[Chefguru]

I've had my hd800s for about a week now, and I have to say visually I love them but I cant stand how cheap the dustguard pad looks. I was recently over another members place testing out some amps for the hd800 and I noticed he didn't keep his dustguard in, and had a theory that they are actually worthless considering dust can also just come in from the other exposed side of the driver.
 
 Was wondering what other peoples thoughts were on this- visually they look so much better without them!

 

[burnliff]

I could be wrong here, but...
 
Wouldn't the dust only do damage to the side with the driver's "cone" (not sure the term), hence why it's covered... The back is always pretty exposed on open headphones, but the ear-facing side is always covered, as far as I've seen.
 
This is a common mod on low end Grados, supposedly improves clarity, but those cans don't cost $1500..
 
How often do you look inside the cup anyway? I wouldn't risk it. 

 

[Uncle Erik]

Do what you want, but I think they sound fine with the dustguard.

 

[Chefguru]

not really about sound, more questioning if the dustguard is actually doing anything. Plus in my opinion, its probably better to not have something covering the driver (aka sony q010's for instance)

 

[burnliff]

The Qualia drivers are covered by a grille, thus preventing some debris. It's better than nothing.
 
Why take the risk, given that even just a hair getting in can cause the driver to buzz and not work properly? 
 
It'll also lower the value of the cans if you ever want to sell/trade them..