[N3XED]

I recently did a pad swap for my senn HD800s after the olds started to get a little grimy. However, upon installing them, and also trying them on my new Cayin IHA6 I bought. I noticed that when applying at 50hz is started to (what I assume people refer to as) popping. When I turned off EQ and lifted the increase of 2db at 50hz, I lost that popping sound. Strangely enough, when I applied a 2db increase at 40hz, I couldn't detect it.

Given the issues at hand here, what is most likely to cause for this popping:

.Could It be a low resonate ringing frequency I've only just heard now?
.The installation of the pads perhaps? (Although I think I did it properly

Really need some answers and difference perspectives for this. Many thanks

 

[tomb]

Your post is pretty tough to diagnose while deaf, blind, and at a distance. "Popping" doesn't mean the same as "resonate ringing" - at all. I suggest you thoroughly inspect the pads, drivers, and overall structure around the cans to see if you messed something up in changing the pads. That seems the likely culprit since you had no popping before, but now you do.

It could be that you damaged the drivers in swapping the pads. That, or you've compromised the structure around the driver membranes, so that they can't "move" as much as they need to at 50Hz, hence the pop ... or whatever you're calling it.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

To add to what Tomb said...was it a "pop" or a "thwack?"

Because if it's a 'thwack' that's more usually from overexcursion. If you didn't have that problem before even with the same EQ boost, just changing the pad material or thickness (much less thickness merely from being new) is not supposed to do that. Actually, only excessive EQ regardless of pads (and if the pads have anything to do with it, it's only that some may make you want to use excessive boost vs say a denser earpad) will do that, since headphone drivers are still essentially free air drivers unlike say messing up the port design for a speaker cabinet (which is basically doing the same thing as an EQ boost, you just didn't push/click a button to do that).

Try putting on the old drivers then test with and without EQ and on the exact same amp. If it's not there then that's really weird. If it's there now, you may more likely have damaged something rather than not simply noticed it before since +2dB isn't going to do that on its own (ie it can happen on speakers, but like...you moved it to the wrong enclosure and kept the same EQ profile).

Now if you've only used the new pads on your new Cayin IHA6 then start testing the new pads with whatever you used to drive the headphone with. If it's not there then the Cayin is part of the problem. Is the bass already boosted vs your old amp if EQ is off on both? If it is then there's why...the EQ boost is just piling on some more if the Cayin boosts the same region rather than simply having more and this time adequate power quantity on top of having better power quality (ie lower noise, lower distortion). Try it with all settings - high gain and low gain for example. If those TRS jacks can work as single ended outputs try the stock cable and try both. Assuming they do work this way and the "Low" and "High" labels refer to the output impedance I wouldn't be surprised if that 50hz distortion goes away on low impedance settings ie high impedance setting on an amp can mean its output impedance is also high under the assumption that the headphone plugged in there will also be high impedance. As much as the impedance mismatch has a less drastic effect on higher impedance headphones, it can still boost the low end and midrange. Case in point: my HD600 sounds like Norah Jones has sinusitis on my Little Dot MkII. Not much on bad bass sound but it does make my SR225 sound like molasses (and the HD600 still kind of sounds like a mudslide).

 

[N3XED]

these are the drivers on the inside, and after checkinh, I cant see any dmg right away. The only thing that is immediaty notice ia little itty bitty dins in the silver lining on both insides of each cup.

 

[N3XED]

it doesnt appear (To me at least) that there is any dmg to the pads, on the outside at all. Apart from these slightly loose parts. Unfortunately, I do not have the original pads to back to. They were grimy hense I trashed them.

 

[GREQ]

it doesnt appear (To me at least) that there is any dmg to the pads, on the outside at all. Apart from these slightly loose parts. Unfortunately, I do not have the original pads to back to. They were grimy hense I trashed them.

Ooookay, now things are starting to come together.

Leather pads are almost certainly an absolutely terrible choice for the HD800; and the same is true for almost all open-back dynamic headphones that rely on their stock ear pads, especially velour and porous pad types, for a SIGNIFICANT portion of their tuning.

The leather pads are likely causing a 'bass trap' effect which is what you hear as a resonance around 50hz, making it thump weirdly.
You would have been much better off throwing the old ear pads in the washing machine inside a 'delicates' bag, and putting them back on. We do that with underwear, no reason we shouldn't do that with ear pads ^^.

Now your best bet is to acquire a new set of original pads.

 

[N3XED]

Ooookay, now things are starting to come together.

Leather pads are almost certainly an absolutely terrible choice for the HD800; and the same is true for almost all open-back dynamic headphones that rely on their stock ear pads, especially velour and porous pad types, for a SIGNIFICANT portion of their tuning.

The leather pads are likely causing a 'bass trap' effect which is what you hear as a resonance around 50hz, making it thump weirdly.
You would have been much better off throwing the old ear pads in the washing machine inside a 'delicates' bag, and putting them back on. We do that with underwear, no reason we shouldn't do that with ear pads ^^.

Now your best bet is to acquire a new set of original pads.

BRUH I wish PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I BOUGHT THE PADS!!!! REEEE. That is....Very annoying. Although, to be fair. I don't actually EQ those cans very often, and the bass range I usually aim for is 30-40hz, which it isn't audible. Thanks for the help, I wouldn't have picked up on that without people saying it. However, if thats the case, could you recommend some not stock pads? They hurt the sides of my cheek after a while, and aren't very comfortable *for me*

 

[ProtegeManiac]

it doesnt appear (To me at least) that there is any dmg to the pads, on the outside at all. Apart from these slightly loose parts. Unfortunately, I do not have the original pads to back to. They were grimy hense I trashed them.

When I said there could be some damage I don't mean just the pads. Maybe you could have snapped off a plastic piece somewhere and now the pads don't fit, like where it's loose (worse if you poked the driver). Even if that were not the case, there's still something loose somewhere, and if there's anything loose and it's the mounting mechanism to the chassis that can be where you're having that 50hz resonance. If anything the reverse can kind of happen if hard parts are too tight together, but for now this is what might causing the problem.

At the same time you're also using leather which is denser on its own, but if the padding inside is also denser, both can not only trap enough bass between the driver and your ears instead of having some of it dissipate, but trapping them to the front of the driver can have similar effects to having a closed back and trapping them to the rear of the driver. Basically you're already boosting the bass with just those pads.


2.

 

[GREQ]

BRUH I wish PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I BOUGHT THE PADS!!!! REEEE. That is....Very annoying. Although, to be fair. I don't actually EQ those cans very often, and the bass range I usually aim for is 30-40hz, which it isn't audible. Thanks for the help, I wouldn't have picked up on that without people saying it. However, if thats the case, could you recommend some not stock pads? They hurt the sides of my cheek after a while, and aren't very comfortable *for me*

Unfortunately, I don't own the HD800, so I can't give any good pad recommendations.
Hopefully someone else can chime in for suitable replacements that are not detrimental to the tuning.
Good luck!

https://dekoniaudio.com/articles/dekoni-audio-sennheiser-hd800-ear-pad-frequency-extravaganza/
It looks like Dekoni has some pads that get faily close to the original HD800 tuning... but I cannot recommend them since I've never heard any of them.

 

[N3XED]

BRUH I wish PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT BEFORE I BOUGHT THE PADS!!!! REEEE. That is....Very annoying. Although, to be fair. I don't actually EQ those cans very often, and the bass range I usually aim for is 30-40hz, which it isn't audible. Thanks for the help, I wouldn't have picked up on that without people saying it. However, if thats the case, could you recommend some not stock pads? They hurt the sides of my cheek after a while, and aren't very comfortable *for me*

I did notice that, although given the lack luster performance of the HD800s as a driver for bass response, while clear and somewhat tight, it;s lacking. Thanks for that response!

 

[Mattyjm]

Unfortunately, I don't own the HD800, so I can't give any good pad recommendations.
Hopefully someone else can chime in for suitable replacements that are not detrimental to the tuning.
Good luck!

https://dekoniaudio.com/articles/dekoni-audio-sennheiser-hd800-ear-pad-frequency-extravaganza/
It looks like Dekoni has some pads that get faily close to the original HD800 tuning... but I cannot recommend them since I've never heard any of them.

i own the dekoni elite velour earpads, and they sound really bad. Treble gets boosted a lot more, and it becomes more fatiguing. Bass is more prominient and you end up losing on clarity.
If you're gonna get pads for hd800s, i have heard some good things about the dekoni leather pads (thought those also end up making then less detailed from what i've read.), or you get them from a brand called Kito. Zeppelin and Co carries them.

 

[N3XED]

i own the dekoni elite velour earpads, and they sound really bad. Treble gets boosted a lot more, and it becomes more fatiguing. Bass is more prominient and you end up losing on clarity.
If you're gonna get pads for hd800s, i have heard some good things about the dekoni leather pads (thought those also end up making then less detailed from what i've read.), or you get them from a brand called Kito. Zeppelin and Co carries them.

Nice I'll keep that in mind. Thanks dude