[DaaDaa]

It seems that all the look-alike/sound-alike models based on the ISK MDH-9000 except the Akai Project 50X have the same (or virtually the same) stock pads--which are excellent in comfort & sound.

I tried pad-rolling the MPH-2, but gave up very quickly. Nothing else sounded as good as those stock pads, though this pad-set or that were slightly more comfortable.

"Lush sound & wide soundstage" pretty much cover it!

yes i bought an extra pair of the stock pads (just in case) from amazon. they arrived and are identical to the ones on marantz in size, feel, shape, and softness. they are excellent. So in total i bought two pairs of marantz mph-2 with one pair of extra pads.thats how much i liked them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6DLLMN/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also agree with you about the soundstage being good. as a comparison the hifiman HE400i that i am liustening to right now has a narrower soundstage typical for cheaper planars, all instruments come from directly infront of your ears and thats just how it is. i pointed out the Superlux is even better being open back. that is quite something for a headphone that i bought 4 years ago from massdrop for 30 dollars to best $250 cans in this regard. does not mean that marantz sucks. just that superlux is a little better is ABX comparison.

 

[Humblepie]

Well I got those $50 Aizer headphones in today from Amazon. I wasn't expecting much as I am not a big fan of the closed back version I have which is the NVX XPT100s. I don't like how scooped out the mids sound to me on those with a slight hollow tinnies to them. That being said, Zeos and a few others have a review of the similar looking Spadger branded open HM5 brainwavz clones. He said they were decent too, but nothing all that great. His review here:

So again I was thinking these would be meh at best. My expectations were wrong. These are WAY better than the closed back version I have and better than the Spadger reviews led me to believe they would be. I will say that don't really "sound" like an open set of headphones. They don't have that good of a sound stage. They sound like what a good closed set should sound like. I don't think they are as open as they could have been despite the giant open grills on the side. When I place my hands over the grills the sound doesn't change that much. Not like my other open headphones tend to change radically when I block the grills. Other than that they are really good overall. Punchy, slightly elevated, and textured bass. The mid bass still has a strange scooped out tinnyness to the sound however moving up it transitions to clear, smooth mids. Slightly energetic mid-trebles that ends the energy just before sibilance starts to kick in for me. Good treble presence still after that. I'm actually quite liking them as I am listening to them while typing these review of them up.

They come with some really nice micro-suede earpads already installed that are very comfortable. Also included a set of regular HM5 pads, but no angled ones. Carry case and a ridiculously long but nice cable.

Build quality still seems pretty good with these as with all the recent HM5 clones from what I can tell that have the upgraded plastic yokes.

 

[Humblepie]

yes i bought an extra pair of the stock pads (just in case) from amazon. they arrived and are identical to the ones on marantz in size, feel, shape, and softness. they are excellent. So in total i bought two pairs of marantz mph-2 with one pair of extra pads.thats how much i liked them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6DLLMN/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also agree with you about the soundstage being good. as a comparison the hifiman HE400i that i am liustening to right now has a narrower soundstage typical for cheaper planars, all instruments come from directly infront of your ears and thats just how it is. i pointed out the Superlux is even better being open back. that is quite something for a headphone that i bought 4 years ago from massdrop for 30 dollars to best $250 cans in this regard. does not mean that marantz sucks. just that superlux is a little better is ABX comparison.

Yep, looks like you bought the ones I was listing on my deal thread the other day I bought them too and out them on my Akai 50x. I had some brainwavz HM5s on there and they were nice with those, but wanted to try the round pads. I will say that changing pads on these is a bit of a pain in the butt. The round pads are shallower though and seem to increase the bass and warmth more over the HM5s I have. Thinking I might try to cloth seniteks or velours I have next. Just wish changing on these were so hard to do.

EDIT: Yah, the deeper pads sound better to me. They make it a bit more balanced and add even more soundstage. While the round pads are nicer than what came on the Akai 50x, I think deeper HM5 style pads are better still than the lyxpro has-30 or mph-2 pads. These lyxpro has-30 round pads might do well on the kopss DJ pro 200s though... And look better considering the shape.

EDIT2: The Cloth seniteks made the sound signature on my Akai 50x open on soundstage but gave it a duller fuzzier sound. It was like clarity went down, it went warmer, and less bassier. Not a fan of that change. The velours were about the same. Guessing these need the reflections off the leather like material in the earpads.

 

[Pharmaboy]

When I first started messing w/headphones for real ~2 yrs ago, I had a couple early successes with pad-rolling...a couple headphones that were markedly improved by changing out the pads. I made the mistake of believing pad-rolling is simple and straightforward.

WRONG.

Since then, all but 1-2 of maybe a dozen pad-rolling attempts were overt disasters. Even the 1-2 cases that weren't disasters, also weren't exactly successes. More like "not bad--but not much better, either."

I actually tried pad-rolling the Marantz MPH-2s once. Not because it needed improvement--but because I wanted to try the MPH-2s pads on a headphone that had sonic issues. Disaster! The stock pads went back on the MPH-2, still there today.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Well I got those $50 Aizer headphones in today from Amazon. I wasn't expecting much as I am not a big fan of the closed back version I have which is the NVX XPT100s. I don't like how scooped out the mids sound to me on those with a slight hollow tinnies to them. That being said, Zeos and a few others have a review of the similar looking Spadger branded open HM5 brainwavz clones. He said they were decent too, but nothing all that great. His review here:

So again I was thinking these would be meh at best. My expectations were wrong. These are WAY better than the closed back version I have and better than the Spadger reviews led me to believe they would be. I will say that don't really "sound" like an open set of headphones. They don't have that good of a sound stage. They sound like what a good closed set should sound like. I don't think they are as open as they could have been despite the giant open grills on the side. When I place my hands over the grills the sound doesn't change that much. Not like my other open headphones tend to change radically when I block the grills. Other than that they are really good overall. Punchy, slightly elevated, and textured bass. The mid bass still has a strange scooped out tinnyness to the sound however moving up it transitions to clear, smooth mids. Slightly energetic mid-trebles that ends the energy just before sibilance starts to kick in for me. Good treble presence still after that. I'm actually quite liking them as I am listening to them while typing these review of them up.

They come with some really nice micro-suede earpads put on them that very comfortable. Also included a set of regular HM5 pads, but no angled ones. Carry case and a ridiculously long but nice cable.

Build quality still seems pretty good with these as with all the recent HM5 clones from what I can tell that have the upgraded plastic yokes.

How's the clamping pressure on these?

Your comments re sound are very interesting/encouraging--but if these things are a torment to wear, not so good...

 

[Slater]

It seems that all the look-alike/sound-alike models based on the ISK MDH-9000 except the Akai Project 50X have the same (or virtually the same) stock pads--which are excellent in comfort & sound.

I tried pad-rolling the MPH-2, but gave up very quickly. Nothing else sounded as good as those stock pads, though this pad-set or that were slightly more comfortable.

"Lush sound & wide soundstage" pretty much cover it!

The OEM replacement stock pads are available to buy for $5.99 on Amazon (they are comfy, great quality, and a steal at $6)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6DLLMN

So $25 for the Akai Project 50X + $6 for the OEM pads = $31 for the same thing, only at a fraction of the cost of the other clones

 

[trellus]

Well I got those $50 Aizer headphones in today from Amazon. I wasn't expecting much as I am not a big fan of the closed back version I have which is the NVX XPT100s. I don't like how scooped out the mids sound to me on those with a slight hollow tinnies to them. That being said, Zeos and a few others have a review of the similar looking Spadger branded open HM5 brainwavz clones. He said they were decent too, but nothing all that great. His review here:


So again I was thinking these would be meh at best. My expectations were wrong. These are WAY better than the closed back version I have and better than the Spadger reviews led me to believe they would be. I will say that don't really "sound" like an open set of headphones. They don't have that good of a sound stage. They sound like what a good closed set should sound like. I don't think they are as open as they could have been despite the giant open grills on the side. When I place my hands over the grills the sound doesn't change that much. Not like my other open headphones tend to change radically when I block the grills. Other than that they are really good overall. Punchy, slightly elevated, and textured bass. The mid bass still has a strange scooped out tinnyness to the sound however moving up it transitions to clear, smooth mids. Slightly energetic mid-trebles that ends the energy just before sibilance starts to kick in for me. Good treble presence still after that. I'm actually quite liking them as I am listening to them while typing these review of them up.

They come with some really nice micro-suede earpads put on them that very comfortable. Also included a set of regular HM5 pads, but no angled ones. Carry case and a ridiculously long but nice cable.

Build quality still seems pretty good with these as with all the recent HM5 clones from what I can tell that have the upgraded plastic yokes.

I had those in my cart but I waited too long to check out and they were gone by the time I tried to complete the order. *sad trombone*

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

Well I got those $50 Aizer headphones in today from Amazon. I wasn't expecting much as I am not a big fan of the closed back version I have which is the NVX XPT100s. I don't like how scooped out the mids sound to me on those with a slight hollow tinnies to them. That being said, Zeos and a few others have a review of the similar looking Spadger branded open HM5 brainwavz clones. He said they were decent too, but nothing all that great. His review here:

So again I was thinking these would be meh at best. My expectations were wrong. These are WAY better than the closed back version I have and better than the Spadger reviews led me to believe they would be. I will say that don't really "sound" like an open set of headphones. They don't have that good of a sound stage. They sound like what a good closed set should sound like. I don't think they are as open as they could have been despite the giant open grills on the side. When I place my hands over the grills the sound doesn't change that much. Not like my other open headphones tend to change radically when I block the grills. Other than that they are really good overall. Punchy, slightly elevated, and textured bass. The mid bass still has a strange scooped out tinnyness to the sound however moving up it transitions to clear, smooth mids. Slightly energetic mid-trebles that ends the energy just before sibilance starts to kick in for me. Good treble presence still after that. I'm actually quite liking them as I am listening to them while typing these review of them up.

They come with some really nice micro-suede earpads already installed that are very comfortable. Also included a set of regular HM5 pads, but no angled ones. Carry case and a ridiculously long but nice cable.

Build quality still seems pretty good with these as with all the recent HM5 clones from what I can tell that have the upgraded plastic yokes.

I have been meaning to pick up a set of these or the Spadger version....it's interesting because there have been a couple of these 'open backed' variants (including HM5 shows the open backed version on it's ads for it's hangers) I was hoping someone would pick up a set and report back.
I liked my NVX SPT, expecially when I pulled the backs off and made a custom grill for them, so I was hoping the sound would be similar on the open version.
I agree on the sucked out mids on the NVX, that was why I gave them away to a girlfriend. I'm surprised the soundstage isn't better, because the closed version has really good soundstage for a closed back.
@trellus in terms of comfort, they are another Yoga 880 clone so they are going to be supremely comfortable. I heard they require a little stretching of the headband for larger heads, but they are almost universally regarded as VERY comfortable.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

I had those in my cart but I waited too long to check out and they were gone by the time I tried to complete the order. *sad trombone*

I've been watching them, they sell out and come back in stock. I doubt you missed your chance to get a set.

 

[trellus]

I've been watching them, they sell out and come back in stock. I doubt you missed your chance to get a set.

I have them in my Amazon Wish List, which I periodically check, so if they come back in stock I may give them a try again at that time ... but anyway, I spent my headphone budget for the time being on a local pickup (haven't made a local purchase in a long time) -- picked up the Audio Technica ATH-A550Z ART Monitor closed-back 'phones, which I think are quite delicious at $99, good sound stage, fairly balanced, and quite comfy.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

The OEM replacement stock pads are available to buy for $5.99 on Amazon (they are comfy, great quality, and a steal at $6)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N6DLLMN

So $25 for the Akai Project 50X + $6 for the OEM pads = $31 for the same thing, only at a fraction of the cost of the other clones

I got mine for about the same.I paid a little bit less for the Akai and a tiny bit more for Senitek pads. The hybrids are my favorite for these, better than the OEM pleathers in my opinion. The Akai is the best buy out of all the clones that's for sure....I can't think of a better closed back can for $30.

 

[Saoshyant]

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...hones-300ohms-600ohms/923848_32821211700.html

I must admit it's an interesting look. I also wonder just how heavy they are.

 

[Slater]

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/pr...hones-300ohms-600ohms/923848_32821211700.html

I must admit it's an interesting look. I also wonder just how heavy they are.

You can buy those T1 clone drivers by themselves. I have been considering them for a year now.

At 1st glance, I don't like the look of that FR graph at all. I'll try and duplicate the curve via EQ on an existing can and see what it sounds like.

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

https://www.amazon.com/Akai-Profess...&qid=1520099448&sr=8-1&keywords=akai+50x&th=1
It appears Amazon has picked up the Akai 50X as an 'amazon exclusive'. It's $25, free shipping....but at the moment it's only available to Amazon Prime members.
Still a great deal, even considering you have to buy new pads....but Lyxpro pads are only $6

 

[Slater]

https://www.amazon.com/Akai-Professional-Project-50X-Headphones/dp/B01GDB79T4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520099448&sr=8-1&keywords=akai+50x&th=1
It appears Amazon has picked up the Akai 50X as an 'amazon exclusive'. It's $25, free shipping....but at the moment it's only available to Amazon Prime members.
Still a great deal, even considering you have to buy new pads....but Lyxpro pads are only $6

You can also buy NIB broken-hinged ones on Amazon and fix them (they're easy to fix if you get the broken hinge pieces from the seller).

I paid $10 shipped for the 1st pair, and $9 for my 2nd. I wanted the 2nd set just for the drivers (they're that good), plus I'll have spare parts left over for the 1st set