Thanks guys, both for the pointer and the comment on the changes. I wasn’t aware there were other types of Final pads compatible with the VI beside those of the IV. Another member of this forum offered intriguing alternatives to Final pads, from Shure and Lawton, but I’d rather stay in-house.
But if the connectors are the same, I think this one should also work and is cheaper, but I'm not sure. Unfortunately it didn't exist when I bought mine:
Please give some feedback about the ear pads anyway. I still need to wait for my purchase to arrive cause it isn’t available now in my country. I am curious like hell...
They lower the splashy treble a bit and the bass doesn't seem to be affected. Matt from Forza Audioworks says they need about 200 hours burn-in, so not drawing any conclusions, as yet.
They lower the splashy treble a bit and the bass doesn't seem to be affected. Matt from Forza Audioworks says they need about 200 hours burn-in, so not drawing any conclusions, as yet.
Sounds good so far. Thats what I need with the treble.
Matt told me the same. I am over 60hrs but to be honest I felt bigger difference after the first 10hrs and not much afterwards.
Just ordered Claire balanced cable from Forza.
As far as I am concerned, I don't have huge ears but above average and they do fit (just) but that's not the main issue for comfort which ear you ear touching the driver and I don't think having smaller ears will fix it (adding padding can help as ostewart suggested).
I can't understand how they could overlook such a design flaw, while being so thourough on making a perfect product otherwise. Maybe they will fix that with a mkII, or Hope IV (with apparently a very different design)...VIII, X (as there seems to be other on the way - from NL website : https://www.finalaudio.nl/en/products.html)
I had a discussion with the US distributor about the pads / comfort thing during CanJam NYC 2019. And did a show & tell with him of what they could do to address this. He claimed they produce some ungodly number of these every month and they dont get complaints; the complainers are just the small percentage of owners that are here on Head-fi. Sounded like BS to me. Super regrettable he is SO apologetic about this major design flaw instead of exploring a partnership with a company that could better their product. Okay, well maybe that was a bit too ambitious.
Anyway, all this happened as he had my Sonoros VI on his head affixed with what I've found to be the most comfortable and best sounding pads I've tried; and I tried like a dozen. He agreed they were very comfortable. But didn't listen to them to confirm they sounded as great as I believe too.
So, I put in the time and $ buying countless pads and testing (testing not only this but four other headphones I own). Tried some cheap chinese pads off eBay (some with natural materials tho too). But more so different variations of quality products from MrSpeakers, Dekoni, and (the winner) ZMF.
Getting to it, the pads I highly recommend is the ZMF Ori, lambskin, non-perforated. If you want a 'bigger' less focused sound, the Eikon could be your choice (but also, this is a larger radius pad, so will be very loose on the headphone)
There are others here that may be the right mount style and size too. But I only tried the ones named from ZMF (I tried perforated too from them and the others; those reduce the bass). They are not cheap. But the expense was worth it for me. Treble/bass, attack/decay balance was best imo vs. all alternatives.
I made the change a long time ago. But from what I remember, less amount of bass but better control and a little less brightness in the highs. Waiting for your impressions.
So I needed to return mine due to not (always) working right side drivers but I was still able to give them several hours of burning in/ testing them. About the sound quality I must admit that almost all the pros and cons read in this thread are correct.
I like the energy the space/imaging the speed the IEM-ish level of details and the general richness of its sound. It is really an emotion full presentation. On the other hand I find the treble just a bit too aggressive and the bass emphasized and uncontrolled to my taste.
I am blown away in general but would like to tune it with ear pad swap. So I need a bit more polite highs with signifacantly less bass rumble.
Are the type C pads the way to go or could you recommend something else?
Although many are suggesting the stock earpads are not good, I guess I’m in the minority of those whom have no issues with the pads or the sound of the VI.
There definitely was on mine after 200 hours or so. Afterwards, the high frequencies became more refined sounding. With that said, if one finds the tonal balance tilted too much to the upper frequencies, that is the nature of this headphone, it has a highly detailed treble due to the BA driver. I suppose one could experiment with some foam or such to soften the BA, but for me, I love how detailed it is, without any stridency/sibilance.
With Final's earpads that say the sound can be adjusted, I presume it's covering the aperture. What difference does this make? I'm using the "C" pads on VI's.
Just got the Pandora Hope VI for a steal of a price and threw on my GFs extra set of HM5 pads and WOW.......these are definitely going to be one of my favourites ever. Can't believe these passed me by for so long.
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