[lecky]

Since new earpads for these are quite expensive (here in the UK at least) I wonder if anyone's restuffed their old pads? If so was it a successful experiment? Since at least some old pads seem to be bigger than the new pads I wonder if stuffing old pads might even have some advantages over new pads...

 

[Stephen Murphy]

HeadRoom sells new pads for $59. I guess a person might replace the pads every 2 or 3 years. That makes them $20 - $30 to maintain a year. You also get new foam to replace the grungy foam inside the ear piece. I can't see this as a great avenue for saving money by doing a DIY. Plus a new pair of pads makes the phones seem like new.

BTW, I bought a pair a few months back and they were the same size as my very old pads. They were not thinner.

 

[lecky]

They're £45 in the UK - $73, and I don't really mind buying new (although it'd be two thirds of what I payed for my HD580s to start with), but I wondered if anyone had had luck with refilling them. They'd obviously sound different, perhaps worse perhaps better. There are people putting good money down on leather pads for HD580/600/650 presumably in part because they're interested in an option for a different sound, which seems reasonable. Perhaps restuffing might similarly give a different flavour. It's not as if these cans are a model of tonal fidelity to start (lovely sounding as they are), so if anything they're a perfect candidate for such experimenting.

 

[lecky]

It seems that this is new territory. As an experiment I've lightly stuffed the back of a pair of old pads through a couple of incisions made in the pleather underside using polyester 'hollowfill' stuffing material (like a light polyester cotton wool). By by stuffing only the backs the drivers are gently angled forward. The effect is not huge but seems good in the way that a little angling of the drivers as well as lifting them should be. There is no negative effect at all. If you're changing pads you might well give something like this a go with your old pads and see what you think. Hopefully next week I'll be able to compare these stuffed lightly angled pads to some newer pads.