Tuneslover
Headphoneus Supremus
Just chiming in here, I personally found the headband rather than the pads to be the area responsible for the majority of comfort. To that end I modded mine by thickening out the padding (and using a nicer material) to give it a better hold on my head. Once this was done the pads became secondary as the weight they were bearing was evened out nicely.
Awesome headband modification! I have a smallish and narrow head and find that my HE500's droop down even after making the headphones as small as possible. Then the weight of them makes it difficult to get a good quality seal. I received the Focus pads for Christmas and I'm finding that it's even more difficult to get a good seal now. However if I could thicken up the headband I should be able to reduce the droop factor and get a better seal (and improve the comfort on my bald head...yeah multi challenges). Could you share with us how you made the headband cushion?
Also, could anyone provide some advice on how to change ear pads on the HE500's? I think I installed the Focus pads correctly but they seem to freely spin on the headphones so I need to constantly spin them into proper position before putting them on. Is this normal because I don't recall the original pleather pads freely spinning around?