[Trunks159]

Always good to have a different perspective, @peter123

I've not heard the Meze 99C, although honestly, from the reviews I've read, I suspect I might rather like them a lot.

To be clear, nothing I've read makes me think the L2 sounds like the X2, just that it also seems, at least from some accounts, to have that Fidelio magic.

@peter123 have you ever heard the on-ear Fidelio M1 MKII?

Yeah I didn't own them at the same time but they sound pretty different. Fidelio L2 isn't really better in anything except tonality. X2 is just too bassy/u-shaped. L2 is brighter, more mids, which just sounds more natural.

I hated the L1, as they were like ridiculously dark, and they clamped WAY too hard.

 

[Slater]

I was looking at the XL ones, since i have the oval ones. My oval ones have become round after a year of use.
But all the Brainwavz pads arent thick enough for my liking (at 30mm). My ears touch the inside (the part covering the driver) and its abit annoying.
Looking for something atleast 40mm thick with lots of space around my ear, so my ears dont touch anything.


Looked at Shure 1540 pads, but they are crazy expensive at almost $80 + 25% VAT and import fees, totaling around $140, making them a non-option for me.

Ah, I see.

Well all you have to do is stuff the pad with a rolled up paper towel, rolled up kleenex, a few cotton balls, a continuous piece of thick coax cable, or a continuous piece of foam caulking backer rod.

I prefer the foam caulking backer rod. It's cheap (a few dollars for a big bag), made of soft foam, consistent in diameter, wont flatten or break down (like cotton balls), won't absorb sweat (like paper towel/kleenex/cotton balls), and it is available in a variety of diameters.

I find 1/2" diameter backer rod is a perfect size for most earpads I stuff. 1/2" = 12mm, which would make a 30mm earpad 42mm roughly thick. Perfect for what you're looking for.

If you need photos of what I mean by "stuffing the pad", lemme know and I can illustrate.

You can't stuff every pad, but you can stuff most of them (including the Brainwavz pads).

 

[Gainastyle]

Ah, I see.

Well all you have to do is stuff the pad with a rolled up paper towel, rolled up kleenex, a few cotton balls, a continuous piece of thick coax cable, or a continuous piece of foam caulking backer rod.

I prefer the foam caulking backer rod. It's cheap (a few dollars for a big bag), made of soft foam, consistent in diameter, wont flatten or break down (like cotton balls), won't absorb sweat (like paper towel/kleenex/cotton balls), and it is available in a variety of diameters.

I find 1/2" diameter backer rod is a perfect size for most earpads I stuff. 1/2" = 12mm, which would make a 30mm earpad 42mm roughly thick. Perfect for what you're looking for.

If you need photos of what I mean by "stuffing the pad", lemme know and I can illustrate.

You can't stuff every pad, but you can stuff most of them (including the Brainwavz pads).

That sounds perfect!

I've never heard or thought about anything like that.

I'd very much appreciate an illustration

 

[Slater]

That sounds perfect!

I've never heard or thought about anything like that.

I'd very much appreciate an illustration

Sure friend.

Modders stuff pads all the time. Some stock pads are overly flat, so they can be stuffed so your ears don't touch. Others stuff them for sound differences (often increasing soundstage). It depends on the pad and the headphone.

So here's how to do it. Click any photo for a larger view.

1. Open a beer and lay out your materials. You don't have to remove the pads to do this mod. I just used a bare pad for illustration only. As you can see, this bag of backer rod included 20 FEET for about $2-$3 at my local hardware store. That's enough to do about 60 pairs of earpads LOL!



2. Cut a section of backer rod, approximately the same as the outside circumference of the ear pad. You don't have to be exact, but it's better to be a little too short than a little too long. Yup, this looks about right.



3. Now feed the backer rod down into the pad, between the pad itself and the fabric cover in the center. Keep feeding and turning the pad, feeding and turning the pad.



4. If you find your rod is a little too long, just snip off the excess until the ends butt evenly against one another. The ends will 'join' themselves using friction. This pad went from 30mm to 40mm thick, as I used 1/2" backer rod.



5. Finish your beer while you enjoy your newly stuffed pads with your favorite music.

If you don't like it, it can be removed at any time. You can also use smaller or larger diameter backer rod until you get the sound or fitment you like.

 

[Gainastyle]

Sure friend.

Modders stuff pads all the time. Some stock pads are overly flat, so they can be stuffed so your ears don't touch. Others stuff them for sound differences (often increasing soundstage). It depends on the pad and the headphone.

So here's how to do it. Click any photo for a larger view.

1. Open a beer and lay out your materials. You don't have to remove the pads to do this mod. I just used a bare pad for illustration only. As you can see, this bag of backer rod included 20 FEET for about $2-$3 at my local hardware store. That's enough to do about 60 pairs of earpads LOL!



2. Cut a section of backer rod, approximately the same as the outside circumference of the ear pad. You don't have to be exact, but it's better to be a little too short than a little too long. Yup, this looks about right.



3. Now feed the backer rod down into the pad, between the pad itself and the fabric cover in the center. Keep feeding and turning the pad, feeding and turning the pad.



4. If you find your rod is a little too long, just snip off the excess until the ends butt evenly against one another. The ends will 'join' themselves using friction. This pad went from 30mm to 40mm thick, as I used 1/2" backer rod.



5. Finish your beer while you enjoy your newly stuffed pads with your favorite music.

If you don't like it, it can be removed at any time. You can also use smaller or larger diameter backer rod until you get the sound or fitment you like.

Thank you so much!

I'll definitely try this, looks like the perfect solution
I really appreciate all your help

 

[Pharmaboy]

There's no substitute for real, empirical knowledge.

Thank you so much!

I'll definitely try this, looks like the perfect solution
I really appreciate all your help

And here's your chance to get those good Brainwavz pads for 20% off, if you felt like going in that direction:

https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...-29187097&mc_cid=1c9dfd7aa1&mc_eid=d36b0324bf

 

[Slater]

Thank you so much!

I'll definitely try this, looks like the perfect solution
I really appreciate all your help

Hey, I also wanted to clarify 2 things about the mod that may not have been perfectly clear from the instructions above.

1. As you are stuffing in the backer rod, you want to push it as far towards the outside edge of the pad as possible. You are tucking the backer rod waaay up into the back edge of the pad. In other words, towards the direction of the arrows in the below photo:



2. You need to make sure to cut the piece of foam rod long enough so (when the ends are butted together) it stays against the back edge of the pad. This way, the rod will stay in place and won't shift around. Think of the ear pad like 2 pizzas - an 8" pizza laid on top of a 12" pizza. The 8" pizza represents the inside diameter of the pad, and the 12" pizza represents the outside diameter of the pad. You want the foam to be exactly like the crust of the 12" pizza, which has a longer circumference than the crust on the 8" pizza. If done properly, you won't be able to see the backer rod at all when looking at the pad straight on. You will only be able to see the backer rod when you tilt the pad at an angle, like this:

 

[Pharmaboy]

I think we just witnessed the 1st-ever earpad/pizza analogy (which surprisingly is 100% explanatory/effective).

"You were there!"

 

[Gainastyle]

Super appreciate all the help ive gotten

But unfortunately my cans broke today. The plastic screw-look-alike thing broke on the right earcup, the one with the cable in it
I've tried to glue other plastic kind of tubes in place of it, but its not working.

So i bought a pair of HD599 instead.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

So I've got an open box/mint Fidelio X2HR coming in from Musicians Friend in early June(I hope...). Has anybody bothered to really compare them to the previous Woox or Gibson X2s? I know that Gibson has "improved the headband materials and revised the ear pads" for comfort...just curious if the new pads might make these sound more "open" or change anything else from prior characteristics...kind of thinking they might sound more like the older versions without the glue issue?

 

[LaCuffia]

I am getting the X2HR today as there was a good deal from Guitar Center....the last time I had the X2 was in December 2015 but I returned it because of the glue issue and uncomfortable pads. I am hoping there is an improvement with the new pads. I don't remember what the X2 sounds like though. Will post impressions later.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

I am getting the X2HR today as there was a good deal from Guitar Center....the last time I had the X2 was in December 2015 but I returned it because of the glue issue and uncomfortable pads. I am hoping there is an improvement with the new pads. I don't remember what the X2 sounds like though. Will post impressions later.

Sounds good. From what I know, Gibson made the HRs to try to correct all of the freak-out complaints over the glued pads/channel imbalance/etc of their first batch after acquiring the Fidelio brand. In theory, you would think that the HRs would potentially be the best engineered/manufactured examples of the X2 yet..."improved pads with better breathe-ability" and a guarantee to get detachable pads are what have me sold. People tend to forget that the Woox made models also had glued pads during their last production run and weren't perfect either.

From what I can tell...people liked the early Woox models due to the original "shiny" pads giving a better sound; it was all in the pads and not a driver change. Gibson revised the pads to a different material and maybe jacked it all up slightly by creating a darker sound through the glue sealing...so, in theory you would think that the HRs are going to fix all of that as they are a literal response to people's complaints from a while back.

The whole thing is just kind of blown out of proportion to an extent from what I can tell...I mean, there were apparently bad examples of Woox and good examples of Gibsons aside from the whole glue issue and how that affected people's opinions.

 

[LaCuffia]

We will see...I know that even slight changes in pad density and material could impact the sound. I just hope its better comfort wise. From memory they just felt itchy and too firm. It wasn't so much the glue issue but that was annoying too as I remember seeing glue on the outside ring. The construction was solid in terms of materials used but a bit too clumsy or clunky in execution.

It's funny because my first ever post on Head Fi was about the X2. Prior to that my first high quality headphone was the HD598. Since that time I've had and/or tried many high end headphones - Utopia, Stax, Audeze, HiFiMan, etc. Coming full circle it will be interesting to see how they look, sound and feel to me now. But one thing is clear - the law of diminishing returns hits you hard sometimes. You can get just as much enjoyment from a $200 headphone as from a $1K plus one.

 

[LaCuffia]

Just got these in within the past hour....

I am happy to report the X2HR pads are very nice - soft and comfortable. Much better than the X2 I had back in 2015. The underside of headband is made of smoother fabric too. No issues with build either - clean finishing and well put together.

Running a few tracks on it, and, man, they sound freaking awesome so far. Spacious sounding, with strong bass impact (amazing for an open back headphone). I am using a HeadAmp Pico portable amp, which has a lot of power, into my iPhone. I can't wait to try them on my Violectic V100 desk top amp later today.

I'd say this is a steal for the $200 sale price.

 

[SuperNovaGoesPop]

So here's my X2HR story...grabbed an open box set for $175, one pad was grayish and slightly janky with the foam insert looking slightly melted or something and the other was fine and jet black...lol. So I ordered a new set at full price and low and behold...this one has a better/much more taught "suspension system" too and zero problems with the pads. Gonna do a switcharoo and send the janky pair back claiming that it's defective...because it is. Now I know why somebody else sent them back before me...so I dunno overall about QC vs somebody doing a number on these and returning them.

Having said that, I dunno what a $300 headphone is...I mean, I don't think it's necessarily built better than my Meze Neo or Monoprice M560, but this thing is nice all around. Aside from good build and materials, it sounds different from all of my other headphones...lots of spacing and yes, the sound stage is interestingly wide/detailed. I wouldn't personally call these "bassy" either...it's there and it's nice, but these seem sort of more "trying to be balanced but with some oomph and character" to me. I really like these a lot, but again, no clue if this is actually worth $300...I'm much happier at $175

These also need to be amped IMHO...not as easy to drive as some make these out to be, but not a power hog or anything like that either. I just wouldn't say to use these with a cell phone or standard laptop without some sort of little amp to help get them singing. Pads(on the good set...)seem awesome on these.

But the X2HRs are winners. Wait around/look around long enough snd these will pop-up new for $175-$225 during sales and promotions for different sites...don't drop $300 unless you just don't care.