** Confessions of a Failing Audiophile ** - I hated the LCD2

[purrin]

^ I'll take a St-Julien Bordeaux with my Big Mac please.

 

[koolkat]

Does anyone know if the HD555/598 ear pads will fit onto the HD438? 

 

[n-phect]

i just listened to my iphone earbuds, there not actually that bad for free.

 

[ianmedium]

i just listened to my iphone earbuds, there not actually that bad for free.

So funny, I listened to mine the other day and they were terrible, what are you listening through?

 

[n-phect]

to be honest i rather listen to them than my sony xb300s
 
they sound good for free

 

[swbf2cheater]

Quote:

Does anyone know if the HD555/598 ear pads will fit onto the HD438? 

Go to walmart or any crafts store and buy some thin felt, you will want to make two identical pieces of this,  put the earpad you want to use on the felt and trace the outline, make sure it fits the back end of the pads ( meaning you cannot see any sticking out on the inside of the earpad hole.  The inner portion should match the rings on the earpads it self and not stick out into the center of the hole, however you want to cut the other end wide enough to match the HD438s earcups dimensions. )
 
 
 
So the center hole in the felt matches the width of the hole in your earpads you wish to use on the HD438, and the
 
 (  (    )  )    
 
    ^   ^   That center ring matches the pads center hole
 
 
(  (    )  )
 
^         ^ ends matches the width of the HD 438 earcup after you remove its pads
 
Perforate the solid ring section with holes with a hole puncher, try to leave 1/8 inch gaps between each hole, you want to try to cover at least 75% of the surface with holes
 
( o (    )  o ) <-- holes punched in solid areas, try to make them neatly lined up and covering roughly 75% of the solid area, too much is bad and the ring will fall apart, not enough and the sound wont flow through the pads nicely
 
Glue the felt pieces back to back both sides ends are sticky back, the sides with the flat non sticky material are the sides you want to glue together so both pieces stick together but both also have the sticky back facing outward ( you can do this before you punch out any holes if you prefer )
 
apply one of the stick backed areas to the back end of the earpad and try to be as uniform as possible, dont want it lopsided but thankfully its felt and can be peeled off if you mess up or want to swap pads.  After that, simply apply the pad to the HD438s earcup where the old pad used to be and enjoy
 
any earpad can be swapped onto any other set of headphones with this method, how good it will sound is another question.  It should not matter too much for open backs unless the new pads closely match the old ones in size and appearance.  
 
Hope you have enjoyed todays lesson
 
-mike
 
*gets into Delorian, puts cool sunglasses on,  revs engine and disappears in a streak of fire as the credits start to roll

 

[koolkat]

Sounds like a lot of trouble... But thanks for the tip. Maybe next time.

 

[swbf2cheater]

A spare 5 minutes, scissors, a hole punch and some felt is too much trouble?  If thats too hard, then I'm sorry Idk how to help :[  
 
I've failed...

 

[koolkat]

Too many words. No pics. Bad illustrations.
I just can't visualise it. 
 
I'd rather buy some blu tack and stick the ear pads on to the cups that way.
But I wouldn't need to do that if HD598 ear pads were a perfect fit on the HD438s.

 

[Armaegis]

Quote:

 
( o (    )  o ) <-- holes punched in solid areas, try to make them neatly lined up and covering roughly 75% of the solid area, too much is bad and the ring will fall apart, not enough and the sound wont flow through the pads nicely
 
 

For a second here I thought you were trying to do something naughty...
 

 

[leng jai]

What amp are you using?
 
Quote:

So funny, I listened to mine the other day and they were terrible, what are you listening through?

 

 

[swbf2cheater]

That's the furthest I can dumb down anything, so I'm sorry if you still can't understand it.  Best of luck.  
 
@armeh
 
totally unintended but quite funny after I read your post and realized it haha, back on topic though
 
umm..ermm..*mumbles something about lcd2 and uncomfortable things 

 

[koolkat]

You didn't have to dumb down anything. I'm not a retard.
If I wrote you a wall of text on how to bake a carrot cake without pics with only brackets and dots to illustrate my point, I'm sure you wouldn't have gotten anything out of it.
 
pz. 
 

 

[swbf2cheater]

I didn't mean it that way and I'm sorry you took it that way.  I'm just too lazy to illustrate anything beyond what my keyboard is capable of and this method is something I used many times in the past and it doesn't take more than a few minutes to complete.   It is completely reversible and if your earpads are supposed to detach you won't void any warranties.  I used sennheiser HD485 velour pads on my Grado 325i woodie and it sounded amazing and significantly increased comfort to levels
 
The felt helped a little with stability after I posted this mod, I tinkered with applying felt to it and enjoyed it a little more as the earpads stopped shifting around so much.  Definitely worth it if you can get the felt and needed tools.  Originally I GLUED them together but should not have done so, the felt later helped after the left side velour started tearing ( i think my kitten was nibbling on it and tore it ) so I redid the mod as I had spare HD 485 and Grado pads with felt instead, was great because I could swap some other fun pads just for kicks and giggles like my shure 840 pads and a few other odd ball brand models. Didn't get to reply to James's post there but the glue method made the pads shift around in circles easily, but after I tried felt for some reason which escaped me ever since I did it, the pads stayed in place and were harder to rotate ( which was a good thing )  Good times.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/524252/grado-325i-woodies-swbf2cheater-earpad-mod-56k-warning
 
Also, this is relevant to the LCD2 thing here because I really hated the pads.  I mean...really really hated them and when I realized they were super glued onto that faceplate I just about exploded with rage.  I wanted to swap and fashion my own custom velours for but realized it wouldn't be wise to rip them off just to increase comfort a bit, I wish I could have done something similar with my lcd2.  

 

[elbuzzard]

I guess I would be pissed too if I had 4,000 posts in 2 years on a board centered around a hobby I realized as total hogwash.  Even if you sell everything, you are invested in head-fi with your time and bandwidth.  I commend you for making such a drastic change in thought.  So many will rationalize till they die saying "tubes sound SOOOOOO much better...yada yada yada".  Good luck dude.