[Afghan Vet]

 

   
Here's a video that shows you how to remove the pads:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjOr2kcQJDk
 
For the carbon pads, the leather will be loose. Grab the loose leather, instead of the foam stuffing when you are twisting the pads in and out of the slots.

 
I watched the video.  The Dekoni pads seem to freely spin around I'm afraid I'm going to break something if I push harder and turn.  I took the stock ones (see photo) and put them next to my ear and with my ear size they're going to rest on my ears and likely be uncomfortable.  My first adventure into better headphones was with the Grado SR-80.  I just have a feeling putting those pads on the TH-900 will have the comfort level of a Grado headphone and that's not saying much.  I have the EQ to ramp up the bass and overall it's pretty decent like that.  
 

I threw those in right before I closed the box, almost as an afterthought. That was how they fit on my ears....kind of resting on the ear instead of something that rests on the side of the head - around the ear. I got used to it, and was comfortable for me - but those who put them on for a demo typically mentioned the way they felt. If you want to take off the Dekoni pads - you could probably 'peel' off the leather from the plastic ring that connects them to the headphones, then twist and disconnect the white plastic ring. 

 

[N0sferatu]

  I threw those in right before I closed the box, almost as an afterthought. That was how they fit on my ears....kind of resting on the ear instead of something that rests on the side of the head - around the ear. I got used to it, and was comfortable for me - but those who put them on for a demo typically mentioned the way they felt. If you want to take off the Dekoni pads - you could probably 'peel' off the leather from the plastic ring that connects them to the headphones, then twist and disconnect the white plastic ring. 

 
I got used to the Grado headphones back in the day but ultimately felt the lack of comfort was a huge compromise.  Those Dekoni are so comfortable and make the headphone look grand with the big pads.  From your listening experience, how did you find the sound changed going from the stock modded pads to the Dekoni pads you shipped them with?  
 
I'll perhaps play with them later (the pads) when I'm more awake but as it stands now these things are EQ'ed to be bass thumpers.  I have to crank my amp up a tad to get volume since I dropped the gain a whole -17dB (edit -12dB) to eliminate speaker damaging distortion but now it feels like I have a clean subwoofer running on my head.  My amp puts out 3500mW at 25ohm so there's plenty of leeway.  
 
 

 

[stjj89]

   
I watched the video.  The Dekoni pads seem to freely spin around I'm afraid I'm going to break something if I push harder and turn.  I took the stock ones (see photo) and put them next to my ear and with my ear size they're going to rest on my ears and likely be uncomfortable.  My first adventure into better headphones was with the Grado SR-80.  I just have a feeling putting those pads on the TH-900 will have the comfort level of a Grado headphone and that's not saying much.  I have the EQ to ramp up the bass and overall it's pretty decent like that.  
 

 
Of course. Whatever works best for you!

 

[axtran]

Can someone share a picture with me to verify polarity on the TH900 driver? I'm a little confused since the painted "pink" marking on the driver differs from the one that I'm swapping out of my AH-D2000.

 

[AT Khan]

  Can someone share a picture with me to verify polarity on the TH900 driver? I'm a little confused since the painted "pink" marking on the driver differs from the one that I'm swapping out of my AH-D2000.

I think I know what this is. I was modding my EMUs and I saw the pink marker was different on both sides... meaning that they have a different terminals on either driver (pink on left side on one, right side on the other). Just follow the marker... you'll be just fine.

 

[axtran]

On mine (I bought single "replacements") both of the markers are on a consistent side (left side). I'm still concerned, and I can't do a battery test since I can't really see the driver "motion" through the little grates

 

[zolkis]

I have received my Lawton ear-pads. Here are some initial impressions:
- it is extremely well designed; form, opening size, fit, materials - all excellent
- it takes out too much bass; I much prefer the original Fostex pads with carbon foam inserts.
 
As with the Dekoni pads, I suspect the foam insert is the culprit. I will change that to carbon foam and will see.
In stock form, I would say the Dekoni pads are cheaper, are similar quality, and sound better.
The Stax 007 pads are similar price, even better quality, and sound better.
However, I feel the Lawton pads have the most potential. I will do some mods to it and let's see.
 
Here are some measurements.
 
Blue: Lawton pads.
Red: Fostex pads with carbon foam insert.
 

 
Distortion is similar. The Lawton pads have slightly less 9 kHz ridge on the CSD. The Lawton pads have slower impulse response. Spectrogram is a good indication of the sonic differences.
First, the Lawton:

 
Then, the Fostex pads with carbon foam:

 
Subjectively, the Fostex + carbon foam pads sound with:
- more alive sound
- much better bass
- larger sound stage.
In addition, they work better with various Fostex dampers.
 
Next, modding the Lawton pads (just starting, so give me some time .

 

[zolkis]

The Lawton pads can't be modded easily. It's not for the faint hearted. Inserting the carbon foam (CF) filling into the Lawton leather shell, the end result is close to the modded Fostex pads, perhaps a bit in between.
Green: Lawton with carbon foam insert
Red: Fostex pads with carbon foam insert
Blue: stock Lawton pads
 

 
Spectrogram is a bit between the Fostex CF and the stock Lawton:

 
Subjectively, it sounds as good as the Fostex CF pads.

 

[zolkis]

Inserting the stock Fostex foam padding into the Lawton leather shell sounded quite a bit better with the stock Lawton, but not even close to the carbon foam pads.
 
Since the sound quality of pads seems to be mostly determined by the shape, density and material of foam inserts, I must conclude that IMHO the stock TH900 pads might actually sound better than the Lawton pads - or mine were defective/different than the others.
 
I guess the head-fi audio industry needs to rediscover carbon foam. I'd encourage using it in headphone pads. I hold no patents on that LOL (and they've been used for ages in speakers as well).

 

[KarlStromberg]

There is a drop for ZMF TH pads running: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/zmf-pads-for-fostex-and-audeze

Not sure if that one has been up before and if anyone has experience with those pads?

 

[zolkis]

Lambskin and memory foam: like the Dekoni pads. The opening is larger, and oval in shape. Not bad. Price is slightly cheaper than Dekoni. May sound good, but I am not going to try any more pads.
 
The Lawton pad dimensions are 105 mm outer diameter at the base, 102 mm outer diameter for the pad itself, and then 53x70 mm for the opening. So the ZMF pads have nearly identical dimensions as the Lawton. The stock Fostex pads with the CF insert have 66 mm inner diameter (circular), and 104 mm outer diameter.
 
Since the Fostex pads tend to wear out in short time, I'd recommend getting one of the Lawton or ZMF pads and change the filling to carbon foam.
Since the Lawton is hard to modify, and I don't know that about the ZMF pads, but the ZMF cost like half the Lawton, I'd recommend getting the ZMF for that leather shell.

 

[AverageGuyNC]

I just saw this thread linked from the other one. I bought a fostex th900 with Lawton pads (no mods from Lawton, but has a balanced cable) and purchased a jotunheim to run it in balanced. Should have the amp next week. I plan on downloading an eq. I have not tried them yet without a balanced amp.

What mods would you recommend, if any? I want plenty of bass and good clarity.

 

[axtran]

There is a drop for ZMF TH pads running: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/zmf-pads-for-fostex-and-audeze



Not sure if that one has been up before and if anyone has experience with those pads?

 


If you're looking to buy the ZMF pads, you're in for a treat. The Ori pads fit perfectly (diameter) however are rather thick. The Eikon pads are larger (diameter) but thinner. I have Ori pads on my Denon AH-D2000 with TH900 drivers in it, and it feels great, and the sound is exactly where I want it.

 

[zolkis]

By the looks the Ori is fine. The Eikon pads have the same opening, so I'd go with less material.
In general, IMHO shallow pads sound better with the TH900. The opening should be large as well. Then, the material and density (total mass) of internal filling will determine the sound.
In stock form, IME none of these aftermarket pads (Brainwavz, Dekoni, Lawton) sound considerably better than the original Fostex pads, but last much longer, and the internal filling is sub-optimal anyway. In stock form, my first recommendation would be the Dekoni pads, if someone wants to try different, but since the ZMF pads are of similar construction and materials, and they are thicker, the ZMF Ori indeed be very good. It may be worth risking that 50 bucks . In the worst case you can change the internal filling to carbon foam (or some other foam FWIW).

 

[KarlStromberg]

Thanks for your opinion zolkis. I now took part in the ZMF earpad drop and ordered the oris. I guess the difference to the Dekonis is not too much.
 
I once tried the TH-X00 Dekoni pads on the TH-900. While the initial impression was very good, I recognized that while it fixed a little bit the issue with the highs, it also reduced the bass quanitity and quality of the TH-900. Guess the main issue here was the much smaller opening than the original pads.
 
When it comes to Dekoni, Lawton and ZMF pads specifically for the TH900, I agree with you that there shouldn't be much difference, since they all use nearly identical materials. So I went with the ZMF pads for now, since the pricing on MD is really good. In the worst case, I spent the 60$ for an upgrade in build quality, which isn't to bad, even if the sound quality doesn't increase.