Just received my Noirs today, so here are my first impressions with it compared to the Classics I also own. Aesthetic-wise, it's beautiful. The dark cups with the black braces look simple yet also elegant at the same time.
One nagging con though is that the wood itself is WAY too easily to scratch. Mine has already several fine scratches on the cups where the cable connects to the cup themselves, and this is I absolutely hate, because I have OCD, so I hate scratches of ANY kind. I was surprised seeing the scratches actually because I only disconnected the cable ONLY once to switch the pads. There are fine scratches on both cups already within me owning the headphones for mere hours. The wood on the Classics is to my eyes, way more durable as there are no scratches even after months of owning it and numerous of cable removals and reattachments later.
Now sound-wise? With the stock pads, I find it bassier than the Classics I own (bought months ago new from Amazon) with the stock pads. With the smaller hole pads, they in my eyes sound more similar. This is strange to me because I'm guessing I own the most recent version of the Classics with the bigger pads that increases the bass response, so why don't they sound similar with the stock pads on both I wonder.
The stock pads really do increase the bass response compared to the smaller hole pads. My own experience mirrors others in that the treble and the mids are emphasized more with the new original pads compared to the stock.
I admit though, I'm a bit of an idiot and I spent countless minutes trying to replace the pads with the smaller pads until I gave up and asked my sister to do it instead. LMAO. Yeah, I'm a moron.
Anywho, these are my brief first impressions of the headphones. Other than the easily scratchable wood material as the only con, I enjoy it overall. Sound is bass and mid-centric which I prefer because I like a full-bodied sound myself with vocals on the forefront. Those dang scratches, fine as they are, are still scratches and are visible, so they do bother me though.
I'll be sure to photograph it once the nagging anxiety of my baby already having scratches on it wears off. God, how OCD sucks.