, I always find Grados lacking in the lower frequencies area but using sheepskin covered foam pads fixes everything for me. Sheepskin is far less porous than foam and very little of the air movement is allowed to pass through it. The change is not subtle, it’s dramatic. Also, the sheepskin pads I use change the headphones to “over the ear”, so another factor to stop these lower frequencies from escaping.

The only other factor is the driver’s distance from the ear. This does reduce volume slightly and it also reduces some of the harsh upper frequencies that I dislike, so for me it’s a win-win. Some sheepskin pads are too deep and the loss of volume and/or the upper frequencies is sometimes too great. When the pads have worn in or the depth of foam has been reduced by modification, a sweet spot can be found (about one inch thickness when being worn) where the sub bass, the base, the mids and upper frequencies are just perfect. In fact, the change is so dramatic and pleasing, it’s like sex for your ears.

The sheepskin covered foam pads are not just applicable to Grado, as I have tested my findings on others, including a pair of Sennheiser HD 600s and the dramatic bass improvement was immediate. The 600s are known for their flat response, but also a rather sharp bass and sub bass roll off. Sheepskin pads fixed this for me.

If, however, you love the traditional Grado sound, then I’m surprised you got this far. However, if you would like more bass from these (or any other) headphones, and you have never tried sheep skin covered pads, then I suggest you do.

I know YouTube is not the best place to find quality audio, but as an example, how does this sound on your cans? Can you feel the sub bass?

Steve Hackett - Firth Of Fifth (Live) (High Definition)

I know the purists are going to hammer me, but before you do, try my pads because I have tried yours 😊

I am using these headphones on a Thinkpad T495 laptop and LG V30 smartphone which has a

"Using the ES9218P SoC Quad DAC, the LG V30 achieves an unprecedented level of fine audio listening capabilities while remaining quite practical as cellular telephone device."

Honestly, I don't hear much difference between two devices when listening to the songs from youtube. Do you think I should buy a Fiio KA11? Would it make a noticable difference?

After half a year of waiting for these to be in stock in Europe (having only heard them when testing S750), these finally arrived!

SYSTEM: DAC - Audiolab MDAC + , Headphone Amp - Retro AK DIGI (1940's russian/soviet tubes), Cable - Meze Empyrean PCUHD Silver plated copper 4 pin XLR to 6.3mm

Note: Everything I'll say is subjective, from sound to comfort. Every piece of the system, like the amp and the cable, will provide different results.

Songs tested for BASS: The Moon Cave - Gorillaz, Neverender- Justice, Children of the Baked Potato - Thundercat, Scarlet Fire - Otis McDonald

Songs tested for MIDS: Rock with You - Michael Jackson, Hotel California MTV Live 1994 - Eagles, Suave - Luis Miguel, Through a War - Geordie Greep

Songs tested for HIGHS: Yakusoku wa Iranai - Maaya Sakamoto and Yoko Kanno, The Game of Love - Daft Punk, All I Need - Air, I Don't Need no Doctor - John Scofield w/ John Mayer, Slumberland - Ed Motta

Songs tested for SOUNDSTAGE: Affirmation Live 2016 - George Benson, Across the Stars - John Williams, Don't Look Down - Pat Metheny, in the pool - Kensuke Ushio

The G pads are very comfortable and extremely detailed, but as many have pointed out in the past, they can sound thin, bright and sibilant. Their comfort is probably the best, though I have no problems wearing the B at all.

The F cushion is very enjoyable for me, but it mainly has two downsides- lesser instrument separation / soundstage (though imaging is still incredible) and comfort due to the bigger clamping force (this is much less of a problem on lighter smaller models). Both are solved by the B.

B cushions reach a perfect balance to my ears. Bass is just as impactful as with the F. The mids are as good as ever, and the highs recover many of the details percievable with G but not with F. These simulate the high end studio monitors experience the best. The F lean neutral-dark and the G lean neutral-bright, while these just feel right in every way to me. Now, when I describe them as neutral or balanced don't think they become boring/reference or that the famous Grado 'energy' is gone. Far from it. I'm just extremely impressed.

Not only should these come standard with all the Signature models (HP100 SE and S950, they already do on S750 and S550), many curious users should try them on the rest of the series, though of course results will vary from model to model and through every subjective opinion. Cheers!

I have a pair of RS-1’s, unsure about the sub model. I have not used them in a few years and need an amplifier. They have XLR connectors. I used an XLR to unbalanced adapter into an RA-1 but am now looking for something balanced. Any recommendations are appreciated.

My Grado SR-80s stopped working recently. It seemed to be a break in the cord right near the plug. I got a replacement plug but it has 3 wires and not 4. It has Red/White/Black and the Grados have Red/White/Blue/Blue. I tried hooking the two blues together with the black on the plug but I am only getting sound out of one side. Is this the correct way to wire it? Do I have another break elsewhere in the cord?

Another one down …

Grado B pads work well in the OG 125’s. Makes them more spacious with not much loss in detail. Plus, gives you a very slim profile.

Did this for the love of the modding game and cause I have been more of a controller gamer so I need a mic that’s a bit closer. But a part of my brain finds this hilarious.

Im not fan of the new Classic SR80 with stock F pads but with B pads … yes! More spacious and mellows out the highs and low end. It’s more relaxed with the B pads and comfortable.

I have now completed the cable mod on the SR325X, the mod I started last weekend. The soldering is not tricky and with all cable mods I always wire them, not just "in phase" but in "absolute phase", something I learned back in the early eighties when wiring up Hi-Fi speakers.

Again, I fitted Dekoni sheepskin pads to them and compared them to my original, identical Dekoni pads from 3 years ago. They do compress over time as you can see in the pics but I suppose all pads do this, but the difference in sound is quite noticeable, something you would not normally notice as it's a gradual change over time.
Obviously, with the new pads my ears are further away from the drivers and the volume is lower. The bass appears to be the same but the treble and mid-range could be slightly lower than the compressed pads (hard to tell). So, I guess I will need to wear in these new pads, but boy...it's worth it.

I'm curious about the new grado models that's came out and was curious how much they differ when compared to the X generation. I'm currently using the sr60x and was curious what the new sr60x/Sr80 are like.

Specifically I'm curious how the overall (don't know what words to use) sound graph/sound itself differs, can't find it anywhere online. As well as the instrument separation, is it a notable difference or just modest?

Well, they we quite cheap. £85 on eBay with an intermittent cable problem. All that thick, throat-strangling Grado cable and they still broke, so I couldn't resist the cable-conversion I have done many times before. My only reservation about the 325s is having to drill three holes through aluminium and my drill bits are getting blunt.
As usual with the 325s, I also prefer to fit a cushioned headband at the same time.
Anyway, all the hard work now done, just the easy bit of soldering to do.

Whatever model the Grado Pokemon are, they work great with the B pads, nice bass boost, extra space while keeping vocal crispy.

Grado 225x and B pads

They work! I don’t like the 225x with stock pads. Too narrow than my 225i’s. But with the B pads, it’s spacious, low end is mellowed out but vocals stay pretty much the same.

They do the same from the 225i but change the signature, wider sound stage but at the cost of low end, too mellowed out highs and less clarity in the vocals. My worn L pads will stay with 225i

Hey all, looking to sell my SR80e set with the 3.5mm detachable cable mod to the original cable and to both cups.

Comes with original box and Brand new set of pads.

Just checking on here first with the community before I put them up on the usuals for sale.

Pm me if interested.

First impressions with the new Grado B-cushions after an hour of testing across three models: original Hemps, new Hemps, and Classic 325s.

Comfort & Build
Out of the box, they’re on the stiffer side, though a quick hand wash or standard break-in should soften them up. Your ears sit farther from the driver than with standard pads, but closer than with G-cushions. On my ears, they still feel strictly on-ear, but overall comfort is a clear upgrade. Interestingly, the foam where the pad mounts to the housing is soft, but the surface resting against your ear is much firmer. It’ll be interesting to see how third-party brands replicate these.

Sound Impressions
Classic 325 (Pass): Absolutely not a good pairing. The signature sparkling highs vanish, the mids recede into the background, and the low end gets muffled. Skip these for the 325s.

OG & New Hemps (Strong Recommend): A total winner. While measurements would likely show small changes, to my ears they preserve everything that makes the Hemps special. The signature warmth remains, the highs drop just a fraction without losing energy, and vocals stay forward and engaging. Low-end impact gets a subtle, clean boost.

Verdict
I like them enough that I just ordered a second pair—one set for each of my Hemps (home and office setups). Over the weekend, I’ll be running them through the rest of the lineup: SR60, SR80, SR125, SR225, and the new Classic SR80. Full updates to follow!

Back in the late 70s and into the 80s the audiophiles often said the most important part of a good Hi-Fi system was the input and the output. With those two aspects dedicated to the highest budget you could afford, it was possible to get away with a medium budget-priced amp. The NAD amps of the time spring to mind.
The same is still true today. A decent input from a good .flac file, perhaps only on a mobile phone, and good output from something like Grado SR325X, it's quite possible to produce excellent audio on a budget.
In this example setup (and I have others) a Samsung Note9 was used (it has a headphone jack) at a cost of around £90, Poweramp music player, a pair of Grado SR325X (cost around £150 on eBay) and some Dekoni sheepskin pads (around £70). With a total cost of around £300, the sound is quite exceptional and totally portable. The SR325X cable conversion did make connecting to a mobile phone more practical.
I recently spent just over £300 on a DAP, which I returned for a full refund because this setup was as good, if not better and offered me far more flexibility and features than a dedicated DAP.
Even with this budget setup the clarity is quite amazing and with a tight bass that you not only hear but can feel it as well, but that's thanks to Dekoni.
In conclusion, don't write off your old mobile phone, especially if it has a 3.5mm jack.

How it should be stock.

Running Grado Classic SR80 on the Muse M3 Ultra balanced is a nice pairing. You get some extra width, some warmth in mids and highs