[pexon]

Hi guys, my friend is out in Japan for work at the moment, I wanted him to pick me up a pair of portable on ears whilst he over there, would you suggest these or something else? I have a budget of up to 150GBP. Obviously, I want something you cant get where I am (UK), something a little different to try out. Thanks in advance for any insight. Cheers peeps.

 

[birdman]

Quote:

 
I would have to respectfully diagree. people switched pads at first not because of comfort but to try and get better sound ^^

I'm sure you're partially right--some wanted better comfort, some heard about the supposed sound improvements and wanted that.  I wanted better comfort. 

 

[penmarker]

Sorry for the blur picture, I only have my Blackberry now and they're notoriously known to have bad cameras.
 
Anyway 2 days ago my JVCs reached the 150 hour burn mark and they sounded great. I currently have no other pads with me except for my old cheap Sony MDR150 headphones.
 
Seeing how I'm not going to use them anymore, I decided to swap the pads. The pads are worn out, previously they have a layer of pleather-like material (like the M30 and M50) but they had peeled off. What's left of it is only fabric with little isolation but great breathability, no sweaty hot ears now.
 
Now the cans sounded... 'right' for some reason. I am a closet basshead, and the first time I got these the bass had really caught me off guard. But with these fabric pads, the bass had tamed down. Honestly I had swapped the pads before, but the results weren't so appealing.
 
I don't know, maybe it's the burn in, maybe it's just my head playing tricks on me, but what I do know is these pads are a lot more comfortable, though they isolate less, and the sound gets a little more balanced than it had used to be.
 
Vocals were still a little weird though with some songs have a little recessed vocals while others have more upfront vocals. Anybody else noticed this?
 
I also own a recabled Goldring DR150. I must admit they are amazing for their price, but now my JVC sounded more like their pimp. Matthew Bellamy's voice coming through these cans is amazing. Smooth as butter on butter while you're skating with skates made out of butter on polished butter floor. Truly hi-fi on a budget. Zee Avi sounded great too. I'll be playing some Julie London and Norah Jones later, with a little mix of Daft Punk, Bassnectar, and maybe Nightwish to test their dynamics.
 
My impressions are made through flac > sansa fuze > E11 > JVC as my UD100 DAC is still being repaired by the creator because of a broken audio jack, so take this as a grain of salt. I would love to know how they sound with the UD100 now.
 

 
Will probably get an Aune T1 later after I get some money from my current project. 24bits of audio love. 
 
**edit - My Goldring DR150 had only gone through roughly 120 hours of burn in, some respectable forummers mentioned that they need as much as 200 hours (one fellow said 300 hours) of burn in to reach its optimal operating condition. I will report back if they have any further sonic changes after reaching the 250 hour mark (between 200 and 300).

 

[cute]

Quote:

 
I would have to respectfully diagree. people switched pads at first not because of comfort but to try and get better sound ^^

 
I was the one that found the AT leathers......looking for better comfort......the sound change was the real surprise, and most here agree!

 

[waynes world]

Quote:

 
I was the one that found the AT leathers......looking for better comfort......the sound change was the real surprise, and most here agree!

 
Hey cute, you're responsible for a bunch of good stuff, ain't you? Cheers!

 

[waynes world]

Quote:

Awesome. I was curious to see how the stock pads sound now that I've burned in these babies quite a bit, but I think I'll just try your mod instead. Thanks!

 
Well, I thought that I would swap back to the stock pads for a try. But as per the first go around, to my ears the bass was a bit too much and the mids seemed a bit too recessed. So back on go the ath pleathers for me. But I might still play around with that great washer mod (or variations of same) for fun! Thanks.

 

[cute]

Quote:

 
Hey cute, you're responsible for a bunch of good stuff, ain't you? Cheers!

 
Just an old man that likes the sound of music.....good music though!

 

[cute]

Quote:

 
Well, I thought that I would swap back to the stock pads for a try. But as per the first go around, to my ears the bass was a bit too much and the mids seemed a bit too recessed. So back on go the ath pleathers for me. But I might still play around with that great washer mod (or variations of same) for fun! Thanks.

 
If ya throw em in the washer they might shrink!

 

[Thankful1]

Has anyone compared these to the AKG K81?

 

[analogsurviver]

Quote:

 
Just an old man that likes the sound of music.....good music though!

Guilty as charged - THANK YOU !

 

[musubi1000]

Quote:

Has anyone compared these to the AKG K81?

While not exactly the 81s I have the K518s and the S500s make them sound like antiques. 
 
 
 
On another note I noticed my paper towel stuffed AKG padded driver on the right side of my S500s was sounding a bit off. the bass and body seemed to diminish. All my music was sounding off timing or something. After carefully disassembly I noticed that one of the ports was wide open from my paper towel stuffing. So to experiment I removed the pads and on the driver face there is 3 narrow slits around the outer perimeter of the face. I simply scotch taped the ports in under 3 mins. Reassembled and now have bigger sub and lower bass. I kept the paper towels and everything is back in balance and sounds just as big as I remember if not bigger. Anyone else try this yet? edit actually it does sound like more bass is coming through!

 

[sfwalcer]

Quote:

While not exactly the 81s I have the K518s and the S500s make them sound like antiques. 
 
 
 
On another note I noticed my paper towel stuffed AKG padded driver on the right side of my S500s was sounding a bit off. the bass and body seemed to diminish. All my music was sounding off timing or something. After carefully disassembly I noticed that one of the ports was wide open from my paper towel stuffing. So to experiment I removed the pads and on the driver face there is 3 narrow slits around the outer perimeter of the face. I simply scotch taped the ports in under 3 mins. Reassembled and now have bigger sub and lower bass. I kept the paper towels and everything is back in balance and sounds just as big as I remember if not bigger. Anyone else try this yet? edit actually it does sound like more bass is coming through!

hmmmmm interesting, with the AKG stuffed pads these S500s are ULTRA Hi-Def but the bass is a bit lacking/ thin so this might be the perfect solution. Will report back.........

 

[musubi1000]

Quote:

hmmmmm interesting, with the AKG stuffed pads these S500s are ULTRA Hi-Def but the bass is a bit lacking/ thin so this might be the perfect solution. Will report back.........

Ok This does work for sure. This is the hardest I've heard these hit! These are now complete!

 

[sfwalcer]

Quote:

Ok This does work for sure. This is the hardest I've heard these hit! These are now complete!

Pics??? LoL, gonna try this tomorrow man if it works, you are GOD!!!  That ULTRA Hi-Def clarity due to the stuffed AKG pads combined with the hard hitting bass = THE END. 
 
edit: alright gonna try it now too excited heeeeeee

 

[sfwalcer]

hmmmmm I am not getting that much more bass, seems to have less clarity after taping the slots on the outer area of the driver face.
 
edit: are you talking about the white circle areas around the driver opening? or the 3 slots all the way out at the perimeter of the driver face???