Zolkis can you recommend any other pads that are not the Stax 009 pads, also the 5200 pads are not available. Something cheaper would be good.
I tried a dozen of pads and all have issues. IME only the stock pad and the Stax 009 pad are the good ones to start with. The
AHG perforated pads get also halfway close but need modding as well (don't worry they are oval, the white mounting rings will stretch them). If you want cheaper, only the modded D7200 pads are recommended. The D5200 pads sound a bit better than the stock D7200 pads, maybe not as much better as different in a positive way (different people may perceive it differently). I tried a lot of other pads (including Brainwavz, Lawton, ZMF, Ether Voce, a lot of chinese etc), but no other recommendations.
So the stock D7200 pads can be modded as well to be more shallow and have about 30-40% less foam mass inside the pads, i.e. trim most of that from the back height (thick side) and some of it from the front height, and very little from the internal diameter (making it slightly larger). As a result, the pads become more plush, with better sealing, slightly less ear volume to resonate in. The bass extends more, the midrange calms down, the treble elevates a bit. Look back in this thread for more words.
In addition you will need the cups mod below.
What I would like to achieve is a bit more natural sound, the area around 3Khz as I notice that bump in the FR a bit, Bigger soundstage would also be nice although I think the 7200 are good already. I would not want any more treble, I have a problem with the 12khz area (on most headphones) which is already quite sharp on these.
So yes can you recommend any other pads which would be good for the reasons above? Also is there anything other than "creatology foam" that would be good for the cups? I cannot get that in the UK. But from what you said I could improve the 3khz area with cup damping which would be good. Thanks.
To tame the 3kHz ringing you need to replace the stock cups damping with a 1mm thick Creatology foam pad (the same that is described as coupler in one of the forbidden/censored-"for-myriad-reasons" sites' measurement rig thread) and a 2-3 mm thick wool felt pad in the cups.
The "Creatology" foam is a US product name for something that is usually found in all shops that sell DIY/embroidery/patchwork stuff. I am pretty sure you'd find that in the UK, just look for the looks, not the name. It's more like lining than foam since it's harder than most foams, but the structure itself is foam.
Pictures of the cups mod, the black one is the "creatology" pad, the white one is the wool felt pad.
The cups mod + D7200 pads mod are the cheapest way I know to improve the D7200 (for those who perceive a midrange ringing, since not all D7200 seem to have a problem).
With this mod the D7200 sounds close to the stock D9200, the latter being still better overall.
I lived with this mod for a long time, it was pretty good. My modded TH900 was more lively, but the D7200 had its charm.
As a result from discussion in a private message thread, I checked and measured them again, playing with a lot of pads again, including the modded 009 pads. I was surprised to discover that with that pad D7200 didn't ring any more in the midrange subjectively, even without any damping in the cups. First I thought I was getting old and deaf indeed, but then measurements confirmed the subjective impression. Then I tried with the modded D7200 pads and the ringing was almost gone with that, too, subjectively and on the measurements as well. My theory is this was caused by the wood getting older. It may happen that in about 2 years the ringing will diminish or even go away. It happened with my TH900 before and now it happened with my D7200 as well. This is still a theory, so until that happens, you can use the cups damping mod above. One way to accelerate this process would be drying (risk of cracking if too fast) or cryogenic treatment (risk of cracking if not done properly). So for most people the solution is just to wait - I understand that's hard. Anyway we have a workaround for the ringing, and has been positively tested by others.
Another (better) fix would be to play with the foam damper ring that is around the drivers and which is most probably the culprit (for being too thin), but it's glued to the housing. With the TH900 huge differences could be made by tuning the foam damper; that path is closed with the Denons, unless one can get replacement foam rings as spare parts. It's a special foam, designed for the given headphone, and my theory is that Denon made this compromise of thinning it too much in order to counteract the shelved down treble of the drivers, but then the midrange became prone to ringing. Moreover, the reason why some D7200 don't exhibit this problem might be in the production variation on the foam rings - which surely exists, as I have seen on the various Fostex headphones: I have tried 5 rings in total and all sounded different... with the oldest one sounding the best.
Anyway, these are wild theories and any Denon engineers reading this rant are allowed to roll on the floor laughing (or in pain)
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Back to the topic, I cannot tell whether you will need the cups damping mod with the modded 009 pads, but it's sure the D7200 do sound cleaner and more defined without cups damping (provided the damping is not needed): that's a bonus with all pads, including the stock. Also with speaker design, I always tried to achieve good measurement with minimum amount of damping, since in all cases the smearing can be heard and may ruin the sound very fast.
To summarize,
- With the modded D7200 pads + cup damping mod, the D7200 sounds close to the D9200.
- With the modded Stax pads and no cups damping, the D7200 sounds better (IMHO) than the D9200 (either stock or with the same 009 pads). I might be able to improve the D9200 beyond this level (with different pads and cups damping or no-damping), but will wait a bit more with that.
- With other pads (including the D5200 pads), the D7200 will sound different, but not really better. In most cases it will sound worse (not because the stock pads were so good, but mainly because the peculiar tendency of the D7200 to sound honky/ringing at times).
NB,
- Denon pads are obtainable only via your Denon dealer.
- Stax pads can be ordered mostly only from your Stax dealer/importer.
