Can very much agree - the D2000 holds a special place in my heart, and if they still made it, even without any engineering improvements or driver advancements, I'd still recommend it to anyone at a ~$300 price point.   The D5000 felt a little too harsh, and too much quantitatively that took...

  The damping material on the driver is a form of foam (looks similar to Silverstone foam), the cup is cotton for all I can tell, but I am not an expert in that kind of thing so take that with a tablespoon of sea salt.   Pad openings I didn't found to make much a difference, since it's the...

    There's definitely going to be a lot more highs - the driver on the X00 isn't dampened, and the cups are blank rather than stuffed with cotton. Bass, I think the X00 has a bigger midbass bump, while the 610 extends deeper and has more prominent sub-bass.   The 610 also has bigger...

  That would be the second option for $33, I assume?

  Are these protein/PU leather or actual leather?   I'm tempted to give the TH-900 style Dekoni sheepskins a try (dekoniaudio.com/product/dekoni-audio-fostex-th900-elite-sheepskin-replacement-memory-foam-ear-pad-set/) right now, but these look interesting also.

The Denon D2000/D5000/D7000, and Fostex TH-X00/610 have the attenuation plates sown into the pads - the ones with round pads (600/900) do not.   I assume the E-MU Teak has it too, since they have the oval pads also.

  To be fair, pad swapping usually loses low end extension and control while also raising treble, so that might have something to do with it - I know I didn't prefer the sound with swapped pads from what I've tried so far.   That said, has anybody tried the ZMF Eikon or Dekoni TH-900 style...

  The frame is entirely magnesium to my knowledge, the only plastic there is is a little slip inside the headband padding that keeps the pleather evenly stretched.   Detachable cable connectors on the TH-610 are plastic, but that's about it.     *Keep in mind I do not own an X00, only have...

  No, the wood is lacquered, so you'd have to sand off the lacquer if you wanted to treat it with anything - the lacquer will protect it well, and it shouldn't shrink or dry on you. Concerns regarding longevity and quality of the wood cups here should be a non-factor, they're treated well.  ...

  This loose plastic ring is what you want:       See the ring that's lying loosely on the desk? That's the one you need, no destructive action required.     These are the twist lock rings, to be clear. You can order some here if you actually don't have them anymore...

Take out the rings, put them in the new pads. You aren't supposed to pull the pads over the cup, only over the flexible plastic ring that locks into the baffle.

You have to take the twist lock rings out first. That's where you put them over - then when you have the pads on the rings, you twist them back in.

  Pull them over on one side, then slowly roll and stretch the rest over the twist lock ring - this works for the Brainwavz pads also, although oval pads need a bit of extra patience.

This just seems like Hifiman trying to say "we do it better than Monoprice" after the recent M1060 debacle, but in a really, really odd way - yeah veneer won't crack, but what of it, we've known that already.   No news, no anything really.

    I haven't had any issues with mine, and I was a very early adopter. Unless you actively bonk them into the edge of your desk with some noticeable force or similar, it'll be fine - you'd have a hard time to get anything done with your nails, for example.   These aren't designed for...