[luedriver]

"all's well if it ends well"
 
actually it was the post with the velour earpads that made me want to take the earpads off in the first place

 

[luedriver]

don't mean to spam, but went to look for replacement earpads on ebay but found someone selling 3D Printed Pad adapters

and Philips SHP9500 Mod 3D Printed Cups
 


 
these look very similar to the ones zeos used in his review

 

[Change is Good]

  don't mean to spam, but went to look for replacement earpads on ebay but found someone selling 3D Printed Pad adapters

and Philips SHP9500 Mod 3D Printed Cups
 


 
these look very similar to the ones zeos used in his review

 
Yeah, I think those are the round rings he uses in his video. It's a good option for those who want to save the stock pads and use traditional round pads.
 
I'm going to refrain, however, from posting my opinion about the 3D cups and alpha pad mod 

 

 

[Decommo]

IMHO, this mod is just too much. It is basically changing open can to closed one which defeat the purpose of having open can after all.

 

[Decommo]

I tried to find out comparison between SHP9500 and Sen HD600. I watched Z Review and SHP9500 is HD600 good. Is this true? I never had a chance to listen HD600 so no idea. I love SHP9500 and would love to know how good it is comparing with HD600 which is one of the most reputable Open Can. Anyone can help?

 

[yangian]

  I tried to find out comparison between SHP9500 and Sen HD600. I watched Z Review and SHP9500 is HD600 good. Is this true? I never had a chance to listen HD600 so no idea. I love SHP9500 and would love to know how good it is comparing with HD600 which is one of the most reputable Open Can. Anyone can help?

I have both. 600 is for sure better than 9500 when well drived. Much larger soundstage. I'm sure for most genre, 600 is better. But 9500 is really excellent on vocal. 9500 is very neutral and airy. Compared to 600, the most weakest aspects of 9500 are the separation and soundstage, which lag far behind 600. 600 is also fuller.

 

[luedriver]

yesterday I tried to stretch the pads (from the philips shl4500 (grey) and got them all the way around, it didn't improve the sound or give more bass, but was a bit more sturdy than just the pads hanging on the clips...
 
today I tried the HM5 pleather pads (with memory foam) ...and boy did that improve the bass, tight punchy bass, even just connected to my pc, sansa clip with rockbox seemed to drive them a bit better, not sure about anything else, like soundstage since these are open type, I didn't hear any hollow or even the sound far away, but I did have them a bit more louder than usual, well that is my 2 cents

 

[kwengca]

Just want to reiterate how much this headphone freaking rocks. I just got a pair of X2s last week and after 30+ hours of listening, I find the SHP9500s more enjoyable to listen for most genres of music. The X2s are veryyy source dependent and the mids are super recessed and lack the sparkle and airyness that I love in the SHP9500. This headphone is a giant killer for sure. 

 

[yangian]

  Just want to reiterate how much this headphone freaking rocks. I just got a pair of X2s last week and after 30+ hours of listening, I find the SHP9500s more enjoyable to listen for most genres of music. The X2s are veryyy source dependent and the mids are super recessed and lack the sparkle and airyness that I love in the SHP9500. This headphone is a giant killer for sure. 

Exactly. This is what I found on both of them. So finally, I returned the X2. 

 

[Change is Good]

I concur. Though I never had them side by side, the X2 was returned within a week while the lovely 9500 has stuck around for over 3 months now.

 

[Sundown]

Preferring these over the X2's as well. Though, they don't have the bass, they excell or match in every other department. Plus they're lighter, and less silly looking. Deeper cups too which is nice. My ears don't touch anything at all with different pads. 

I thought I would get bothered by the treble but it's fine. I even prefer them over the HD600 for comfort. I wish they could make a revision for this headphone. A tad bit lower treble, and a little boost in the sub bass and mid bass. Just SLIGHT tweaks here, deeper with removeable pads and they'd be perfect. Wish they would use Sennheiser's material they use on their HD700/800 for the headband and ear pads. Smooth and thin. Unlike the flakey, bleeding Fidelio X1/X1 pads.

 

[luedriver]

   with removeable pads 

 
 
they are removable, if you see zeo's video, he also says that you can remove them, I took them off by using a butter knife along the edge, trying not to break any of the clips inside
 here is the back side of the earpad, it has five holes, four for the clips and one to make sure its the right side...
 
something like this has been shown before but this is how they look like with HM5 pads on (the extra thick ones with memory foam)
 
 
in my opinion they give the headphone a bit more bass, but closes you off making them sound more like closed headphones than open ones, (e.g. there is more isolation for you but not for those around you), its also much more comfortable (biased opinion) but have a bit more clamp force because of the added pad thickness, my ears no longer rub on the inside of the headphones
 
zeos and others sugest using a 3d printed ring, more to protect the earpads from the clips
 

 
 
I haven't used them, probably since I was dissuaded by other opinions saying that these pads wouldn't be so good for this headphones, I kinda disagree, but didn't think I would keep them like this for long
 
Even zeos doesn't think that the change is as good as putting HM5 pads on hifiman he-400s (in his review of his modded shp9500)
 
 
edit* also even thought the earpads are removable, I haven't seen anyone selling replacement pads for them anywhere

 

[Decommo]

I followed @Change is Good 's instruction how to remove earpad and removed them successfully and got rid of original earpad and removed all of sticky stuff from plastic ring and cleaned up. It now just need Shure Velour Pad and it is on its way. CAN'T WAIT to complete the Earpad Mod and start listening with this headphone again

 

[Sundown]

You guys think the DT770 pads fit with the ring? I have some laying around.

 

[KodaO]

Just got my pair and out of the box I'm pleased. 
 
I still can't grasp the definition of "bass light". The 9500's have tight, punchy bass that shines when it needs to. I don't see them as anemic at all. 
 
They certainly aren't DT770's or XB500's, but not the bass I expected from the reviews I read.