[rhythm is life]

So the right channel on my ATH-M50's died last night during an online gaming session...guess my sweaty ears finally did them in. The heat and humidity so far this summer has been brutal, plus I tend to sweat more than the average person, which resulted in me constantly having to take off my headphones and wipe them off. I would love to get another pair of M50's, but I got them in the winter and foolishly didn't anticipate the unacceptable discomfort that the pleather pads would cause in the summertime. Here are my requirements:
 
Reasonable price (under $200 is preferable)
Non-sweat-inducing pads
Similar sound to ATH-M50 (my ears are particularly sensitive to upper mids so I prefer a headphone that is recessed in that frequency range)
Must be closed and over-ear with at least decent isolation
I will be using the headphones with an iPod touch 4th gen + FiiO E11 with L9 cable

 

[Schonen]

If you sweat a lot stay away from pleather. Only closed headphone I know sold with velour pads are DT770. You will find these far more comfortable than M50 were.
 
http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-DT770-PRO-250-ohm/dp/B0006NL5SM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342591495&sr=8-1&keywords=dt770

 

[Yabanci]

Quote:

If you sweat a lot stay away from pleather. Only closed headphone I know sold with velour pads are DT770. You will find these far more comfortable than M50 were.
 
http://www.amazon.com/beyerdynamic-DT770-PRO-250-ohm/dp/B0006NL5SM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342591495&sr=8-1&keywords=dt770

They are really comfy, i had couple of headphones already but couldnt get better than dt770 when it comes to comfort. totally recommended

 

[jupitreas]

Beyerdynamic DT250 has velour earpads and are quite comfortable.
Fischer Audio FA-003 also comes with velour earpads.
Shure SRH940 has velour earpads but their headband causes pain for many people.
AKG K272HD has velour earpads.
Finally, it is pretty easy to mod the ATH-M50 earpads by simply sewing velour or other soft, breathable material onto it (such as cotton, as pictured below). It is the only way that I know of that keeps the ATH-M50's sound signature while also increasing comfort.

 

[rhythm is life]

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Schonen]

Quote:

Beyerdynamic DT250 has velour earpads and are quite comfortable.
Fischer Audio FA-003 also comes with velour earpads.
Shure SRH940 has velour earpads but their headband causes pain for many people.
AKG K272HD has velour earpads.
Finally, it is pretty easy to mod the ATH-M50 earpads by simply sewing velour or other soft, breathable material onto it (such as cotton, as pictured below). It is the only way that I know of that keeps the ATH-M50's sound signature while also increasing comfort.

I did the sock mod last night on my SRH840 and putting cloth on top of pleather is more comfy but is not quite the same as real velour pads because the pleather underneath doesn't allow the material to breathe.

 

[jupitreas]

It is still a big improvement though, and I guess it depends on the material as well... It also doesnt affect the sound, while velour pads from other headphones do change the sound of the ATH-M50
Quote:

I did the sock mod last night on my SRH840 and putting cloth on top of pleather is more comfy but is not quite the same as real velour pads because the pleather underneath doesn't allow the material to breathe.

 

[rhythm is life]

I just picked up the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro's (80 Ohm) from Guitar Center today. They sound great right out of the box. The M50's get a lot of props for their bass, but the 770s feel like they have a little more punch in the low end and middle of the bass range (I had the white-box version of the M50's that were supposed to be more bass-neutral). The midrange is a little bit less recessed and the treble is not as sparkly, though it sounds a lot smoother at high volume than the M50. The soundstage feels a little bit more open as the earcups are a lot deeper and the clamping force is lighter than the M50. They seem to isolate better, too. The biggest advantage of the DT770's over the M50's for me is the velour earpads. After a 2 hour session of NBA 2K12 online, my ears were as dry as they were when I put the headphones on. The biggest disadvantage is that they are far less efficient, although anything near max volume on my E11 with the M50's on most songs was definitely hearing-damage-inducing, so I don't mind the lower efficiency too much so far.
 

 

[rhythm is life]

After testing out a couple of bass-heavy songs at high volumes, there is some very noticeable distortion. It sounds a lot like my old car speakers with the volume up high and the high-pass filter set at too low of a frequency. I am in the process of breaking in the headphones right now, so hopefully it's a matter of the drivers needing to loosen up until the distortion goes away. I did searches for DT770 bass distortion and DT770 distortion and quite a few posts came up about this issue. The problem is noticeable right now with my iPod touch 4th gen + E11 combo. I tested one song in both lossless and LAME V0 formats to make sure that the distortion was not being caused by lossy compression. Straight out of the iPod, there isn't any noticeable distortion, but the output from the iPod isn't nearly as loud as the E11. EQ on the iPod is off, and I have the E11 set to high power, low gain, and 0 bass boost. These settings gave my old M50's no problems at all. I will break in the DT's for another few days, then test them again on the iPod/E11, my iMac, my PC laptop and my TV just to make sure.
 

 

[rhythm is life]

After breaking in the DT770's for at least 100 hours, the distortion is still there. Furthermore, while using test frequencies to break the DT's in, I noticed that the lowest frequencies caused the earcups to rattle. Apparently this is a very common problem with these headphones. Upper bass and midrange frequencies sounded absolutely perfect. The rattle is present whether using my E11 or my iMac. I will be sending the Beyers back for repair. I visited B&H and they had replacement velour pads in stock that were the same size and shape as the M50 pads. Might have to give that a shot.

 

[tomatoshoe]

Quote:

After breaking in the DT770's for at least 100 hours, the distortion is still there. Furthermore, while using test frequencies to break the DT's in, I noticed that the lowest frequencies caused the earcups to rattle. Apparently this is a very common problem with these headphones. Upper bass and midrange frequencies sounded absolutely perfect. The rattle is present whether using my E11 or my iMac. I will be sending the Beyers back for repair. I visited B&H and they had replacement velour pads in stock that were the same size and shape as the M50 pads. Might have to give that a shot.

What's the return policy for Guitar Center? Might as well try and return them seeing how you are having so many issues.
 
Just look for other headphones. If the heat and sweat is ruining your comfort for headphones..Why not look into open headphones? I know you stated in the first post that you want closed, but open headphones feel a lot more natural and let your ears breathe!

 

[rhythm is life]

I returned the DT770s back to Guitar Center and got a new pair. They have the same problem, so I am sending them to Beyerdynamic for repair. I would get open headphones if I only used my headphones indoors, but half the time I use them, I'm outside and need some isolation, especially when I'm in NYC.