[htr2d2]

Hey, what do you folks think about the Focuspad and Focuspad-A in terms of sound and comfort? What is better for the HE 400? Waiting for your inputs.

I have two pairs of the focus-a pads for both of my Hifiman headphones. I love them due to their amazing comfort. The velours sound great and are cheaper but are not as comfortable.
 
I do not have the focus pads to compare to the focus-a.

 

[ScarboroughFair]

Hey folks I found a solution for your rotating earpads. I hope this helps. http://www.head-fi.org/t/572327/mission-replace-the-hifiman-ear-pads-with-other-brand-ear-pads/510#post_11542575
There is also a post that recommends that I think it's about 3 pages ago.

 

[ScarboroughFair]

And so, what do you folks prefer to use? Is the comfort of the Focuspad/A worth it over the value and sound quality of the velours?

- And sound-wise Focuspads? Or Focuspad-A?

 

[DavidA]

And so, what do you folks prefer to use? Is the comfort of the Focuspad/A worth it over the value and sound quality of the velours?

- And sound-wise Focuspads? Or Focuspad-A?

I think its comes down to what you value more, comfort or sound quality between the Focus Pad vs velour IMO.  The Focus pads are more comfortable but I like the sound better with the velour on the HE-400.
On my HE-400i and HE-560 the velour changes the sound of the highs too much, reason why they have the Focus pads.
 
Sorry but I don't have the focus-a pads so I can't make any comments about them.  If you search the HE-560 thread there was a section in the beginning where they talked about the focus and focus-a pads since the very first HE-560's (prototypes) came with focus-a pads and HIFIMAN later changed to focus pad on the production model.

 

[money4me247]

I thought the focuspads had better comfort and better sound quality than the velours (very minimal sound sig differences to my ears, but larger sound stage with focus pads)

edit: sonic differences between pads were minimal and extremely subtle in my experience. i found soundstage to be the most consistently noticeable change w my personal back and forth swaps. ymmv

 

[KewlMunky]

Hey, what do you folks think about the Focuspad and Focuspad-A in terms of sound and comfort? What is better for the HE 400? Waiting for your inputs.

They are pretty identical in sound. In my experience with the HE-500, the Focus had a slightly more elevated treble than the Focus A. For comfort, I much prefer the Focus A. The Focus A are squishier. With the Focus, I felt discomfort sooner than with the Focus A pads. I can generally wear my HE-500 for about 3 hours before I start to feel discomfort (it's a heavy headpiece), but the Focus pads would only give me about an hour before I had to readjust to relieve my discomfort.
 
When I had my HE-400, I only had the Focus A pads to try. The bass got snappier, but wasn't as impacting. In my opinion, the highs sounded clearer while also being less piercing on the ears.

 

[hema]

I think aimp3 has boosted bass and treble relative with foobar, well, atleast to my ears 'coz when i switch from foobar to aimp3, the treble emphasize is very apparent for me. may be you like that!

 

[ScarboroughFair]

Anyone of you have tried this simple mod for the Focus A? http://www.head-fi.org/t/748467/hansotek-s-focuspad-a-mod
This might become the best pad out there for folks not a fan of too much modding (aka jergpads)

 

[icebrain1]

  Have any of you heard of the AIMP3 player? I just found it recently and like it more than Foobar2000.

 
Ya, my brother showed me AIMP3 awhile back and it is the best music player I ever used.
It has many functions as well which come  in handy for me, like creating copys of all files in a playlist to any location, converting (never really use the converter only rarely) and has great global/local hotkey functionality. I have the all the extra buttons I don't use on my keyboard mapped to globally control the media (when I'm in games or doing other things) and even have hotkeys to remove a track from a playlist without even looking at it. It is really a great player. 

 

[DavidA]

Anyone of you have tried this simple mod for the Focus A? http://www.head-fi.org/t/748467/hansotek-s-focuspad-a-mod
This might become the best pad out there for folks not a fan of too much modding (aka jergpads)

Seems like a simple Jerg pad mod, tried a jerg pad mod and I still preferred the sound with the un-modded velour, YMMV.

 

[520RanchBro]

   
Ya, my brother showed me AIMP3 awhile back and it is the best music player I ever used.
It has many functions as well which come  in handy for me, like creating copys of all files in a playlist to any location, converting (never really use the converter only rarely) and has great global/local hotkey functionality. I have the all the extra buttons I don't use on my keyboard mapped to globally control the media (when I'm in games or doing other things) and even have hotkeys to remove a track from a playlist without even looking at it. It is really a great player. 

Kind of fishy this AIMP3 just gets brought up out of nowhere in a completely irrelevant thread....

 

[icebrain1]

  Kind of fishy this AIMP3 just gets brought up out of nowhere in a completely irrelevant thread....

Hehe, guess it is quite off topic.
Forgot about that when I replied.

 

[520RanchBro]

  Hehe, guess it is quite off topic.
Forgot about that when I replied.

I'm no off-topic police, I generally don't mind it. Sometimes it's entertaining and if it's not it's easy to skip. Just thought it was strange it got brought up with no prompt and with no connection to the HE-400. Usually the OT stuff here is at least loosely connected to the general thread discussion 

 

[Criss969]

  I'm no off-topic police, I generally don't mind it. Sometimes it's entertaining and if it's not it's easy to skip. Just thought it was strange it got brought up with no prompt and with no connection to the HE-400. Usually the OT stuff here is at least loosely connected to the general thread discussion 

HEY! I use it with my HE-400 so it is just as relevant as anything else! Seriously though.. I know it was random, but my mind is random. Love you guys!

 

[520RanchBro]

  HEY! I use it with my HE-400 so it is just as relevant as anything else! Seriously though.. I know it was random, but my mind is random. Love you guys!

Hey no worries! It's a discussion thread about headphones, no need for me to take it too seriously, I just thought it was a little weird is all.
 
Does anyone have a favorite song that they think the HE-400 just does exceptionally well? I want to listen to some new music.
 
One of my favorites (specifically on vinyl):
 

 
I got to see these guys live in a tiny venue, standing right in front of Al and his bass rig. Listening to this song with my 400s really brings me back to the moment they performed this song and kicked the heavy fuzz on and I just lost my schiit.