[cpurdy]

Love the the Ether CX, it's one of my go-to headphones that aren't TOTL Audeze, but the pads have always had a shorter lifespan than I'd like and the clamp force is a bit much with glasses. I've looked at the options here, but has anyone done FR graph comparisons for the sound?

Sounds like the new Dan Clark Audio "Stealth" is targeted at you ... there's a link here somewhere to a review with lots charts.

 

[rudbeard]

I thought that the Stealth was a bit tricky working with glasses and had the same pleather pad material?

 

[rudbeard]

So, I return from the pad swap adventure. I tried a number of AliExpress, Dekoni, and stock DCA pads.

One of the key takeaways that I got from pad rolling was that some pads eat a lot more of the sound than others, allowing you get more out of the drivers by pushing more power from the amp. I think that one of the weaknesses of the CX is that they ship with flat pads that work great but don't hold up. Overall, the sheepskin pads with a lot of crush (Dekoni LCD, AliExpress squares, Dekoni TH900 sheepskin) were the most comfortable and sounded the best.

• The angled sheepskin Ether C 1.1 pads improved the sound, added soundstage, but didn't make them into a pair of Ether C 1.1 - I still feel there is room for both in my collection
• Lawton angled pads gained soundstage but lost imaging precision, better or same tonality as stock, kept the neutral presentation
• Dekoni Elite Sheepskin for DT series was a pretty good sub for the stock pad but also had the most-near soundstage, better than an HD650 but imaging was very good (in "Who We Want to Be" by Tom Day there is a bell that passes back and forth and it sounded distinctly behind me and moved crisply and precisely). Comfort was okay with the most clamping pressure and the least downward weight. My ears just barely touched the driver so it was on par with a compressed stock pad. They do feel a bit small for the mounting ring and they have a smaller physical footprint but the height makes them wobble very little. Isolation wasn't perfect.
• Dekoni TH900 Elite Hybrid pads were a disaster, sucked the midrange out, muted the bass, and amplified the extremely high treble. It sounded like some $100 Sony monitors Music sounded unnaturally thin. Absolute pass.
• Dekoni TH900 Sheepskin pads were a completely different story from the hybrids, basically the Dekoni Sheepskin DT with a little more comfort but worse seal around glasses. I need more time to decide if they're as better than or just on-par with the rest of the pads.
• Dekoni Audeze LCD Sheepskin & Fenestrated: I struggled to get a good seal on the Audeze LCD pads with the backing ring and adhesive removed but the soundstage was among the best improvements over stock. The LCD Sheepskin definitely had a bit more of a "fun" tuning and a bit more spice to the treble but the seal was so inconsistent. I think that I might try cutting the mounting lip back by half and gluing a felt ring on the mounting lip to help with seal. The LCD Velour were terrible, don't bother.
• The Sheepskin AliExpress Square opening pads are probably tied for my favorite with the Dekoni DT Sheepskin, better soundstage, seal, sound isolation, and stability. I have construction equipment, AC units, and industrial air scrubbers running near my office and home office and I literally couldn't hear them even without anything playing. Physically, it feels a bit like an Audeze pad. The downside is they don't provide as much clamping force and the foam is not memory foam so you do feel pressure on glasses or ears. I wish there wasn't a jersey material all the way around as it doesn't cool much and doesn't perform quite as well as a complete sheepskin pad.
• The AliExpress Denon pads were the jack of all trades and worked better than the DCA Ether C angled pad but soundstage, tuning, bass impact, etc. were improved but not the best. Comfort was just fine, but the same problem with fast rebound foam pressing glasses arms into the side of the head.
• The other AliExpress Denon pads felt identical to the above, I'm keeping them labeled and separate to know which one is which, these were just cheaper.
• Other pads I've tried on the Ether CX don't bear mention: Brainwaves XL round leather pad, Dekoni Choice (protein) Leather, etc.

When I get a chance to get either the EARS or a 711 rig out, I can try getting some fr graphs for the different pads on each of the three CX.

Pad rolling leaves me remembering that I'm a huge fan of the Ether C and the CX. Changing up the pads can help bring a little bit of the punch to the bass while fixing the tinnitus that I inevitably get when the stock pads compress after a couple months.

 

[cpurdy]

Pad rolling leaves me remembering that I'm a huge fan of the Ether C and the CX. Changing up the pads can help bring a little bit of the punch to the bass while fixing the tinnitus that I inevitably get when the stock pads compress after a couple months.

A friend of mine with the CX also does the pad rolling (mostly with the kit provided by DCA). He's also a big fan.

I still have the factory setup on mine. I'm almost afraid to change it, because I like it so much.

 

[tcellguy]

I actually prefer stock pads as they boost midrange vs. the angled pads and provide a more in your face presentation to contrast with my ETHER C Flow 1.1.

 

[rudbeard]

The stock pads are really well chosen, but the foam in them tends to degrade about half as fast as a pair of HD600 pads. While the sound doesn't change as much as the comfort, the CX go from being weightless to TMJ machines.

 

[gonintendo]

I snagged a set of these off drop and so far I'm extremely impressed. I've been searching for a good closed back <$1k that I can bring into work. I've been using the k371 which is great for the price, but is not comfortable for my large head and is not very detailed. I've tried two other DCA cans before, the Aeon 2 and the Noire. The noire was too hot in the upper mids/treble for me, and was just too fatiguing. The Aeon 2 sounded a bit dull if a bit more musical. Still has weird treble spikes that required more front damping than I liked. Both of the Aeons lacked dynamics for me, were fatiguing, and just generally didn't sound musical. I wasn't a fan of the timbre of either, especially for vocals and guitars. Snares were about the only thing that sounded right to me on them.

Well the Ether CX is IMO a huge improvement over the Aeons in every way. Dynamics are better, they're still not the most dynamic cans but they're not totally dead sounding, and respond better to a slight eq bass boost. Vocals are remarkably realistic sounding to me for a planar at this price, as well as acoustic guitars. Electric guitars still have a bit more bite than I like but it's still enjoyable (this is easily addressed with a small cut at 5.5k). The build is phenomenal, I like the finish better than the Aeons. I was worried the pads would be too shallow but they're fine for me, and it's nice that I can just throw some ZMF pads on there when they wear out or if pads are no longer available. Drivability wise, they run just fine off my Cayin RU6 though they do open up a bit on the iHA-6.

At their current price of $699 on drop, these are a no brainer to me over any Aeons unless you need that last 10% of portability or if the fit is an issue. Edit: or if you're not ok with EQing in a bass shelf

 

[arielext]

In my quest for "well perhaps this time I will find something better" I sold the ether cx, in this thread I said I never would and I can say it has been a mistake. Getting an ether cx in Europe is quite costly but even it would turn out to be around €1000 I know I would still prefer it over most of the other headphones in the same price bracket.

 

[Baten]

In my quest for "well perhaps this time I will find something better" I sold the ether cx, in this thread I said I never would and I can say it has been a mistake. Getting an ether cx in Europe is quite costly but even it would turn out to be around €1000 I know I would still prefer it over most of the other headphones in the same price bracket.

Some for me for the Alpha Primes. Shouldn't have sold them.

 

[rudbeard]

I've listened to several other CXs and while the stock pads are fantastic for the tuning, the compression really does cause ergonomic/TMJ issues for me after a while. I'd really grew to like the Dekoni Sheepskins but I've wound up going with the hybrid angled pads. I think I'll try some of the AliExpress leather pads for the LCD series next and see if they get the driver too far from the ear.

 

[TheRealDz]

I've listened to several other CXs and while the stock pads are fantastic for the tuning, the compression really does cause ergonomic/TMJ issues for me after a while. I'd really grew to like the Dekoni Sheepskins but I've wound up going with the hybrid angled pads. I think I'll try some of the AliExpress leather pads for the LCD series next and see if they get the driver too far from the ear.

It will be fun, but be prepared for a lot of disappointment though. I worked my way through all the compatible pads off of Aliexpress, and most were very light in the bass for some reason.

While individually inexpensive, I could have purchased a new stock pad or a ZMF pad several times over for what I paid in total. I still may do that - the best pad of the bunch for me is still a bit bass light for me.

 

[gonintendo]

I've listened to several other CXs and while the stock pads are fantastic for the tuning, the compression really does cause ergonomic/TMJ issues for me after a while. I'd really grew to like the Dekoni Sheepskins but I've wound up going with the hybrid angled pads. I think I'll try some of the AliExpress leather pads for the LCD series next and see if they get the driver too far from the ear.

Did you try rotating the stock pads a bit? I found it made a huge difference. on mine, the seam is about an inch above the point where the gimbal attaches to the frame.

 

[rudbeard]

Did you try rotating the stock pads a bit? I found it made a huge difference. on mine, the seam is about an inch above the point where the gimbal attaches to the frame.

I did. I've also flipped them front-to-back, but the pads were used when I got them so their pancake self doesn't have a lot of life left.

While individually inexpensive, I could have purchased a new stock pad or a ZMF pad several times over for what I paid in total. I still may do that - the best pad of the bunch for me is still a bit bass light for me.

I definitely have spent as much on pad rolling as I would have on replacement pads, but it's been a fun exercise.

 

[roskodan]

Link1
Link2

AutoEQ updated all PEQ presets with the latest optimizations.
I added an aditional low shelf bass boost at 45 Hz and adjusted the preamp gain to -9dB.

Preamp: -9 dB
Filter 1: ON LS Fc 105 Hz Gain 2.1 dB Q 0.70
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1313 Hz Gain -2.5 dB Q 1.28
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 630 Hz Gain -1.2 dB Q 0.29
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 7489 Hz Gain 2.4 dB Q 0.18
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 63 Hz Gain 1.3 dB Q 2.29
Filter 6: ON HS Fc 10000 Hz Gain 1.6 dB Q 0.70
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 5982 Hz Gain -1.7 dB Q 5.55
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2746 Hz Gain 1.6 dB Q 6.00
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 3088 Hz Gain -1.8 dB Q 5.94
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 3395 Hz Gain 1.4 dB Q 6.00
Filter 11: ON LS Fc 45 Hz Gain 6.5 dB

Spoiler: PEACE EQ APO AutoEQ screens

Please remember all MrSpeakers need to be played LOUD!

Enjoy!

p.s. get an amp that peaks in power at 32 Ohms or lower for best results with MrSpeaker

 

[rudbeard]

Wake up babe, new EQ just dropped.

Is that the Ether 2 system headband strap? How's the comfort compared to the regular C/CX strap?