ry_goody
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2004
- Posts
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So if you have ATH-A500's, or the A700, and I think the A900 has the same pleathered earpads.
Well over time this pleather starts to peel off.
So a while ago I just completely de-pleathered my a500 earpads. Put them in water and just rub and rub until it all comes off. It leaves you with some very nice plain fabric earpads, that are actually even more comfortable.
When I first put these de-pleathered earpads back on my a500, the first thing I noticed was that the bass was radically decreased! Because you remove the pleather, you remove the seal, the sound just goes right through the fabric earpads and lets out alot of the boom. I really didn't like that at the time.
So I upgraded to the HD650's, had those for a number of years, then I upgraded to K701's had those for a number of years. After having my taste in headphones adjust to the K701's. Now I went back and listened to my de-pleathered a500's and I actually find their sound signature perfect. The a500 was a little bass heavy, and de-pleathering it fixes that. I think the a500 when amped and de-pleathered actually sounds better now than it does with the pleather on the earpads. Although its important to amp it, unamped you lose even more bass.
So if your earpads are starting to have the pleather rubbed off of them, don't be afraid to just completely remove all the pleather and try it with just fabric ear pads. I really do think it is ideal. I think it makes them sound much more like their open counterpart the ad500.
Well over time this pleather starts to peel off.
So a while ago I just completely de-pleathered my a500 earpads. Put them in water and just rub and rub until it all comes off. It leaves you with some very nice plain fabric earpads, that are actually even more comfortable.
When I first put these de-pleathered earpads back on my a500, the first thing I noticed was that the bass was radically decreased! Because you remove the pleather, you remove the seal, the sound just goes right through the fabric earpads and lets out alot of the boom. I really didn't like that at the time.
So I upgraded to the HD650's, had those for a number of years, then I upgraded to K701's had those for a number of years. After having my taste in headphones adjust to the K701's. Now I went back and listened to my de-pleathered a500's and I actually find their sound signature perfect. The a500 was a little bass heavy, and de-pleathering it fixes that. I think the a500 when amped and de-pleathered actually sounds better now than it does with the pleather on the earpads. Although its important to amp it, unamped you lose even more bass.
So if your earpads are starting to have the pleather rubbed off of them, don't be afraid to just completely remove all the pleather and try it with just fabric ear pads. I really do think it is ideal. I think it makes them sound much more like their open counterpart the ad500.
