[mrspeakers]

The pads affect the sound, and so they require tuning of damping and port size.  You can't just change the pads and say "this is best," you have to change the pad then adjust your port to tune the bass then balance the frequency response which requires tweeking the interior and exterior driver felt/damping.  
 
Having worked extensively with the Sony 5000, SRH18 and stock pads, the most comfortable was the 5000, but the one I was able to tune for best sound was the Shure.
 

 

[BobSaysHi]

^ OK, thanks for the help. I'm heading up to some sort of craft store next week to get some felt. I guess I'll buy some pads too, because these are not comfortable at all. 
 
Quote:

If you are going to damp with dynamat, I strongly recommend pulling off (it can be tricky) the foil layer.  It's going to reflect sound like crazy.
 

I did. My fingers hurt like hell now.
 

 
Quote:

I bought the shure pads, and got a set of beyer pads with my woodies. The stock pads sound the best out of all of them. I'm not sure I'm ready to buy the o2s yet.

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I've had similar pad problems with my grados. OK, I'll read into it.
 
 
Also, an even bigger problem to me is the headband. Is there an easy replacement, or should I just glue some foam on the bottom of it?
 

 

[BobSaysHi]

Also, I'm not getting a proper seal on my small head. I've tried fiddling with the headband, but it's still at a weird angle/ no seal.

 

[maverickronin]

You can bend the copper colored tubes to get a better fit.
 
An HD580 headband pad ordered direct from Sennheiser makes them a lot more comfortable.
 
Patterns for making your own pads.
 
IMO you should leave the foil on the dynamat so it stays as constrained layer damping and not just mass loading.  If you think its too reflective then put some felt or Akasa foam over it.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

You can bend the copper colored tubes to get a better fit.
 
An HD580 headband pad ordered direct from Sennheiser makes them a lot more comfortable.
 
Patterns for making your own pads.
 
IMO you should leave the foil on the dynamat so it stays as constrained layer damping and not just mass loading.  If you think its too reflective then put some felt or Akasa foam over it.

hmm... The HD580 headband is nice. I was think about ordering one for this. I'll try my hand at making some pads too. What did you use to stuff them?
 
I'm also quite enjoying the sound now. I see why people enjoy orthos.

 

[schwallman]

You can bend the copper colored tubes to get a better fit.
 
An HD580 headband pad ordered direct from Sennheiser makes them a lot more comfortable.
 
Patterns for making your own pads.
 
IMO you should leave the foil on the dynamat so it stays as constrained layer damping and not just mass loading.  If you think its too reflective then put some felt or Akasa foam over it.

I was never a fan of that headband. I guess people around like them though.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

hmm... The HD580 headband is nice. I was think about ordering one for this. I'll try my hand at making some pads too. What did you use to stuff them?
 
I'm also quite enjoying the sound now. I see why people enjoy orthos.

I used some urethane foam sheets I found on ebay.  They ended up not being all that soft, but since they're rather big it doesn't make them uncomfortable.  I'm going to make another pair sometime and use some softer foam so it will seal better without having to band the headband into the perfect shape.
 
Quote:

I was never a fan of that headband. I guess people around like them though.

Just the pad from the headband, not the whole thing.
 

 

[RanDiesel]

I just joined the T50 club myself last week and after a few days of listening I would have to agree that about needing more juice. They sound a bit thin and are lacking bass. I am just listening to them stock and am waiting on my shure pads and asaka material to do some modding. I am also using a pair of RP-22X to compare which are really bass heavy. So I am looking at either the audio-gd nfb-12 or the Maverick Audio D1 to power this cans and was wondering if anyone has tried either of these dac/amp combos with the T50s? I like the flexiblity of the D1 and was thinking i might just move it into my home setup eventually but the nfb-12 appears to deliver more power at 50ohms. I will be adding a tube hybrid amp when i can afford it and considering the A1 or the little dot mk III. Any thoughts?

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

I just joined the T50 club myself last week and after a few days of listening I would have to agree that about needing more juice. They sound a bit thin and are lacking bass. I am just listening to them stock and am waiting on my shure pads and asaka material to do some modding. I am also using a pair of RP-22X to compare which are really bass heavy. So I am looking at either the audio-gd nfb-12 or the Maverick Audio D1 to power this cans and was wondering if anyone has tried either of these dac/amp combos with the T50s? I like the flexiblity of the D1 and was thinking i might just move it into my home setup eventually but the nfb-12 appears to deliver more power at 50ohms. I will be adding a tube hybrid amp when i can afford it and considering the A1 or the little dot mk III. Any thoughts?

My Maverick D1 does great with my T50RPs as long as you don't go crazy with the EQ or something.  It will run out of gain if you do something silly like add 12dB to the sub bass.  Otherwise its fine.
 
Also, the LD hybrid is the Mk I.

 

[RanDiesel]

Thanks for the reply maverickronin, I was leaning toward the D1 but wanted to hear from someone who had used it with the T50s. Your right about the Mk I, but i really am interested in the Mk III tube amp, read some good reviews and it looks awesome (I love the glow of tubes). Has anyone tried a pure tube amp with the T50s?

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

I might just bite the bullet. I can't stand the feel of the stock pads after an hour or so. The condition those pads are in justify the asking price of the seller.
 
I am going to begin modding shortly after I order the supplies.
I plan to use newplast and akasa plus.
Where can I purchase newplast in the US? It seems as if it's a UK thing.
 
If I cannot find any newplast, what is a worthy alternative? It seems as if newplast has the highest damping factor from what I've researched in this thread. I know that plasticine is also good, but will there be sonic differences between plasticine and newplast?
Also, is akasa plus and akasa II the same thing? It seems like it.
 
Thanks for all of your help.

Dynamat is better
 
 

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply maverickronin, I was leaning toward the D1 but wanted to hear from someone who had used it with the T50s. Your right about the Mk I, but i really am interested in the Mk III tube amp, read some good reviews and it looks awesome (I love the glow of tubes). Has anyone tried a pure tube amp with the T50s?

My Bottlehead Crack works ok if you listen pretty softly.  It clips like a lawnmower at a level lower than what most people will probably want to listen at though.  Orthos don't mind the high output impedance but they do mind the lack of power in to low impedance loads.
 
If you want a tube amp you'll probably need a hybrid or a strong transformer coupled one.

 

[RanDiesel]

Quote:

Quote:

My Bottlehead Crack works ok if you listen pretty softly.  It clips like a lawnmower at a level lower than what most people will probably want to listen at though.  Orthos don't mind the high output impedance but they do mind the lack of power in to low impedance loads.
 
If you want a tube amp you'll probably need a hybrid or a strong transformer coupled one.

Yeah, i see that now:
 
mk III:
100 mW @ 32 ohm
 
vs.
 
A1:
1000mW x 2 (32 ohms)
 
Did you roll the op amps on your D1? I am definitely looking for more bass, i guess i should wait till i do the mods before i pass judgment. Because stock these headphones are really lacking in the low end.

 
 

 

[turimbar1]

I imagine the EF5 would work well as a tube amp (it was made for orthos).
 
I have the NFB12 and it works great with the t50. It has more of a warm amp section so the highs are not as shimmering as some, but the bass and mids are excellent. The DAC portion is excellent (dual WM8741's), its not quite as versatile as the D1 (no analog inputs), but it is hard to beat for the price (and the build quality is superb).
 
It can comfortably drive the t50s past death-metal concert sound levels without any clipping or reduction in dynamics (that I can tell), and it sounds excellent even at very low volume levels.
 
/gush
 
the lyr did very well powering the t50s (and the HE6), really brought out the dynamix.

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Did you roll the op amps on your D1? I am definitely looking for more bass, i guess i should wait till i do the mods before i pass judgment. Because stock these headphones are really lacking in the low end.

Rolling opamps doesn't do anything nearly that significant.  I have 2x LT1364 in mine an I think they sound a little better than stock.  It could just be my imagination, but it doesn't cost a ton to experiment with.
 
Its a lot easier to get more bass by modding the T50RPs.  I'd start with that by modding or replacing the pads so they seal better and give some more volume on the ear side of the driver and then covering the vent in the baffle.  That should take some pressure off the driver and give it more excursion while preventing the backwave from leaking through the vent and canceling the sub bass.  Then you should be able to adjust it a bit by covering the back vent to various degrees.
 
If you still want more after that you can remove the stock driver damping and experiment yourself.