[Prakhar]

Well I got mine yesterday, and with a bit more burn in Im having trouble detecting any sibilance.

 

[frenchjay]

I don't have reassurance to offer you, but rather some further consideration before buying.  Yes, the bass is fantastic.  While the mids and highs are accurate, I returned primarily due to sibilance.  I recently purchased ATH-PRO700MK2s that actually have better bass and better build, but they are uncomfortable and you will need to buy M50 pads to make them comfortable.  I purchased for $104 at Buydig.com; the pads are from Sweetwater.com for $20.  These headphones are dark, but I EQ'd with a V-curve and they are excellent.

I ended up getting the Beyerdynamic's which will be here tormorrow. I decided on the Beyers after reading a lot of stories of the Q40's falling apart in the M-Audio forums and people having difficulty getting replacements or repairs. I really wanted to buy them but the build quality seems sub par and this is a critical part for me. I keep reading conflicting posts as well about the Beyers bass. A lot for people say they has huge bass and some say they are flat so I'm hoping not to be disappointed when they come tomorrow. Hopefully the E11 will make a difference.

 

[Prakhar]

Congrats.

However the Q40s are pretty solid but they have a bad cable. :/

 

[frenchjay]

Congrats.
However the Q40s are pretty solid but they have a bad cable. :/

Thanks. Yeah, I read about the cable and also parts falling off the headphone after some use and the drivers breaking. I don't have a lot of money to spend on replacements or refurbs so the Beyers seemed to be the safer option. Anyway, if I don't like them I think I can send them back and take a risk on the Q40's.

 

[hauntingtheholy]

Update:  These headphones have continued to have sensational sound at the price range, and I couldn't be happier with that aspect of them.  Powerful, big sound!  The stock ear pads have been leaving black flakes all over the side of my head for a couple months now, and the under-neath part of the headband looks to be in the same condition.  So I had a couple questions for people:

 

I'd like to put the Beyerdynamic 770's velour pads on as others have.  Was there a consensus on how this affects the bass?  Seems like one guy said it made it stronger and another said it weakened the bass? 

 

Where should I buy these pads and how much are they?  Is Warrior or anyone else modding them for paypal still?  I'd consider that, but if it's easy, maybe someone could walk me through putting the new pads on.  

 

I don't even know if the headband is replaceable and I can live with the flakey stock band, but suggestions welcome.  Hope everyone is still enjoying their own Q40's.  Anybody still love them?  Get tired of them?

 

[DeanKeith]

[size=medium]I have had mine for only about a month, and I love them too.  I replaced my pads and it was both easier than I thought but more time consuming than I was expecting.  There were no tools required, and I didn’t have to do anything permanent, however stuffing the new pads into the tiny slot around the circumference of the ear cups was quite a bit more tedious that I had imagined, and it took me like 30 minutes stuffing them in little by little.  I used a credit card to help.  Also the foam that covers the speakers is a separate piece on the Beyers, but I did not have to glue them or anything, they are just held in with the pressure of the ear pads.  I guess if you take them jogging or any other kind of extreme use, you might want to look into a way to attach them more securely, but mine have not fallen out yet.  But I always carry them folded in the pouch.  [/size]
 
[size=medium] I documented the process with pictures, but I never posted them, so maybe later tonight I’ll have a chance to add my pics since you would probably like to see them, which should make the process crystal clear.[/size]
 
[size=medium]Regarding the sound, it’s hard to say because I only listened to them for maybe an hour or two tops before replacing the pads, so I can’t remember if the bass got better or worse.  It seems though that I am using a bit more bass in my EQ than I did before, so maybe for me the bass got a bit weaker.  But the comfort improvement is worth it, and there is certainly not any permanent bass loss that couldn’t be fixed with a little EQ.  The sound stage seems about the same to me, but again I never really got used to them before the change.[/size]

 

[hauntingtheholy]

Cool, man.  Thanks for the post.  I posted about this in another thread and someone told me it was very easy to swap the pads and that they "pull over" - guess I'll find out b/c I got some silver pads on the way.  Hope they don't look silly, but the black pads are out of stock everywhere right now and even the silver is very hard to find.  Your description of the labor sounds like it makes sense to me.  Definitely easy to do so I will get them on there, but may be a big frustrating.   Note that I am generally BAD at doing this sort of fine-motor skill stuff, so we'll see.  Hehe.  Those pics would be helpful, but don't work too hard finding them.  =)
 

 

[DeanKeith]

You can click these pics to see them bigger.
 
Here are the parts (top and bottom shown):

 
Removal - Just push from the inside and work your way around, and it comes right off:

 
They are not glued or anything, so they just lift off:

 
This pic is of the old pad, but to start the new one, I just held the foam in place kind of like this when starting.  The hardest part (assuming you are not going to glue the foam down) is getting started without the foam falling:

 
I didn't take a picture of the credit card I used, but basically I used the card to stuff that vinyl lip into the groove you see to the left of the pad.  It took a while to work my way all the way around:

 
Here are some shots to compare the size, I love the bigger size so much more on my ears and the v[size=medium]elour is way less sweaty:[/size]
  

 

[My3uka]

Quote:

maybe someone could walk me through putting the new pads on.  

 
Skip to 2.10
 

 

[hauntingtheholy]

Thanks so much to everyone who offered advice/support for my switch to the beyers pads.  I just finished putting the Silver pads on my Q40s and couldn't be more pleased!  At first I thought there was no way in hell I was gonna be able to get the new pads on, but after struggling through the first one, the second one went right on.  Basically my own learning curve in play there.  Obviously the Beyer pads are one million times better than the stock pads, which are truly as bad as it gets.  Is it just me or do the Q40's sound better with the pads?  I feel like I enjoy the sound quality 20% more now, but who knows.  It could just be mental due to the fact that they look and feel so much nicer.  Really glad the internets was out of black pads across the board, b/c these silvers look way better, IMO.  Got them for $30 shipped and was worrying I screwed up and should have just bought new headphones for such a ridculous pad price - was looking at Phillips, Sure, and Ultrasone - but now I'm stoked that I got the pads.  First song I play was the HD Gangnam Style off Youtube,

  I feel sure the bass had more definition.  Thoughts?
 

 

[My3uka]

Now, in four months using the stock pads I switched again to velours. Honestly I am not shure what to say. Not pleasant, somewhat artificial sounding - I guess my mind playin tricks with me, but I tried for some hours them,.. then returned to the stock ones  - mellow, smooth sound filling my head again.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Now, in four months using the stock pads I switched again to velours. Honestly I am not shure what to say. Not pleasant, somewhat artificial sounding - I guess my mind playin tricks with me, but I tried for some hours them,.. then returned to the stock ones  - mellow, smooth sound filling my head again.

 
Yea mids are more forward with stock pads, I don't think Q40 will benefit by making it V-shaped. I prefer very slightly deepened stock pads with paddening stuffed underneath. Slightly improved soundstage/imaging and slightly tamed 9kHz peak, perfect!

 

[My3uka]

Quote:

 
Yea mids are more forward with stock pads, I don't think Q40 will benefit by making it V-shaped. I prefer very slightly deepened stock pads with paddening stuffed underneath. Slightly improved soundstage/imaging and slightly tamed 9kHz peak, perfect!

 Yep, also - bass made the velours vibrate, instead of like soaking into the stocks and being warmer -still deep, puncy and well controlled.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

 Yep, also - bass made the velours vibrate, instead of like soaking into the stocks and making it warmer -still deep, puncy and well controlled.

 
Yea these headphones are a good candidates for good bass quantity vs control ratio headphones, ampless it's not overly bassy though but with amp it's an entirely different case and how well it responds to ZO's bass boost as well is simply amazing, the bass doesn't get entirely out of control no matter how much I boost it, they just happily outputs it reasonably clean and without effecting the rest of the range too much.

 

[Armaegis]

I tried them with leather pads once but switched back to the stock pads shortly after. Despite the shallower stock pads touching my ears a bit, they still fit better.