[SHAMuuu]

Kind of mind boggling you can get both the ksc5/9500s for under a bill.
 
Ofc both as great as they are have their limits, and certain flaws which can be troublesome like the 75 clips and the 9500 loose clamp.
 
I think the ur40 is a great choice and not sure if they are ksc35 drivers in there. They do sound different from the 75s, but you can just plop 75s in there in minutes with no soldering. The ur40 is the most comfy headphone (more than dt880 premium) with velours (from a beyer dtx 710/910)
 
I wouldn't say the 9500s destroy anything. They're great, yes. But for a bit more, there are alternative options with better fit, and similar or better sound. Fit is important, and the 9500s are quirky

 

[danmlr]

  Kind of mind boggling you can get both the ksc5/9500s for under a bill.
 
Ofc both as great as they are have their limits, and certain flaws which can be troublesome like the 75 clips and the 9500 loose clamp.
 
I think the ur40 is a great choice and not sure if they are ksc35 drivers in there. They do sound different from the 75s, but you can just plop 75s in there in minutes with no soldering. The ur40 is the most comfy headphone (more than dt880 premium) with velours (from a beyer dtx 710/910)
 
I wouldn't say the 9500s destroy anything. They're great, yes. But for a bit more, there are alternative options with better fit, and similar or better sound. Fit is important, and the 9500s are quirky

 
For the record, I'm not much of a fan of the stock 75's.They sound very thin and trebly. They only start to fulfill their potential with standard headbands. The parts express adds a bit of bass, but they sound most balanced with a proper headband like the portapro's. 
 
I didn't know you could swap out the UR40 driver with the 75's. Wow, a game changer! Dare I say, I wouldn't surprised if the modded 40's competed with the Senn600's (completely speculative I know). 

 

[Li Ching Yuen]

You people are beyond insane. The SHP9500 are sibilant. That is a huge flaw that puts them nowhere near any of the good 5xx Sennheiser's.
 
They might look good and have a decent build but let's slow down a bit, those artificial sibilant highs are not fooling anyone with a decent ear.

 

[danmlr]

I didn't notice any sibilance with the 9500's. The treble is artificially boosted however. They just sound strange and unnatural. After a while, they can be fun to listen to, but only because they have so much artificial detail. 

 

[Li Ching Yuen]

Use them for any broadcast of games/live shows (high quality format) and that 'SsS' will murder you in short, cutting bursts.
 
For music, it depends on what you're listening to. For some stuff it's bad, for others, like you said that artificial detail really works well (John Martyn, The Doors etc..)
 
I repeat, and emphatically, they're nowhere near the 558/598 in quality. Only if the music that you listen to is a genre that suits them well enough and you'll stray away from that.

 

[Talisker90]

Hello, I just got these a few days ago and think they are decent value. I use them for gaming and some music. Agree with the build in that the clamp has much to be desired. I was wondering if you guys ever burned them in or recommend giving them some burn in period? Or is that simply too much to ask for headphones like these?

 

[kamigouki]

does the headband hurt the top of your head? I got my SHP9500's and after not even 20 minutes the top of my head is throbbing.

 

[FullLotus]

I modded the cups as well. I also felt they were too shallow stock, so i cut out some "donuts" of 1/4 inch thick foam board, like you buy at a craft store, and put it under the stock pads. The sound immediately became a LOT better, but i still had the problem you were describing with the cups just being too big, and sliding around. 

I tried to fix this by removing the foam board and replacing it with a half inch of very squishy open cell cushion type foam, in the hopes that it would contour to my head better. It did quite nicely, but the sound became noticeably worse. My guess was that the open cell foam was absorbing sound as it came out of the driver. I remedied this by cutting out more donuts out of a poster board type thin cardboard, and putting those underneath the additional foam i had put in. This appears to have solved both issues. The sound is great, and the ear cups grip better than stock. 

I actually bought the brainwavez  pads to put on there, but i was hesitant to do the (permanent) mod. I unclipped the stock pads and placed the brainwavez pads on there to try and get a feel for how it would sound, and it was a lot worse. I know thats probably not accurate to how the final mod would sound, but it was enough to stop me from doing it. (id love a review of the mod if you actually did it) Im pretty happy with the way mine are now, but I still feel like very soft memory foam would be better than the cushion type foam ive got in there right now. 

 

[FullLotus]

@Talisker90 and @kamigouki 

I dont feel there was any noticeable difference in sound from burn in on these. I also dont have any issues with the comfort of the headband, except that i slides around a bit, i could see some soft squishy foam helping though.