OT: Any Grado headphone owners here?
S. Spartan
I'm not talking about sound quality, build quality or looks. I'm mean
that they actually smell bad. Downright terrible actually. They have
some chemical type aroma that seems to be originating from the foam
earpads. It's so bad that after my extended late night listening session
last night I was actually feeling a bit woosy as though I had been
sniffing glue.
Has anybody else experienced this?
Has anybody tried washing the foam earpads without ruining them?
wkasimer
I didn't have a problem with my SR60's, but that was many years ago.
Bill
jrsnfld
No problem here, either.
--Jeff
Andrej Kluge
S. Spartan wrote:
> from the foam earpads. It's so bad that after my extended late
> night listening session last night I was actually feeling a bit
> woosy as though I had been sniffing glue.
Probably due to plastisizers? I'd be careful as some of them are noxious.
Ciao
AK
S. Spartan
> other products that contain plastic. It can take a week or too for the
> smell to go away. That's definitely a bummer, though, with new
> headphones, where you really want to try them out.
>
> Make sure to put them in a place where there's some air flow; that
> should help dissipate the smell.
I did just that and the stench has dissipated a bit.
I also did some digging online and found that it is a common thing with
Grados:
http://www.head-fi.org/search.php?search=grado+smell
The difference is that most people on that forum actually *like * the
odor! As Jim Morrison said "People are strange."
S. Spartan
That is what I was concerned about. When an odor leaves you feeling
dizzy you know it can't be good.
Romy the Cat
There is odor neutralizer called X-0 Plus by xocorp. It is truly high-
end stuff. I use it for 15 year and absolutely adore. Sprinkle your
new headphones with X-0 Plus and see what happen. This stuff instantly
kills any smell. I even spy it in my house after accidental
republicans visit me – it truly helps…
Bob Harper
(snip)
>
> There is odor neutralizer called X-0 Plus by xocorp. It is truly high-
> end stuff. I use it for 15 year and absolutely adore. Sprinkle your
> new headphones with X-0 Plus and see what happen. This stuff instantly
> kills any smell. I even spy it in my house after accidental
Ah, but does it take care of odor of deliberate Republican? :)
Bob Harper
Andrej Kluge
Exactly. Speaking of carcinogenic and sterility. Here in Germany they are
mostly banned, especially in procucts for children, but are found repeatedly
during inspections, especially in cheap products from China. Well, I'd take
no chances, especially since you are supposed to wear them in your ears over
stretched periods of time.
And removing the odor with sprays or lotions does not remove the
plastisizers.
Ciao
AK
Allen
few manufacturers put in jewel boxes back in the '80s or '90s. It
gradually started exuding a thick syrupy substance that might have had
an insatiable appetite for the protective coating on the label side of
CDs; I didn't leave any of them in there long enough to find out for
myself. I can't imagine Grado using anything like that in their phones,
but there are plenty of foam plastics that don't stink. Of course, you
could always get an unaltered pet skunk--then you wouldn't notice the
plastic smell; the alternative would be worse, though. Seriousdly, I
would suggest that you correspond with Grado with a "what the hell's
going on?" query.
Allen
pgaron
My old pair of Grado SR-60 headphones (not the newer SR-60i version,
which was just released in the past year) came packed with that exact
kind of foam surrounding the headphones in the box. I threw the foam
out a few years ago when I noticed it was deteriorating, but don't
believe it produced any odor or damaged the headphones.
pgaron
JohnGavin
I used Grado SR 80s for several years. Good quality sound, but 2
problems were with the pads which often loosened and fell off and an
occasional jangling sound that seemed to come from small plastic chips
that fell off inside the earphones.
I eventually bought a higher end Roland set which seems to be much
more solid in construction.
S. Spartan
Yes, I'm starting to think that the odor is originating from that
protective foam packing material in the box. It smells just as bad or
even worse than the headphones themselves. So the question is: did the
headphones make the packing foam stink or was it the other way around.
S. Spartan
So here's a bit of an update for anyone interested:
I finally broke down and washed the smelly pads in warm water and
Palmolive dish soap. Surprisingly it didn't do much to lessen the odor.
It was amazing how much black grit came out of the pads in the water.
The pads took an amazingly long time to dry in an open window.
Washing the pads makes them thinner and a bit more comfortable although
now it feels as though they are sliding down my ears.
I did notice that there was a bit more bass after washing the pads.
Maybe because my ears are closer to the transducers?
But the pads still stink.
So I'm now going to try the Sennheiser HD414 modification. And I just
ordered some Sennheiser HD414 Ear pads from ebay. These are the ugly
yellow pads that are made for Sennheiser HD414 headphones but they fit
all SR Grados and they are supposedly more comfortable.
If those fail then the SR60s are going back.
I really love these headphones. The sound is incredible. They have a way
of drawing you into the music that is hard to describe.
I do notice that they take a few moments to warm up. In other words,
when I first put them on they sound hard and brittle but after about 5
minutes they loosen up and sound delicious.
The other ironic thing about these phones is that they sound better with
my cheaper CD player. I have an Adcom GCD-575 and an Onkyo
DX[somethingorother] and they have a more full and livelier sound when
plugged into the Onkyo. The same can't be said when comparing these
players with an amplifier and speakers.
Kip Williams
> Washing the pads makes them thinner and a bit more comfortable although
> now it feels as though they are sliding down my ears.
> I did notice that there was a bit more bass after washing the pads.
> Maybe because my ears are closer to the transducers?
> But the pads still stink.
There must be some way to tie this thread in with the discussion of the
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Paging Johannes Brahms!
Kip W