[Brahmsian]

I've tried to like the HiFiman pads because I don't want to lose the upper treble on my he560 but the truth is I hate the pads. That "velour" is more like felt. Itchy at that. And the pads are way too shallow for my ears and not tall enough. In short, I want to send the stock pads straight to hell and get the Ori. But will I lose the upper treble? Should probably ask in the 560 thread but saw the Ori discussion here.

 

[phthora]

I've tried to like the HiFiman pads because I don't want to lose the upper treble on my he560 but the truth is I hate the pads. That "velour" is more like felt. Itchy at that. And the pads are way too shallow for my ears and not tall enough. In short, I want to send the stock pads straight to hell and get the Ori. But will I lose the upper treble? Should probably ask in the 560 thread but saw the Ori discussion here.

I agree with you. I'm not a fan of velour pads in general, but the Focus are especially bad for me. Itchy, as you said, and also far too firm. It seems like they are meant to cushion the headphones and protect them from my face, rather than the other way around. Switching to some cushy sheepskin beauties really improved the comfort and overall experience.

 

[Miki_asd]

But how can I chose? There is plenty of different, recommended pads (mr speakers, zmf, bw, audeze). How to chose the thickness, the angle, the material, the hole?
Is here anyone who tried some?
According to my ear, when the hp is on the head, the pads hole needs to be at least 1.8cm at max, 7cm high, 3cm wide (near to the top).

I would like a bit more bass, better low end, bigger sound stage and good imaging. (I have no problem with the mids and the highs tough).

What would you recommend?

 

[DavidA]

But how can I chose? There is plenty of different, recommended pads (mr speakers, zmf, bw, audeze). How to chose the thickness, the angle, the material, the hole?
Is here anyone who tried some?
According to my ear, when the hp is on the head, the pads hole needs to be at least 1.8cm at max, 7cm high, 3cm wide (near to the top).

I would like a bit more bass, better low end, bigger sound stage and good imaging. (I have no problem with the mids and the highs tough).

What would you recommend?

The issue you will have is pads that boost the bass might / will also affect the mids and highs and its hard to say if this is a good or bad thing.

While some pads may give a bigger sound stage I didn't hear any pad that made much of a difference but YMMV with this. Sound stage is also affected by the design of the drivers/housing in conjunction with pads so a change of ear pads might not have any effect on the sound stage. It might be easier to just use EQ to raise the bass to what you would like than to mess with different ear pads.

One thing that I did notice with most ear pads that raised the bass is that they also raised the treble a bit and for some its a problem. Since you have a size that you would like I'd suggest looking for ear pads that meets the opening size that you want and then just use EQ to fine tune the sound.

Another thing to consider is that the HE400i is not a sound signature that you really like and while ear pad changes will affect the sound it might be easier to start with a headphone that meets your needs without all these mods like changing ear pads and sound stage is not something that a change of ear pads will affect much.

 

[Jazmanaut]

^ broblem with Eq:ing bass on HE400i:s that you need to boost it quite a bit, and quite low. (Almost 6dB from 40Hz [Q-0,64]) and that causes serious distorting.
So fully sealed pads makes better sealing, and boost to the bass, wich is better and more natural way to add bass

 

[Miki_asd]

^ broblem with Eq:ing bass on HE400i:s that you need to boost it quite a bit, and quite low. (Almost 6dB from 40Hz [Q-0,64]) and that causes serious distorting.
So fully sealed pads makes better sealing, and boost to the bass, wich is better and more natural way to add bass

And every time I try EQ-ing, the conclusion is always that nothing sounds better than EQ. I don't like EQ, I don't want to use it.

Another thing to consider is that the HE400i is not a sound signature that you really like and while ear pad changes will affect the sound it might be easier to start with a headphone that meets your needs without all these mods like changing ear pads and sound stage is not something that a change of ear pads will affect much.

I like the 400i's sound overall, but the pads are not comfortable. The hole is not high enough and not deep enough, so I have to change at least to a BW hybrid, but i would buy a more expensive pad like i mentioned, if those add a little bass, but i don't want more highs.

 

[HirschiAUT]

And every time I try EQ-ing, the conclusion is always that nothing sounds better than EQ. I don't like EQ, I don't want to use it.


I like the 400i's sound overall, but the pads are not comfortable. The hole is not high enough and not deep enough, so I have to change at least to a BW hybrid, but i would buy a more expensive pad like i mentioned, if those add a little bass, but i don't want more highs.

To me the Ori Pads add sub Bass and dont do much to the rest TO ME!
Since the opening is oval it might fit your heigth requirements, but you will have to measure.

 

[Fasterball]

Hi, guys!
For a while I was looking for a new pad for my 400i. Some people recommended the Alpha pads, some says those ar ****. A few people recommended the Ether pads and now the new trend is Ori pads.
I ask this question from Mad_Economis, and he wrote the following:
"I strongly recommend against using non-Hifiman pads on Hifimans
I and several people I know are great fans of Hifiman's work, and so I've measured quite a lot of combinations of pads and Hifiman headphones at this point
And without exception replacing the pads with anything other than Focus makes things worse, pretty much
What the problems are varies by the pads, but you're better off with Hifiman pads
Which is a shame, because Hifiman pads are terrible quality for the price, but the sound really is their strong point
Speaking specifically, I've measured the Alphas on a few Hifimans, and please, do not do it
Given the commonalities of the Ori and Ether pads with the Alphas, Audeze pads, and a few other similar pads I've measured, I would hazard that the same recommendation could be given there
If you're absolutely adamant on not giving Hifiman money, the Brainwavz HM5 Hybrid pads would probably be the least bad of the options I can think of."

So, what do you think? The Ori pads are truely better than the others? How?

Ori pads sound best for my taste. I have tried the Brainwavz, Dekoni, and ended with Ori pads. Right off the bat there two things that ori pads have over brainwavs angled: 1) comfort and 2) ease of installation. Ori pads aren't as thick as Brainwavs so there isn't an increase in clamping force and they aren't oval shaped. They are round so they go on the rings easier. I really like what they do to the sound. I think they increase the bass and lighten the treble without going too far like the brainwavs do.

 

[raband]

***

Buy headphones

Wear headphones

Listen to music.

 

[Lurk650]

***

Buy headphones

Wear headphones

Listen to music.

Ok....

 

[LugBug1]

Still can't rate these hp's highly enough considering the price. Brilliant allrounders. I've just went from Brahms sextets to RATM. Happy days. Defo better than the HD650, undecided if they are better than the HD600 - purely subjective here because of my love of classical music. Either way I'd recommend them over either. You can plug in and play!

 

[CoFire]

I just happen to have 2 400i's, a m9XX (two outputs for near seamless AB) and 4 mounting ring sets and several pads (other 3 ring sets already have pads). A friend brought his 400i and 4XX by and I own the 400i's. I'm on holiday from work so I'll try to do a mini comparison and take notes. No promises. Chores have a way of ruining the finer things in life plus I'm curious as well.

I AB'd pads in the past and what I remember is that the bigger angled leather pads (alpha) gave a more V shaped signature and ruined the mids. The texture in the bass and mids are key to these headphones imo as well as preventing these from becoming treble cannons as they are clinical and on the edge imo in stock form. I also bought a couple other pads that were less thick but I still preferred the focus pads the most. They were the most balanced and kept the mids special. I think the key maybe dimension matching with leather pads to closely keep the same signature. The TH900 pad are flat pancakes so I think they might be a close candidate for the SS and keep those drivers close for a good mid presentation. I have those too and can try them. My original focus pads just tore so yes, I ordered a new pair. I also have Eikon pads on my THX00 I might try which from what I think happens with pad rolling should be better than the Ori due to dimensions. I'm going of memory now but when I get to it, I have some calipers and can measure the pads.

^ broblem with Eq:ing bass on HE400i:s that you need to boost it quite a bit, and quite low. (Almost 6dB from 40Hz [Q-0,64]) and that causes serious distorting.
So fully sealed pads makes better sealing, and boost to the bass, wich is better and more natural way to add bass

If you EQ, EQ down and that should mitigate distortion. So to raise bass 6db, lower all other frequencies by 6db. You'll need headroom on your amp since this will lower the volume but this might help improve bass quality via EQ and give you the kick you want. If you are already doing this, that would be good to know as well.

I would also try improving the seal between the pads and headphone at the mounting ring either with tape on the outside or some interstitial material, I hear that improves bass quite well.

 

[DavidA]

My Dekoni TH-900 sheep skin pads are almost identical in dimensions to the Focus pads. They are also thicker and with more of an angle than the TH-600 stock pads and they don't have the perforations on the inner wall like the Focus pads which is why they probably sound better on the HE400i since it seems to gives the highs a small boost to get it closer to the HE560 highs but on the HE560 the TH-900 pads make the treble/highs harsh to me.

 

[CoFire]

My Dekoni TH-900 sheep skin pads are almost identical in dimensions to the Focus pads. They are also thicker and with more of an angle than the TH-600 stock pads and they don't have the perforations on the inner wall like the Focus pads which is why they probably sound better on the HE400i since it seems to gives the highs a small boost to get it closer to the HE560 highs but on the HE560 the TH-900 pads make the treble/highs harsh to me.

Ate the TH600 and TH900 pads different? I think when I ordered them from the distributor they are listed as TH600/TH900 pads.

 

[jay567]

Quick shout out to anyone considering the HE400i's in the second hand market: the HE400 with silver cables are way better in pretty much every way. Soundstage, bass, mid range, treble extension, dadida.