Photos Latest Purchases Thread: v2.0

Brother Lee !

 

Bought this to house my new laptop.

Alienware vindicator briefcase V2.0 - 17.3 inch.

 

Couple of these


wanted a smart speaker for the kitchen but didn't want to spend loads

Amazon had a deal where you could get 2 echos (3rd gen) for £27 with code 2DOT

Turns out I had some weird £10 promo I could apply so actually got them both for £24 in the end (couldn't use £10 promo and code) so now have one for the bedroom also

 

Not sure I'd be happy letting Alexa eavesdrop in the bedroom ..

 

Got a "new" pair of headphones. I rebuilt my Grados at about this time last year with new drivers and headband. Went well, they are still performing brilliantly.

My T5P though. Not so much. Whilst they still function and sound brilliant the pads and headband are falling to bits. It's really nasty. Like black dandruff. Not what you would expect on a pair of cans costing nearly a thousand pounds, but there you go. I have had them years, and this stuff tends to do this. So I need new pads and a new headband but as always it's never that simple. I am really not in the mood for it right now (it will cost me £100 all told) and it's fiddly. So I wanted something to use until I can be assed. Thought about a second pair of Grado with the fat pads, but decided I fancied trying something else out. Few hours later I found some ex demo Audioquest Nightowl carbon for £270. Ex demo, RRP is £699.







That way I don't 'gotta be picking black stuff out of my ears and brushing it off my head onto the carpet, which is really sending my OCD nuts. I end up crawling around on my hands and knees picking it all up.

 

It's Christmas soon, put Henry the Hoover on your Amazon wish list and send it to your friends. Less time spent on the knees = more time enjoying good music on your new headphones.

You can thank me later.

 

haha. The hoover won't pick it up.

I'm really, stupidly OCD about my flat remaining as new as when I moved in, so even tiny fragments of black on the carpet drive me insane. Worse still it's going into my ears.

Really not in the mood right now. Last year I wanted stuff to do because mum was in hospital. This year I knew that was going to happen so I have a ton to do (spending it alone again, and I know how much that sucks balls now).

 

Out of interest, what drivers did you go for? I picked up some Turbulent x-drivers in their BF sales, haven't fitted them yet though because I'm still eyeing up wood cups.

 

After many hours of asking around I decided to go with my gut. I got a pair of cut price SR80E. IIRC they were like £74 delivered this time last year.

Given I had RS2E I figured the drivers would be totally different. I asked around a lot (seriously spent days trying to get an answer) and in the end someone just said "The only difference is that the RS2E drivers are balanced". Meaning they actually put them on a test bed and match them.

Thing is? getting the drivers was going to be close to impossible. It was right before Xmas and Grado didn't have any stock. I also did not like the head band on the RS2E. It's beautiful hand tooled leather, but it's a head sweat magnet. I had had them 4 years and it was totally gross.



The inside was literally black. The 80s come with a plastic-vinyl solid thing. And it doesn't absorb anything, so I used that. Not quite as comfy but then Grados weigh nothing (especially wooden ones) so it was no big loss.

Oh, another difference with the RS2E. They have an alu plate on the back side that's anodised red. No biggy, used some vinyl.



And then bought a new pair of the huge "Big girl's knickers" pads as mine were truly grotty.

They sound no different at all. I had had them 5 years before they failed, so believe me I would have noticed a difference if there was any. And there just wasn't, at all. From the SR80 up to the others? IMO you are just paying for the rest. IE, solid wood cups, or metal (325) a fatter set of cables which are stupid annoying (I switched mine to the SR80 ones as I had had enough of 240v mains wire around my neck for 5 years) and so on. A leather headband, that turns gross and etc. Overall? they actually sounded better. I think the driver had been starting to fail long before it just died stone dead, and it was flapping and distorting a bit any way.

I still have the parts. Maybe at some point I will find a place that does leather, and get a proper leather head band made with a black inside area or all black. Seriously, just believe me when I say - don't go for the tan or brown leather ones. They look truly disgusting once your head sweats on them.

 

You can clean leather, and then feed / treat it so it's slower to take up future staining.
It's a natural material that takes upkeep and care.

 

Might look into that. Still got it. That said I struggle with my own upkeep and care enough that I really don't want to add something else.

 

Mine were OG SR125, just over 20yrs old when the right driver failed. And that's what kicked off a discovery of the Grado Mods scene.

So far I've got parts to re-sleeve and braid the cable in paracord, with trs jack's on both cups, and the the new drivers. I've started sleeving, and it makes a huge difference to that chonky thing they come with as standard.

If you want leather headbands though: https://turbulentlabs.com/category/leather-headbands/

 

Nice one dude. I see they make genuine leather bands for the T5P too ! I will wait until the Christmas postal service collapse is over, then deffo sort out the T5Ps.

I will offer you some advice. Don't braid the cables. Not ever. Even on the T5P which had a very relaxed paracord it has tightened over time and it makes it curl up. So every couple of times I listen to them I have to unplug the cable and pull it straight again. Really, don't bother.

And yeah, the standard cable is chonky AF. I think it's even bigger on the RS2E, just seriously a joke.

BTW going back to wooden cups? seriously, do it. I listened to the plastic SR80E to make sure they were OK and run them in before I stripped them and they were definitely missing that lovely sound. I can't really explain it, but I suppose it's kinda like comparing a wooden bodied acoustic guitar to a plastic one. Didn't sound the same at all tbh.

 

Ultrasonic cleaner

Wish I'd bought one sooner.

 

£95 for this*, whoop!



*not actually my pic, but that is exactly what I received: The Mini, controller, three batts, charging case, carry case and lightning cable. You can call it £100 because I had to order a USB C cable for it.

 

I could do with one to check where the tile came off our roof in the storm.

Guess batteries won't do a round trip from yours will they mate?

 

Might need an extra battery or twenty and some kind of twilight bark-type relay system for folks to change them

They are really useful for checking the guttering etc.. I did that this afternoon.

 

Dug out my BD A2 clone earlier, that ought to do it.

 

I can see how they'd be useful, not for my guttering mind - I can see the stuff the birds have left to grow from the ground.

That's about number 64 on my big list of things to do.

 

Pair of new batteries to replace my old worn ones, poor charge an the stem bulk of the plastic has broken away which is not exactly safe.