[Oregonian]

I found that the hifiman pads (made for the HE-400/500) fit perfectly and also have the thin bit of cloth that covers the driver, which those ebay ones do not.

I quite like the velour ones myself, actually, they make the headphones much nicer/cooler to wear, without affecting the sound in any significant way (for me at least - your mileage my vary!)

It's not clear but those don't look angled like the stock Denon pads...........I've tried Lawton angles, J$ pads and Alpha's. Ended up preferring Alpha pads.

I've never read of anyone using velour on a Denon. Did it kill the bass?

 

[sinnottj]

It's not clear but those don't look angled like the stock Denon pads...........I've tried Lawton angles, J$ pads and Alpha's. Ended up preferring Alpha pads.

I've never read of anyone using velour on a Denon. Did it kill the bass?

 
They're not angled, no. I find them way more comfortable than stock though, as the 'thin' part at the front of the stock pads is way too thin for my bony face

  I also much prefer velour over pleather ...
 
Bass might be reduced a tiny bit, but it's not significant to my ears. The stock pads hardly rely on a good seal to produce bass, after all. It's a bit tricky to compare when you only have one set of D2Ks - swapping the pads takes me about 15 mins, so an accurate A/B comparison is not feasible. 
 
I tried the lawton angle pads too but didn't like them - they sealed too well for me, and gave me the 'boxed in' feeling you get with fully closed cans that I don't really like.

 

[Makiah S]

Ugh... 15min pads changes... Audio Technica and Hifiman Spoil me... Martin Has mine we r just wating on the XLR jack, which imo might have arrived by now! Might get these by Chirstmas Eve yo's xD

 

[Scottyyy]

   
They're not angled, no. I find them way more comfortable than stock though, as the 'thin' part at the front of the stock pads is way too thin for my bony face

  I also much prefer velour over pleather ...
 
Bass might be reduced a tiny bit, but it's not significant to my ears. The stock pads hardly rely on a good seal to produce bass, after all. It's a bit tricky to compare when you only have one set of D2Ks - swapping the pads takes me about 15 mins, so an accurate A/B comparison is not feasible. 
 
I tried the lawton angle pads too but didn't like them - they sealed too well for me, and gave me the 'boxed in' feeling you get with fully closed cans that I don't really like.

Is it easy to change the pads? Would I need to follow a guide or is it pretty straight forward?

 

[sinnottj]

  Is it easy to change the pads? Would I need to follow a guide or is it pretty straight forward?

It's pretty easy - they are designed to be changed.
 
The ear pads are mounted on a plastic ring that locks into the metal frame of the earcup. To get them off, you need to push the ear pad into the cup and twist anti-clockwise, and you should feel the ring 'un-click' and it'll come away.
 
You might need to push quite hard, to stop the pad from rotating around the ring, rather than the ring itself from moving. The best way seems to be to hold the cup in the palm of one hand and push into your palm 'through' the pad with your other hand. Then, applying lots of pressure, twist anti-clockwise.
 
Next remove the plastic ring from the back of the pad, and then you can mount your replacement pad on the ring, and reverse the above process to attach the pad to the earcup.

 

[sinnottj]

I made it sound far more complicated than it actually is

 

[MIKELAP]

How to remove pads                  http://lawtonaudio.com/page56.html

 

[PETEREK]

I really need to get a hole puncher so I can finish the Markl...Lawton mod on my D2000s, I put Dynamat inside the cups ONLY and it sounds like
 
 
 
EDIT: just put dynamat on the back of the drivers and put the stock foam back in. I'll call this an early X-mas present to my ears. Much better.

 

[Makiah S]

I really need to get a hole puncher so I can finish the Markl...Lawton mod on my D2000s, I put Dynamat inside the cups ONLY and it sounds like
 



EDIT: just put dynamat on the back of the drivers and put the stock foam back in. I'll call this an early X-mas present to my ears. Much better.

Thats good to know. I only want to do the diver mod my self! Wonder how big a differance the wood back makes for the d2k...

 

[PETEREK]

Thats good to know. I only want to do the diver mod my self! Wonder how big a differance the wood back makes for the d2k...

I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I doubt there will be a difference at all between a wood back D2K with the Lawton mod and a stock cup D2K with the same mods done to it if the volumes within the cups are the same. That is what made me do the ring mod, to expand the volume and see what good it may bring. I'm not saying this because I did the mod, but as soon as I took the rings out and listened to them stock again, I heard a big change in the sound stage. It was almost like listening to a totally different headphone. The stage shrank a lot, but the bass got big again. I'm going to listen to these as they are for a few weeks and then add the rings back to them to compare.

 

[Oregonian]

Thats good to know. I only want to do the diver mod my self! Wonder how big a differance the wood back makes for the d2k...

Makes a huge difference. My D2000 has the full driver mods and Martins non modded cup and the longer I listen to them the less likely I am to dampen the cups.

 

[caprimulgus]

  The stage shrank a lot, but the bass got big again. 

 
so you're saying more cup volume = less bass?

 

[Belenga]

   
so you're saying more cup volume = less bass?

That may be true. I believe the same (less bass) happens if you dampen the cups with polyester fiberfill or similar materials.

 

[Belenga]

Shortly after posting my experience with modding the D2000 (http://www.head-fi.org/t/350721/denon-d2000-d5000-md2000-md5000-appreciation-thread/3105), I have embarked on an alternative strategy. I wasn't satisfied with the added sibilance caused by the original markl mod, even after placing felt in front of the drivers. So I opened the wooden cups -- my D2000 has a pair of D5000 cups installed --, and placed felt on top of the FatMat material as well. However, I didn't notice significant improvements regarding sibilance.
 
Then, I decided to temporarily stuff the cups with cotton, in order to see what changes that could bring to the sound. Markl considered adding polyester fiberfill as an optional step of original mod (http://www.head-fi.org/t/299627/how-to-build-one-of-the-worlds-finest-dynamic-headphones-markl-denon-ah-d5000-mods). He found that bass gained more control and reflections inside the ear cup were reduced. However, stuffing the cups made the highs more grainy and sibilant for him.
 
At the same time, the new Fostex TH-900 embodies the same design principle as the old Denon line, and it comes with fiberfill inside the cups. As far as I know, owners of this headphone have not complained about sibilance or graininess in the highs. I also noticed that Fostex uses a new earpad that is thinner than the Lawton Angle Pad. All of this led me to believe that Fostex is employing an alternative strategy for improving the sound of their recent headphones, in addition to the better driver.
 
Therefore, at the same time that I added felt to the inside of my D5000 cups and stuffed them with some cotton, I altered the thickness and inclination of my stock earpads so to match the new Fostex pads (based on photographs posted on Head-Fi). The front side of my pads is now 13mm and the backside 24mm, both measured from the metal frame to the stitching on the pleather. Initially, the result of these mods was that the bass got too much reduced. After removing some of the cotton, it became more adequate.
 
My initial impressions of the new mods are very good. First, sibilance is minimized. I attribute that mainly to the thinner earpads. I think that markl's impression that stuffing the cups increases graininess and sibilance only holds true if the earpads are also stuffed so to match the thickness of the Angle Pads. With them stuffed à la the new Fostex pads, sibilance is not troublesome for me. Also, before stuffing the cups, every time I made the earpads thinner, the increased bass would muddy the sound, and I would experience the sort of "wall of sound" effect that some people refer to, as if all instrumental lines hit your ears indistinctly at once (or, as if trying to focus on something that it too close to your face to be properly seen). Differently, now, I experience a soundstage that is as large as with the thicker earpads. But there is added benefit too: I don't fell that the mids are recessed anymore. I came to realize that with my previous mod configuration I missed some details coming from the leading instruments and vocals that take centerstage. In other words, there is no "hollow" or "cave-like" sound quality that some people associated with the markl modded Denons.
 
I'd like to emphasize that these are very preliminary impressions. I'd love to hear from others who might have attempted a similar modding strategy.

 

[PETEREK]

   
so you're saying more cup volume = less bass?

Yes. The bass response starts at lower Hz but can't reach the upper part of the bass spectrum as much. I think that's part of why the sound stage gets bigger though, it can't blend the bass into the mids at all, so the sound is more separated.