Good then I will leave that thought alone.
One thing I will add, and this isn't meant to cause fear or distress: when I first got my ESP/950, I did *something* to them (I still have no idea what), but one of the pads developed a very small knick, which over the course of a few months became a small tear. I ordered replacements (and if anyone is curious: the listing on Koss' website is for a PAIR, not a SINGLE; I ended up with four pads but they had BOGO so it's okay
), and have had no issues with those for years (probably 3) since. In terms of "how hot and sticky do they get?" compared to headphones with leather or other "sealed" fabric (e.g. vinyl, pleather, etc):
vs:
ATH-W5000, genuine leather. The W5000 can develop "hot spots" if positioned improperly, and after 4-6 hours that gets uncomfortable (if positioned properly they're fine for as long as you want, but still get "warm" against your head). ESP/950 do not develop hot-spots. The W5000 pads have no purchase on your head though, while the ESP/950 will warm up and stay put a little better.
ATH-ESW9, genuine leather. The ESP/950 feel like they breathe better, and stay cooler, but otherwise both are good.
MDR-SA5000, genuine leather. The ESP/950 are softer and breather much better; SA5000 can get sticky.
TH-900, quality synthetic leather. About the same with both.
HP-DX1000, genuine leather (??? this is based on a translation of the documentation). About the same with both, but DX1000 get to feeling a bit more claustrophobic against the skin after a while.
MV-1, Koss Pnuemalite (vinyl). MV-1 gets somewhat stickier, but is very pliable and soft against the skin.
ESP/10, oil-filled vinyl, and ~40 years old. Pads were rock hard along their contact surface, had to replace. Non-OEM replacements (still oil-filled vinyl) was much more pliable and soft; claustrophobic feeling though.
TBSE1, Koss vinyl pad (similar to ESP/950 but smaller and circular). Good breathing, but not as pliable - gets stuffy quickly.
I still think the Grado foam pads are the acme of headphone pads - they breathe perfectly, stick to nothing, are easily replaced or washed, are soft and pliable, etc. Unfortunately they're only available for Grado cans, but they can't all be winners, now can they? That said, I think ESP/950 and TH-900 are probably about as good as it gets if you can't have the Grado pads, and you'll notice neither is genuine leather. I don't have any real complaints with W5000 (and the "hot spots" thing isn't every time - it's only sometimes) or DX1000, and I don't mind the vinyl pads from older Koss headphones but they're clearly a distant third. The leather on MDR-SA5000 was awful (I owned that headphone twice as well, so I either was twice unlucky or it's just not great quality), and is a big reason I'm not a die-hard "must be leather" fan. The one big thing Koss will beat all of these other cans for is cost - they want $5/pr for replacement pads, so in theory you could replace them monthly if you so desired, whereas the replacement pads for some of the leather or synth leather headphones can get quite expensive. Just my 2c based on a few years of casual use.
