Here are some notes for my office audio setup (listening and meetings) for those who may be curious.
Before you go out and start purchasing things. Reader, please note that folks buy audio gear for a variety of reasons including experiencing differences in audio fidelity, soundstage, space between instruments and voices, and sound balances (more bass for bassheads for example). Many variables impact the listening experience and the hardware itself is just one component. For example, how a track is mastered and the EQ of your listening environment makes a big difference.
I will preface this current build as something that has been pieced together over many years. If I were to start over from scratch, I would most likely not make the same choices, but I am mostly satisfied with this setup.
There are some annoyances, but not ones I cannot live with. As it is in life.
My current build includes custom Grado headphones, but let's start at the beginning. My grado gateway drug was the SR60e which I purchased circa 2015 and looked something like this.
I made some changes and now they look something like this.
I completed this build in August of 2021. Almost everything has changed. The cups and drivers are no longer Grado branded anymore.
Here are some fancier pictures from my DSLR.
Notice a different set of pads than the first picture. I'll cover that shortly.
Comfort is a big deal and I have to note the earpads. First, I wear glasses. And if you do too, you likely know the pain of finding a pair of listening cans that are comfortable for long periods of time. That was me. I had a battle with finding the right pads for comfort. None of the official or cheap third-party pads worked. I tried L cush, S cush, TTJV flats, and several from Amazon. None that allowed for all-day wear and comfort. Grado is notorious for discomfort.
This is what did work for me. I use custom large pads (hybrid leather + merino) and a headband (cleverly wraps around the original) from Silvian at Beautiful Audio. They were quite an investment and well worth the money. Silvian was very kind to answer many questions before I placed my order. I highly recommend and would buy from Silvian again.
Ok, let's talk about the drivers. I'm using Symphones V9.
Another component of a Grado build is the gimbals. The holder of the cups. Well, the original plastic gimbals on the SR60e randomly broke on me a few years ago. So, I've replaced the broken ones with black ceramic aluminum (PA6) gimbals from shipibo.audio.
Moving onto the cups. I went with wood. To be specific, woodies cups from Riley who runs ThereWillBeDust on Etsy.
Riley was also kind to answer questions about if the Symphones V9 would fit, and yes, as you can see, they did!
And for the actual original Grado bits. I reused the SR60e cable (which required some soldering) and the headband. I may eventually replace the original SR60e cable with an upgraded version.
- For my headphone amplifier and digital-to-analog converter, I use a Maverick Audio Tube Magic D1.
- I probably wouldn't buy the D1 again for a headphone amp. There are better options. One drawback is the analog tube is not included the audio chain for the headphone output.
- I have done the opamp swap on the D1 which does affect the headphone output. I'm currently using the Supreme Sound Opamp V5i from Burson Audio.
Can you spot where the removable opamps are in this picture? If you can find it, that's where the 2x V5is on the side of the picture were installed.
- I use a Shure SM57 with a Shure A81WS windscreen
- The mic is mounted on a Shure A55M shock mount clip on a cheap, and squeaky, adjustable boom arm.
- Between the SM57 and audio interface is a FetHead in-line microphone preamp. If you're wondering why. It is because my old audio interface lacks the oomph.
- The audio interface is a first-generation Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. I've had it for over a decade now.
I have none. Perhaps the windscreen could be considered a sound treatment.
