For the last two years I've been using Ultrasone HFI-580's as my main headphones, and in finally purchasing my first high quality DAP I decided I wanted a headphone that sounded "better" for music types that have a vocal emphasis. I didn't know exactly what sound I was looking for, I just knew that the 580's were fantastic at EDM music but a bit hollowed out with vocals. I also have the Audio Technica ATH-M50x's, but I always preferred the Ultrasones due to their larger sound stage and clarity. I did a lot of research, and based on reviews it seemed that the 99 Classics would be an improvement in possibly every way over the 580's.
When I got my 99 Classics (June 2018, 3rd ear pad version?) my first impression was that they were
very bass heavy, but the rest of the sound had something magical to it. Music usually sounds great, but any songs with heavy repeating bass are just ruined. The problem isn't the bass quantity, it's that the bass becomes far emphasized over everything else in the song, coupled with a very long bass decay. A song like Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" becomes almost one long bass note where the bass is much louder than the vocals and all other instruments in the song. I hoped that burn in may fix the issue, but over the course of several months I ended up using my 99C's less and less, and going back to my HFI-580's just because the 580's sounded better most of the time.
In an effort to "fix" the 99C's I read every comment in this thread, and that's when I learned that the ear pads are the cause of the bass bloat. I can confirm this also as if I gently push in on both sides of the headphone there is a sweet spot where all of the issues are resolved. The problem is that the sweet spot is
very precise; there isn't a large range where the sound improves, so finding replacement ear pads that are exactly that spot is going to be very difficult. Knowing it wouldn't be easy I set out to find those ear pads, and below are my findings thus far. Long story short, I haven't found any ear pads that retain the original sound "magic" while fixing the bass. I'm providing my findings below in the hopes that it saves others some money.
- Generic ATH-MSR7 Pads.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DFV7XM9/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The bass is reduced down to better levels, but the overall sound becomes muffled. Not as comfortable as stock.
- Stock ATH-M50X pads. Same as above, the sound becomes muffled and the soundstage is reduced.
- Tranesca angled oval pads.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XRH8WPJ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Sound becomes further away, and the bass is still a mess.
- Brainwavz HM5 Oval Memory Foam pads (Pleather).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MFDT894/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Similar to the Tranesca, sound becomes further away but the bass is very slightly less boomy. It takes the edge off of the bass just a hint, but not enough.
- Brainwavz HM5 Velour.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MFDX4YO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
COMFY, but the sound is terrible. Sounds like the music is coming from a coffee can. Bass is improved, but the rest of the sound is really bad.
- Brainwavz HM5 Hybrid (velour interior, pleather exterior).
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZGGG3KY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Very comfortable. Stock, the sound is ruined in the same way as the pure velours. However, when you add some cotton gauze on the 99C drivers as suggested a few pages back (thank you for that recommendation btw), the sound becomes quite different. With this mod the entire sound becomes balanced EXCEPT that everything sounds far away. At first it's a bit jarring, but once you get used to it the sound becomes quite nice. Ultimately this isn't what I'm looking for, but it's worth mentioning that this does make the bass perfect, and the 99C's sound nice in a different way if you can just get over far off distant sound.
- Oneodio Stuido M Headphones
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CNM4X8V/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Not ear pads, but I tried swapping the ear pads from these headphones. Bass is reduced down to appropriate levels, but the sound becomes muffled a little bit. The sound isn't as muffled as the ATH-MSR7 or M50X pads, but it's still too muffled to be a long term solution.
If anyone has been satisfied with their replacement ear pads, please do share as I still want to make these headphones useful to me in some way.
