[Backsplash7]

Haha, now I feel a bit silly. I've just realised that I dont have a spare pair of mounting rings to be able to use the wang pads on their way to me! Had a look back through some of the previous comments... looks like the only way seems to be to destroy my original velour pads, or to buy a new pair of HD430 pads and take them apart. If thats true, then I suppose the big question is how do the HD430 pads compare to the wang pleather pads, and is it worth destroying one in order to use the other?

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I never experienced any loose connections with that push-on adapter. For me, it always provided a secure fit. Although, I did buy several new ones of the gold-plated version because many of the 540II came without an adapter. Sometimes I completely replaced the cable as well, so I had to factor in these costs when I eventually sold them on. I even re-foamed over a dozen 540II earpad pairs, which was a tedious process. Often, even though the earpads looked brand new with no sign of wear, the foam rings inside were too soft/flimsy and did not provide enough resistance to compression when worn. Consequently, the ear-to-driver distance would be too small so the stereo image position and its size was adversely affected and treble fatigue could be an issue at higher listening levels. After cutting pairs of thicker firmer foam grey rings by friction cutting with plastic cookie cutters, the result was much better. Often I had to remove the headband strap so I could give the plastic headband a good stretch and bend to loosen the clamping so the fit was loose but secure and the earpads mostly kept their shape when worn. Great sound typically followed. The HD430 pleather pads were a terrible substitute for this headphone and should be avoided, in my opinion.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

The HD430 earpads use the same attachment rings as the 540 earpads. So you could transplant those across but you will inevitably destroy the pads to get them out.

I used to clean the 540II velours in warm clean water and rubbing with alcohol gel. I soon learned that after taking out the inner foam by carefully cutting around the inner circle to separate the stitching, with the foam out, the earpad skin can carefully be pulled inside out and the ring will emerge on the other side, without damaging anything. Maybe first try this when the fabric is soaking wet as the water lubrication effect will make it easier. They dry quicker without the plastic ring inside although I carefully used my mum's hairdryer to dry them rapidly, after squashing most of the water out beforehand.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

 

[Backsplash7]

The HD430 earpads use the same attachment rings as the 540 earpads. So you could transplant those across but you will inevitably destroy the pads to get them out.

I used to clean the 540II velours in warm clean water and rubbing with alcohol gel. I soon learned that after taking out the inner foam by carefully cutting around the inner circle to separate the stitching, with the foam out, the earpad skin can carefully be pulled inside out and the ring will emerge on the other side, without damaging anything. Maybe first try this when the fabric is soaking wet as the water lubrication effect will make it easier. They dry quicker without the plastic ring inside although I carefully used my mum's hairdryer to dry them rapidly, after squashing most of the water out beforehand.

Thanks for the feedback, and the images! What sort of foam did you use? I was looking at firm/dense upholstery foam.
Okay, so going by the pictures it looks like you made your cut along the inside line of the earpad where the velour meets that leather papery material. Does that actually have stitching in the seam by default? I couldn't see any stitches in mine and had wondered if it had either been glued, or melted together during assembly. When you stitched them back together, how exactly did you go about it? It's been a very long time since I did sewing, but I imagine I'll have to roll the edges of both materials in (i.e. overlap) to make a reinforced edge to stitch together, which would reduce the surface area a little, and have the effect of widening the hole to the drivers, which I'm also assuming will have at least some impact on the sound.
The velour seems quite strong, but that thin papery leather on mine at least seems like it could be easily torn with a stray fingernail, so this feels like I'm only going to get one shot at this... is the answer simply to have as high a number of stitches as possible to reduce the strain on any single point?

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Yes, I initially carefully cut open the middle line. The pads on the 540II in the first two photos are totally velvet (front and back, the strongest and most attractive pad type). Unfortunately, many HD540II come with pads that have a velvet front but a fabric back, covered in a pleather. This type is trickier to work with because the fabric is delicate and frays so you have to thread the needle through the holes many times to reinforce its strength and distribute tension loads so it doesn't tear. For the foam, I randomly found an outdoor market stall one day selling big rolls of foam for £15. I went around the various options there, judging the thickness and feeling the rigidity/openness and guesstimated based on the flimsy yellow foam rings that I removed. Don't overthink it or pay lots of money; just get cheap foam that is fairly open cell, about 25mm thick and is more rigid than the yellow foam. Basically you are relying on the rigidity of the foam to suspend the drivers at sufficient distance from the outer ears when worn, so the outer ears don't touch the driver waveguide at all. I quite liked not sewing the earpads back up and just listened to the headphone with the new foam rings tucked in. Sewing the material back together compresses the foam, defeating the reason for replacing the original type. My roll of foam was so big that I had enough to restore at least 30+ pairs of earpads, based on how much I had left at the end. I sold all my excess away to a guy at Sennheiser a few years ago.

 

[SIRKRA]

One amazingly new 540? ( or 250/560? ) foam to the left and 430 to the right, same thickness, same density/porosity, just a bit different diameter
This just to say again that 430 pads/foams are totally perfects as official spares for the 540

 

[Backsplash7]

Some of the new pads I ordered have arrived, and with some brief testing on my german ref II's, here are some of my subjective impressions.
For context I have been using very flat ref II velour pads, with what could either be original (though I doubt it) if not HD430 inner/filter foam, and I have kept to this foam disc throughout the tests to eliminate that as a variable. Due to the flatness of the ref II pads, the tops of my ears rest slightly on the inner filter foam disc, not enough to hurt, but seems worth mentioning.

First pads up are wang yifei 'velour'. I put velour in quote marks, because the material is quite different to that of the ref II pads, with very long fibers, they're fluffy like a cushion cover, and this material looks nothing like the picture on the ebay ad. Before testing I carefully cut out the thin material dust cover thing on the back, as I didn't want that to interfere with anything. As I dont have a spare mounting/retention clip ring, these are just pushed into the cups and holding themselves in with friction, and I cant tell you at this stage whether or not the lack of a ring would make an impact on the sound. I note by looking at them that the hole in the middle of the pad is quite a lot narrower than my ref II pads. Pad height (or depth) is exactly twice that of the ref II pads.

The first thing I notice with these is that the volume seems lower, which is interesting, because I also have an uncomfortable pressure in my ears like I have the volume turned up way too high. These sound much less open, with a reduced soundstage. Immediately noticeable is the lack of clarity, like there is a thick veil softening and masking details in general. I had expected there would be more bass due to the significantly higher amount of foam in these, but in fact, there is less. Switching back to the ref II pads feels like a relief.

Second pads are HD430. Confirmed the plastic mounting ring is a perfect fit, so worst case scenario I can harvest these rings for use on other pads. Pad height is equal with ref II's.
The hole in the centre is wider than the wang velours, though still a bit narrower than the ref II pads. These are a bit uncomfortable, as the tops of my ears and earlobes now rest against the inside edge of the pads. As someone with medium sized ears which do not protrude overmuch, and it takes some fiddling to get them comfortable enough not to annoy me. I think this will be a big issue for someone with larger ears, unfortunately.

Unlike with the wang pads, the clarity doesn't take quite as big a nosedive at least for intruments, but it is still reduced, and vocals dont sound good anymore. Once again this feels less open, and soundstage is narrower again. Being a more sealed fit is an oddly noticeable sensation. The bass has increased quite a lot, and now sounds like its too much, which changes the overall signature to being muddy and covering details. Treble is a bit bright/hot, with some sibilance. Switching back to the ref II pads is a relief once more, everything becoming clear and wide and open. There is a lot less punch, but the bass is a lot cleaner and doesn't intrude on the mids anymore, and it also shows vocals to be far superior in clarity.

Overall neither pad really impresses me, and in both cases, switching back to the flat ref II velour pads instantly sounds like an upgrade. I dont want to give up that clarity, or the wide soundstage, and wont compromise on those areas for anything; I want to make those elements better! So, where to next?

I have some pu leather earpads on their way from china, the ones recommend by 2leftears. I also have a sheet of 1" thick high density polyurethane upholstery foam coming, and will be using cookie cutters as recommended by o0CosmoMemory0o.
My intention is to try replacing the foam in all four sets of earpads, and see whether I end up with a winner along the way, and I'll come back with an update later

 

[Starbound]

Ah well its good that its not noticeable, but yes, its nice when numbers match haha. I've not heard any of the 800 series either, but I did see the mods that were being done to them. So do the HD430 pads clip into place alright? I had read at some point in this thread that someone had to apply tape to keep them in.
After seeing the foam you have there, maybe what I should do as well is try to find some suitable foam to replace whats inside of my official velour pads and see what happens

Not only they clip into place alright, but they are the only way you can get your hands on an original HD540 attachment ring, as the 540 and the 430 use the same ring. BTW, if you have a 3D printer there is someone (I think a user of this site too) who posted files for the ring, though I haven't tried it as I don't have a 3D printer: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1735861

 

[Starbound]

Yes, I liked the cable/plug in the first photo the most and I tried to make sure all my purchases/sales featured that cable type. The push-on adapter was typically silver coloured. I bought several of the gold-plated variant of it like the old HD600 had, so that all my cables had an adapter. Not sure if the Sennheiser spares website still sells them.

I have some photos here. https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/achieving-high-fidelity-sound_topic4160.html

I recently got a Ref 2 and I found that the cable plugs were really stiff. So stiff in fact that I desisted in my attempt to remove the cable lest I might damage the connectors. Since this is the first time I have attempted to remove a Ref 2 cable, I don't know what to expect, maybe I am being overly apprehensive. You must have performed this operation a lot of times. Did you ever encounter issues removing the cable from the cups? How much of a resistance should I encounter?

Also, have you ever seen any corrosion in the headphone ports at the point of contact with the cable connectors? I am wondering if that could be an issue.

 

[Starbound]

Haha, now I feel a bit silly. I've just realised that I dont have a spare pair of mounting rings to be able to use the wang pads on their way to me! Had a look back through some of the previous comments... looks like the only way seems to be to destroy my original velour pads, or to buy a new pair of HD430 pads and take them apart. If thats true, then I suppose the big question is how do the HD430 pads compare to the wang pleather pads, and is it worth destroying one in order to use the other?

HAHA. Or you can try printing a set using that file I posted above, there is not much to lose in material if you already have a 3D printer.

 

[Starbound]

One amazingly new 540? ( or 250/560? ) foam to the left and 430 to the right, same thickness, same density/porosity, just a bit different diameter
This just to say again that 430 pads/foams are totally perfects as official spares for the 540

And with Sennheiser having sold the consumer division, if you want any of these you should probably get them sooner than later. But like @sennsay has said many times, the Wang pleather earpads are a great match with the thinner foam rings that come with the Wang velours. you just have to let the guy know that you want the foam rings from the velour earpads. I got a bunch of them for a small additional price when I ordered my pads, and I am even using a pair of those foam rings on a K240M that I just refurbished. The foam rings that come with the pleather earpads by default are way too thick.

 

[Starbound]

Some of the new pads I ordered have arrived, and with some brief testing on my german ref II's, here are some of my subjective impressions.
For context I have been using very flat ref II velour pads, with what could either be original (though I doubt it) if not HD430 inner/filter foam, and I have kept to this foam disc throughout the tests to eliminate that as a variable. Due to the flatness of the ref II pads, the tops of my ears rest slightly on the inner filter foam disc, not enough to hurt, but seems worth mentioning.

First pads up are wang yifei 'velour'. I put velour in quote marks, because the material is quite different to that of the ref II pads, with very long fibers, they're fluffy like a cushion cover, and this material looks nothing like the picture on the ebay ad. Before testing I carefully cut out the thin material dust cover thing on the back, as I didn't want that to interfere with anything. As I dont have a spare mounting/retention clip ring, these are just pushed into the cups and holding themselves in with friction, and I cant tell you at this stage whether or not the lack of a ring would make an impact on the sound. I note by looking at them that the hole in the middle of the pad is quite a lot narrower than my ref II pads. Pad height (or depth) is exactly twice that of the ref II pads.

The first thing I notice with these is that the volume seems lower, which is interesting, because I also have an uncomfortable pressure in my ears like I have the volume turned up way too high. These sound much less open, with a reduced soundstage. Immediately noticeable is the lack of clarity, like there is a thick veil softening and masking details in general. I had expected there would be more bass due to the significantly higher amount of foam in these, but in fact, there is less. Switching back to the ref II pads feels like a relief.

Second pads are HD430. Confirmed the plastic mounting ring is a perfect fit, so worst case scenario I can harvest these rings for use on other pads. Pad height is equal with ref II's.
The hole in the centre is wider than the wang velours, though still a bit narrower than the ref II pads. These are a bit uncomfortable, as the tops of my ears and earlobes now rest against the inside edge of the pads. As someone with medium sized ears which do not protrude overmuch, and it takes some fiddling to get them comfortable enough not to annoy me. I think this will be a big issue for someone with larger ears, unfortunately.

Unlike with the wang pads, the clarity doesn't take quite as big a nosedive at least for intruments, but it is still reduced, and vocals dont sound good anymore. Once again this feels less open, and soundstage is narrower again. Being a more sealed fit is an oddly noticeable sensation. The bass has increased quite a lot, and now sounds like its too much, which changes the overall signature to being muddy and covering details. Treble is a bit bright/hot, with some sibilance. Switching back to the ref II pads is a relief once more, everything becoming clear and wide and open. There is a lot less punch, but the bass is a lot cleaner and doesn't intrude on the mids anymore, and it also shows vocals to be far superior in clarity.

Overall neither pad really impresses me, and in both cases, switching back to the flat ref II velour pads instantly sounds like an upgrade. I dont want to give up that clarity, or the wide soundstage, and wont compromise on those areas for anything; I want to make those elements better! So, where to next?

I have some pu leather earpads on their way from china, the ones recommend by 2leftears. I also have a sheet of 1" thick high density polyurethane upholstery foam coming, and will be using cookie cutters as recommended by o0CosmoMemory0o.
My intention is to try replacing the foam in all four sets of earpads, and see whether I end up with a winner along the way, and I'll come back with an update later

Wangs but the pleather ones, with the thinner foam rings (the ones that come with the velour pads).

If you update the Rev 2 stock velour pads like o0CosmoMemory0o suggested some close up photos of where you are cutting and so forth would be great.

 

[Backsplash7]

I recently got a Ref 2 and I found that the cable plugs were really stiff. So stiff in fact that I desisted in my attempt to remove the cable lest I might damage the connectors. Since this is the first time I have attempted to remove a Ref 2 cable, I don't know what to expect, maybe I am being overly apprehensive. You must have performed this operation a lot of times. Did you ever encounter issues removing the cable from the cups? How much of a resistance should I encounter?

Also, have you ever seen any corrosion in the headphone ports at the point of contact with the cable connectors? I am wondering if that could be an issue.

Funny you should say that, when I unplugged the cables from the headphone, there was oil around the connectors (plastic parts, not the pins). Maybe those plugs getting stiff or stuck is a common issue?

 

[Backsplash7]

And with Sennheiser having sold the consumer division, if you want any of these you should probably get them sooner than later. But like @sennsay has said many times, the Wang pleather earpads are a great match with the thinner foam rings that come with the Wang velours. you just have to let the guy know that you want the foam rings from the velour earpads. I got a bunch of them for a small additional price when I ordered my pads, and I am even using a pair of those foam rings on a K240M that I just refurbished. The foam rings that come with the pleather earpads by default are way too thick.

There was a video interview recently on youtube, out out by DMS, where he had a spokesperson from sennheiser and senova discussing the changes, in which they said that they will be continuing to not only make headphones, but also continue to support spare parts. I'll leave a link for sake of ease