[disastermouse]

Which pads are better, Focus Pads or Focus A Pads? One has the holes in pleather in the interior, the other is velour with no holes in the interior.

 

[nickwin]

Which pads are better, Focus Pads or Focus A Pads? One has the holes in pleather in the interior, the other is velour with no holes in the interior.

General consensus is that the focus A pads are the best in terms of SQ, but I haven't compared the two myself.  The Focus pads were said to be a little better fit and finish than the focus A's.

 

[disastermouse]

General consensus is that the focus A pads are the best in terms of SQ, but I haven't compared the two myself.  The Focus pads were said to be a little better fit and finish than the focus A's.

Do Focus Pads have the holes, or is that Focus A Pads?

 

[Hansotek]

General consensus is that the focus A pads are the best in terms of SQ, but I haven't compared the two myself.  The Focus pads were said to be a little better fit and finish than the focus A's.

Do Focus Pads have the holes, or is that Focus A Pads?

FocusPads have the holes.

 

[disastermouse]

FocusPads have the holes.

Argh! I'm trying to use Amazon gift credit but Amazon doesn't have the ones with the holes anymore. I'll have to order directly from the HiFiMan site.

 

[Hansotek]

FocusPads have the holes.

Argh! I'm trying to use Amazon gift credit but Amazon doesn't have the ones with the holes anymore. I'll have to order directly from the HiFiMan site.

The Focus-A (which they have) sounds better with the HE-500, IMO.

 

[disastermouse]

The Focus-A (which they have) sounds better with the HE-500, IMO.

Ordered! We'll see what it's like! Any 1/4 terminating cable recommendations? The stock cables are somewhat jangly and microphonic.

 

[Guidostrunk]

Hard to beat at this price. Just bought one a week ago because my solder station is broke. It's built well ,and doesn't tangle.

Edit: Non microphonic as well.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=171967950803&alt=web

Ordered! We'll see what it's like! Any 1/4 terminating cable recommendations? The stock cables are somewhat jangly and microphonic.

 

[rezolver]

Any 1/4 terminating cable recommendations? The stock cables are somewhat jangly and microphonic.

Couple pages back, someone recommended 'Impact Audio Cables' built by Leslie at Etsy.
 
After living with the stock cable for over 3 years, I had enough with the microphonics and tangling.  Glad I purchased from Impact Audio.  Leslie's cables are of amazing quality, both on fit and finish.  Service and communication is top notch!  Custom built if you desire.  No more tangling.  No more microphonics.  Additional two feet of length better accommodates my listening environment as well.  Highly recommended.  

 

Picture of my finished cable.

 

[bracko]

The Focus-A (which they have) sounds better with the HE-500, IMO.

What is the main difference between the two on HE-500 in your opinion?

 

[roadcykler]

 
Couple pages back, someone recommended 'Impact Audio Cables' built by Leslie at Etsy.
 
After living with the stock cable for over 3 years, I had enough with the microphonics and tangling.  Glad I purchased from Impact Audio.  Leslie's cables are of amazing quality, both on fit and finish.  Service and communication is top notch!  Custom built if you desire.  No more tangling.  No more microphonics.  Additional two feet of length better accommodates my listening environment as well.  Highly recommended.  

 

Picture of my finished cable.

 
I'll second that. I really like all the options available. Color, plug, length, etc. 

 

[Tuneslover]

  What is the main difference between the two on HE-500 in your opinion?

I bought the Focus Pads just over a year ago.  At that time I chose the Focus Pads because they were slightly larger than the Focus A Pads.  However I just checked the HiFiMan website to see what the actual size difference is and to my surprise I see that both pads have exactly the same interior dimension.  Very odd.
 
Anyway I seem to have slightly larger than average ears so I chose the (larger??pads) Focus Pads because I don't like tight squishy fitting ear pads.  Now that there is no apparent size difference, it would be interesting to hear how these 2 pads differ in sound.  In any event I have no complaints with the Focus Pad comfort or sound whatsoever.

 

[disastermouse]

I bought the Focus Pads just over a year ago.  At that time I chose the Focus Pads because they were slightly larger than the Focus A Pads.  However I just checked the HiFiMan website to see what the actual size difference is and to my surprise I see that both pads have exactly the same interior dimension.  Very odd.

Anyway I seem to have slightly larger than average ears so I chose the (larger??pads) Focus Pads because I don't like tight squishy fitting ear pads.  Now that there is no apparent size difference, it would be interesting to hear how these 2 pads differ in sound.  In any event I have no complaints with the Focus Pad comfort or sound whatsoever.

Did it fundamentally alter the sound?

 

[Tuneslover]

Did it fundamentally alter the sound?

It's been quite a while since I converted from the pleather pads and I seem to remember that initially I was having trouble getting a proper seal with the Focus Pads and couldn't seem to get the feel right.  Then I discovered that the pads actually spun freely on the cups and that the left & right pads were spun out of sync with each other.  Thereafter I made sure to keep the thicker part of the pads at the back of the headphone with the pad seams pointing directly up.  That got the fit and feel right and the seal became a non issue.  Next, I purchased an after market headband pad which distributed the weight of the headphone much more evenly and eliminated the droop factor problem that I wrestled with.
 
With the comfort and seal factor corrected, from a sound perspective I noticed that there was a slight reduction in the quantity of bass but the bass was tighter and more musical/detailed sounding.  The mid and high frequencies became ever so slightly more detailed sounding.
 
All in all sound wise there wasn't a night and day difference but overall I noticed a slight improvement quality and detail.  The pads and headband changes REALLY improved the comfort factor by a huge margin.  I can now listen to my HE500's for fairly long listening session whereas pre-changes I could only tolerate 30 minutes max at a time. 

 

[disastermouse]

  It's been quite a while since I converted from the pleather pads and I seem to remember that initially I was having trouble getting a proper seal with the Focus Pads and couldn't seem to get the feel right.  Then I discovered that the pads actually spun freely on the cups and that the left & right pads were spun out of sync with each other.  Thereafter I made sure to keep the thicker part of the pads at the back of the headphone with the pad seams pointing directly up.  That got the fit and feel right and the seal became a non issue.  Next, I purchased an after market headband pad which distributed the weight of the headphone much more evenly and eliminated the droop factor problem that I wrestled with.
 
With the comfort and seal factor corrected, from a sound perspective I noticed that there was a slight reduction in the quantity of bass but the bass was tighter and more musical/detailed sounding.  The mid and high frequencies became ever so slightly more detailed sounding.
 
All in all sound wise there wasn't a night and day difference but overall I noticed a slight improvement quality and detail.  The pads and headband changes REALLY improved the comfort factor by a huge margin.  I can now listen to my HE500's for fairly long listening session whereas pre-changes I could only tolerate 30 minutes max at a time. 

I already have a pad semi-permanently glued to the top. It was the first mod I did. I'm debating the Sorbothane mod if I can see exactly how I'm supposed to apply it. On Monday, I may order a new cable, not for sound quality, but just because the stock cable is microphonic and thin.