[Galeonero]

Hi people, I have a doubt if it is true that changing the pads of other headphones will actually change the sound.
I read many cases of the KOSS Porta PRO changing the sound with the Yaxi Pads
How much does it change? Is it day and night or does it depend on each pad?
I ask because I do not know if it is a myth like the "headphone roll"

 

[GREQ]

Hi people, I have a doubt if it is true that changing the pads of other headphones will actually change the sound.
I read many cases of the KOSS Porta PRO changing the sound with the Yaxi Pads
How much does it change? Is it day and night or does it depend on each pad?
I ask because I do not know if it is a myth like the "headphone roll"

Changing the pads can (and usually do) have a bigger change in sound than changing the entire headphone for another entirely different headphone

What I mean is... if you had a Sennheiser HD600 and HD650, changing the pads on one of them can make them sound more different than they already are in stock form.
Absolutely no myth.

I've rolled pads on headphones with over 10dB changes in treble or bass (depending on the headphone and pad).

Pad rolling is HUGE compared to any other type of mod or 'roll' (tube rolling, different amps, different DACs, different cables (lol) etc)

 

[jonathan c]

Changing the pads can (and usually do) have a bigger change in sound than changing the entire headphone for another entirely different headphone

What I mean is... if you had a Sennheiser HD600 and HD650, changing the pads on one of them can make them sound more different than they already are in stock form.
Absolutely no myth.

I've rolled pads on headphones with over 10dB changes in treble or bass (depending on the headphone and pad).

Pad rolling is HUGE compared to any other type of mod or 'roll' (tube rolling, different amps, different DACs, different cables (lol) etc)

You left out joint rolling…

 

[mauaudiocr]

They do, it has to do with the material of the pad, it affects the sound, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way, also depends on personal taste, what can work for somebody might not work for other people.

 

[dstarr3]

It depends on how acoustically similar the pads are to what you're replacing. For instance, my K702 is equipped with Dekoni earpads, and those earpads were designed to be as acoustically similar to the original pads as possible, and they provide frequency response measurements of original pads vs. their pads, and I can confirm that yeah, their K702 pads sound basically identical to the original pads and I couldn't detect a difference.

Then there's the other end of the spectrum where you can fit completely different pads to a headphone. Like the Koss KPH30i with Grado G pads:


I've done that myself and the difference is 100% night and day. Not even slightly subtle. Dramatic change in sound.

So at one end of the spectrum you've got pad options that try to preserve the original acoustic properties as much as possible, at the other end of the spectrum you've got Frankenstein mods where you've got pad/headphone combos that were never designed to happen and produce wildly different sounds. And then in between those two extremes you've got a whole lot of grey area where maybe the pad/headphone combo you try influences the sound in a subtle way, or maybe a not-so-subtle way, and sometimes the changes are for better, and sometimes the changes are for worse. For instance, in my experience AKG headphones are very picky about earpads and nearly every aftermarket pad I've slapped on an AKG just sounded worse. The only exception being the K702 and Dekoni's pads that were deliberately designed to be as similar as possible to the originals.

I've also tried some Audeze earpads on an Audio Technica headphone of mine and the bass turned into a giant boomy bloated mess and it just totally destroyed the tuning, couldn't stand it. But then you've got headphones like the JVC SZ2000 which is basically the dullest headphone on the planet, until you slap some aftermarket pads on it like the Dan Clark Alpha pads and suddenly the headphone positively comes to life, literally sounds like a completely different headphone. Absolutely incredible improvement, leaps and bounds ahead of the stock pads.

In short, can different earpads dramatically change the sound of a headphone? Absolutely, 100%. I've experienced it many, many times. Will pad rolling always dramatically change the sound? No. Like all things, it depends. But yeah, if you want to have a fun, inexpensive experiment, the KPH30i + Grado pads as shown above would serve as a great demonstration of just what kind of transformations can be achieved by simple modifications.

 

[buke9]

Pads will change the sound if different materials and shape.

 

[castleofargh]

Not sure what night and day is, but a change in the frequency response by one dB here and there is pretty normal. Even between used pads and new pairs of the same model, the seal quality will tend to show more subs on the older ones that got time to better conform to the shape of your head.
The pads can also impact how far the driver is to your ear which will usually change mostly a bunch of high frequencies.
The shape of the pads and material used can also have similar effects with the seal quality changing and the way you place the driver relatively to your ear canal based essentially on comfort instead of acoustic.






There are similar impacts on IEMs when using different tips.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hi people, I have a doubt if it is true that changing the pads of other headphones will actually change the sound.

If you change the density and thickness of the pads it'll have similar effects to moving speakers around. Angled pads kind of get more focus on the sound like some speakers when given more toe-in. Except that obviously moving headphones farther from your ear doesn't result in something like moving speakers farther from your seat getting worse reflections from the walls in some rooms.

I read many cases of the KOSS Porta PRO changing the sound with the Yaxi Pads

Measuring instrument says there is.

That however doesn't mean you can perceive that, kind of like how in some cases you might not notice any difference in gameplay when you strap on a Kraken G12 and a 280mm AIO to your graphics card and you get another 150mhz (what you will notice though is not hearing the whine of two or three 92mm or 80mm fans, but the headphone equivalent of that is more of "listen later at night").

How much does it change? Is it day and night or does it depend on each pad?

In general terms, it depends. What a machine can measure can look like a lot on the data, but not much to your ears, but it can be enough good change to somebody else.

Note that it can be good change but in some cases it can be bad change. For example the comfort improvement on using Headphile C-Pad Beyer to Grado adapters might be the only real reason some people make do with them, but for other people that improvement isn't worth it considering how it weakens the lower midrange and upper bass on Grados.

My HD600 for example are less "shouty" on the Brainwavz angled pads. Just got the leather version and will try them out this weekend.

As for that specific pad swap...graph says there is (see above), but while it shifts everything around, it's not like it'll retune it to sound completely different. To some people, that reduction at 2000hz to 2500hz isn't much but to them it's enough to keep it getting too shouty on some recordings for example without drastically altering how it sounds on other recordings.

I ask because I do not know if it is a myth like the "headphone roll"

What is "headphone roll." I Googled it and got tutorials on how to not destroy earphone cables.

 

[FastAndClean]

it is true, for example the old hifiman he400 sounds bad with the stock pleather pads, you can easily just ignore that headphone in its stock form but if you change the pads to Focus it transforms the sound in a very positive way

 

[kadinh]

100% true

 

[Steven31]

Yes, changing pads can and will cause your headphones to sound differently. It's all about the density (and these days the angle) of the pads. For example; If you put very thick pleather/real leather earpads on a headphone that originally came with thin earpads in stock form - lets say thin to medium density velour earpads like the kind you get with Beyerdynamic DT770/880/990 and the AKG K7 series of headphones...then the chances are that pleather/real leather eapads on these headphones would ruin the sound. The key is to find an earpads that is more comfortable than the one's you want to replace, whilst attaining the original sound. But pad changing isn't everything - in my opinion, based on my experiences, if you want to make bigger and better changes to the sound - mod the internal housing (the space behind the drivers). You'd be amazed at the difference modding the inside of the cups (internal housing) of Fostex T50RP's makes, drastic changes to it's sound, moreso than any earpads I tried with it.

 

[Oscarilbo]

It depends on how acoustically similar the pads are to what you're replacing. For instance, my K702 is equipped with Dekoni earpads, and those earpads were designed to be as acoustically similar to the original pads as possible, and they provide frequency response measurements of original pads vs. their pads, and I can confirm that yeah, their K702 pads sound basically identical to the original pads and I couldn't detect a difference.

Then there's the other end of the spectrum where you can fit completely different pads to a headphone. Like the Koss KPH30i with Grado G pads:


I've done that myself and the difference is 100% night and day. Not even slightly subtle. Dramatic change in sound.

So at one end of the spectrum you've got pad options that try to preserve the original acoustic properties as much as possible, at the other end of the spectrum you've got Frankenstein mods where you've got pad/headphone combos that were never designed to happen and produce wildly different sounds. And then in between those two extremes you've got a whole lot of grey area where maybe the pad/headphone combo you try influences the sound in a subtle way, or maybe a not-so-subtle way, and sometimes the changes are for better, and sometimes the changes are for worse. For instance, in my experience AKG headphones are very picky about earpads and nearly every aftermarket pad I've slapped on an AKG just sounded worse. The only exception being the K702 and Dekoni's pads that were deliberately designed to be as similar as possible to the originals.

I've also tried some Audeze earpads on an Audio Technica headphone of mine and the bass turned into a giant boomy bloated mess and it just totally destroyed the tuning, couldn't stand it. But then you've got headphones like the JVC SZ2000 which is basically the dullest headphone on the planet, until you slap some aftermarket pads on it like the Dan Clark Alpha pads and suddenly the headphone positively comes to life, literally sounds like a completely different headphone. Absolutely incredible improvement, leaps and bounds ahead of the stock pads.

In short, can different earpads dramatically change the sound of a headphone? Absolutely, 100%. I've experienced it many, many times. Will pad rolling always dramatically change the sound? No. Like all things, it depends. But yeah, if you want to have a fun, inexpensive experiment, the KPH30i + Grado pads as shown above would serve as a great demonstration of just what kind of transformations can be achieved by simple modifications.

Hi. Some years later but, what type of pads from Dekoni did you buy for the K702 ? Velour?

 

[dstarr3]

Hi. Some years later but, what type of pads from Dekoni did you buy for the K702 ? Velour?

Yup, the velours. I've recently discovered, though, that you can get OEM replacement pads from Thomann Music. So, while the Dekoni velours are basically indistinguishable from stock, you can just get the stock earpads easily enough now:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/akg_k_702_ear_pad.htm

 

[Oscarilbo]

Yup, the velours. I've recently discovered, though, that you can get OEM replacement pads from Thomann Music. So, while the Dekoni velours are basically indistinguishable from stock, you can just get the stock earpads easily enough now:
https://www.thomannmusic.com/akg_k_702_ear_pad.htm

Oh thats good to know. How they last the Dekoni ones, for you? Also, how was comfort compared to the original ones? I would want to achieve a better seal

 

[dstarr3]

Oh thats good to know. How they last the Dekoni ones, for you? Also, how was comfort compared to the original ones? I would want to achieve a better seal

Comfort and seal on the Dekonis are the same as stock