I have a nagging suspicion that Brainwavz quietly updated their HM5 cans with a different tuning. That would explain why they started selling deeper earpads and discontinued the old ones. Maybe I'll buy a pair too while they last 

Are you sure you're not talking about those ones: http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-hm5-thick-memory-foam-earpad-suitable-for-large-over-the-ear-headphones-1pc ?

AFAIR, the non-foam pads used to be priced per pad, not per pair like now. Anyway, here's the link for the foam version: http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-hm5-thick-memory-foam-earpad-suitable-for-large-over-the-ear-headphones-1pc Same price but different pads, as you can see.   You're...

Hmm, maybe you're right. You could always ask MP4nation, I guess. Anyway, here are the original pads, not the thick ones: http://www.mp4nation.net/brainwavz-hm5-spare-earpad-1-pair   I have the Beyer pads you're talking about. They're nice, but not as comfy as the Brainwavz pads. Besides...

Hey, I didn't know they're making the color ones now :)   Anyway, they seem ok. What you don't want is the "thick memory foam pads". Those definitely do sound too thin without EQ.

My cans say "Emma" on the left cup and "8.35D" on the right. Haven't figured which is brighter yet. Back to listening 

Oh, I got you about the cable.    Well, I should say I haven't tried taking off my tissue for a long time now, but back when I put it on the effect seemed profound enough for me. As to EQing, I guess if I'd play with some EQ long enough I could get better results than with tissue paper, but I...

I changed my cable to Brainwavs mini-jack but that didn't seem to help me with brightness. Even though my Audioengine D3 is supposed* to be kinda warmish, I prefer to be on the safe side as I don't like harsh treble. Anyway, with tissue paper, the treble sounds natural to me, so I must be doing...

I use the tissue paper mod to alleviate the brightness. Seems to work :)

Let's hope it's a pair, because MP4Nation sells them by one piece  You're welcome. Hope you're gonna like 'em.

I'm not even sure they're not genuine leather. Even if they're not, it's a different kind of pleather than the original pads. It's really soft. The whole pad is very soft. The downside of which is, if you bend the headband, your sound may change when the pressure on the cups changes. On the...

I also still recommend Brainwavz HM5 pads for anyone not content with the original pads. I cannot say whether they are more or less neutral than the original pads because they're so comfy I don't want to get my ears out of them, but I love how my cans sound, so. ^_^ Not to be confused with the...

Well, I'll probably have a good excuse to upgrade to HiFi-M8 when (if) I ugprage to Alpha Dog, but before that I'm very happy with the D3.   BTW, I do get why they say the D3 has sounds analog. Even the old records with effects that sound pretty dated today (Led Zeppelin, for instance) sound...

I love my D3 and I love my music. The pairing with my German Maestros is brilliants, the music sounds very fun, spacious and natural and can listen to it all day long. Everything as advertised. Thank you, Head-Fi 

Well I'm not one for hoarding gear either, so if I had a pair of €1269 customs, I might sell my GMs as well :) As it is, I'm very grateful to have some classy cans on the cheap.

I still think they can be very fun with the right source. Obviously, I've heard less gear than most of the head-fiers but I love how my GMPs pair with the Audioengine D3, wich is pretty airy and well-separating but neither to thin, nor too bright.

Good thing I've read some head-fi and bought Audioendine D3 instead of supposedly fatiguing Dragonfly v1.2 :) I still use the tissue mod though, cause I use my GMs for everything and badly engineered and/or encoded videos can be quite sibilant with them.

As someone who did 1/8 '' mono jacks on my Maestros I assure you they're not perfectly flat but rather slightly convex.

No improvement over what? I bought Audioengine D3 just recently and improvement over my ThinkPad soundcard with the GMs is pretty much enormous.

Hey. I thought the AQDF 1.2 was supposed to be so much more relaxed and non-fatiguing than 1.0. Good thing I haven't pull my trigger on it yet.   Thank you for your review, Incognito73. Thank you guys. I like what you say about the bass, I like what you say about treble and I do hope the D3...

Another downside would be you'd have to solder in a full-size USB port instead of the micro-USB one the X5 has.

Thanks mate!  Given that the X5 won't be available for a month at least (I thought it was available for [pre-]order at MP4nation but it isn't now), I still have some time to think about it 

Well, frankly I just haven't visited HF for a while so I've seen your post just today so that's rather a synchronicity than my personal calculation but, yeah, you're more than welcome  Hey, my birthday was yesterday and I've been working most of the day. Well, bought a couple of albums on...

Hey, happy birthday! 

  Well, the 8.35 are easy to drive, to start with.   And the beauty of the ADs (as well as my GMs) is that they're closed-back. That's important for my usage. And since I'm not looking to have a whole lot of cans for the moment, I think ADs would make a nice all around pair.