After several tests with different pads (HD25 velour, HD25 pleather, ATH velour, ATH pleather) I came to the conclusion that the best sound to me comes out with the ATH pleather.
More confortable to my ears with good isolation. Balanced sound and more open soundstage. Pure bliss!
 
My only regret is having left the JVCHD25PP club,
 
 
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waynes world said:

Anyway, just like how I was astonished with how the memory foam tips on the FX40 change it's sound so much, I am equally astonished at how well the ATH leathers on the S500 changes the sound for me. Dsnuts, nobody can ever call you nuts lol! As you said, the mids are fuller, and the sound is beautifully balanced now. Full. Lush. Detailed. Still plenty of bass, but it just sounds amazing to me. Not fatiguing to me now at all. I can crank up the volume, and nothing is overpowering - everything is beautiful. Unreal!
So, I guess you could say that I'm a S500 + ATH leathers believer now, and the S500 actually is living up to the hype. I'm pretty damn happy camper right now. Thanks to dsnuts and doc and rick and all of you other crazy S500 fanatics - you done good!

 
Edit: Oh yeah, the ATH leathers really are quite a bit more comfortable - awesome added bonus

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Quote:

unkle said:

After several tests with different pads (HD25 velour, HD25 pleather, ATH velour, ATH pleather) I came to the conclusion that the best sound to me comes out with the ATH pleather.
More confortable to my ears with good isolation. Balanced sound and more open soundstage. Pure bliss!
 
My only regret is having left the JVCHD25PP club,

 
 

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Fortunately, the founder of the club is a very forgiving and understanding sort!
 
Curious: to your ears, how did the HD25 pleathers affect the sound?

A little impresion and opinions of the M50 and S500.
 
IMHO, .... very good, but... overhyped. they where, along the Senns HD-25 the kind of "Heaphones i need to have", and i ended a little disapointed with the sound, its like when you get a NO from that girl.   Not that they sound bad, no. they are very good. but come on guys, all the frikin hype with these things are out of control!
 

Almost sure that the Hd25 wont disapoint me at all.
 
 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/548578/m50s-overrated/675#post_8800424
 

Quote:

waynes world said:

Curious: to your ears, how did the HD25 pleathers affect the sound?

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Practically reduces a little the soundstage, the sound becomes more upfront, bass have a good impact, but with ATH pleather even more.
The mids and highs are great but seem to suffer from a strange haze (perhaps due to the smallest inner diameter?).
 
However, with the HD25 pleather is a nice feeling, but the ATH pleather brings pure joy to my ears 
 

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rickdohc said:

A little impresion and opinions of the M50 and S500.
 
IMHO, .... very good, but... overhyped. they where, along the Senns HD-25 the kind of "Heaphones i need to have", and i ended a little disapointed with the sound, its like when you get a NO from that girl.   Not that they sound bad, no. they are very good. but come on guys, all the frikin hype with these things are out of control!

Almost sure that the Hd25 wont disapoint me at all.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/548578/m50s-overrated/675#post_8800424
 

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Nice tap dancing lol! You have to be careful in a thread like that when telling the masses something that they probably don't want to hear.
 
As far as the HD25's are concerned, I also am looking forward to trying them out some day. If they have any kind of a sound like my PX100-II's but with more detail, I'm sure they will be very nice indeed.

Quote:

waynes world said:

 
 
Nice tap dancing lol! You have to be careful in a thread like that when telling the masses something that they probably don't want to hear.
 
As far as the HD25's are concerned, I also am looking forward to trying them out some day. If they have any kind of a sound like my PX100-II's but with more detail, I'm sure they will be very nice indeed.

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LOL.... EXACTLY.... tap dancing
 
Those M50 are like religion on Head-Fi, you can get flamed easly.   They are very good, but sweet lord jesus... i HONESTLY tought that there was nothing under 150 or even more that could beat them. its like owning the best under 150 and was a little disapointed with the sound cause it was GOOD but not "OOOH DEAR LORD MY GOSH SO WONDERFULBALBLABA" as you can read and see on those reviews on youtube.
 
  so you got to be careful,  you know 
 
 
i have not hear those HD 25 but i am almost certain those will blow me away, and thats what i expect!!

I wonder if they will blow you away as much as these DT1350's I am listening to right now...... came in the mail already.

Gunna do a direct comparison to the S500 late tonight.

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doc-holliday said:

I wonder if they will blow you away as much as these DT1350's I am listening to right now......

came in the mail already.
Gunna do a direct comparison to the S500 late tonight.

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yea, those should sound very good, got my eye on those.

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doc-holliday said:

I wonder if they will blow you away as much as these DT1350's I am listening to right now......

came in the mail already.
Gunna do a direct comparison to the S500 late tonight.

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Awesome - looking forward to it! Hopefully you don't denigrate the S500's toooooo much! But if you do, please be gentle and apply rick's tap dancing techniques lol!
 
Also please report on the comfort of the DT1350's, as that's one of the (few)  complaints that I read about. And if you have experience with the HD25's, how do they compare? And finally, let me know if you think that the DT1350's are worth $310CN+taxes (I'm not sure I could find a good deal like the deal you found!). Thanks!

I'm not sure there is anything out there, asides from the KSC75, that is even close to the value per dollar of these carbon nanotube JVC's. I have no plans on looking any higher up in the market anytime soon, but I'm poor....lol. 

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waynes world said:

 
Cheapo gems like the R1?:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/586909/the-discovery-thread-new-fad-adagio-iii-ericp10-take-pg-242-the-sony-mdr-xb90ex-danny-bs-take-pg-182/3960#post_8799463
 
It's a sickness

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WAYNEENUMM buy it while it's at this price! Great great value in product and sound. More details to come, but with 20 minutes now I'm highly impressed!

waynes world said:

Awesome - looking forward to it! Hopefully you don't denigrate the S500's toooooo much! But if you do, please be gentle and apply rick's tap dancing techniques lol!

Also please report on the comfort of the DT1350's, as that's one of the (few)  complaints that I read about. And if you have experience with the HD25's, how do they compare? And finally, let me know if you think that the DT1350's are worth $310CN+taxes (I'm not sure I could find a good deal like the deal you found!). Thanks!

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Ok I'm not going to give a very long comparison here because I have only been able to get through a few songs. I tried to take a few notes on here while listening so forgive me if it is redundant or disjointed:

Dt1350 -- much better instrument separation. Wider stage from left to right. Less bass but more accurate. More front row whereas S500 is a few rows back. Bass much more textured and accurate but lacking in quantity. The 1350 has much more forward and detailed upper mids and highs without any fatiuge at all -- very nice to my ears. (I have heard people say these are too bright, but I guess they have not heard my DT770's to know what bright is). Needs a bass boost from my Fiio E11 to really be enjoyable for me. Sounds better through my amp than unamped.

S500 -- Easier to run. No amp needed. More mid bass but slower. Little warmer and more laid back in comparison. Found the bass quantity to be more desirable even just a little less would be nice. The main edge the S500 has on the Dt1350 is in the bass. When listening to Layla by Eric Clapton it was more enjoyable through the S500 from the one fact that the mid bass tones create some depth in that song and it sounded a bit thinner with the 1350..

Rock songs and bands like Rage, Linkin Park, and others were much more enjoyable through the Beyer. I listened to a Beastie Boys instrumental called "in 3's" which has a lot of live percussion (bongos and stuff). The realism and separation was outstanding with the 1350 compared to the 500.

Last note is the Beyers are definitely more comfortable than the S500. It has that fancy split headband similar to the HD25 which can be made wider or more narrow depending on your dome shape. The cups also rotate in BOTH directions, one of my biggest complaints with the S500 that the cups wont rotate backwards and only forwards which makes getting a proper seal more difficult.

All that being said, the fact that I am even comparing a 300 dollar portable to a 75 dollar (after importing) portable is just nuts. So don't go throwing your S500 in the garbage to run out and get these or the HD25 yet guys. Are the Beyer's better? Yes in a lot of ways but not in every way.

(Note: All comparisons were done with the following mods on the S500: Silver coated 24awg cable upgrade, AT Pleather ESW9 Ear Pads ("ATH Pleathers")

Quote:

doc-holliday said:

Ok I'm not going to give a very long comparison here because I have only been able to get through a few songs. I tried to take a few notes on here while listening so forgive me if it is redundant or disjointed:
Dt1350 -- much better instrument separation. Wider stage from left to right. Less bass but more accurate. More front row whereas S500 is a few rows back. Bass much more textured and accurate but lacking in quantity. The 1350 has much more forward and detailed upper mids and highs without any fatiuge at all -- very nice to my ears. (I have heard people say these are too bright, but I guess they have not heard my DT770's to know what bright is). Needs a bass boost from my Fiio E11 to really be enjoyable for me. Sounds better through my amp than unamped.
S500 -- Easier to run. No amp needed. More mid bass but slower. Little warmer and more laid back in comparison. Found the bass quantity to be more desirable even just a little less would be nice. The main edge the S500 has on the Dt1350 is in the bass. When listening to Layla by Eric Clapton it was more enjoyable through the S500 from the one fact that the mid bass tones create some depth in that song and it sounded a bit thinner with the 1350..
Rock songs and bands like Rage, Linkin Park, and others were much more enjoyable through the Beyer. I listened to a Beastie Boys instrumental called "in 3's" which has a lot of live percussion (bongos and stuff). The realism and separation was outstanding with the 1350 compared to the 500.
Last note is the Beyers are definitely more comfortable than the S500. It has that fancy split headband similar to the HD25 which can be made wider or more narrow depending on your dome shape. The cups also rotate in BOTH directions, one of my biggest complaints with the S500 that the cups wont rotate backwards and only forwards which makes getting a proper seal more difficult.
All that being said, the fact that I am even comparing a 300 dollar portable to a 75 dollar (after importing) portable is just nuts. So don't go throwing your S500 in the garbage to run out and get these or the HD25 yet guys. Are the Beyer's better? Yes in a lot of ways but not in every way.
(Note: All comparisons were done with the following mods on the S500: Silver coated 24awg cable upgrade, AT Pleather ESW9 Ear Pads ("ATH Pleathers")

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Wow - awesome info - thanks! I would assume that the DT1350's will improve with even more burn in. But like you said, even the fact that you can compare the S500's with them at all "is just nuts". This bodes very well for the S500. Let us know if you have any further impressions, or if they change over time. Thanks again!

Hey guys don't laugh but I tried my old pads off of my AKG K518s. At first it didn't sound very good with the highs and upper mids clashing a bit but I put a bit of rolled paper towels in the inside perimeter of the pads and it has opened up beautifully. The bass is about the same but the highs have opened a touch more!? It sounds more open. Is this what you guys with the AT pleathers have?

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musubi1000 said:

Hey guys don't laugh but I tried my old pads off of my AKG K518s. At first it didn't sound very good with the highs and upper mids clashing a bit but I put a bit of rolled paper towels in the inside perimeter of the pads and it has opened up beautifully. The bass is about the same but the highs have opened a touch more!? It sounds more open. Is this what you guys with the AT pleathers have?

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OMG dood, that was exactly what I did with my AKG pads for my S400s. I posted this like a week or two ago on that S400 thread. The entire sonic spectrum just sounds "right" after the paper towel stuffage. LoL
 
So glad that these seems to work for the S500s as well, am currently too happy with my S500 set up to mess with it. But glad to hear this method sounds great on them as well. Will for sure try it when I get a 2nd set of S500s to play with. 
 
edit: the AKG pads are a little bit loose on these JVC's, so I stuff some cotton around the back rim of the pads to better secure them. This would not make them 100% fit, but it is less loose then without it.