itchyears
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2013
- Posts
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So just got a set of K361 today. Wore them all day and was very impressed with the sound for the price. Felt very natural sounding in the mids. No harshness in the highs. Bass not too exaggerated - perhaps slightly above neutral...
Now the only problem.... The pads. My right ear touches the driver and it got uncomfortable after during a long session.
I can see lots of pad swaps mentioned here with the k371. Has anyone had any successful pad swaps with the k361 to retain the stock isolation and performance (or improve them if possible, cos why not), have greater comfort (thicker, more ear space, less likely to flatten in a long session)?
I'm particularly intrigued by the yaxi pads cos I like the look of them colourful but tasteful... But other options welcome please.
EDIT: I got the Yaxi stpad2 as suggested earlier in the this thread. Definitely a slight change to the sound. It seems wider and higher in the treble. I feel confused about the mids. They feel different, but I don't want to say something off-putting when they are actually fine. Need more time I guess. The stock sound is definitely warmer. I feel the mids are very slightly more open and natural sounding with the stock pads. With the Yaxis the mids sound very slightly congested compared to stock (but it may also just be further away... Or recessed?), but I personally prefer the bass, treble and width of with Yaxis and they are more comfortable as they don't compress as easily as stock meaning they keep ears further away from the drivers despite the Yaxi pads being thinner than the stock pads.
I think that is normal, every 3rd party pad I have got, usually brainwavz pads its changed the sound in one way or another. It use to irritate me when my ears touch the driver but now with my current hps AT-msr7b with stock pads, its not an issue even if they are touching the inner driver units, I just take regular ear breaks and keep the inside of the hps clean and also clean my ears gently each morning and have done this for many years just fine.
But in the past with my AKG K550 v1-3 with stock pads, the ears did touch the inner driver and the pads did use to irritate much worse and cause dry skin on the ears, so I think its the quality and material of the pads that could be a factor.
I find with my ears closer to the driver units the mids and vocals are much smoother and better refined, so in some ways am glad my ears just got used to it with my AT msr7bs.
Still tempted to order the K371, but unsure what type of material the pads are or how well they will fair with my ears.