Steve Wilcox
100+ Head-Fier
Thanks very much for that. As far as I'm aware Dan has never suggested the Voce pads as an option for the E2 which re-enforces what you say.
I just got the VOCE pads for the Ether 2, and the VOCE pads are listed as an accessory for the Ether 2 on the Dan Clark website "These ear pads sport a very large round opening for the ear. Designed for our VOCE Electrostatic headphone, the pads are also compatible with all ETHER headphone models.". In a video by Dan Clark, he mentions that the adhesive needs to be custom modified for the VOCE, but no word about it not being recommended.
I prefer the VOCE pads over the stock pads for sure. The stock pads get my ears really hot rather quickly, the additional air in the VOCE pads helps with that. The changes in tonality when doing small adjustments of the position relative to ears is a plus in my book.
That sounds more encouraging. Thank you. It's hard to believe that comfort is an issue given how light these headphones are - I can hardly feel I'm wearing them for the first ten mins or so but I then start to get increasing discomfort behind my ears. My theory is that the clamp force isn't high but that, because the earcup is only attached to the strap at the rear, this is where the clamp force is focused - it's not spread around the entire earpad. I've tried bending the nitonol strap but without much success - nitonol is a memory metal and trying to bend it feels like man v NASA. I appreciate though that I'm one of a very small minority who has comfort issues with the majority of comments being along the lines of "these are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn".
Although the surface area of the Voce pads that sits on the head is small, I'm hoping the shape might solve the comfort issue - they should sit on the head further behind the ears, hopefully missing a sensitive spot? I'm prepared to be flexible regarding the sonic impact up to a point - comfort is the main issue here.
I'm hearing two quite different opinions on this at the moment - and I really appreciate both - but any more thoughts would be most welcome.