[Phos]

The velour pads seem harder, and I don't notice any particular sonic difference with them vs. the pleathers (had one on each side of my 500) so I don't see why they didn't give you a set of velours instead of another set of pleathers.  If you want more space between your ears and the drivers, both beyer pads and denon pads apparently fit.  

 

[Dazedy]

Quote:

Yeah sounds like your headband is really screwed up. Maybe use a vice to bend the spring steel inside the headband?
 
Anyway see if you can notice the sonic change with this mod, as I did.
 

Do you notice any other sonic changes?
I'm a bit confused about what you're doing.. are you taking the foam from inside your spares and putting it into the ones on the headphones, doubling the amount of foam? Or am i completely misinterpreting you?
I'm not seeing any visible foam rings on my spare pads.   Could you take a picture?

 

[tattare]

you need to pop it out of the pleather cover.
 
I have no problem with the stock pads so far.  They feel better than the shure 840 pads I have on my m50's by a mile.
Playing around with foobar2000's equalizer last night helped tame the treble but it caused a new problem and at times it pops and sounds like a bad rip of the song.  When disabled the track sounds normal.
(It might be the hm-101?  Just heard the pop again with no eq...)

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Do you notice any other sonic changes?
I'm a bit confused about what you're doing.. are you taking the foam from inside your spares and putting it into the ones on the headphones, doubling the amount of foam? Or am i completely misinterpreting you?
I'm not seeing any visible foam rings on my spare pads.   Could you take a picture?

Yeah you have to pop out the foam ring insert from the spare pads, then insert them into the pads on the cans so you get two layers of foam rings in each pad increasing the space for your ears.
 
Mainly it just appears to smooth out the trebles. Mids might be a bit more, not too sure though.
 
 
 
 
 
 

you need to pop it out of the pleather cover.
 
I have no problem with the stock pads so far.  They feel better than the shure 840 pads I have on my m50's by a mile.
Playing around with foobar2000's equalizer last night helped tame the treble but it caused a new problem and at times it pops and sounds like a bad rip of the song.  When disabled the track sounds normal.
(It might be the hm-101?  Just heard the pop again with no eq...)

You could try the mod too to see if you could also perceive the tamed treble I'm hearing.

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

you need to pop it out of the pleather cover.
 
I have no problem with the stock pads so far.  They feel better than the shure 840 pads I have on my m50's by a mile.
Playing around with foobar2000's equalizer last night helped tame the treble but it caused a new problem and at times it pops and sounds like a bad rip of the song.  When disabled the track sounds normal.
(It might be the hm-101?  Just heard the pop again with no eq...)

You should try graphic EQ from foobar2000's components page it's way better than built-in one
 

 

[Dazedy]

Quote:

you need to pop it out of the pleather cover.
 
I have no problem with the stock pads so far.  They feel better than the shure 840 pads I have on my m50's by a mile.
Playing around with foobar2000's equalizer last night helped tame the treble but it caused a new problem and at times it pops and sounds like a bad rip of the song.  When disabled the track sounds normal.
(It might be the hm-101?  Just heard the pop again with no eq...)

I was hearing that pop fairly frequently when i first started listening, but I haven't heard a pop for at least 5 hours now.
Exactly how do you pop it out of the pleather cover without damaging the pleather?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I was hearing that pop fairly frequently when i first started listening, but I haven't heard a pop for at least 5 hours now.
Exactly how do you pop it out of the pleather cover without damaging the pleather?

Just dig your finger into the back of the foam circle and yank it. There's no glue or anything, it's just fitted in.

 

[Dazedy]

Quote:

Just dig your finger into the back of the foam circle and yank it. There's no glue or anything, it's just fitted in.

I must be going crazy - the only thing that I see is possible to yank out is a plastic ring on the side of the ear-pad which would be facing the driver.  The foam padding appears to be completely sealed inside the pleather.
 
EDIT:
Oh... I see.. The pads on my headphones have the foam padding, but the spare ones didn't come with it... That's just plain odd.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I must be going crazy - the only thing that I see is possible to yank out is a plastic ring on the side of the ear-pad which would be facing the driver.  The foam padding appears to be completely sealed inside the pleather.
 
EDIT:
Oh... I see.. The pads on my headphones have the foam padding, but the spare ones didn't come with it... That's just plain odd.

Oh that sucks... It's quite obviously a last-minute cutout that's not part of the regular headphone pad production though, so you could probably DIY it and just find a similar kind of foam and do the cutouts. It looks like some kind of packaging foam to be honest.
 

 

[Dazedy]

Quote:

Oh that sucks... It's quite obviously a last-minute cutout that's not part of the regular headphone pad production though, so you could probably DIY it and just find a similar kind of foam and do the cutouts. It looks like some kind of packaging foam to be honest.
 

They probably noticed the issue of ears hitting the grid last minute and fixed it that way.
The foam that came on the headphones is thick enough that my ears are touching the cloth, but aren't pressed against it, so it's comfortable enough for me
 

The velour pads seem harder, and I don't notice any particular sonic difference with them vs. the pleathers (had one on each side of my 500) so I don't see why they didn't give you a set of velours instead of another set of pleathers.  If you want more space between your ears and the drivers, both beyer pads and denon pads apparently fit.  

Would the velour pads be more comfortable wearing glasses?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

They probably noticed the issue of ears hitting the grid last minute and fixed it that way.
The foam that came on the headphones is thick enough that my ears are touching the cloth, but aren't pressed against it, so it's comfortable enough for me
 

Yeah that was my original aim trying to do this mod (to increase comfort), but it turns out that it has a fairly significant effect on the sound signature as I mentioned earlier. I really love how the treble sounds now with this simple mod... smoother and less fatiguing than the treble before, and it doesn't cause roll-off or anything, so top-end still has a bit of sparkle.
 
Edit: I wonder if there is a mod scene for HiFiMAN cans... it'd be nice if we could tweak the driver FR with some damping mods.

 

[Aaron1006]

So jealous everyone's enjoying their's now! Head-direct customer service said I got the only bad one of the batch so far... Just my luck 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

So jealous everyone's enjoying their's now! Head-direct customer service said I got the only bad one of the batch so far... Just my luck 

Haggle for a HE500 upgrade! Or if not that, at least maybe free travel case and extra pads.
 
I ain't kidding lol.

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

They probably noticed the issue of ears hitting the grid last minute and fixed it that way.
The foam that came on the headphones is thick enough that my ears are touching the cloth, but aren't pressed against it, so it's comfortable enough for me
 

Would the velour pads be more comfortable wearing glasses?

Just a little bit at least for my small narrow head. Be aware my glasses have tiny titanium frame. Also i prefer bass with original pads not velour ones
 

 

[jerg]

Lol listening to some film OSTs, and the sub-bass is just rocking my pants off...it feels like I got a speaker subwoofer playing the bass outside the headphones and I keep trying to check and see that my PC speakers are off.