I've recently "rediscovered" my V6's. I replaced them as my daily driver 6 or 7 years back after I got a crazy deal on HD25 Amperiors which genuinely seemed to trump them out of the box ... at the time.
I had given up replacing the pads after 17 years of use the headband was developing the same leprosy as the 5 or 6 pairs of pads did and the cable was all sticky and somewhat "grotty" at this point with masses of corrosion on the jack. Time to let them retire I thought and stuck them in a storage container. Until a week or so ago when I found them doing a clean up.
So I was on a local shopping site, and came across ALL the parts available to "rebuild" them - not original parts of course, but reckoned worth a punt at the prices, not expecting too much.
Headband, decent enough looking, although the print is white rather than silver and not as textured like the original.
The ear pads I got are absolutely amazing, really plush with memory foam cores. They feel similar to the MDR-R1 pads, but deeper.
A "beats" Studio semi-coiled knockoff cable looked nice and a good match cosmetically, so I snagged one of them as well.
Grand total in USD : $20 !
So all parcels arrived and managed to get everything soldered up today... put them on and WHOA !
I was treated to a whole mass of stereo separation that was missing on the Amperiors, oodles of ear-rocking luxurious tight sounding bass and a far less harsh mid section than the Amperiors with much more comfort. I was hearing things that were just not apparent with the Amperiors, fret slides, amp hum etc ...
I'm not sure if it was the 17 years of high volume burn in when I used to gig them a couple times a week, the new pads (which are really quite deep with good seals) or just that they simply feel so dang "different" to the HD25's. But I genuinely feel like I just got an ear transplant !
Damn I love these things and so glad I found them again.