[coolcat37]

Interesting. Can you tell us which cables you trialled? Could you also maybe tell us a bit on the leather pads on the HD25 alu?

 

[punit]

The cables on the HD 25 Alu are from Custom Cans (I bought the HD 25 ALU's from them & they came fitted with it, link for the upgraded cable is below). Also I think the original cable on the HD 25's are steel (i may be wrong) whereas all other HP's for which I have done cable upgrades had original copper cables. Hence maybe the HD 25's may respond better to a cable upgrade than the other HP's.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1m-Audiophile-Sennheiser-HD25-1-silver-plated-copper-cable-OFC-Cardas-HD-25-/141076950174?pt=UK_AudioVisualElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Headphones&hash=item20d8d76c9e
 
The ear pads on the ALU's are much more comfortable then those on the Standard version & feel better. I don't think they are real leather , they are synthetic leather.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

just got mine today.  yay!!!  here the unboxing.
 

 

[Sennheiser]

Congrats on your purchase, HiFiGuy528!
Looking forward to your impression 

 

 

[JohannLiebert]

So what's the difference between HD25Alu and Amperior. Is the HD25Alu really an actual improvement?
Seems like same drivers and same cups for me...

 

[jfunk]

  So what's the difference between HD25Alu and Amperior. Is the HD25Alu really an actual improvement?
Seems like same drivers and same cups for me...

They are aimed at different markets really - the amperior have 18ohm drivers and a remote/mic cable to make them good for commuting and using with phones and ipods. The HD25 Alu have 70 ohm drivers and a 2m steel cable and are more geared up to pro use. There are a few other minor differences like the material the pads are made of but that it the main thing. So... The HD25 alu is an upgrade for the standard HD25 - the amperior is more in a class with the momentums

 

[jupitreas]

  They are aimed at different markets really - the amperior have 18ohm drivers and a remote/mic cable to make them good for commuting and using with phones and ipods. The HD25 Alu have 70 ohm drivers and a 2m steel cable and are more geared up to pro use. There are a few other minor differences like the material the pads are made of but that it the main thing. So... The HD25 alu is an upgrade for the standard HD25 - the amperior is more in a class with the momentums

 
While they have different drivers, if we look at frequency response charts of the Amperior and the standard HD25, it is clear that they sound nearly identical. In other words, the 18ohm drivers are tuned to sound like the standard 70ohm drivers. 
 
Based on your comparison, the Alu and the Amperior sound different but you did not try to swap pads between them and I am still wondering what the Amperior would sound like with the Alu pads. It is possible that they would actually sound pretty much identical as the drivers are tuned to sound the same. The descriptions you gave of the Amperior's sound fit the general consensus of what velour pads usually sound like vs. pleather pads and this is why I am thinking they might sound nearly identical with the same pads.
 
Otherwise, the Amperior and the Alu are pretty much the same - same plastic headband and aluminium cup. The cable is different but this does not affect their sound.

 

[imackler]

Has anyone had a problem with the right cup sliding? Is there any way to tighten it? It kind of seems that the cable is pulling down the cup. The left side is just fine and adjusts with a nice click but the right side slides quickly without any resistance on the bumps. It doesn't look like the little screws have anything to do with that, but only with the cord, right? I don't know if I should send it back to Sennheiser for a repair (?). 

 

[punit]

Yes, on my ALU's  the right ear cup sometimes does slide down one notch. But this does not make any difference to me as the fit is still secure & tight. But this will probably bug someone who is OCD about such things

. For you does this affect their Seal & thus the sound ?

 

[coolcat37]

  Has anyone had a problem with the right cup sliding? Is there any way to tighten it? It kind of seems that the cable is pulling down the cup. The left side is just fine and adjusts with a nice click but the right side slides quickly without any resistance on the bumps. It doesn't look like the little screws have anything to do with that, but only with the cord, right? I don't know if I should send it back to Sennheiser for a repair (?). 

Yes well this a is a known problem with the Amperior... 2 fixes exist: one is to put electrical tape beneath the slider the second one is using a hair dryer to soften things up and make the clamp tighter.
 
As seen here (hairdryer fix)
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/665349/sennheiser-hd25-fixing-slipping-sliders
 
Tape fix seen on 1st picture here:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/679278/sennheiser-hd-25-1-ii-w-hd-650-cable-zomo-earpads
 
 
 
---
 
Erm and maybe on a side note, you decided to sell it ?

 

[Oracle]

Well I decided to purchase the HD25 Aluminums today even though I already own the Amperiors.  I recently bought the Momentum on ears and a pair of AKG K550 for comparison and ultimately decided I liked the Amperiors better, so I returned those for the HD25's instead.  I look forward to doing some comparisons between these two headphones and plan on using the Amperiors for travel and the HD25's for use with my at home Schiit Magni & Modi stack.  I will swap out the pads on the two to see how much of a difference that makes.
 

 

[coolcat37]

  Well I decided to purchase the HD25 Aluminums today even though I already own the Amperiors.  I recently bought the Momentum on ears and a pair of AKG K550 for comparison and ultimately decided I liked the Amperiors better, so I returned those for the HD25's instead.  I look forward to doing some comparisons between these two headphones and plan on using the Amperiors for travel and the HD25's for use with my at home Schiit Magni & Modi stack.  I will swap out the pads on the two to see how much of a difference that makes.
 

alright. looking forward to your findings

 

[JohannLiebert]

  Well I decided to purchase the HD25 Aluminums today even though I already own the Amperiors.  I recently bought the Momentum on ears and a pair of AKG K550 for comparison and ultimately decided I liked the Amperiors better, so I returned those for the HD25's instead.  I look forward to doing some comparisons between these two headphones and plan on using the Amperiors for travel and the HD25's for use with my at home Schiit Magni & Modi stack.  I will swap out the pads on the two to see how much of a difference that makes.
 

 
Any updates?

 

[Oracle]

Sorry about the wait.  I received the headphones but have been out of town and haven't had the chance to compare them yet.  I'll give my review of the two over the next couple of days after I have some time to listen and compare.

 

[Oracle]

The Amperior and HD25 Aluminium comparison.
I will try and give my best explanation of the differences I’m hearing between these two headphones.  I wouldn’t call myself an audiophile but rather someone who appreciates good sound quality, so if I don’t provide a detailed enough explanation of the sound that is why. 
 
So after receiving these headphones I right away sat down gave them a three hours listening period with my usual music selection consisting of various rock artists.  The first thing that came to mind was how similar they sounded to the Amperiors (I know shocker) but the bass seemed to have a little more impact and the sound overall was warmer than the brighter more aggressive Amperiors.
 
 Having logged approximately 100 hours on my Amperiors I decided to allow some burn in with the HD25’s to give a more balanced comparison.   Whether you believe in this or not I found the Amperiors changed a bit over time with the treble relaxing a bit and the bass tightening up.  After letting them burn in for about 24 hours on a slightly elevated listening level and having my first listening session still fresh on my mind I found once again the bass seemed to tighten up where the treble remained the same with a warmer presentation than the Amperiors. 
 
So from this point I decided to A / B them the best I could which consisted of hooking them both up with a Y adapter (by Grado) to my Schiit Asgard 2 and Bifrost uber.  The first thing I noticed was how at the same volume level the Amperior sounded louder than the HD25 which makes sense with the Amperiors lower impedance.  Secondly how more aggressive the Amperiors were with the treble and the mids.
 
From here I decided to swap out the ear pads and see how this would impact the sound.  The HD25 still had a warmer sound while the Amperiors maintained that brighter sound signature but the bass did change a little on the Amperiors with some added bass.  I believe this happened because I was getting a better seal with the pleather material which I can relate this with my experience with IEM’s and changing out different ear tips to achieve that better seal (isolation).  Personally the Amperiors ear pads were more comfortable though.
 
In conclusion, I believe Sennheiser achieved what they were looking for with the Amperiors and having them easily driven with an iPod but still sounding similar to their HD25’s.  In my opinion if you already own the Amperiors I would just stick with them and purchase the pleather ear pads for your own comparison.  For myself, I like both and appreciate their fine differences and plan on keeping the HD25’s for use at work with my Schiit M&M stack and using my Amperiors for on the go.