[sh1r00]

Before I get started on my HP50 balanced mod guide I’d like to warn people that this does change the HP50’s sound. If you use your HP50 out of a phone or laptop the headphones will become more amp/dac picky. The sound on a technical level is still improved, but poorly recorded music or peaky sound will become more apparent. I believe the tonality is the same, but since the headphones become more revealing/detailed bad masterings or youtube recordings will likely stick out. Note if you're not comfortable soldering, get used to it before attempting this mod. This is a fairly trivial solder job, but holding the iron too long on the driver contacts can destroy the driver.

You will need:
1) Soldering Iron/Soldering station
2) Solder
3) Screw driver set
4) Multi meter is not required, but strongly recommended
5) New wire. I strongly recommend Mogami 2534. I've experimented with lots of cheap wire, like cat6e, which was the worst, to a dead MacBook charging cable. Just save yourself the hassle and get some Mogami 2534 for less than $2. We need less than 5 inches of it. Since there are 4 wires in the cable, 5 inches is more than enough for both drivers.

The main benefit of this mod is changing how well the headphones scale. I don’t think anyone would describe the stock HP50 as a great scaling headphone. In stock form the instrument separation isn’t the best, and the bass impact or slam is kind of weak. Sound stage improves as well, that is for a closed back.

With that said, the first step is to remove the pads. The headphones should look like this:



We're going to remove the 4 screws visible.

Carefully lift the plastic cover, but don't pull it away as the driver is still wired to the rest of the housing. Put the foam aside, we'll need it for reassembly.



Next, we're going to remove the second plastic cover. It is not screwed in. I used a flat head screw driver to gently lift it from the hole as shown.



Unscrew the remaining 4 screws. Apologies for the dirty headphones.



At this point, since mine are already modded yours should look different. There is a wire that comes out from the head band. We won't need this anymore. If you aren't interested in reversing this mod, you can simply cut the wire as I have.



We're going to unscrew the PCB next. You can cut or better yet, desolder and of the existing wire. We don't want any of the old wire anymore. We won't even be using any of the old solder points on the PCB. We will wire directly to the legs of the female 3.5mm receptacle.



Measure out the length of wire required for the job, strip the jacket and tin in the ends. If you don't know how to do this, please look up a few youtube videos as that is out of the scope of this guide.



Before we start soldering REMEMBER not to place your soldering iron on the contacts of the driver for too long!!! I use a Hakko FX-888 soldering station. I set the temperature to 345.

A few key thing to remember
1) Tin the wire first (i.e. put solder on the wire with an iron before you solder it to the driver)
2) Keep track of which wire is going to which contact of the driver/PCB. We don't want to screw with the phase/polarity.
3) In the pictures below, the white wire is L+/R+ and the blue wire is L-/R-
4) Try to keep the wires as a twisted pair as pictured
5) Make sure you put the cable through all the different plastic housings in the correct order and orientation before you solder both ends of the wire.





If you're using Mogami 2534 just follow were I soldered the blue and white contacts respectively. After the soldering is done, make sure the contacts are good with a multi meter, then reassemble. Now would be a good time to clean the inside of the housing before reassembly. Do the same to the next cup, or A/B each side and see if you can hear a difference. Use a headphone amp/dac and appreciate how much better the headphones scale now.

Good luck!

Thanks.

 

[gazzington]

I've managed to get an unused one for £80. What pads have people found to get the best results in comfort and sound?

 

[ofern321]

Krone Kalpasmos for Sony MDR-7506, Wrinkled Frogskin PU Leather Foam.

Comfortable, more breathable. I *think* the sound is similar.

The original pads are too squishy and the frame pressed on my head.

 

[mbwilson111]

I've managed to get an unused one for £80. What pads have people found to get the best results in comfort and sound?

I have a link to my old post about pads. I ended up with wrinkled ones too. There is a photo included in the post.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/nad...rom-paul-barton.646735/page-199#post-13806978

There was much discussion around that time.

 

[gazzington]

Thanks both. I’ve wanted to try these for years so I’m happy that I’ll finally have a set to try

 

[JW1234]

Hello all -

First post here. I've had my HP50s for 6 years and loved their sound. Then, inevitably, the pleather on the earpads fell apart. the foam cushions started to collapse, and the sound degraded. I tried the cheap replacement HP50 cushions offered on Amazon, but the sound was terrible - way too much mushy, not very deep bass and severely rolled off treble. I then bit the bullet and purchased genuine replacement pads from the North American NAD distributor (Lenbrook). To my surprise, they sound very much like the cheap knock-offs on Amazon - way too much poor-quality bass and completely lacking treble. I thought perhaps the pads needed to loosen up and shape to my head, but after 4 months the sound has not improved.

The phones with these new NAD pads sound nothing like the phones I used to enjoy so much. Has anyone else had this experience? Did NAD change the construction of their earpads? Is there anything else that could have gone wrong inside the phones to account for the sonic deterioration? The phones have never been abused, show no signs of wear or damage other than worn pleather on the headband, and are being driven by a Headroom Little headphone amp (remember those?) Thanks for any help!

 

[RenEh]

Hello all -

First post here. I've had my HP50s for 6 years and loved their sound. Then, inevitably, the pleather on the earpads fell apart. the foam cushions started to collapse, and the sound degraded. I tried the cheap replacement HP50 cushions offered on Amazon, but the sound was terrible - way too much mushy, not very deep bass and severely rolled off treble. I then bit the bullet and purchased genuine replacement pads from the North American NAD distributor (Lenbrook). To my surprise, they sound very much like the cheap knock-offs on Amazon - way too much poor-quality bass and completely lacking treble. I thought perhaps the pads needed to loosen up and shape to my head, but after 4 months the sound has not improved.

The phones with these new NAD pads sound nothing like the phones I used to enjoy so much. Has anyone else had this experience? Did NAD change the construction of their earpads? Is there anything else that could have gone wrong inside the phones to account for the sonic deterioration? (The phones have never been abused, and show no signs of wear or damage other than worn pleather on the headband). Thanks for any help!

I’ve spent a good deal of time modding these headphones, I have not tried the official replacements, but have used cheap Chinese knockoffs and brainwavz sheep skin angled pads. The latter are my preference.

Sonically, I don’t think you’ll find anything exactly like the original pads, but the brainwavz pads are way more comfortable to my ears. I can’t comment too much on the sound difference as mine are modded so I have no reference for you anymore. Super best audio friends has measurements and they’re close to stock.

Dirt can accumulate on the driver and cause distortion. I’ve cleaned mine with alcohol on a q tip.

 

[JW1234]

I’ve spent a good deal of time modding these headphones, I have not tried the official replacements, but have used cheap Chinese knockoffs and brainwavz sheep skin angled pads. The latter are my preference.

Sonically, I don’t think you’ll find anything exactly like the original pads, but the brainwavz pads are way more comfortable to my ears. I can’t comment too much on the sound difference as mine are modded so I have no reference for you anymore. Super best audio friends has measurements and they’re close to stock.

Dirt can accumulate on the driver and cause distortion. I’ve cleaned mine with alcohol on a q tip.

Thanks for the response! The drivers are clean. The weird thing is, I've purchased the official pads from NAD, but even these don't sound anything like the original pads that came with the phones. I'd be curious to know whether other folks here have had the same problem.

 

[tinyman392]

Thanks for the response! The drivers are clean. The weird thing is, I've purchased the official pads from NAD, but even these don't sound anything like the original pads that came with the phones. I'd be curious to know whether other folks here have had the same problem.

Pads change with time as you use them. So that could create small differences in sound too.

 

[fish1050]

Hello all -

First post here. I've had my HP50s for 6 years and loved their sound. Then, inevitably, the pleather on the earpads fell apart. the foam cushions started to collapse, and the sound degraded. I tried the cheap replacement HP50 cushions offered on Amazon, but the sound was terrible - way too much mushy, not very deep bass and severely rolled off treble. I then bit the bullet and purchased genuine replacement pads from the North American NAD distributor (Lenbrook). To my surprise, they sound very much like the cheap knock-offs on Amazon - way too much poor-quality bass and completely lacking treble. I thought perhaps the pads needed to loosen up and shape to my head, but after 4 months the sound has not improved.

The phones with these new NAD pads sound nothing like the phones I used to enjoy so much. Has anyone else had this experience? Did NAD change the construction of their earpads? Is there anything else that could have gone wrong inside the phones to account for the sonic deterioration? The phones have never been abused, show no signs of wear or damage other than worn pleather on the headband, and are being driven by a Headroom Little headphone amp (remember those?) Thanks for any help!

I bought these https://www.amazon.ca/Leather-Repla...d=1632301820&sprefix=nad+viso+,aps,165&sr=8-7 from amazon canada 6 months ago.

To my ears they sound better than the stock pads and alot more comfortable being memory foam. They seal much better than the stock pads providing tighter bass and since they sit a little further from my ears the sound is even fuller. I could listen to the stock pads for maybe an hour and my ears would be sore. With these I can listen for hours without any pain. I considered the brainwavz but these were much cheaper and are much closer dimension wise to the stock pads. These are designed specifically for the HP50's vs the brainwavz which fit alot of headphones and reviews indicate they are to big for the HP50's and really soften the bass. My best friend also has HP50's and I bought him a pair of these pads and he loves them to.

I actually live driving distance from NAD and Lenbrook in Pickering Ontario. I thought about ordering some from them and picking them up but having tried these cheap ones from Amazon I don't feel the need.

 

[JW1234]

I bought these https://www.amazon.ca/Leather-Replacement-Earpads-Cushion-Pillow/dp/B07R5NJF5W/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1F1BICGNQK3BA&dchild=1&keywords=nad+viso+hp50+pads&qid=1632301820&sprefix=nad+viso+,aps,165&sr=8-7 from amazon canada 6 months ago.

To my ears they sound better than the stock pads and alot more comfortable being memory foam. They seal much better than the stock pads providing tighter bass and since they sit a little further from my ears the sound is even fuller. I could listen to the stock pads for maybe an hour and my ears would be sore. With these I can listen for hours without any pain. I considered the brainwavz but these were much cheaper and are much closer dimension wise to the stock pads. These are designed specifically for the HP50's vs the brainwavz which fit alot of headphones and reviews indicate they are to big for the HP50's and really soften the bass. My best friend also has HP50's and I bought him a pair of these pads and he loves them to.

Yup, those are the cheap replacement pads from Amazon that I initially tried and that didn't work for me (way too much sloppy bass, severely rolled off treble). Interesting that your experience with them is so different than mine. Maybe it's just that we have differently shaped heads and I couldn't get a proper fit, or possibly my phones are damaged...

 

[RenEh]

Yup, those are the cheap replacement pads from Amazon that I initially tried and that didn't work for me (way too much sloppy bass, severely rolled off treble). Interesting that your experience with them is so different than mine. Maybe it's just that we have differently shaped heads and I couldn't get a proper fit, or possibly my phones are damaged...

if you’re looking for a sharper treble but less bass slam with similar presence I think the brainwavz would fit the bill. I’m not sure if stock these have bass slam lol.

 

[RenEh]

Yup, those are the cheap replacement pads from Amazon that I initially tried and that didn't work for me (way too much sloppy bass, severely rolled off treble). Interesting that your experience with them is so different than mine. Maybe it's just that we have differently shaped heads and I couldn't get a proper fit, or possibly my phones are damaged...

My experience with those pads were similar. Also, uncomfortable.

 

[fish1050]

Yup, those are the cheap replacement pads from Amazon that I initially tried and that didn't work for me (way too much sloppy bass, severely rolled off treble). Interesting that your experience with them is so different than mine. Maybe it's just that we have differently shaped heads and I couldn't get a proper fit, or possibly my phones are damaged...

Because the replacement pads were thicker I found I had to shorten the extenders two notches compared to the stock pads. That small change made a big difference for me sound wise. It does seem that the HP50 offers a better fit for average to larger heads like mine.

 

[amigomatt]

My stock pads are finally starting to degrade. I have scoured this thread and other places but am yet to find any definitive options for aftermarket pads that don't negatively affect the sound quality. Can anyone point me in the right direction please? I'd be willing to pay for a decent pair if available anywhere. I love these headphones.