I am so glad someone posted the L1 without the ear pad and someone suggesting the HM5 replacement ear pads fitting the L2. With my knowledge of adding HM5 ear pads to my ATH-W1000X, I found out how to finally take off the ear pads of my L1 and even rotate the inner foam to fit my ear. Here is my picture of the ear pad off of the ear cup of my L1:
There are five parts of the ear pad, and only the inner foam is seperate from the ear pad itself: the outer pleather material, the inner pleather material, fabric between ear and driver, the hard plastic lining (shining lining in the back) and the inner foam (yellow foam). To attempt taking the ear pads off, you need fingernails 1/16"-to-1/8" long and no longer to put the outer pleather back under the very-tight-fitting vent edge cover. No fingernails, no attempt.
Just slightly pinch the outer pleather material and very slightly tug it away from the vent edge cover until you see the edge of the outer pleather material. Repeat this all around the vent edge cover until all of the edges of the outer pleather are clearly shown to you, with the area around the cables and headband being toughest to see. When you see the edges all around the ear pad, you will probably never see the outer pleather as tight fitting as stock ever again. Also, seeing the edges all around are important to prevent snagging, which is something I did on one L1 ear pad and one HM5 ear pad. It was not really bad...just a preference as these stock ear pads are not for sale.
When you get to the picture, remember that the outer pleather goes over the hard plastic lining first, then also goes over the foam. If you choose to rotate the foam, turn the foam 45 degrees in the opposite direction of the side of that ear cup (45 degrees to the right for the left side OR 45 degrees to the left for the right side). The bottom of the foam will now point in the direction of where your ear lobe will go and give more room for your entire ear.
Whether you turned the foam or not, placing the outer pleather back will be the toughest part. Put the outer pleather lining over the entire ear cup until the entire lining is over the entire ear cup and facing you. Align the hard plastic lining with the ear cup as much as possible, then take one part of the outer pleather lining and use your fingernail to tuck it under the very-tight-fitting vent cover. Repeat this until the entire outer pleather lining is under the vent cover. Rotate the inner pleather and the hard plastic lining to the ear cup until the ear pad fits the ear cup.
If it does not, take off the entire outer pleather lining from the vent cover and re-rotate or take off the entire ear pad from the ear cup and see what you need to do to restore the ear pad back to its original shape. If the ear pad does fit the ear cup, keep tucking in the outer pleather with your fingernail all around the vent cover further once or twice.
The above methods should also work with HM5 ear pads.
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ok if this is the case I may just pull the trigger
