Christmas time everyone!!!
Jvc SZ2000
Oppo HA-2 DAC/Amp
HM5 replacement pads
What's the best way to do a 30+ hour break in?
I've done both the burn-in & pad replacement with the HZ1K's. Here's my advice:
Burn-in
1. Let's assume a laptop or PC will be your music source.
2. Then I put a folder on my desktop, and into that folder I put 4-5 folders of burned files from CDs, different styles: 1 folder is world music/AfroPop; another is reggae w/heaviest basslines I can find: another is classical; etc.
3. Then set your player to repeat-play, after selecting the files in one of the folders.
NOTE: I don't use playlists, but if you do, then go for it...probably easier that way.
4. I also put 2 "noise" mp3s in each folder. These files were given to me a pal on this string (thanks, @fickennein). So whenever I play that folder's contents (wav files + these 2 mp3's), they play on repeat as long as I want.
Dropbox link to those 2 mp3's: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8jzzm1imjpzu8nj/AABV5apCBU6Rug4NcWDZPMzMa?dl=0
5. Then connect the DAC/amp to laptop or PC via USB (the usual drill). Then plug in the JVC's.
6. I like to burn in headphones w/a bit move volume than I comfortably listen to. So cue up any old song/file and adjust the DAC/amp (if I recall, it has a volume pot) so the JVC's are uncomfortably loud, but nowhere near blowing up.
7. Then let 'er rip. I burned in my JVC's for ~200 hrs.
Final Thoughts: Everyone's head size is different. Mine is large & I found the JVC's clamping pressure a bit much. So when I burned them in, I put them around the thick part of a firm sofa pillow + a folded towel. That stretched the headphone out a little wider than my head...also made the sound coming out of them very hard to hear.
Also, don't change pads 'til after they burn in. No sense compressing your new HM5's any more than necessary.
Changing pads
I did it the old-fashioned way, where after you take off the old ones (easy), you thread the pleather attachment "lip" (extra fabric circling the back of each earpad) onto the earcup using the little groove made for that purpose--then carefully rotating the pad as more and more of the lip gets pulled into the groove where it goes. This method works, but it takes care, and if you put extreme turning pressure on the pads, it's theoretically possible to tear the fabric.
I saw an amazing video last night where the owner of ZMF Headphones showed his method of attaching pads: he turns them inside out (by stretching that back fabric forward, over the outside of the pad). Then he placed the inside-out pad on the earpad, exactly where it will go; and while continuing to hold the inside fabric of the pad against the driver, starts pulliing that inside-out "lip" back over the groove of the faceplate. Once he got the lip stretched out around the edge of the faceplate in the manner, just pulling the pad slightly away from the earcup "seated" the lip in the groove where it belongs. Neat.