Posting my response to
@macky112 as others might have the same questions...
First, don't take away impressions with one ear. It's very hard to properly digest the changes with one side modded and the other stock, or in your case, not working. Remember that everyone has slightly different hearing sensitivities and "frequency curves" for each of their ears, so you can see how this could lead to problems judging changes.
Paper towel by itself is a pretty decent improvement, but I was ready to send them back with stock pads. Seriously. Vegan pads really fix most of the issues, and create a smooth, albeit dark frequency response. The clarity and detail is a 10 compared to stock pads which is like a 3 or 4. There are too many reflections creating nulls and peaks in the frequency response with stock pads.
The combination of Audeze Vegan Leather Free pads and paper towel is NOT subtle compared to stock form. There is still a slight veil, kind of a planar thing, compared to headphones like HD650 but the overall frequency response, depth, and imaging is very good for a planar, once modded.
I hope more people try them with full mods, as those that have have written glowing praise. I'm not saying they are the end all be all of headphones, budget or not, but they do little wrong once modded, and can be enjoyed with any genre of music. They are easy to amp, and light weight and comfortable, at least for me, as I primarily use HE-6.
Hope this all helps!