[jazzerdave]

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Anybody with a big head use these? With the HE-400 + a comfort headband and the pleathers, I have the stretch the band all the way for it to fit comfortably on my head and around my ears. Could anybody with both compare? Do the Mad Dogs get there?

 
I don't have the HE-400, but I do have the HE-6, and with those, I've got about 1/4 inch of play left on either side of the headband.  With the Mad Dogs I have more than an inch of extra room to extend the headband.  You can also gently bend the headband itself to adjust width / clamping force.  You should be fine. 
 
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Would you say they are any larger than the dog pads? As I said before, for some reason, especially with my left ear, the Dog Pads don't quite fit all the way over my ear, and I get discomfort after listening for a few hours. But it definitely sounds like something I'd like to get. If they have better comfort, that all but seals the deal for me.

 
Is it the depth or circumference of the Dog Pads that wasn't big enough.  If it's the depth, then these should more than cover you.  If the opening is just not wide enough, then I'm not really sure that these do anything to fix that (though if that's the case, then you're looking at ESP-950's, HD800, K1000's, and possibly the Stax Lambda's and K701/2's); there's not really that many cans out there with huge openings for the ears.

 

[mechgamer123]

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Is it the depth or circumference of the Dog Pads that wasn't big enough.  If it's the depth, then these should more than cover you.  If the opening is just not wide enough, then I'm not really sure that these do anything to fix that (though if that's the case, then you're looking at ESP-950's, HD800, K1000's, and possibly the Stax Lambda's and K701/2's); there's not really that many cans out there with huge openings for the ears.

It is the circumference of the Dog Pads that isn't big enough. The Q701 and HD600s both fit over my ears properly.

 

[MattTCG]

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Would you say they are any larger than the dog pads? As I said before, for some reason, especially with my left ear, the Dog Pads don't quite fit all the way over my ear, and I get discomfort after listening for a few hours. But it definitely sounds like something I'd like to get. If they have better comfort, that all but seals the deal for me.

 
Funny, my left ear is also a little large than the right. I think it's a sign of superior intelligence. 

 The Alpha pads are bigger and deeper than the dog pads. Should be fine. 

 

[ninjames]

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I don't have the HE-400, but I do have the HE-6, and with those, I've got about 1/4 inch of play left on either side of the headband.  With the Mad Dogs I have more than an inch of extra room to extend the headband.  You can also gently bend the headband itself to adjust width / clamping force.  You should be fine. 

Can anyone else confirm this? I understand Matt is a big guy like me, do you get more out of the Mad Dogs in regards to slack? How much "thicker" are the Alpha pads than the dog pads - as in, will they require me to stretch the headband more to make them fit properly given my giant head?

 

[jazzerdave]

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Haha, they are as hard to drive as LCD-2. Not sure if anyone can get anything remotely good out of them with portable setup. I use GS-1 in high gain, volume at 12 o'clock, bit higher than LCD-2.2 as MD are darker and need more volume to sound more or less engaging.

 
One thing I'll note about the new pads is that the Mad Dogs "wake up" a little quicker; they start to sound engaging at a lower level than they did with the Dog Pads.  The still need a decent amount of power.
 
 
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A little question what is required of power to satisfy the Mad Dog to perform well?

 
I can't speak to portable setups, but the $99 Schiit Magni has plenty of juice to drive them.  This would be my personal minimum spec to drive them, but I also like to have some extra headroom to spare.  There may be some people out there who feel they sound great with amps that generate < 1 watt into 50Ω, but I'm not in that camp personally.  Many vintage receivers will do a pretty good job straight out of their headphone jack.  Pretty much everything in Schiit's product range it a good match (excluding the Valhalla which is designed for higher impedance cans). 

 

[MattTCG]

Yes, I'm quite large (insert your large joke here). Going from the he400 to the MD, you'll find the MD able to acommodate larger head and will not have the same clamp force as the he400. The headband is also easily bendable to change the clamp force. If you are okay with the fit of the he400 you will like the fit of the MD more so. 

 

[hans030390]

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It is the circumference of the Dog Pads that isn't big enough. The Q701 and HD600s both fit over my ears properly.

 
I think the opening circumference is actually smaller on the alpha pads. However, despite my ears almost being too big for the dog pads, I find the alpha pads fit better. I know it sounds counter intuitive...

 

[nam3less]

So the new pads sound more musical but do nothing to detract from the detail? Is that what i'm gathering?
 
I find it hard to believe they can be MORE comfortable

 

[ninjames]

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Yes, I'm quite large (insert your large joke here). Going from the he400 to the MD, you'll find the MD able to acommodate larger head and will not have the same clamp force as the he400. The headband is also easily bendable to change the clamp force. If you are okay with the fit of the he400 you will like the fit of the MD more so. 

Awesome, that's always my biggest concern when buying headphones. I'm a big guy, with a big head and I need big headphones!

 

[MattTCG]

^^ Yes...and they are. 

 

[jazzerdave]

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Can anyone else confirm this? I understand Matt is a big guy like me, do you get more out of the Mad Dogs in regards to slack? How much "thicker" are the Alpha pads than the dog pads - as in, will they require me to stretch the headband more to make them fit properly given my giant head?

 

 
Just to clarify, my earlier comment on the size, when on my head, the Mad Dogs have about the same amount of room left on the copper-toned connectors as the picture above (taken from Dan's site).  My hat size is ~7 5/8" if that provides some sort of reference.

 

[Clemmaster]

Get yourself some mini maggies, tie them together and you'll get some nice HE-500!

 

[mrspeakers]

Sorry about the emails, everyone.  The system says it is NOT sending them and so we retried several times, alas it appears to be sending to some of you, every time, and others (like me) not at all.  
 
The hosting service is testing and that's probably sending more stuff out.  I'll see what I can do to cut that off.  

 

[nam3less]

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^^ Yes...and they are. 

Wellp, ordered. This is putting my purchase of the HE-400/HE-500 back a little bit further now. Oh well. I'll take your guys' word for it being that much better  

 

[mechgamer123]

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Funny, my left ear is also a little large than the right. I think it's a sign of superior intelligence. 

 The Alpha pads are bigger and deeper than the dog pads. Should be fine. 

Haha, I agree 

Thanks. I'll order them now.
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I think the opening circumference is actually smaller on the alpha pads. However, despite my ears almost being too big for the dog pads, I find the alpha pads fit better. I know it sounds counter intuitive...

I get what you mean. I think the Alpha pads are more "square" if you will, which looks like it should fit my ears better.