[Bilavideo]

I like the goal of the jumbo (G-Cush) pads but I'm not as big a fan of their size or sound. On the road to the "bigger sound stage," the G-Cush shifts the tonal balance too far to the right - sucking bass and mids while blowing HF, sometimes to the edge of sibilance. But without the added ear/driver distance, mids may be a bit too prominent and the price of slamming bass may be a less crisp high end, maybe even a somewhat muted HF.

The bowls try to provide more sound stage than either the flats or the comfies but at a price. More HF comes at a loss of bass. Nor does cranking up the volume fix things. The flats provide the best bass, raising the question of whether more sound stage and a crisper top end can be produced without gutting the bass.

The answer may be to supplement the flats with the bottoms of the bowls (after the bowls have been cut horizontally into upper and lower ends). The thicker cushions do a better job of capturing the bass than the softer, more porous ones. Placed over the flats, they provide a smaller, less overblown, "concert hall for the ears," one that rests on the sides of the head surrounding the ears. The added 4 mm or so of cushion adds a little more ear/driver distance but the thickness of the material helps capture the bass in ways that are not comparable to either the comfies, the bowls or the jumbos.

This is similar to flipping the bowls around but works better. First, the ear/driver distance is about the same as with the bowls, but the lack of a concave shaped top and a harder (rather than softer) material has several benefits. There's a little more sound stage, with mids slightly recessed for a more open sound, but not at the cost of the bass. Comfort-wise, there's also more room for the pinnae of the ear to tuck inside. This puts the cushions resting around the ears, rather than on them. It's a more comfortable fit. What's more, because of the flats, and their coverage of the hard surface radiating out and around the the driver, there's a better suppression of the runaway spikes that can shrill things up.

 

[jjinh]

dont know if i should ask this.. do you have pics?

 

[Bilavideo]

 

[Bilavideo]

The bottom of the bowl pad has a harder texture. If you can get that through a spray-on approach, your'e in good shape. Otherwise, this harder cushioning is an ideal "hat" for a pair of flats, to produce a fuller HF without ending up sibilant and without killing the bass. To my ears, it adds a needed balance to the flats but avoids the sins of the bowls and jumbos. My savage, barbaric cutting is less photogenic than euphonic, but I think this is it. It feels full and natural, not muted or anemic. It's still bright, detailed enough to bring out the joy in acoustic music, but without the sibilance and with the kind of bass that makes the flats sought after in the first place.

 

[Bilavideo]

I cut them back a little. Essentially, I've haloed a pair of flats. Some will say that undermines the points of "flats" but I disagree. These are not bowls. The flat halo is tougher than the soft upper top of the bowl - and you can hear the difference. The bowls trade comfort for bass retention. It's totally unnecessary. The additional millimeters of space give you that HF sizzle but the harder surface communicates the bass so much better. Anybody can do a better job of cutting than I have, but the hard halos are too good not to duplicate.

I left these unglued so the mod could be instantly reversible. The halo also creates a tight circumaural design, where the weight of the headphone presses around the ears, not on them. As a result, these flats + hard halos are more comfortable than the bowls and even more comfortable than the G-Cush pads (because they're less cumbersome). I think the sound is fantastic.