[Happy Camper]

Looking forward to this. Also, what mods have been done if any.

 

[ColossalKiwi]

I want a sound similar to the stock velour pads, but with perhaps more bass and alitte wider stage, while still being open, airy, transparent.
I also don't care alot for the comfort of the stock pads.
Thanks.

Yeah, the Vegans are not what you're looking for. I'd personally recommend the flat Brainwavz HM5 Hybrid ear pads - they're the closest to stock velour I've tried so far.

 

[daltonlanny]

Thanks.
I may try out a pair of those as well.

 

[sahmen]

I remember going for the Dekoni pads because i found some posters on this thread swearing by it... And then not too long afterwards, there were a series of postings singing the praises of the ZMF Eikon (yes: Eikon, as opposed to "Ori" pads) with the He-6, here and on Massdrop... That led me to order myself a pair of the Eikon pads... Now, if I am reading correctly, it is the "ori" pads, by which people seem to be swearing...

So what gives? which are the best? Dekoni lambskin? ZMF Eikons? ZMF Oris? Or maybe, even, the Brainwavz HM5? Does it matter at all, or are we just dealing with a seriously indecipherable and non-generalizable mixture of random individual preferences and placebo effects behaving as if they're following a well-ordered ranking of performances, which might simply be illusory...?

Personally,.. I have all the above set of pads, with the exception of the ZMF Oris, which I shall probably acquire too, when another attack of "audiophilia madness" strikes...,

One day, I remember replacing the stock velour pads on my He-6 with the Brainwavz HM 5, and hating the results so badly that I brought back the velours after less than one hour of listening... (The result was not so much detestable as it was totally underwhelming, which made me feel frustrated about having even wasted time and money to order and try them on... Luckily they were relatively cheap, so I was able to shrug off that initial frustration quite easily, after a relatively short time, and forget about the pads altogether.)

After that experience, I have only tried on the Eikon pads! (The Dekonis are still sitting there unused. right inside the packaging in which they originally arrived)... I have gotten to like the Eikon pads, but mostly for cosmetic reasons. I like the way they look on the He-6 better than I do the velours, and they also feel comfortable on the ears. As for the way they sound, I confess I have not heard anything close to the improvements I had been lead to expect from reading these forums. Which is, ironically, what is making me wonder whether the Ori pads would do much better, as other postings are suggesting... Frankly I doubt it, but I am willing to try that out before deciding... Still, I must say I do not know when I am going to try that out (I should confess that I have been experiencing some "experimentation fatigue" lately, and wondering whether all the extra tinkering that we usually subject our cans to, is not one big giant red-herring that we waste precious time upon, in the name of "enjoying the hobby"... My point is that when all is said and done, one should be able to simply enjoy the music with the headphones one has paid his/her hard-earned money for, and not feel that they have to go through another murky set of trial and error experiments with pads, amps, mods, and whatnot before they can reach some mysterious, fugitive, and ever-elusive audio nirvana... What is the point? The He-6 came out at least 5 years ago, and sometimes, it appears as if we still do not agree about which pads, mods, and/or amps, can make them sing optimally... When are we finally going to get to the music itself with these cans? Does any pair of cans deserve this much hassle when there are dozens of alternatives coming out each year?

Talking about mods, I am sure some people too might be thinking that I have not experienced the differences I was expecting because I have not tried the pads with this mod or that mod. But am I the only who sometimes think of these mods as another pandora box of dizzying possibilities implemented in different ways by different folks in their own private experimentations, and therefore not offering any clear-eyed sonic upgrade paths when taken together, paths that would yield reasonably similar results for everyone who tries them out? If there are no "objective" ways of measuring improvements that we can all agree upon, how do we know that the individual modding afficionados are not simply victims of their own expectation biases and placebo effects?

As I have said, I want to get to the most essential thing one purchases headphones for, in the first place : enjoying the music. The cans already cost a pretty penny, and, ideally, they ought to be able to deliver without too much of such additional hassles... Or is that asking too much?

End of rant.

 

[cskippy]

Alright, here is what I've managed to measure for pads that are easily purchased.

Audeze Vegan pads (Discontinued) These have very good comfort as they are more like soft pillows than any other pad. They also have an excellent bass to mid response. The upper mids and treble is where I personally find issue. After the dip at 2kHz they start rising up and the treble can get too fatiguing depending on personal preferences and associated gear.

Brainwavz Angled Lamb Skin pads. I like these quite a bit. They are angled so they have better imaging and sound stage depth. Like other pleather or leather pads they have better bass conduction than the velours, even the Audeze Vegan pads. They are relatively well behaved throughout the frequency response. My only gripes are the 1kHz bump and the small 10kHz peak.

Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads. These are similar to the Vegan pads. They would be my recommendation if you want that sound and can't find the Vegan pads. They do offer a more immediate sound as your ears are closer to the drivers compared to the Vegan pads. They have a fun V shaped sound to them but they aren't natural sounding.

Dekoni DT Series Sheepskin pads. These are one of my top picks. They have a forward mid range and lower treble, great for guitar and a more present vocal presentation. They have a good balance with the bass and treble and are one of the few pads that seem to tame the 10kHz peak. They also present a nice sound stage as the pads have some depth to them but focus the sound well.

Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads. These are a good alternative if you like the stock velour sound but want less high treble energy. I didn't like the way the perforated material felt on my skin but others might not have an issue. This is a pretty agreeable frequency response but a bit bass light for my tastes.

Dekoni TH-900 Sheepskin pads. These are the same as above without the perforations. They have good bass and a more laid back presence region compared to the stock velours. They are similar to the angled Brainwavz in sound but are a little brighter overall. They have a slight angle to the pads but not to the same degree as the angled Brainwavz.

Hifiman Focus A pads. I'm not a huge fan of either focus pads but these are the better of the two. They have a little more natural presentation with less 4kHz energy. The build quality is atrocious on these, I've had one pair come undone at the mounting ring.

Hifiman Focus pads. These are the more energetic version of the two pads. They are great if you like edgy in your face rock guitars or exciting percussion. They don't have the best bass quantity or quality compared to the other pads.

Hifiman stock pleather pads. These aren't that bad but they don't breathe well and the laid back presence region combined with the 10kHz spike makes almost all other pads an improvement.

Hifiman stock velour pads. I'm one of the few who really like the stock velour pads. I think they get the bass to mid transition perfect and only suffer because of the excess treble energy. Some creative front damping can make these the preferred pad for me and possibly others.

MrSpeakers Ether C pads. These are my top choice for my preferences. They are angled slightly, keep your ears close to the driver for good immediacy of sound, and excellent balance between the bass, mids, and treble.

ZMF Perforated Ori pad. This is actually a pretty good pad. If you like the focus pads but want more bass try these pads. They have good presence but with supporting bass so they don't become overly bright.

ZMF Suede pad. Zach was really curious to see how these compared to the Audeze Vegan pads. They are more similar than not but the Audeze Vegan pads have less energy around 1kHz. This is do to different damping such as material and foam but also their physical size, as they are at least 1.5 times bigger and don't fit as well as the ZMF Suede pads on the HE-6. I personally prefer Leather or pleather pads over Suede and velour pads as the bass is usually better with less treble harshness.

If you have a pad that you want to get measured I would be happy to do so. However, I will not purchase pads just for measurements.

 

[heliosphann]

Which ZMF Suede pads did you measure? There's Eikon and Ori versions.

 

[cskippy]

Which ZMF Suede pads did you measure? There's Eikon and Ori versions.

Ah, I didn't see that on the website as Zach just sent them to me. It's the smaller Ori pad. I bet the Eikon pad measures even closer to the Vegan pad.

 

[Jaab]

Alright, here is what I've managed to measure for pads that are easily purchased.

Audeze Vegan pads (Discontinued) These have very good comfort as they are more like soft pillows than any other pad. They also have an excellent bass to mid response. The upper mids and treble is where I personally find issue. After the dip at 2kHz they start rising up and the treble can get too fatiguing depending on personal preferences and associated gear.

Brainwavz Angled Lamb Skin pads. I like these quite a bit. They are angled so they have better imaging and sound stage depth. Like other pleather or leather pads they have better bass conduction than the velours, even the Audeze Vegan pads. They are relatively well behaved throughout the frequency response. My only gripes are the 1kHz bump and the small 10kHz peak.

Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads. These are similar to the Vegan pads. They would be my recommendation if you want that sound and can't find the Vegan pads. They do offer a more immediate sound as your ears are closer to the drivers compared to the Vegan pads. They have a fun V shaped sound to them but they aren't natural sounding.

Dekoni DT Series Sheepskin pads. These are one of my top picks. They have a forward mid range and lower treble, great for guitar and a more present vocal presentation. They have a good balance with the bass and treble and are one of the few pads that seem to tame the 10kHz peak. They also present a nice sound stage as the pads have some depth to them but focus the sound well.

w TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads. These are a good alternative if you like the stock velour sound but want less high treble energy. I didn't like the way the perforated material felt on my skin but others might not have an issue. This is a pretty agreeable frequency response but a bit bass light for my tastes.

Dekoni TH-900 Sheepskin pads. These are the same as above without the perforations. They have good bass and a more laid back presence region compared to the stock velours. They are similar to the angled Brainwavz in sound but are a little brighter overall. They have a slight angle to the pads but not to the same degree as the angled Brainwavz.

Hifiman Focus A pads. I'm not a huge fan of either focus pads but these are the better of the two. They have a little more natural presentation with less 4kHz energy. The build quality is atrocious on these, I've had one pair come undone at the mounting ring.

Hifiman Focus pads. These are the more energetic version of the two pads. They are great if you like edgy in your face rock guitars or exciting percussion. They don't have the best bass quantity or quality compared to the other pads.

Hifiman stock pleather pads. These aren't that bad but they don't breathe well and the laid back presence region combined with the 10kHz spike makes almost all other pads an improvement.

Hifiman stock velour pads. I'm one of the few who really like the stock velour pads. I think they get the bass to mid transition perfect and only suffer because of the excess treble energy. Some creative front damping can make these the preferred pad for me and possibly others.

MrSpeakers Ether C pads. These are my top choice for my preferences. They are angled slightly, keep your ears close to the driver for good immediacy of sound, and excellent balance between the bass, mids, and treble.

ZMF Perforated Ori pad. This is actually a pretty good pad. If you like the focus pads but want more bass try these pads. They have good presence but with supporting bass so they don't become overly bright.

ZMF Suede pad. Zach was really curious to see how these compared to the Audeze Vegan pads. They are more similar than not but the Audeze Vegan pads have less energy around 1kHz. This is do to different damping such as material and foam but also their physical size, as they are at least 1.5 times bigger and don't fit as well as the ZMF Suede pads on the HE-6. I personally prefer Leather or pleather pads over Suede and velour pads as the bass is usually better with less treble harshness.

If you have a pad that you want to get measured I would be happy to do so. However, I will not purchase pads just for measurements.

Alright, here is what I've managed to measure for pads that are easily purchased.

Audeze Vegan pads (Discontinued) These have very good comfort as they are more like soft pillows than any other pad. They also have an excellent bass to mid response. The upper mids and treble is where I personally find issue. After the dip at 2kHz they start rising up and the treble can get too fatiguing depending on personal preferences and associated gear.

Brainwavz Angled Lamb Skin pads. I like these quite a bit. They are angled so they have better imaging and sound stage depth. Like other pleather or leather pads they have better bass conduction than the velours, even the Audeze Vegan pads. They are relatively well behaved throughout the frequency response. My only gripes are the 1kHz bump and the small 10kHz peak.

Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads. These are similar to the Vegan pads. They would be my recommendation if you want that sound and can't find the Vegan pads. They do offer a more immediate sound as your ears are closer to the drivers compared to the Vegan pads. They have a fun V shaped sound to them but they aren't natural sounding.

Dekoni DT Series Sheepskin pads. These are one of my top picks. They have a forward mid range and lower treble, great for guitar and a more present vocal presentation. They have a good balance with the bass and treble and are one of the few pads that seem to tame the 10kHz peak. They also present a nice sound stage as the pads have some depth to them but focus the sound well.

Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads. These are a good alternative if you like the stock velour sound but want less high treble energy. I didn't like the way the perforated material felt on my skin but others might not have an issue. This is a pretty agreeable frequency response but a bit bass light for my tastes.

Dekoni TH-900 Sheepskin pads. These are the same as above without the perforations. They have good bass and a more laid back presence region compared to the stock velours. They are similar to the angled Brainwavz in sound but are a little brighter overall. They have a slight angle to the pads but not to the same degree as the angled Brainwavz.

Hifiman Focus A pads. I'm not a huge fan of either focus pads but these are the better of the two. They have a little more natural presentation with less 4kHz energy. The build quality is atrocious on these, I've had one pair come undone at the mounting ring.

Hifiman Focus pads. These are the more energetic version of the two pads. They are great if you like edgy in your face rock guitars or exciting percussion. They don't have the best bass quantity or quality compared to the other pads.

Hifiman stock pleather pads. These aren't that bad but they don't breathe well and the laid back presence region combined with the 10kHz spike makes almost all other pads an improvement.

Hifiman stock velour pads. I'm one of the few who really like the stock velour pads. I think they get the bass to mid transition perfect and only suffer because of the excess treble energy. Some creative front damping can make these the preferred pad for me and possibly others.

MrSpeakers Ether C pads. These are my top choice for my preferences. They are angled slightly, keep your ears close to the driver for good immediacy of sound, and excellent balance between the bass, mids, and treble.

ZMF Perforated Ori pad. This is actually a pretty good pad. If you like the focus pads but want more bass try these pads. They have good presence but with supporting bass so they don't become overly bright.

ZMF Suede pad. Zach was really curious to see how these compared to the Audeze Vegan pads. They are more similar than not but the Audeze Vegan pads have less energy around 1kHz. This is do to different damping such as material and foam but also their physical size, as they are at least 1.5 times bigger and don't fit as well as the ZMF Suede pads on the HE-6. I personally prefer Leather or pleather pads over Suede and velour pads as the bass is usually better with less treble harshness.

If you have a pad that you want to get measured I would be happy to do so. However, I will not purchase pads just for measurements.

Very instructive, thanks for your work! and confirm my impression of the Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads, the lack of bass affecting the reproduction of the Cello, but the donut of felt underneath acting as a bass lens (?). I'm curious to know what else the donut felt have affected

 

[daltonlanny]

Alright, here is what I've managed to measure for pads that are easily purchased.

Audeze Vegan pads (Discontinued) These have very good comfort as they are more like soft pillows than any other pad. They also have an excellent bass to mid response. The upper mids and treble is where I personally find issue. After the dip at 2kHz they start rising up and the treble can get too fatiguing depending on personal preferences and associated gear.

Brainwavz Angled Lamb Skin pads. I like these quite a bit. They are angled so they have better imaging and sound stage depth. Like other pleather or leather pads they have better bass conduction than the velours, even the Audeze Vegan pads. They are relatively well behaved throughout the frequency response. My only gripes are the 1kHz bump and the small 10kHz peak.

Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads. These are similar to the Vegan pads. They would be my recommendation if you want that sound and can't find the Vegan pads. They do offer a more immediate sound as your ears are closer to the drivers compared to the Vegan pads. They have a fun V shaped sound to them but they aren't natural sounding.

Dekoni DT Series Sheepskin pads. These are one of my top picks. They have a forward mid range and lower treble, great for guitar and a more present vocal presentation. They have a good balance with the bass and treble and are one of the few pads that seem to tame the 10kHz peak. They also present a nice sound stage as the pads have some depth to them but focus the sound well.

Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads. These are a good alternative if you like the stock velour sound but want less high treble energy. I didn't like the way the perforated material felt on my skin but others might not have an issue. This is a pretty agreeable frequency response but a bit bass light for my tastes.

Dekoni TH-900 Sheepskin pads. These are the same as above without the perforations. They have good bass and a more laid back presence region compared to the stock velours. They are similar to the angled Brainwavz in sound but are a little brighter overall. They have a slight angle to the pads but not to the same degree as the angled Brainwavz.

Hifiman Focus A pads. I'm not a huge fan of either focus pads but these are the better of the two. They have a little more natural presentation with less 4kHz energy. The build quality is atrocious on these, I've had one pair come undone at the mounting ring.

Hifiman Focus pads. These are the more energetic version of the two pads. They are great if you like edgy in your face rock guitars or exciting percussion. They don't have the best bass quantity or quality compared to the other pads.

Hifiman stock pleather pads. These aren't that bad but they don't breathe well and the laid back presence region combined with the 10kHz spike makes almost all other pads an improvement.

Hifiman stock velour pads. I'm one of the few who really like the stock velour pads. I think they get the bass to mid transition perfect and only suffer because of the excess treble energy. Some creative front damping can make these the preferred pad for me and possibly others.

MrSpeakers Ether C pads. These are my top choice for my preferences. They are angled slightly, keep your ears close to the driver for good immediacy of sound, and excellent balance between the bass, mids, and treble.

ZMF Perforated Ori pad. This is actually a pretty good pad. If you like the focus pads but want more bass try these pads. They have good presence but with supporting bass so they don't become overly bright.

ZMF Suede pad. Zach was really curious to see how these compared to the Audeze Vegan pads. They are more similar than not but the Audeze Vegan pads have less energy around 1kHz. This is do to different damping such as material and foam but also their physical size, as they are at least 1.5 times bigger and don't fit as well as the ZMF Suede pads on the HE-6. I personally prefer Leather or pleather pads over Suede and velour pads as the bass is usually better with less treble harshness.

If you have a pad that you want to get measured I would be happy to do so. However, I will not purchase pads just for measurements.

Very instructive, thanks for your work! and confirm my impression of the Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads, the lack of bass affecting the reproduction of the Cello, but the donut of felt underneath acting as a bass lens (?). I'm curious to know what else the donut felt have affected

+1.
Great job cskippy!
Very helpful and informative .
Thanks a million for your hard work on this

 

[daltonlanny]

Hey cskippy,

I have a few questions about the HE-6 you measured these pads on:
1. Is the unit stock or modded?
2. If it's modded, what all mods are done to It?
3. Is it a 4 screw or 6 screw version?

Thanks again

 

[LarsHP]

(...)
One day, I remember replacing the stock velour pads on my He-6 with the Brainwavz HM 5, and hating the results so badly that I brought back the velours after less than one hour of listening... (The result was not so much detestable as it was totally underwhelming, which made me feel frustrated about having even wasted time and money to order and try them on... Luckily they were relatively cheap, so I was able to shrug off that initial frustration after a relatively short time, and forget about the pads altogether.)(...)

What version of the HM5 pads did you try? If it's the HM5 velour I am not surprised... but if it's a protein leather / real leather version, I certainly am.

 

[cskippy]

Hey cskippy,

I have a few questions about the HE-6 you measured these pads on:
1. Is the unit stock or modded?
2. If it's modded, what all mods are done to It?
3. Is it a 4 screw or 6 screw version?

Thanks again

The HE-6 used is a six screw that was custom modded by LFF. Here is the difference with same pads between stock green and modded red:

 

[daltonlanny]

The HE-6 used is a six screw that was custom modded by LFF. Here is the difference with same pads between stock green and modded red:

Thanks for the info.
Much appreciated.
Again, great job!

 

[grokit]

I finally got my HE-6 paired properly with my Pioneer SX-727 vintage receiver, the special speaker connectors held me back a bit. I have two pairs of speaker wire from Oak Tree, I now have more $ into the speaker wire than the receiver itself lol. I have one pair hooked up to HifiMAN's HE Adapter, more for for convenience and length than out of necessity. My source atm is also a bit unusual; a MacBook Pro with a Halide Design (Devilsound) Spdif Bridge, running iTunes > Amarra Hifi, into my (og) Matrix Mini-i (dual ad-1955's). I'm very pleased with the results; this may be the best I've heard my HE-6's.

 

[KewlMunky]

I feel like a dark horse here. I'm still using the focus-a pads. I also apparently got a very soft verison. As my friend had ordered both the focus and focus-a pads, neither of which are as comfy as mine.

I have tried the vegan pads, but haven't actually tried tape mounting them. I also have the dekoni elite sheepskin. I'm not huge into trying to sit and concentrate on the most micro differences. That being said, if I can't tell a difference within a couple of minutes of some reference songs, I don't consider it a worthwhile difference. So I went back to the focus-a pads because I like how comfortable they are.

Now that I have my Loki-mini, I feel no urge to pursue pad swapping. I am able to tame the treble a bit and get the extra bass I desired. I suggest to any who feel overwhelmed in the sea of which alternate pad to use on the HE-6, like I was myself, to try out the Loki-mini. For $150, you have a much wider array of options for tuning. Just going through three pairs of pads could cost you as much if not more than a Loki-mini. And if you go the pad route, it's not very practical to use them to tune your other gear, as is the Loki-mini.