[Piotr Michalak]

all 500 owners sadly

Wheres your full review? It be nice to have a nice critical review on it.

Oh I'm not a reviewer

 

[protoss]

Oh I'm not a reviewer

Just for fun.

 

[JMR77]

Guys, I urge every L5000 owner to try them with Dekoni ATH pads.

Thanks for this feedback. The original pads have an inner hole of 5cm, and feel more like on ear that over ear, which I do not like at all. The Dekoni pads seem to have a 5,5cm inner hole, so this may help the sense of better space etc. The Brainwavz pads also have a 5,5cm inner whole (which is much more comfortable for me) but at the same time are also about 1cm thicker, in my case the extra thickness worked very well because helped the headphones to stay in place; with the original (very thin) pads the headphones would tend to feel to loose and fall down a bit. I find the 3D wing system a bit crappy (it can be either hit or miss) when compared to something like the excellent ADX5000 headband.

I've been tempted by the Dekoni pads, but I'm concerned they would be too thin for me, despite the inner whole being a bit bigger.

BTW, I tried the L5000 with the ZMF Auteur pads and it was a disaster, sound was painfully bright, the ZMF have quite bigger inner whole and they are a a bit thicker than the stock pads.

I compared the Verité Closed to the L5000 and they are both top tier and complimentary, I need to spend more time comparing them but the L5000 are detail kings.

 

[Pastwa]

So far tried pads from Brainwavz (55mm diameter) and was getting way too much bass for my taste (they sounded almost like Abyss 1266TC in that regard) the overall sound balance shifted towards low frequencies with small but significant trade-offs in tone colour reproduction (not as accurate/believable) and less open presentation (the feeling you can touch the music has gone). Soundstage size remained the same.

Then Dekoni Fenestrated Sheepskin pads arrived, a model dedicated for ATH headphones (58mm inner diameter, matching the size of the transducer) and must admit that Dekoni was much closer to my preferences, however, with them L5k sounded lighter (versus original pads), with less impact in the bass region, slightly smaller scale, actually with Dekoni the ATH reminded me of 009 from Stax, just with a bigger soundstage, but there was the same (maybe even more) delicacy to each tiny sound, very ethereal presentation in a good way, I liked it.

Finally, have returned to the original ones, they are definitely not the most comfortable pads in the world (after 4-6h I need a short break) but in my system, they (L5k) produce the most balanced and truthful performance, at least for me.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

compared the Verité Closed

Oh cool, I've just ordered the new Verite Closed LTD! Wonder if I'll even like them knowing the "a little bit wonky" measurements? But L5000 measurements ain't perfect either and yet they sound superb.

pads from Brainwavz

Yeah, started trying new pads on L5k too, dunno why I haven't thought about it before... My friend inspired me and now I have a total of 6 (SIX!) different pairs of pads that sound right on L5000! It's like having 6 headphones in one.

On the other end of spectrum are Sonorous X which sound good ONLY on original dedicated pads, so that's something for me.

Dekoni Fenestrated Sheepskin

Too bass light, not a perfect match.

the original ones, they are definitely not the most comfortable pads in the world (after 4-6h I need a short break)

Oh, I can't sit more than an hour in them! Yep, I still consider them a good proposition, even knowing the others.

My ranking now is like this:
Out of competition are the original pads with their original sound - a colorful perfection in it's own class and our reference.

1st place goes ex aequo to Brainwavz XL sheepskin and Dekoni angled leather earpads - the latter I can't even find on their site, bough a few years ago, made for Beyerdynamic I think, may be out of production ;-(

Superb bass on both, as well as comfort. Dekoni has high levels of bass, going into V-shape almost, but still within reasonable levels; very extatic and euphoric overall with superb technicalities and mind blowing mids; a bit colored though.

Brainwavz are more neutral, almost dead flat studio reference if it wasn't for a bit of a spike in higher mids. Really not much to complain about. Oh and one more thing - isolation! Now L5k really isolates from outside noise! At last!

2nd place goes to Brainwavz XL micro suede; similar sound to sheepskin, but a little bit less subbass, and a bit more coherent higher mids, very euphoric vocals that may make you cry. Less isolation ;-( Even more comfort!

3rd place goes to Dekoni ATH-AD velour pads, with their diffuse field presentation and beautiful mids, yet another variation of them mids on L5k!

4rd place goes to Dekoni ATH-AD Sheepskin. A good alternative to the originals, more comfy, again. At the beginning there was too much subbass for me, but I don't know what happened, now they sound all right to me. Strange.

I recommend having all of them. However kudos to Brainwavz for being cheaper. So if you don't have money left after buying L5k, at least try no. 1 and 2 above!

Also kudos to Dekoni for being practically the only company making dedicated ATH-AD pads... Why nobody else thought about it? Support this company and buy them all and test for yourself.

If anybody wants, I can add pad measurements here.

 

[JMR77]

I forgot to say that I also tried the sheepskin Brainwavz XL, given that the regular sheepskin Brainwavz worked so well for me, but I did not like the XL at all, sound was too bright for me, I was not expecting such a big difference. The XL thickness is the same as the regular Brainwavz but the inner hole is 1cm bigger (6,5cm).

Changing pads with the L5000 feels just like testing different tips with IEMs.

I may give the Dekoni ATH-AD a shot.

Seeing measurement can certainly be interesting, thank you. I suspect that given the wing headband system of the L5000, sound changes due to different pads can be specially affected by everyone's head size and headphone fit.

Regarding the Verité Closed, give them some hours for headphone and brain burn in; my first impression on them was not good, but thankfully they got much much better after some hours, they have a warmer signature compared to the L5000, although they are also very resolving and spacious.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Haven't tried normal Brainwavz, thanks for the tip. Unfortunately sheepskin is out of stock That's a shame, as I love their leather; seems a class higher than Dekoni, and also much cheaper at the same time.

This is Sony CD3000 versus L5000 on Brainwavz XL sheepskin (there's a mistake in the picture, that's not Dekoni). We may see how neutral CD3000 is, and also lighter on the bass here, while still this L5k bass may be considered quite flat and neutral. This is on IEC711 coupler with an ear from EARS set, so take upper mids with a grain of salt. We see that there is more glare in the upper mids than in CD3k, which is this brightness you were saying. Yes, there's too much for pure neutrality. On the other hand, it doesn't have treble spikes in the last octave like CD3k.



Here is this "glare" again, just tad too much. That bothers me only on classical though.



This is Brainwavz XL sheepskin vs suede. Sorry for the mistakes in naming on the picture, that's NOT dekoni. Suede has less bass, is more diffuse-field-ish. Notice slight differences in the upper mids also.



And here is Dekoni angled leather pads (probably beyerdynamic) versus XL sheepskin. Crazy bass!





I have also measured the ATH pads, but haven't exported them yet. Let me know if interested.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Guys, L5000 made me wanna add L3000 to my collection so if anybody knows anyone or anything, give me a hint.

 

[JMR77]

@Piotr Michalak, did you get the Verité Closed? Yesterday I just tried the ZMF Universe Pads that I got with mine on ten L5000 and I'm very happy, they seem to keep the original super-revealing sound signature of the original pads with better bass and they are much more comfortable to me.

I didn't try them before because the Auteur didn't work well at all for the L5000, so I thought the Universe pads would provide a similar experience, you may want to give these a try too.

 

[Piotr Michalak]

@Piotr Michalak, did you get the Verité Closed? Yesterday I just tried the ZMF Universe Pads that I got with mine on ten L5000 and I'm very happy, they seem to keep the original super-revealing sound signature of the original pads with better bass and they are much more comfortable to me.

I didn't try them before because the Auteur didn't work well at all for the L5000, so I thought the Universe pads would provide a similar experience, you may want to give these a try too.

Got it a few days ago, measured on every possible pad, but haven't tried ZMF pads on L5k yet. Thanks for the tip. Will get back with this later. Anyone wants to see measurements? I feel people here are not interested in these.

 

[JMR77]

Got it a few days ago, measured on every possible pad, but haven't tried ZMF pads on L5k yet. Thanks for the tip. Will get back with this later. Anyone wants to see measurements? I feel people here are not interested in these.

Measurements are always welcome, but in my case I take them with a grain of salt since everyone seems to hear different. Yet comparative measurements are always interesting to me.

I think I may buy a se of Dekoni ATH pasa and maybe Beyerdynamic too if those can enhance bass.

Hope to see your pad measurements on the ZMF Verité on its respective thread too, it's a very popular headphone compared to the L5000, which I still find to be the king of detail retrieval.

 

[BadBoy]

@Piotr Michalak, did you get the Verité Closed? Yesterday I just tried the ZMF Universe Pads that I got with mine on ten L5000 and I'm very happy, they seem to keep the original super-revealing sound signature of the original pads with better bass and they are much more comfortable to me.

I didn't try them before because the Auteur didn't work well at all for the L5000, so I thought the Universe pads would provide a similar experience, you may want to give these a try too.

Hello, Thanks for the good tip

When you order 'ZMF Universe Pads', What option did you choose?

there are 6 options....
1. Lamskin
2. Lamskin(perforated)
3. ZMF Suede
4. ZMF Suede(perforated)
5. Hybrid - Lamskin and Suede
6. Hybrid(perforated) - Lamskin and Suede

Thank you again~

 

[Piotr Michalak]

Hello, Thanks for the good tip

When you order 'ZMF Universe Pads', What option did you choose?

there are 6 options....
1. Lamskin
2. Lamskin(perforated)
3. ZMF Suede
4. ZMF Suede(perforated)
5. Hybrid - Lamskin and Suede
6. Hybrid(perforated) - Lamskin and Suede

Thank you again~

Oh by the way, I had all recommended pads, 2 stock + 5 ZMF said are to be tested with Verite. Most of them change the sound only by little, you won't get a huge change with them. Measured them all too. Actually Verite mids look best in the stock ones I would say. But it's always fun to play with. L5000 also sounds best on stock ones, btw.

 

[JMR77]

Hello, Thanks for the good tip

When you order 'ZMF Universe Pads', What option did you choose?

there are 6 options....
1. Lamskin
2. Lamskin(perforated)
3. ZMF Suede
4. ZMF Suede(perforated)
5. Hybrid - Lamskin and Suede
6. Hybrid(perforated) - Lamskin and Suede

Thank you again~

The ones I have are the first ones you listed, "Lambskin" (they came with my Verité Closed, but I use Zmf Auteur pads with the Verité, which by the way I did not like with the L5000)

 

[Halimj7]

Bismillah

The L5000 looks like it is essentially a W5000 covered in leather. Further, regarding the fit if the W5000 doesn't fit me will the L5000 also not fit? Can anyone confirm or deny these two questions. Thanks.