RonTheMan

Congradulate on your purchase. Glad you like it. Maybe you can add an amp later.

Yes, the pad that comes with the SR80 is black in color. What they are doing in this thread is to buy the Senn HD414 pad that are yellow in color and apply the dye to it to make it black. The SR80 are meant to be open cans and they leak sound quite a bit. Therefore not many people use it outdoors as you then have to raise the volume to compensate for the outside noise.

Yeah, $560 is a very good price. Beats purchasing online even.

Performance Audio Pte Ltd

Address : 1 Rochor Canal Rd #02-54 Sim Lim Sq Singapore 188504

Telephone : 6334 0593

Fax : 6334 2763

The thing about pana discmans is that the remote is a piss poor design, you cannot plug Grados to the remote because of a piece of plastic jutting out next to the stereo jack.  So you either forgo the remote, or use a portable amp. 

Btw, i had bought the CT810. Any kind souls out there willing to let me audition their Grados?

To audition Grados headphones, you can go to Music By Design. For best results, bring along your portable player.

Here's their web link.

http://www.musicbydesign.com.sg/

Say you buy a Zen micro or an Ipod. These portables comes with earbuds which are easily driven by the player themselves. However, if you choose to use your own headphones, especially those over the head types, these might require more power to drive than the earbuds which comes with the player. For the included earbuds, you might set the volume at half, but for the over the head types which are harder to drive, you might have to set to maximum volume and because of this you might experience clipping or distortion.

The amplifier that is in built into these players are normally inferior to those which you get if you buy an amplifier and as such, you will probably get better sound at the expense of portability. However the tradeoff is that you will need to carry 2 components instead of one.

Try looping the cables over your ear to see if this helps.

An amplifier is used to amplify the sound from a given source. This is best done via the line out, thereby by passing the internal amplifier. It is also used as a means to drive headphones which are not capable of driven otherwise. The amplifier may also provide additional functions such as a bass boost or crossfeed function, although these are mostly in the minority.

just check with my colleage again, yes, his line-out frm the pocket-dock do bypass the equlizer and volume control circuitry.

Appreciate the clarification. Thks!

I really do like my Grados very much. You right that the SR60 does not produce much bass. However, I am alright with it. Sympathise with your situation. Perhaps you could sell it off and get some other phones like the PortaPro which are much more bassy.

In which case, he has to give it a try although I never favour pc as a source and as such, I couldn't adopt a strong conviction that an amp will benefit his system. However, I personally own a Grado SR80 and it sounds better with any respectable amp driven by a good source. Hence, it all boils down to system make-up and synergy.

During the time when I got my SR60, MBD did not have stock for the SR80. Actually wanted to do a comparison and perhaps get the SR80, with the intention of getting an amp in the future. But unfortunately, they did not have stock of the SR80, and I thus ended up with the SR60 instead.

But I do love my Grado! Understand that the SR80 would do better with an amped source. Is that correct?

Wah, this thread very popular. Reason must be the girls! Anyway, my wife, unfortunately does not seem to appreciate good earphones. When I bought my Grado SR60, and after the initial burn in period, she was of the opinion that her Sony MDR EX71 sounded better!

I tend to agree with you that the Koss KSC series will improve with amplication in this case. But in relation to the question at hand, I stand by what I said, which is that he will not benefit much from using an amp with his Grado and computer combination. Just MHO, that's all.

This message in Ipodlounge seems to indicate otherwise in Page 3

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.ph...mp&pagenumber=3

Perphas you can ask you friend to try and give us the feedback as this will be of interest to those intending on purchasing an amp.

I got the Koss KSC75 from Hung Brothers at $44. Maybe, by bargaining, you can chop more off the price. It is actually for my son's use with his Creative Muvo2 player. On our very first try, the sound was very muffled and harsh. After the breaking in period, it sounded very sweet. The bad thing about it is that it takes time to adapt and put on. The good thing is that it can be adjusted to suit the profile of your ear.

The PX100 and Koss PortaPro cost around $90. Like the KSC75, they are open cans, ie they leak sound. You might want to take that into consideration.

Yes, the computer is more than enough to drive the Grados. You don't really need an amp actually to drive the Grados cause it is a low impedence headphone. Whether the amp will make the sound output clearer depends on the numerous factors. There are cases where users amped their portable players line out and found the output from the unamped headphone jack vs the amped line out to be not much of a difference!

Basically the amplifier will increase the gain and alter the characteristic of the music because of the different circuitry present.

As for the Grados bass, it is definitely present. But for those who prefer more bass, there are other headphones out there that will give you the thump.

Others you might want to consider are the Koss KSC75, Porta Pro. It may also be wise to mention whether the likes of Sony MDR EX71 or E888 appeal to you. Likewise too, your source, like whether you are listening to a portable or just for home use.

Yeah, I know. The Ipod can be amped using either the PocketDock or Sik Din. And the Ipod line out for the Ipod Mini does not bypass the equalizer, ie you can still use the equalizer with the line out.

Is his Ipod connected to the amp via a line out?

Sweet, especially on a Sony!

An amplifier will increase the gain in the signal of the line out of your portable. Therefore something must be wrong if the situation is as you describe. Check to see if the amp is working. The line out of the Iriver H320 can be amped with the proper equipment.

Best is you audition them yourself using your own player of choice. I can tell you all the minute differences between the 2 till the cows come home, but ultimately only your ears can tell you whether the SR80 is justifiable over the SR60.

Yeah, ripping via EAC & Lame will not help with your problem as you are already ripping at 320 kbps.

Do you use MP3 gain on your songs. If not, you might want to give it a try. Here's the link.

http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/

Please use the default of 89 and see if that helps.

This pair of custom earphones are much better than the Ety.

http://www.ultimateears.com/UE-10_PRO.htm

Wait till you see THE PRICE for this one! By the way, you still have to factor any US$100 into the cost of getting a audiologist to your house to make a custom mould of your ear!

But the sound is really very good!

Best is that you try it out yourself cause only you yourself knows whether it is worth it? If you cannot get hold of a pair to try, the next best solution is to go SLS 3rd floor Sony V8 store where the last I went, they have a demo pair of Sony MDR EX71.