sahmen
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2014
- Posts
- 2,970
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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.
I do like the idea of the Loki-mini, but I think Schiit audio should really think of making a version that is compatible with balanced interconnects. So far, by best headphone amps and Dacs perform best when wired in balanced mode. From that perspective, to go single-ended in order to use the Loki-mini feels a bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face,... or something like that... I am not saying it is not possible... It just doesn't seem ideal, in my case.