Grado Earpads... The Truth Revealed

One point of confusion I am constantly confronted with concerning Grado headphones is the area of earpads! The following are some FAQ’s on this subject:

Does such and such a model come with the new pads?

I hear there are some earpads you can buy to make Grado’s more comfortable?

The picture on your website shows donut shaped earpads, do the Grado’s you ship out have the new earpads that cover the speaker completely?

Are the earpads that come with your Grado’s the soft foam or the hard foam?

Do you sell earpads for my 10 year old Grado’s?

Now all of these are good questions, but it’s amazing to me how so much confusion has surfaced concerning earpads from a company that rarely changes the design of their headphones! Unlike the mass merchandised headphones from virtually every other company who change their models frequently to stir up new business, Grado has found a great design for sound and stuck with it! In fact, to answer the last question first, though I do not know if this is true of all earlier models, I have had customers with 10 year old Grado’s say the current earpads fit their headphones perfectly!

But it seems that in the audio world magazine reviews written years ago still get referred to, retailers switch earpads on demo models, old information placed on the web doesn’t get updated, current web sites state misleading sales gimmicks, and audio chat on the Internet speculates without basis for fact. I guess maybe I do understand how the confusion arises!

Rumor One: Grado offers new pads on their headphones.

Fact One: Grado changed the earpads on most of their models in the latter part of Fall, 1998, (a year and a half before this article is being written). The SR80’s on up to the RS-1’s all ship with the same earpads. It is about 3/4 of an inch thick, compared to the previous version which was about 1/2 inch thick and therefore the newer pad is more comfortable. It is made of a very durable foam, the same as the previous earpads. It now incorporates a bowl shape between the ear and the transducer which does improve the sound slightly giving it a bit fuller sound than the previous, thinner earpads.

SR80...plus Earpad SR80-RS1 Earpads

Rumor Two: Rumors abound on the Internet stating that there is a new, softer, more comfortable earpad which makes Grado’s more comfortable. Some indicate that this softer pad covers the earpiece completely and is therefore more comfortable.

Fact Two: The fact is, they are referring to an earpad Grado uses on their SR60 model. It just happens to also fit all of the other current Grado models and you can buy them for only $11. Yes, it is a softer material which is more comfortable to the ears, (by the way, under heavy use since they are a looser foam than the stock pads, they will wear out faster). But the material covering the transducer muffles the sound of the more expensive Grado models.... you are missing out on some of that great Grado detail!

SR60 Earpad SR60 Earpads

Some smart Grado owners have figured out that if you cut a round hole in the SR60 earpads, ranging any where from the size of a dime to the size of a quarter, that the sound is released and you have a more comfortable earpad. But don’t forget, when Grado redesigned their primary earpads in the Fall of 1998, they made them thicker thus moving the transducers further away from the ear. With the modified SR60 pad, the transducers sit closer to the ear. The result is a sound that is not quite as full as with the intended earpads. Oh, and by the way... the SR60 pads are not new... I can remember selling them as far back as 1995!

Rumor Three: Some retail sources sell Grado’s with the more comfortable pad, others don’t.

Fact Three: Some stores and mail-order places may put the SR60 pads on the headphones on their own accord or at the request of customers, but Grado ship’s only the SR60’s with the SR60 pads. All other more expensive Grado’s ship with the stock pad described above in “Fact One”.

Personally, I used to use a modified SR60 earpad myself. But when Grado improved their stock pad and made it thicker, I switched back. They are more comfortable than the previous pads, and I like the fuller sound the extra space provides. But, if comfort is very important to you, $11 is not much to spend on an SR60 earpad. You might like to compare for yourself and see if the slight degradation in sound quality is worth a slight improvement in comfort, (and don’t forget to cut a round hole in the SR60 earpads to release the sound).

Hopefully this has cleared things up a little for you! Grado is a small company compared to the electronics giants you see mass marketed through the department stores. Grado doesn’t intend to mislead anyone, that is a phenomenon created by the current Internet savvy world we live in... rumors abound. And remember, being an audiophile company, Grado’s emphasis is on “Sound Quality!” They have carefully listened and determined the best earpads for their headphones based on that sound quality. That is why their current stock earpads for most of their models are not quite as comfortable as many of you feel they could be.

For those of you interested in making the better sounding stock earpads more comfortable, more like circum-aural earpads, I have discovered an inexpensive trick you can do yourself for very little cost. I have written a description on this modification, (no, you don’t actually modify the pad itself), but you need to send me an E-mail at Headphoneinfo(at)GoodCans.com and I'll send it to you.