[alecb]

Trying the 770s some more, I'm already feeling much better about the force. Might have just been having a headache or something when I was trying them earlier. The earcup size is still annoying though.

 

[Russin]

  Trying the 770s some more, I'm already feeling much better about the force. Might have just been having a headache or something when I was trying them earlier. The earcup size is still annoying though.

 
It's funny you say that - I recently got a pair of Hifiman 400is, and the very first day was clamp city. Totally had me panicking. Today I wore them back to back for 6 hours and I feel fine.
 
Especially with audio gear, it's so easy to accidentally hyper-sensitize yourself to every tiny detail when you first put something on. Sonic, and fit-wise.

 

[episiarch]

After trying on the Focal Listen at CanJam last year I suggested them to a friend who was looking for a closed, comfortable, isolating office headphone, and he's been very happy with them. 
 
(His previous office headphone was the UE6000, also closed, isolating, and comfortable, but his had developed an intermittent connection and he was looking for something new. The UE6000 is now discontinued, but you can still find them and they're a good deal at about half your $200 target price.)

 

[alecb]

Should I be able to get HM5 pads onto the DT770? The shapes seem too different for it to work (HM5 pads are taller and narrower). Not sure if I'm just not stretching them enough to get them to fit though.

 

[OldDude04]

I can tell you this from first hand experience, the HM5 pads can take a serious stretching. I stretched a set over a pair of Sennheiser HD569's. It took patience to not throw something, lol, but they ended up fitting.  
 

 

 
 
EDIT** I found THIS THREAD that shows that HM5 pads do fit on your DT770's

 

[alecb]

Hm, interesting. Ok, I'll have to spend some more time with that at home then.
 
I'm kind of confused about what the end result will be though? Like, will the oval pads just be stretched into the circular shape of the DT770s (it's not clear to me from the pic in the linked thread). My main motivation here is just getting them to fit my ears better, so if the HM5 pads just shift into the shape of the DT770 cups, that won't help.

 

[alecb]

FYI, if anyone's curious, found this spreadsheet from a different thread of pad sizes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gXPtdjE2YXnJ-DlhP7_Q07xbD38akd5rRar4QttfeWE/edit#gid=0
 
Based on that, I think I'm looking for something that's about 70-75mm tall. The DT770s are listed as 58-60, and that's too small. The Game Zero is 76 and that's definitely adequate. The HM5s are 70mm, and they're almost just right, maybe the tinniest bit too small.

 

[OldDude04]

  Hm, interesting. Ok, I'll have to spend some more time with that at home then.
 
I'm kind of confused about what the end result will be though? Like, will the oval pads just be stretched into the circular shape of the DT770s (it's not clear to me from the pic in the linked thread). My main motivation here is just getting them to fit my ears better, so if the HM5 pads just shift into the shape of the DT770 cups, that won't help.
 

 
If you look at the HFI-580's I posted earlier in this thread, you'll see the HM5's are oval, but the stock pads for the headphones are round. However, I put some HM5's on my Fidelio X2's and they did stay a bit more round. So, unfortunately I can't say for sure what will happen with your DT770's. Here is a pic of my X2's to see what I mean about staying rounded.
 

 

[alecb]

Ok, so, I think the list of things I'm considering now is:
 

1. NVX XPT-100 (or whatever they're called: http://a.co/cv53mH1)
2. Beyerdynamic DT-150
3. Sennheiser HD 598 Cs

 
Everything else I've looked at seems to have an earcup inner height of less than 70mm. The NVX seem like exact copies of the HM5s but (I've heard) with less clamp. The 598 Cs seems great but I've heard that it doesn't actually isolate sound that well. Don't know much about DT-150s.
 
Also, if anyone has any more recommendations, I'll revise my price criteria slightly: say that money is no object, just not for sound quality. Like, in terms of improved comfort or anything else, I'm willing to go over $200, just not for only sound quality.

 

[alecb]

So I'm trying the HD 598 Cs now. Ear cups are a great size height-wise, but they're a little shallow, especially considering the driver (?) sticking out of the earpads that can brush against your ears a bit. Not super annoying though. Definitely not too much clamp, but something still feels a bit off about the comfort. rtings says about comfort: " The padding used for the ear cups on this model is a bit stiffer, which makes the headphones feel tighter on the head. This results in a fit that's a bit more tiring to wear for extended periods" which might be what I'm experiencing. Possibly just need to give it a bit more time.
 
Not sure how I feel about sound. I use 1More triples while commuting and then switch to these, so I'm maybe being influenced by the sounds of the 1Mores, but I feel like maybe they're a little too bass-light. Might be I just need to adjust to the sound, or maybe I'm just slowly discovering my actual tastes in sound signature.
 
I haven't actually tried out the isolation much yet. Haven't gotten direct complaints from anyone but that'd be pretty unlikely in any case. Probably need to ask someone exactly how much they're hearing when I play music.
 
Either way, going to keep trying them for a while.
 
-----
 
One thing I'm considering is maybe trying to put some after-market pads on them? I've been wanting to try out ZMF pads, but I'm not sure if doing so will change the sound too much. And another thing is that, if I'm going to try after-market pads anyway, there's not much reason to be too concerned with the pad size of whatever I'm buying first, assuming the cup shape is friendly to whatever aftermarkets I'd like to try. And I just noticed that in addition to their oval pads, they also have the eikon and ori pads which have oval openings that are tall enough, but the pad itself is circular so it seems like it should fit well over headphones that come with circular pads. Again though, I have no idea how any of this would effect sound.