[dabtpa]

The best never discovered headphone in my book is the Noontech Hammos. I saw a $69 deal on them at Buy Dig and went hunting for reviews. I found an interesting thread here that talk about a black sticker being on the drivers from the factory, screwing up the sound. The author shows in detail how to take them off and change the sound from crappy to glorious. Note however that Noontec has now caught that problem and created a different one. You used to be able to use a flashlight to "see in" the ear cup to see if the stickers were on there or not. Tacking the pads off and putting them back on is a REAL pain. Noontec has now put in a black foam piece that covers the whole inside of the ear cup. What this does is muffle everything. I decide to "bite the bullet" and just rip the pads off and worry about attaching them later. Boy am I glad I did. The sound is clearer, the sound stage wider and the highs sparkle. I also noticed two white stickers covering small holes on the frame of the driver, just like the one on each side of  my AKG 702s. I immediately took these off expecting better bass like with the 702s. It was just the opposite. The bass was reduced and the highs became shrill. I spent very little critical time listening to the phones with the hole covers on and off, so have at it if you want to have some fun. The way you can use these pads until you get aftermarket replacements or spend time going crazy trying to tuck them back in their frame is to use small pieces of rolled up (2 sided) carpet tape positioned around the inside of the frame. This would probably work forever if you used enough of it. You could also glue them. Whatever floats your boat. I may look for some aftermarket pads that have "sticky" on their inside edges. The way to tell if you have Hammos with the sticker is you can shine a flashlight in and you will see the black sticker. If the foam is there, you wont be able to see the driver, but the sticker is probably removed. Just take the foam out. Don't you enjoy tearing apart brand new electronics and voiding the warranty? I sure do.