[TrollDragon]

I find the stock pads fine for me. Pads can drastically change the sound of headphones and it can add up to a tidy sum buying aftermarket pads only to find you don't like the sound change. I am also a little OCD about the fit and finish, the Dekoni pads made for the 99C look phenomenal, but at a $140 CAD landed to my door they are a little too pricey for a dice roll.

I have a ton of Brainwavz HM5 pads (love them on my GMP 8.300D Pro and Ultrasone HFI-780) but the fit is too loose and sloppy for the 99C IMHO.

 

[MRSallee]

I have a ton of Brainwavz HM5 pads (love them on my GMP 8.300D Pro and Ultrasone HFI-780) but the fit is too loose and sloppy for the 99C IMHO.

I can get with that kinda OCD. If it ain’t aesthetic, hard for me to love.

Good thing I like the look of the micro suedes

 

[CTR640]

I can get with that kinda OCD. If it ain’t aesthetic, hard for me to love.

Good thing I like the look of the micro suedes

Name of the pads? They look nice. Do they change the sound?

 

[MRSallee]

Name of the pads? They look nice. Do they change the sound?

Brainwavz micro suede (ovals). I find they reduce the mid-bass boominess and somewhat accentuate the sub-bass and upper treble. Sounds a bit more open, with a blacker background. I didn't care for the stock sound much, but quite like the headphone with these pads.

 

[Wladimir]

yeah, I wasn't a fan of them either when I first tried them. I felt the bass was too boomy and it was missing the detail and crisp nature of the treble. For me, the magic happened when I got the silver balanced and everything tightened up along with more detail and that crispness your mentioning. I know others have said it was the YaxiPads that made them special.

Well for me, the Yaxipads changed the sound 5x more than silver cable, in a good way. For around 40 USD it's a no-brainer, just even to try them.

 

[roru100]

Hi there,

just my 2 cents as I have read a lot about bass problems with the larger pads.

however first things first. I love the Audeze lcd 2 fazor and searched for an easier to drive, more portable, cheaper and closed back option to use for casual higher quality listening wherever i am.

Well, my current Meze 99 classic setup is just that.

The original larger pad destroys the overall performance. Unless you are listening to 80s music. All other genres are just to mid bloaty bassy.

BUT. BUT. BUT.

Get the sheepskin Dekoni Meze 99 Pads, the EarStudio es100 Bluetooth Dongle and hook them up using the Meze Balanced Cable. Use the built in eq of the EarStudio (fantastic cheap little device - highly recommended) to slightly ADD about 2db to 31,5 hz and LOWER 63 hz by about 4db and you have a fantastic, easy listening, great soundstage, superbly built, great looking, hands free, almost Hi-Fi headphone combo for less than EUR 500.

not better or as good sounding as the lcd 2 - obviously. But also not “only” half as good. Totally portable and technically interesting alternative to many sub 500,- options. And much more interesting than the lcd 1 - imho.

 

[roru100]

Just listening to the Steely Dan and enjoying every beat and second.

Fantastic experience for the price.

 

[Art Garfunkel]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

 

[MRSallee]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

IMO it doesn't sound great with the current stock pads. Supposedly, when the headphone first released it shipped with different stock pads that sound better. They changed the stock pads after feedback that the old pads were too small, and it impacted the sound -- most agree for the worse. Hence the interest in finding pads that resolve the issues introduced by the new pads, which is primarily boomy / muddy bass.

 

[PopZeus]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

Well, a lot of the pad swapping on the Meze 99 is about tuning the headphones to some subjective personal ideal. Personally, I find most audiophile "flat" headphones are not great for my music collection since I don't listen to audiophile artists. And to really draw out the point, I think artificially boosted treble is a widespread issue in this hobby since so many conflate it with more treble detail.

Not too many folks complain about the grain in the treble or the lack of bass detail in the Meze 99 (though there are definitely some who point those flaws out).

For those who love a ton of bass, the stock pads are great. For those who want a fun audiophile bassy sound, the smaller stock pads work. For those who want even less bass and more treble, there are 3rd party options. I'm sure there are other changes to the audio with a pad swap, but mostly it's about the tuning. And it should be noted, a lot of IRL factors can contribute to hearing less bass, but not many natural factors will increase bass response.

If anything, I think it's a pretty good sign that a headphone is amenable to tuning via pad swaps. Most pad swaps break a headphone's sound.

 

[Wladimir]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

I wouldn't call it a problem per se. Just a potential to change characteristics. After switching to Yaxi, I would call original pads sound warm. With Yaxi, a lot more bright and detail sounding. I don't know about others tho.

 

[roru100]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

Yes and no. Yes, because the sound signature should have been corrected by Meze once they changed from standard first pads (which I have never heard) to the current large pads. And imho the new small ones are better than the large but not great. I prefer the Dakoni. For the sound and for the comfort, feel (leather). They make the highs smoother than the small ones and the bass tight. Just not enough. Hence the EQ. You could ask the same for EQ btw.

Well, and here is the no to your question. The headphone is great. Now. When bought I listened to 6 headphones up to 1000,- And with the mods I did not like a single one better. For my intended use case.

I once was an purist and thought I rather „suffer“ than correct.Then I learned that Mods can make the difference. Even with highest end audio. Stereo AND headphone. It is a bit like a tailored suit vs a suit of a shelf. Both will work and dress you. But the tailored one is made for you. Just you. The headphone mods are your tailored sound experience.

And btw I think many here do not mind playing around. It is a hobby and way beyond listening only, isn’t it?

 

[Dramlin]

Stop me if I'm getting the wrong impression but whenever I see 4 pages of info on different pads and pad swapping, it makes me think that the stock headphone has significant problems and needs modifications to correct them. Or...is it merely an analogy of choosing the best tires for your sports car?

Lot's of replies already, so just adding my thoughts to the mix. I've tried pad swapping on a good number of headphones, and the 99C's are one of only two that actually benefited sound-wise from a pad swap. Stock pads are typically designed with the end sound in mind. Due to that, when you change a stock pad to an aftermarket one the sound usually gets worse, or at best is just a different flavor. I'm sure it's an unpopular opinion, but whoever designed the large stock pads really wasn't thinking about the sound as their end goal. The stock pads introduce a lot of bass bloat that is corrected with aftermarket options. Everyone is different, some will like the stock sound, but considering the sheer number of posts in this thread about pad swapping I think it's safe to say that a pad swap is usually needed to correct the original design.

 

[Escudos999]

My 99 Classics review is nearly finished, the more time I spend with them the more I enjoy them.

Apart from a tiny bit of mid-bass resonance, they are really easy and fun to listen to

Hooray!!! Mine arrived today (still waiting on my iCan micro SE)! Too busy breaking them in, and really digging the sound to write anything much ATM! I will post an impressions pre-review tomorrow once I run them through the pre-burn in paces. I will say this though, people must have giant ears if they think the ear pads are more in the realm of on-ear...or maybe I have smaller ears than I think. Regardless, they fit like a glove!

I'm getting mine delivered by the end of the week - really excited. I'm interested to hear how they sound against my dt770s.

 

[DoConor]

It seems that the Dekoni pads keep the FR from 1k and above, but bring a slight increase in bass but above all a rapid descent of the FR from 200Hz to 1000Kz.