andres
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2007
- Posts
- 15
- Likes
- 5
I've been using the Sony's for the past 3 months and loved them for the most part. I had a few gripes with them:
1. Ear pads are too narrow, thus sitting on my ears and heating them quickly.
2. Parts of my ear touched the foam that protected the driver, felt unconformable.
3. Soundstage felt too constricted.
4. Highs felt lacking.
5. Bass was only OK.
I went ahead and bought the Bose QC35 to compare. They were more comfortable mainly due to the wider and deeper ear cup. Also nicer highs. However the sound signature felt too artificial; at low volumes bass was exaggerated and at higher volumes mids were emphasized.
Also, the noise cancelling I felt was better on the Sony's. I also liked the "ambient sound" option, so I can sing out loud and hear my voice. I also occasionally talk to my cat and this feature comes in handy..
So I wanted the best of both worlds. I wondered if I could try the Bose earpads on the Sony's, and it turns out they are an almost exact fit. I tried the Bose earpads on the Sony's and immediately were more comfortable, but not deep enough as my ear could still touch the foam. I researched on the interwebs for replacement Sony earpads and found nothing. So I searched for replacement pads for Bose, with the criteria that they needed to be a bit deeper and at least as wide. I found these by Dekoni Audio that fit the bill:
Here they are next to the Sony's and Bose. Notice how they are a bit deeper, wider and taller:
The sony earcups are help in place by a removable plastic ring with 6 clips:
I wanted to see if the foam could be removed. It's just help in place by two dots of glue, revealing some foam filling and the driver:
Next I tried listening with the stock ear pads but without the foam or the foam filling. I also tried the Denoki pads. Since they are much deeper the soundstage is widened. With the stock pads and without foam the sound feels too in your face/aggressive - I can see why the engineers used such a thick foam, to attenuate this a bit. With the Denoki pads this is not a problem, since they are much deeper the speaker is no longer right on your ear. I can now hear sparkling highs and very revealing midrange - a real treat to listen to acoustic guitars, drums and cymbals.
Right away the midrange opened up and the highs were sparkling. However the midbass felt too clinical/shrill and the bass was lacking. Any impact was lost without the filler foam. So I tried the test again, this time putting the filler foam back in place:
The bass is back. However I noticed quite a few empty spots so I tried to fill them further. I used organic cotton pads, two stacked together, about 1 cm in width:
This resulted in much deeper bass and more impacting mids. Also a wider soundstage, probably due to the increased distance to the speaker.
1. Ear pads are too narrow, thus sitting on my ears and heating them quickly.
2. Parts of my ear touched the foam that protected the driver, felt unconformable.
3. Soundstage felt too constricted.
4. Highs felt lacking.
5. Bass was only OK.
I went ahead and bought the Bose QC35 to compare. They were more comfortable mainly due to the wider and deeper ear cup. Also nicer highs. However the sound signature felt too artificial; at low volumes bass was exaggerated and at higher volumes mids were emphasized.
Also, the noise cancelling I felt was better on the Sony's. I also liked the "ambient sound" option, so I can sing out loud and hear my voice. I also occasionally talk to my cat and this feature comes in handy..
So I wanted the best of both worlds. I wondered if I could try the Bose earpads on the Sony's, and it turns out they are an almost exact fit. I tried the Bose earpads on the Sony's and immediately were more comfortable, but not deep enough as my ear could still touch the foam. I researched on the interwebs for replacement Sony earpads and found nothing. So I searched for replacement pads for Bose, with the criteria that they needed to be a bit deeper and at least as wide. I found these by Dekoni Audio that fit the bill:
Here they are next to the Sony's and Bose. Notice how they are a bit deeper, wider and taller:
The sony earcups are help in place by a removable plastic ring with 6 clips:
I wanted to see if the foam could be removed. It's just help in place by two dots of glue, revealing some foam filling and the driver:
Next I tried listening with the stock ear pads but without the foam or the foam filling. I also tried the Denoki pads. Since they are much deeper the soundstage is widened. With the stock pads and without foam the sound feels too in your face/aggressive - I can see why the engineers used such a thick foam, to attenuate this a bit. With the Denoki pads this is not a problem, since they are much deeper the speaker is no longer right on your ear. I can now hear sparkling highs and very revealing midrange - a real treat to listen to acoustic guitars, drums and cymbals.
Right away the midrange opened up and the highs were sparkling. However the midbass felt too clinical/shrill and the bass was lacking. Any impact was lost without the filler foam. So I tried the test again, this time putting the filler foam back in place:
The bass is back. However I noticed quite a few empty spots so I tried to fill them further. I used organic cotton pads, two stacked together, about 1 cm in width:
This resulted in much deeper bass and more impacting mids. Also a wider soundstage, probably due to the increased distance to the speaker.
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