[Pharmaboy]

The ZMF Pilot Pad would be a good way to go. It's $30 on the ZMF site.

+1 ... Pilot Pad is amazingly comfortable, not to mention just about the only product I've seen of its type. I have one on my ZMF Ori, and it's great.

Just one caution: if you happen to have a really big head & have the sliders on your earcups extended more than 2/3s or so--putting the Pilot Pad on your Teaks may cause you max out the sliders/not have enough room.

That's the only reason I didn't get a Pilot Pad for the LCD-2.1, which has a relatively uncomfortable headband (but no room/sliders nearly maxxed as it).

 

[tcellguy]

Thanks. Does it just wrap around the head band or do I need to take the head band off and loop the band through the pad?

 

[phthora]

Thanks. Does it just wrap around the head band or do I need to take the head band off and loop the band through the pad?

The velcro pulls apart, then you place it around the original headband, and close the velro back up. No disassembly required. It will have ample room for the Fostex style headbands.

 

[tcellguy]

perfect. thanks again, I'll get one of these.

 

[401133]

Just read some of the last pages of people saying they reluctantly sold their headphone, because of discomforting pads. This is a ludicrous criticism. Are you really going to sell one of the best headphones in this price segment because of what’s essentially a non-issue? It is a non-issue because anybody with wide experience of headphones knows that comfort – so long as it’s not excessive amount of weight, which affects your neck – is more often than not something you get used to. To give you one example, my HiFiMan HE-500 have terrible pads; they are extremely thin, are hard, and your ear can even touch the frame inside. The headband is also protected by a only a very thin leather, and you can feel the metal touch your head. But despite the pretty atrociouscomfort, you get used to it after a few days.

But the EMU/TH-X00 aren’t even close to being in that territory. The stock pads are nowhere near something like the HE-500; they are in fact quite good for headphones pads in general. The headphone itself is already pretty light in weight, and the headband cushion fine. The criticism is therefore unwarranted, imo. If the X00 pads are so uncomfortable that you can’t own them, then you might as well quit the audiophile industry; 70% of headphones out there are either equal or worse than the X00 in comfort.

It has already been pretty well established that no alternative pads, not even the Dekonis, yield as well of a sound as the stock ones. Even Zach at ZMF gave up trying to make a dedicated pad because of this very issue. Anyone considering the X00 or EMU should save themselves the extra $50 and not buy the Dekoni pads. The stock ones are just fine. This is coming from someone who often switches between the EMU and the Argons with ZMF Cowhide pads (famously known as some of the most comfortable pads in the headphone world).

Buy these headphones as they are. No pad switching, no illusory Lawton Mods (which just screw up the sound); buy them as they are and enjoy one of the most entertaining headphones you can get under $1000.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Just read some of the last pages of people saying they reluctantly sold their headphone, because of discomforting pad. This is a ludicrous criticism. Are you really going to sell one of the best headphones in this price segment because of what’s essentially a non-issue? It is a non-issue because anybody with wide experience of headphones knows comfort – so long as it’s not about excessive weight, which affects your neck – is more often than not something to get used to. To give you one example, my HiFiMan HE-500 have terrible pads; they are extremely thin, are hard, and your ear can even touch the frame inside. The headband is also protected by a only a very thin leather, and you can feel the metal touch your head. But despite this atrocious discomfort, you get used to it after a few days.

But the EMU/TH-X00 aren’t even close to being in that territory. The stock pads are nowhere near something like the HE-500; they are in fact quite good for headphones pads in general. The headphone itself is already pretty light in weight, and the headband cushion is quite nice. The criticism is therefore unwarranted, imo. If the X00 pads are so uncomfortable you can’t own them, then you might as well quit the audiophile industry; 70% of the audiophile headphones are either equal or worse than the X00 in comfort.

It has already been pretty well established that no alternative pads, not even the Dekonis, yield as well of a sound as the stock ones. Even Zach at ZMF gave up trying to make a dedicated pad, because of this very issue. Anyone considering the X00 or EMU should save themselves the extra $50 for a Dekoni pads. The stock ones are just fine. This is coming from someone who often switch between the EMU and the Argons with ZMF Cowhide pads (famously known as some of the most comfortable pads in the headphone world).

Buy these headphones as they are. No pad switching, no illusory Lawton Mods (which just screw up the sound); buy them as they are and enjoy one of the most entertaining headphones you can get under $1000.

I'm impressed. You appear to be all-knowing: you know better than any of us who owned this nice headphone, then sold it for comfort reasons.

Reality check: you are one person; 1 head, 1 brain, 2 ears. Whatever your experience of the Teaks, it's not necessarily the same as others'.

I'm glad you like the Teaks so much--not so glad you presume to lecture those of us who had a different experience.

 

[401133]

I am more than happy to “lecture” you, because you have created an image of the X00/Teak as being this dreadfully uncomfortable piece of hardware. It’s completely unwarranted, and I dare anybody challenging me in claiming that the pads are markedly on the uncomfortable side, in regards to audiophile equipment in general.

And that’s ignoring the factor of adaptation. If you’re in this business, you quickly learn to adapt to varying types of comfort, whether it’s pad thickness, texture, shape, form or size; whether it’s headband or overall weight of the headphones. More often than not you learn to get used to whatever new thing you use. Because if you didn’t, you would stop at your most comfortable headphone and throw away everything else because of the perceptible deteriorating comfort. You would own only 1 headphone and nothing else. But you don' because of adaptation. There are of course very uncomfortable exceptions, But the X00 housing is not even close to be rationally considered as such. It’s not like, say, the HE500/HE-6.

Maybe you got financially invested by spending $50 on new pads (some of you even more, on attenuator rings and felt), and became frustrated when you discovered that all the money was wasted. Maybe you got influenced by Zeos and his review. Or maybe this whole thing started as a small initial criticism, and then got overblown and became a conjected circlejerk, as so many things are on this forum. I don’t know. But what I do know is that the criticism is exaggerated.

 

[Gambitek]

I'm selling some brand new, unused, E-MU Teaks with new Dekoni sheepskin pads. Check the headphone classifieds here on Head-Fi.

 

[tcellguy]

The ZMF pad is a great addition to the E-Mu’s. For me it made a huge improvement in comfort.

I ended up ordering the Rosewood cups. Is there much of a risk of damaging the cups by changing them out in terms of stripping the threads?

I’m also considering the Lawton mod for the driver. Any opinions on this? I’m pretty happy with the current sounds signature but it would be interesting to see if that tightens then bass as described.

 

[Gambitek]

Mine are still for sale; I forgot to update the thread when the buyer disappeared.

 

[401133]

Having tried the EMU Teak with two other cups (Ebony and Rosewood), as well as well as Mahogany and Ebony X00s, the EMU Teaks are for sure the best options out there. I now understand why Chan went with Teak cups for this headphone.

The most recent comparison was the EMU with Rosewood cups,and the only gratifying thing about it is its superior aesthetics (damn they are sexy!) and extended and more amplifiel low-end, which imo is a bit too much. Everything else, the Teak wins. General clarity and separation is better on the Teak, and midrange and vocals are more forward. Also, the soundstage on the teak is actually pretty good for a closed back, and is better than any of the other Fostex option I have tried.

 

[oldmate]

Just got a 2nd hand pair of these hardly used with the basic lawton mod. They sound great but I'm not hearing that thunderous base everybody talks about so I have a feeling the Lawton mod strangles it. May have to either remove completely or partially. Sub bass is great but that thick upper mid bass is missing. I love the sound however so may have to grab a pair of TH-X00's for that "infamous" v shaped sound.

 

[tcellguy]

Just got a 2nd hand pair of these hardly used with the basic lawton mod. They sound great but I'm not hearing that thunderous base everybody talks about so I have a feeling the Lawton mod strangles it. May have to either remove completely or partially. Sub bass is great but that thick upper mid bass is missing. I love the sound however so may have to grab a pair of TH-X00's for that "infamous" v shaped sound.

Thanks for the information. Maybe I’ll leave mine stock then. I’m pretty happy with the sound signature. My only other bass headphone close to them is the m50x, with the E-Mu teak having more bass quantity with what sounds like a bit more bleeding into the mids. I have the rosewood cups now but haven’t tried them yet. I read somewhere that applying the Lawton mod to only the drivers was a good compromise in terms of keeping bass quantity but tightening up the response a bit.

But I really love these headphones as they are now anyway. I’d be curious to hear the TH-X00, but I can get bass fatigue relatively easy. That’s why I went with the Teaks.

 

[oldmate]

Thanks for the information. Maybe I’ll leave mine stock then.

I have not heard a stock Teak so I could very well be wrong. I will however open them up and remove the cup mods based on your comment so cheers for that mate.

 

[showme99]

Just got a 2nd hand pair of these hardly used with the basic lawton mod. They sound great but I'm not hearing that thunderous base everybody talks about so I have a feeling the Lawton mod strangles it. May have to either remove completely or partially. Sub bass is great but that thick upper mid bass is missing. I love the sound however so may have to grab a pair of TH-X00's for that "infamous" v shaped sound.

If you're looking for thunderous bass, you should try the TH-X00 Purpleheart. Everything I've read suggests that they should meet your needs quite well.

I own the mahogany TH-X00, and it's bass is very impressive. The purpleheart is supposed to be even bassier.