We need more accurate measurements from industry standard rigs of headphones fitted with various aftermarket pads. There isn't enough data in the web to make an informed decision about all the different pads yet.
@@nelsonang It is science. Measurements are a fantastic way to evaluate one of the most important things on a headphone: tonality. If you have listened to a bunch of headphones and know how they measure on industry standard rigs, you can draw conclusions for future investments, especially if higher priced headphones are on your radar. With measurements you can draw concusions on how your ears differentiate from the harman target and choose suitable headphones from that baseline. You can also identify resonance issues in the treble e. g. when sharp peaks are visible on a graph (for example DT 990 Pro). I am one of the lucky ones who's ears are fairly close to the over-ear harman target, I just like slightly more lower midrange/warmth in my headphones, treble and midrange is pretty much on point, maybe 1 or 2 dBs less in the presence region around 3kHz and I am good. All in all, the Harman-Target is a fantastic reference and pretty much every headphone that measures closely to this target is going to sound good to me and to the majority of others as well. IEMs are another thing, but as far as headphones are the objective, it is pretty close.
@@rene837 do u know what u are measuring? what does frequency response even mean? and I don't mean frequency response is not science... I'm saying a lot of reviewers do not even know what they measuring... they plonk a headphone on the rig and then start the frequency sweep... if it doesn't adhere to a particular target, they say it is crap... that is not science...
@@nelsonang Yes, we are measuring the volume of wiggly air on the frequency range from about 20Hz up to 15Khz. The differences in volume are shown by the graph. No one said that headphone that don't adhere to the target 100% were crap. I even stated that I like a bit of deviation in certain places and there even should be some deviation e. g. a dip around 9kHz.
@@rene837 that's not what frequency response means :) for RU-vid hifi enthusiasts maybe... but not in engineering terms... that's why I say all the yakking about measurements are not even close to science...
I love this analogy because it really puts into perspective what some audio engineers mean by pads mattering less than you’d think. At the end of the day the speakers have a wildly bigger influence on sound than the room they’re in, but the room you’re in, if you already own speakers you know can make or break the experience legitimately.
Even just changing the ear pads of the MDR-7506 and MDR-900ST makes a big difference in sound. It's a lot of fun just to change these to compatible products.
Great video, it's amazing how much of a difference the pads make on my Meze Empyreans. The leather pads and the alcantara pads sound like two totally different headphones.
I went for perforated pads for both the Sony 7506 and the AKG K371BT which I feel helped tone down these bassy headphones and gave the mid and upper ranges more room to breathe
Airy headphones create airy audio closed headphones create closed audio Headphones or pads hence why opens have open (pourus or breathable) pads and closed have leather (typically) play with it: the point of this, love this videl seriously
Excellent vid. I know you don't really cover IEMs, wish you would. IEM tips may have even more of an impact than pads on headphones. Foam tips can tame treble highs. Wide bore silicon tips will open up treble and soundstage. And the seal is everything on an IEM. Without a good seal, you'll feel no bass and the sound will be severely lacking overall.
Cost and logistics aside, would be pretty interesting if there was a channel that just tested different pads on all sorts of headphones and posted measurements of them
For the Philips SHP9500, from experience, stock, velour, protein leather, mesh, and cooling gel pads all sounded different. It was either stock or mesh for me. Cooling gel and leather added too much low end while the velour f'd up the sound.
Just ordered an Arctis Nova Pro Wired to replace my now broken beyond all repair Audeze Mobius and decided to also order some alternative pads with it. I'm curious to see how they change the sound. I get that the Arctis is not an audiophile pair of headphones, but whatever I can do to improve the sound quality is definitely appreciated. The fact that it comes with a DAC-Amp is proof to me that they're at least taking sound quality more seriously than their competitors, the Audeze Penrose and Mobius not included in that because they had their DAC-Amp built-in to the headset itself and really they're like music/movie headphones with a mic bolted on to make it a gaming headset. Arctis isn't that, but they at least acknowledge you're going to use the headset for more than gaming.
Yeah man. Bought a pair of generic pleather pads for an HD 800 S. That was a mistake lol. Anyone else reading this with an HD 800 S that needs a pad replacement - just fork over the extra dough and pay Sennheiser for stock pads. You will thank yourself. 👌🏼
Finally the Dekoni Elite Valour Pads on my DT 1990 pro put a smile on my face.... that says as lot. BUT modding with the Dekoni foam kit did the reverse for me.
@@ObeyaCorpsArmory I've never heard the HD58X, so I can't comment on their stock sound. But I can't tell you from experience that - compared to perforated suede pads - perforated lambskin pads will provide more clarity, more peaky treble, greater dynamics, and more bass.
@@ObeyaCorpsArmory I couldn’t tell you how the stock pads sound because when I upgrade the Suede pads, I immediately bought amp/dac shortly after.. So, I can’t have a fair comparison BUT from my memory, the Suede pads provide slightly more details, bass, imaging and space but less mid because the pads are further away from the ears compared to the stock pads However, with amp, it just eliminates it and basically takes what good from a stock pads and upgrade the details, bass, imaging and space with Suede pads
@@mattrismatt That's exactly how I feel they changed my 58X's sound. To the point where I don't use EQ anymore on the 58X because they made them clearer and more inpactful, they sound perfect for me now.
Pads are very important. For example i wasn’t keen on the dt1990 in stock form. However with the dekoni elite velour pads they have become my daily driver
I will preface my question by saying that I have mostly had blu tooth headphones, my greatest issue with them is that the hinges or what connects the band with the ear cups are always the first thing to break. I do take care of them but it still happens. So I have never had the chance to change any earpads. My question, now that I have the Meze 99 Noir which I expect will last longer, is how do I now when to replace the earpads due to wear and tear? I am still learning from this hobby, one step at a time.
How about the screen mats? Between the driver and the ears? My Bose 700 screen mats, deepened little bit inside, should I change it? Do mats affect the sound quality?
All so true. I generally tend to stick with what the engineers and manufacturers attach stock, but some headphones provide for great variance. The DT-770 80 ohm comes to mind with stock velour; those sound like shit IMO. Beyer provides, in Europe currently, an aftermarket protein leather pad that used to come stock with the 32 ohm variant of the 770. I found that combo to be a bit bright, but these pads work wonderfully with the 80 ohm.
I'm no Adrian Monk... but I'm guessing DMS lives in upstate NY someplace with all that recent snow. Near Buffalo maybe? One of my first headphones where aI moved up a tier was the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro. I like them but the treble was a little hot/harsh and the Bass was a little weak. After some research I bought some Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads and they added some nice Bass and mellowed out the hot treble in the DT 1990 Pro's. So I'm a believer in pad swapping only when absolutely necessary like with the DT 1990 Pro's. They were not getting it done with the original pads. The hot treble was a deal breaker
I got some pads off drop for my old Audeze LCD2 and they sounded very far away, I got the official new revision leather pads directly from Audeze and they sounded 10x better. Not even a contest.
Did you ever end up going over how the ZMF pads on the 6xx's held up over time? My stock pads are being replaced after 2 and a half years (only because finding the foam inserts is a nightmare before realizing they are squished down pretty good) so I was looking at other pads out of curiosity
Realistically the cheapest and most reliable solution is to EQ in a small bass boost to taste. Pad rolling is an expensive and inconsistent endeavour on the whole.
Good timing, my HE400i 2020 pads are starting to flake off. Are the alternative pads with better comfort? i've always found the ear hole a bit too small
It doesn't help that your manufacturer stops or says they've stopped supporting your older models. There are some good 3rd party pad sellers with pads relatively similar to the originals, I think!
i wonder if we can get similar effect with different tips in earbuds, i know seal matters, but is it a question of seal on/off or does the tip length/material make a difference too?
Do pads matter? Hell yeah they do, I have some Chinese grado looking headphones and changing from leather to velour made it either more neutral or a pair of headphone that'll cut your ears off with it's crazy sharp treble
My sundara pads were getting a bit squashed, so I got cheap ones from Aliexpress, and they worked out great. Although after a couple months, the seams started to come apart...
I'm actually planning on doing a senn hd 660s X brainwavz angled hybrid pad combo. My goal is to increase bass but the most important one is to increase comfort. I tried these cans, and my ears are just crushed by the drivers. Anyone who did this combo can tell me if it works well or might work?
I am literally in the situation you mentioned at 4:13 in where I have a pair of hd6xx and never changed the pads. I've probably owned these headphones for almost five years now and not once changed the pads. Does it really make that much of a difference and what pads should I go with? I've upgraded my amp recently since but never considered the pads.
Me too, same(ish) situation. Based on what he said, the ZMF Suede seem to be the way to go because I do want to return to a close version of what the 650s sounded like (or 6XX or course, same thing).
@@PaulieDC I just bought the suede pads yesterday from zmf because the inner foam one the stock ones literally started to tear from age lol. I’ll update you when I get them
@@PaulieDC They came in today and I would have to say that in terms of headphone pads, they are really comfortable (definitely more than the worn out stock ones lol) and in terms of sound, I don't really notice too much of a difference from the stock ones (which i guess is a good thing.) the biggest difference i would have to say is everything just sounds a little more balanced/full then what it was before. First Impressions for ZMF Suede Pads 6xx: They are good pads, but I don't think its worth buying a brand new set of them to expect a completely different sound/experience out of the headphone. In terms of my case though, I'm satisfied with the purchase because they do what they are advertised to do (sound as close to stock as possible) and my old ones were worn out a lot. So if you're looking for a close to stock sound and absolutely NEED new pads, I think these are definitely the pads to go with. Edit: Been using the new pads for several hours now and just now tried to put the worn out stock ones back on and can definitely say that getting new pads brought the life back in these headphones. I genuinely don't remember the last time my headphones sounding this good, if ever lol
@@CrazedVFX wow, that is great info, appreciate the thorough test AND synopsis! He did say in the vid that the suede should be the closest to stock so I’m glad to hear you confirm that… actually, your description sounds more like stock+ which is great. I’m going to go for it once original pads wear out. The long-term test now is to see how long they last, but suede should outlast velour I would think. Great assessment, thanks! 👍🏼
3rd party pads are mostly dropshipped so you need to be careful where you are buying them so you don't overpay. I know dekoni dropships from china and charges for 50-100 for theirs when you can get the same one for 10 dollars.
