[rgs9200m]

I'm 6-feet tall and have a fairly large head and ears (not gigantic, but largish) and I find the PM-1 ear cups ample to be just fine. I found the earcups in the similarly shaped Ultrasone Ed.8 I used to own too small, just for comparison.
I also had trouble with too small earcup openings on the Stax SR007 mk1 I used to own also. I do find the velour pads more comfortable (insanely comfortable, actually).
And the depth is good on the PM-1, so my ears don't touch the drivers at all.

 

[smellyfungus]

wonder why everyone jumps on a guy who thinks the pm-1 is uncomfortable. its ok to have an opinion. I too will say I thought comfort was ok but not amazing. headband gave me a hotspot and my ears felt a bit trapped in the leather pads.

personally think oval is overrated, sennheisers haven't been to kind to me in comfort which is odd since most consider them stellar. not the norm but doesn't make my opinion any less valid.

 

[Maxvla]

personally think oval is overrated, sennheisers haven't been to kind to me in comfort which is odd since most consider them stellar. not the norm but doesn't make my opinion any less valid.

HD580/600/650 and some of the other lower end Senns aren't really comfort champions, IMO. Mid-pack, I'd say. This changed dramatically with the HD800 and even the HD700 is quite comfy.

Looks like I'll get my shot with the PM-1 some time next week. Looking forward to it.

 

[ssrock64]

I find the HD6xx more comfortable than the PM-1, but the Oppo is still quite easy to wear for long sessions on my ears. The PM-1 weighs a bit too much to become invisible to me like an HD800 does, but for a metal-body headphone with leather earpads it's very comfortable. I can't say the same about the ED10 or TH900.

 

[rgs9200m]

PM-1 not worth its price? As a long-term owner of and fan of HD800s, LCD3s, and TH900s, The Oppo is on a par with all of these, even though they all have their own (very different) signatures, and FWIW, I find myself turning to the Oppo more and more, for whatever that means.
 
In my book, if I had no pre-knowledge of prices, I would think all of these were the same price, and I would be surprised that the PM-1 costed any less than the others.
 
By the way, I just matched the PM-1 with a Meridian Direct DAC (still with my old Max amp), and it's just sweet, musical, detailed and full of life, with wonderfully transparent bass and silky informative highs. The Oppo scales as I upgrade cables, DACs, etc., and opens up more and more.

 

[TMRaven]

Yes rgs9200m, we understand that you like the PM-1 quite a lot.  You don't have to post in defense of it after every time someone posts their critique of it.   Let the headphone speak for itself.  

 

[cute]

  Yes rgs9200m, we understand that you like the PM-1 quite a lot.  You don't have to post in defense of it after every time someone posts their critique of it.   Let the headphone speak for itself.  

 
And you make it obvious you don't like the PM-1 about as often!

 

[TMRaven]

I posted one comment of my initial impressions of the PM-1 that consisted of about 6 short bullet points, and was met with a wealth of posts ranging from the usual burn-in comments, amp/dac synergy comments etc.  I even had an Oppo representative message me privately about offering modded/new-type pads.  I made a couple follow-up posts to try to clarify my impressions to a couple people in the aftermath of the direct responses to my first impression.
 
That's far different than coming in and saying to somebody 'well I have the PM-1 on hand and I don't think they're very good at all' whenever I see somebody post a positive impression of the PM-1.  Sometimes attitudes like that gets a person banned on head-fi.  You know what?  The opposite can be just as troublesome at times.
 
I mean commenting about how you feel the PM-1 is comfortable for you after someone else doesn't like how they fit on them?  Come on.  Comfort is a very personal thing.
 
This is an impressions thread.  Anybody should be able to come in and post their impressions of the PM-1 without having their post being proceeded by rebuttals talking about their headphones not being burned in or having someone else question their impressions by saying how they like the PM-1 themselves.

 

[HiFiAudio]

   
And you make it obvious you don't like the PM-1 about as often!

 
Touche! 

 

[rgs9200m]

OK, OK, point taken.  I'll quit yapping here, I just wanted to mention the Director DAC matched with it in case anyone was interested in it.

 

[nicdub]

  I posted one comment of my initial impressions of the PM-1 that consisted of about 6 short bullet points, and was met with a wealth of posts ranging from the usual burn-in comments, amp/dac synergy comments etc.  I even had an Oppo representative message me privately about offering modded/new-type pads.  I made a couple follow-up posts to try to clarify my impressions to a couple people in the aftermath of the direct responses to my first impression.
 
That's far different than coming in and saying to somebody 'well I have the PM-1 on hand and I don't think they're very good at all' whenever I see somebody post a positive impression of the PM-1.  Sometimes attitudes like that gets a person banned on head-fi.  You know what?  The opposite can be just as troublesome at times.
 
I mean commenting about how you feel the PM-1 is comfortable for you after someone else doesn't like how they fit on them?  Come on.  Comfort is a very personal thing.
 
This is an impressions thread.  Anybody should be able to come in and post their impressions of the PM-1 without having their post being proceeded by rebuttals talking about their headphones not being burned in or having someone else question their impressions by saying how they like the PM-1 themselves.

And you accepted their offer?
 
It would be interesting to see if they did in fact release different pads to accommodate different preferences.  I would much prefer that over a behind the scenes tweaking of the drivers, or making some other modification that current owners wouldn't have access to without purchasing a new one.  

 

[TMRaven]

It was apparently a modification of the pad that removed some of the felt?  I'm not too sure about the specifics, but either way I had to refuse because it's not my pair of PM-1.  If Oppo did come out with a second pair of earpads with slightly larger openings I think that would be a win-win situation for everybody, regardless if it changed the sound or not.

 

[Maxvla]

Started with the leather pads for the first few hours, decent comfort, no real heat build up, a little snug around my ears. Just swapped to the velour and immediately found a comfort improvement (but has a slight itch sensation that I would probably get used to quickly), they also feel a tiny bit larger inside giving my ears just enough to not touch anywhere. Sound seems better with velour as well, but I'll need more time to compare. Kudos to Oppo for the easy swap pads, it doesn't get any easier. Overall comfort is better than expected, especially lighter clamp than expected, while still feeling very secure. The cord is a little odd in it's side by side design, but the jacket material is soft and slick and not prone to tangling. Shorter version is all I would need. High marks all around for physical aspects. Comments about sound after more time.

 

[Jimmyf1312]

Started with the leather pads for the first few hours, decent comfort, no real heat build up, a little snug around my ears. Just swapped to the velour and immediately found a comfort improvement (but has a slight itch sensation that I would probably get used to quickly), they also feel a tiny bit larger inside giving my ears just enough to not touch anywhere. Sound seems better with velour as well, but I'll need more time to compare. Kudos to Oppo for the easy swap pads, it doesn't get any easier. Overall comfort is better than expected, especially lighter clamp than expected, while still feeling very secure. The cord is a little odd in it's side by side design, but the jacket material is soft and slick and not prone to tangling. Shorter version is all I would need. High marks all around for physical aspects. Comments about sound after more time.

Thank you for your write up so far. It's nice to see someone putting effort into talking about the headphones instead of others here that are just arguing still. I'm looking forward to more of your thoughts. For me I'm in the market of buying a new pm. Stuck between LCD-2.2 w/ fazor, pm-1 and he-560. So that price range... Maybe the alpha dogs as well

 

[Currawong]

I've moved a couple of pages of non-impressions discussion to the main PM-1 thread. PLEASE KEEP ON TOPIC!