Mr Trev
Headphoneus Supremus
@Mr Trev I noticed one of your posts from last week saying how you found these headphones very L-C-R. I feel exactly the same. Also, any updated impressions of the pleather HM5 pads? I'm considering the velour FWIW.
I think the L-C-Rish staging might just be an artifact of the angled drivers. I've pretty much gotten used to it and seems normal now.
I took the pleathers off after I had some really weird imaging issues (test tones… the tone was shifted centre-left, narration shifted centre-right. stock pads were completely in the middle). It might have just been the way they were mounted, but I went back to the stock - plus, the pleather were pretty sweaty due to the weight and clamp.
If you look back through the thread you'll find a few posts dealing with modding the pads. Personally, if I was going to make a permanent switch, it'd be the velours as well.