[czrem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew_WOT /img/forum/go_quote.gif Depends. In general pads from different manufacturers esp. from different phone designs (open/closed) yield horrible results. Beyer velour pads on K271S produce absolutely bassless, thin sound. On the other hand AKG velour pads designed for this specific phones do not change sound at all and in fact add some bass comparing to pleather because of the better seal. So as a rule stay with pads designed for specific phones. The only exception I know of is Beyer manufacture leather pads, from my experience those were quite bad on DT880.

Why would the manufacturer of the pad make any difference? Imo, there are many pad properties which could theoretically affect the sound.

- Fit both from the pad to the headphone and the pad to the ear/head (varies seal and bass leakage)
- The distance the pad puts between the drivers and your ear (varies the physical volume of air the driver has to play with and interact with your ear)
- The type of fabric used to make the pad (different fabrics can lend to different sound reflection/absorption properties)
- The physical pliability the fabric has (varies seal and bass leakage)
- The compression characteristics of what's inside the pad (varies seal and bass leakage, possibly distance from driver)

I feel there are logical explanations as to why different pads yield different results. The people who made them isn't a logical explanation for sonic variance between pads, in my mind. And if I were to guess, K271 pads have a vinyl inner lining and lip (more sound reflection, less bass absorption, better seal around the outer plastic baffle) so in this way, sonically, they might react similar to a (p)leather pad, preserving bass. Whereas Beyer's are all velour if I'm not mistaken and might leak and absorb more bass. K271 pads are also rather thin whereas Beyer velour's are a bit thicker, yet squishier. This might have an impact on driver distance and if I were to guess again, the Beyer's would set your ears slightly further away, increasing physical ear chamber volume, decreasing bass punch.

These are only my thoughts, however, not facts. I'm just spewing out what goes through my mind whenever I listen to music.

Quote:

Originally Posted by XaNE /img/forum/go_quote.gif they might change the sound signature slightly nothing u can notice

If you agree that pads change sound signature slightly, what makes you the expert on Lunatique's ears? How would you know whether they could/couldn't hear a difference?

Ear pads are a very important part of tuning headphones. This is especially true for high fidelity headphones. The pad type and design go into presise sound tuning by the engeneers that desighn headphones and in some cases have a more significant impact than the driver. This presents a problem for users. Ear pads will break down and in the process slowly change the sound character of your headphone. Replacing with OEM pads is difficult as they are not readily available and in some instances, not available at all. This creates a large demand for after market manufacturers. Some of these are even high quality but you'll notice that none of them guarantees that your headphones will sound the same. They market mostly on quality and comfort. Some of these are more comfortable than OEM but you need to realistically expect that your headphones will sound different. Some pads will make a more significant difference than others. If you like the stock sound, stick with OEM. If it doesn't matter to you, have fun experimenting.

 

[dstarr3]

If you think about it in terms of speakers, changing ear pads is like changing the size, shape, and acoustic treatment of an entire room.

 

[czrem]

That's a good way to describe it. I use a pair of Dekoni velour pads on a AKG K702. My primary purpose for this is the comfort. It makes wearing much more tolerable over the angled stock pads. These I reasoned would be the closest to the original tuning and they are pretty close but not quite the same. The sound stage and imaging clarity take a step down though not to a point that would be unacceptable. These Dekoni pads are high quality but introduce significant changes which highlight what you described above. They put the driver slightly further away from the ears. The density is higher due to the memory foam and they do not angle the driver as the stock pads which assists a little with imaging. With examples like this, you can understand the compromises manufacturers implement with tuning. I have read many reviews about this with the HD800s which have shallow and somewhat harder pads but swapping them with after market pads drastically changes the characteristics that that headphone is known for.

 

[AKGman]

I'd like to change the ear-pads on some of my sealed cans to make them more comfortable (who the hell actually likes pleather anyway? Velour is so much more comfortable). Would changing them from pleather to velour change the sound or mess up the seal so they leak more?

The ones I'd like to change:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50
Equation RP21

I prefer pleather pads to velour. But both types have advantages and disadvantages. Pleather are the type vintage headphones originally came with, and probably give a better seal around the ear.