[FiGuY1017]

They do pack a punch, I sold my Sonorous vi because these were just better to my ears

 

[azeral]

While the Stax SR-009 pads are my favorite (best dimensions, design, durability, sound), the Stax SR-007 pads are not far behind. They are thicker, with less outer diameter, with smaller opening, so might actually suit the D7200 even better (at least by fit). However, I would definitely remove the white ring from inside the 007 pads for better sound. The brown versions are from different leather than the black versions, both sound good, but slightly different.

The cheapest "very good" pads I recommend are the AHG inner perforated oval pads (will fit with the black mounting ring). Price is unbeatable (15 GBP) and quality is like Dekoni.
The Dekoni thinner pads are also pretty OK, but not better than the AHG.

The Vesper Audio pads are also nice, but keep in mind they are not originals. The pads made for the TH900, Stax SR-Omega, Stax 007 will all fit the D7200. I have no idea how do they sound, probably not worse than the others. The ones made for the Ether look much like the Stax 009 pads, but will likely have different sound.
They make inner perforated lambskin pads for the TH900, that seems to be the best fit for the D7200 (guessing). I might actually try them.

In the case some of these pads bring out midrange honkiness on some of the D7200, you know the solution for that now: see the post above. I use a single sheet of 1-2 mm thick Creatology foam pad that covers the flat portion of the inner side of the cups, so it's about 60 mm in diameter with the lower part cut off in order to fit the cups. If that is not enough in your case, then use one more pad or a 2-3 mm thick natural wool felt pad of the same dimension. Pictures included in an earlier post.

Been lurking here for a bit. I own a D7000/TH-X00 (Mahogany) and have a D7200 on the way.
I picked up a pair of Dekoni Fostex TH900 Elite Hybrid pads and tried them on both of the above models, and I absolutely could not listen to them after the switch. The bass survived, but everything in the midrange was largely extinguished except for what sounded like a band in the ~6K region, with a rise into the treble which was absolutely piercing.

I was sort of shocked by this. I've got the stock pads on the D7K and the fat J-Money pads on the TH-X00 and that's really what I'm used to. What do you think causes this? The pads have the fenestration within the inner ring, and I wonder if this causes some attenuation of other midrange frequencies or perhaps reinforcement of that near-6K midband leading to the "honk" as you mentioned.

Anyhow, I'm selling those pads, and hightailing straight back to the leather ones. Very excited to get my hands on the D7200

 

[zolkis]

I picked up a pair of Dekoni Fostex TH900 Elite Hybrid pads and tried them on both of the above models, and I absolutely could not listen to them after the switch. The bass survived, but everything in the midrange was largely extinguished except for what sounded like a band in the ~6K region, with a rise into the treble which was absolutely piercing.

I was sort of shocked by this. What do you think causes this?

As explained elsewhere, pads are part of the acoustic environment, inter-working with other parts.
I think the cause is that the internal foam is too thick (more accurately, has too much mass). It matters less when it's in isolating shell (like full leather) and matters more when perforated.

Since it's extremely hard to optimize foam density/mass for a given headphone, it's usually not done, if not by the manufacturer (I am pretty sure that at least Stax and Focal do optimize pads acoustically as well for their pricier models; I don't know about the others, I guess they mostly go for comfort).

For 3rd party pad makers the primary incentive is to make replacement pads that are cheaper, but comfortable, with good _perceived_ quality. Comfort, price, quality matter there, not the sound (usually). Also, to reduce risk, they tend to stick with tried and safe solutions (like memory foam, which is not optimal for best sound). I don't think they see business in making pads that sound good, since that would be part of the headphone design process and it's the manufacturer who should have the interest and capabilities for that.

IMHO most pads today are too thick vs their headphones properties, so they attenuate too much in the wrong way. More shallow pads would be less universally comfortable, hence a risk.
I said elsewhere that I like headphones that sound good without pads: it's so much easier to find good sounding pads for them. The TH900 and some Hifimans are such headphones, the D7200 and most other headphones are not (but both sound good with Stax 009 pads). It doesn't mean there are no good headphones in the latter camp (for instance the Stax 007 is one of them, and one of the best at that, and so is the modded D7200).

Now the D7200 could take some midrange attenuation, but the stock Dekoni pads are too thick indeed. I modded every single 3rd party pad I have to trim about 30-40% off the thickness in the front and 10-20% in the back, and often change the foam entirely. I have tried shallow pads with the D7200 and were a fail, too. The pads of choice on my D7200 are the original ones, with trimmed foam.

The Stax 009 and 007 pads use superior (light and sparse, but resilient) foams, and superior shells, too. They sound pretty good in stock form, most people would prefer them over the originals I'd say in all Fostex-made-or-inspired headphones. The price is there for a reason. When taking out the white foam ring from them, the sound becomes more vivid, more alive, with more extension and sound stage. If it doesn't cause frequency domain anomalies on given headphones (e.g. the headphones sound good without pads), the least amount of foam the better.

Long story short: check out the D9200 as well... if it only had a little less treble, like midway between the D7200 and current D9200...

 

[azeral]

I've been listening with these for a week now, and I really appreciate the change in doing from the D7000, though I still love the crap out of that model.

Did anyone have any luck with a headband swap using the older foster models? I saw some messages about trying this but didn't see any success stories. I thought about it but I don't know if the locking/extension mechanism is compatible.

 

[SHAMuuu]

Been lurking here for a bit. I own a D7000/TH-X00 (Mahogany) and have a D7200 on the way.
I picked up a pair of Dekoni Fostex TH900 Elite Hybrid pads and tried them on both of the above models, and I absolutely could not listen to them after the switch. The bass survived, but everything in the midrange was largely extinguished except for what sounded like a band in the ~6K region, with a rise into the treble which was absolutely piercing.

I was sort of shocked by this. I've got the stock pads on the D7K and the fat J-Money pads on the TH-X00 and that's really what I'm used to. What do you think causes this? The pads have the fenestration within the inner ring, and I wonder if this causes some attenuation of other midrange frequencies or perhaps reinforcement of that near-6K midband leading to the "honk" as you mentioned.

Anyhow, I'm selling those pads, and hightailing straight back to the leather ones. Very excited to get my hands on the D7200

Did you use the attenutation rings from the stock pads , or get the aftermarket dekoni pony ones? I have read of many people who hated pad changes on the fostex variants and those who loved the changes, and well most of the people who hated the changes didn't use the rings.

 

[SHAMuuu]

As explained elsewhere, pads are part of the acoustic environment, inter-working with other parts.
I think the cause is that the internal foam is too thick (more accurately, has too much mass). It matters less when it's in isolating shell (like full leather) and matters more when perforated.

Since it's extremely hard to optimize foam density/mass for a given headphone, it's usually not done, if not by the manufacturer (I am pretty sure that at least Stax and Focal do optimize pads acoustically as well for their pricier models; I don't know about the others, I guess they mostly go for comfort).

For 3rd party pad makers the primary incentive is to make replacement pads that are cheaper, but comfortable, with good _perceived_ quality. Comfort, price, quality matter there, not the sound (usually). Also, to reduce risk, they tend to stick with tried and safe solutions (like memory foam, which is not optimal for best sound). I don't think they see business in making pads that sound good, since that would be part of the headphone design process and it's the manufacturer who should have the interest and capabilities for that.

IMHO most pads today are too thick vs their headphones properties, so they attenuate too much in the wrong way. More shallow pads would be less universally comfortable, hence a risk.
I said elsewhere that I like headphones that sound good without pads: it's so much easier to find good sounding pads for them. The TH900 and some Hifimans are such headphones, the D7200 and most other headphones are not (but both sound good with Stax 009 pads). It doesn't mean there are no good headphones in the latter camp (for instance the Stax 007 is one of them, and one of the best at that, and so is the modded D7200).

Now the D7200 could take some midrange attenuation, but the stock Dekoni pads are too thick indeed. I modded every single 3rd party pad I have to trim about 30-40% off the thickness in the front and 10-20% in the back, and often change the foam entirely. I have tried shallow pads with the D7200 and were a fail, too. The pads of choice on my D7200 are the original ones, with trimmed foam.

The Stax 009 and 007 pads use superior (light and sparse, but resilient) foams, and superior shells, too. They sound pretty good in stock form, most people would prefer them over the originals I'd say in all Fostex-made-or-inspired headphones. The price is there for a reason. When taking out the white foam ring from them, the sound becomes more vivid, more alive, with more extension and sound stage. If it doesn't cause frequency domain anomalies on given headphones (e.g. the headphones sound good without pads), the least amount of foam the better.

Long story short: check out the D9200 as well... if it only had a little less treble, like midway between the D7200 and current D9200...

the stax pads are amazing in that you can modify them! Its amazing how you can open them up and make your own foam adjustments. I can't think of a more awesome pad !

 

[Assimilator702]

I've been listening with these for a week now, and I really appreciate the change in doing from the D7000, though I still love the **** out of that model.

Did anyone have any luck with a headband swap using the older foster models? I saw some messages about trying this but didn't see any success stories. I thought about it but I don't know if the locking/extension mechanism is compatible.

Is the headband on the 7200 that bad? I hated the headband on my Fostex TH-X00. No clamp at all on my head and the build of the headband is cheaply built. I was thinking of getting a headband from a Beyer DT 880 Pro and attempt a swap. I decided if I could sell them I would rather go that route since I would still need to make a headband cover. I wasn't overly impressed with the sound signature mainly the splashy treble. Swapping the pads to Dekoni Hybrids imoroied the fit but I still wasn't convinced the sound signature was an improvement. Not to mention after hearing other headphones I really couldn't listen to the Fostex anymore. Nice bass but that was about it.

The 7200 has my interest peaked. Does anyone have a Focal headphone to give a quick comparison? I love the Focal Elear. I had to send mine back due to a minor issue but I'm missing them so bad I want to order another pair. I have NOT had that urge with the Fostex.

 

[Teroo]

Hello,
I have a DENON D7200 and a DAC AUNE S6. I'm looking for a XLR AUNE S6 output cable.
Please can you help me?
I'm thinking about FORZA audio or OIDIO sound.

 

[Camper1995]

Hello,
I have a DENON D7200 and a DAC AUNE S6. I'm looking for a XLR AUNE S6 output cable.
Please can you help me?
I'm thinking about FORZA audio or OIDIO sound.

I had a Forza cable with my D7200 and no issues, awesome cable quality and very durable, sort and no microphonics. Recommended.

 

[Teroo]

What model should I choose from forzaaudio?

 

[Camper1995]

What model should I choose from forzaaudio?

I'd go for the Claire Hybrid HPC. Aesthetically it would fit the color scheme of D7200.
But I've owned the Claire HPC mk2 on my D7200 and sonically it was slightly coloring the midrange vocals, adding a touch of warmth compared
to the stock Denon cable, which by the way sounds perfect to me. The Claire Hybrid should be less colored. But then again the differences are very subtle. At times I wasn't even sure if there was a difference at all, so choose based on what you like the most visually (imo).

 

[Teroo]

OK Thanks.


And do you think the OIDIO cable would be good?
https://oidiosound.co.uk/headphone-cables/denon/ah-d7200/mongrel-denon-ah.html

The price is very good.

 

[Camper1995]

OK Thanks.


And do you think the OIDIO cable would be good?
https://oidiosound.co.uk/headphone-cables/denon/ah-d7200/mongrel-denon-ah.html

The price is very good.

Ye sure, it looks okay too. I'd choose the silver-plated copper cable because that's what the stock Denon cables use too.

 

[Teroo]

Denon 7200 stock cable copper. I'm wrong?

 

[Camper1995]

Denon 7200 stock cable copper. I'm wrong?

I think it's silver-plated copper, I've read it in the manual. Maybe I'm wrong though, but I think it's not just copper. The D9200 uses only silver on the other hand. I think it's the D5200 that uses copper.