[Eugguy]

  Guys, this is absolutely perfect! Hollow, soft, nice! I'm going back to my original pads now. Modded.
 
Thera-Band Exercise Tubing
 

 

GENIUS. 

 

[jsblack]

^  WOW.....

 

[groovyd]

looks better then the neoprene I used... mind cutting me 2 pieces from your roll (black if possible)?  Can paypal you the shipping and to cover the material.  I love the Beyer pads but the sound of the stock were a little better if they weren't so uncomfortable would be perfect. I could cut exactly to length here.

 

[jsblack]

  looks better then the neoprene I used... mind cutting me 2 pieces from your roll (black if possible)?  Can paypal you the shipping and to cover the material.  I love the Beyer pads but the sound of the stock were a little better if they weren't so uncomfortable would be perfect. I could cut exactly to length here.

Excellent idea..! you've got gut to ask well done
Green would me perfect to me.. Jackson1, I guess you've just ordered the green / Heavy / dispenser  ..?
 
That would be awesome...

 

[jackson1]

Here's the story: I don't have tubes to send to you guys. I didn't buy it either. I don't know the exact model, but the colour surely will tell. While moving some boxes, I spotted a 1 meter green Latex-looking tube in one of the boxes belonging to my girlfriend. I tried fitting it inside the 7520 and it fitted pretty well. Being Latex it grabs the fake leather on the pads and sits there nicely and tight. I noticed it had just about the perfect diameter as well to do the job of extending the shallow pads. So after some persuation-talks I got permission to cut it up in the lengths I needed.
 
So, I provided the manufacturer name and a link here, for you to seek out a place to buy closest to you. Shipping from where I live to you is insanely expensive. Good luck hunting it down. I found the name printed on the tube itself.

 

[jsblack]

  So after some persuation-talks I got permission to cut it up in the lengths I needed.

Hahaha...  
Excellent !
I'll be digging around ..
 
Cheers 

 

[jackson1]

I thought I should confirm that this Latex tube modification is working very well for me. At the time I posted the pics, I hadn't used the mod for more than 30 minutes or so. Now, a week later, I have done mixing work for many many hours like this, and the mod is still good. I don't find the sound to have changed much compared to stock, though it feels a little less loud. But my ears are not sore anymore and that's a huge plus. The pads do feel ever so slightly harder, but it's not a problem for me.
 
Another thing I've been using when mixing with my modded 7520 is an EQ correction preset in my DAW. @jsblack got me started by letting me use his personal 7520 correction filter for the Sonarworks headphone plugin. The Sonarworks filter doesn't sound useable to me, unfortunately - it's way too weird sounding compared to my mixing monitors and mixing environment. I know, I should really compare with a custom filter made specifically for my pair of 7520's, but the difference with jsblack's filter is so big, that I don't think it will change my view on this. The filter sounds like a little AM radio to me and just too strange. Maybe I just can't cope with "flat".
 
Instead, I created a slightly altered and less pronounced version of the Sonarworks measurement and created a preset in my preferred equaliser in my DAW. That correction and EQ plugin sounds much better to me and much closer to several of the monitoring systems I've been comparing with. When I bypass my new EQ preset in the DAW, it sounds quite poor, which both makes me glad but also a little sad. Sad, because I didn't expect the stock sound of the 7520 to be so far off, compared to what I like now. But progress is good and this has opened my eyes (ears) for always looking for improvement and optimisation.
 
The frequency areas where my new personal EQ correction makes a noticeable difference is in the 100 Hz area (slightly less boomy) and especially in the 8 KHz area where sibilance and brittleness reside (vocals, hihat, cymbals). Both areas are taken down in amplitude but with very different filter characteristics. The 8 KHz cut is very narrow and also includes a neighbouring lift at 5 KHZ. I have done one real multitrack mix using this correction filter and it has turned out fine to my ears. I mix mainly on my monitors, but also use my 7520 headphones maybe 30% of the time. Of course I bypass this filter when listening on the monitors
 
I've been thinking of posting two sound samples for you 7520 owners to listen to. One without and one with the correction filter. It would be interesting to see if you also hear a difference and if it's an improvement to you.

 

[Mike F]

  I thought I should confirm that this Latex tube modification is working very well for me. At the time I posted the pics, I hadn't used the mod for more than 30 minutes or so. Now, a week later, I have done mixing work for many many hours like this, and the mod is still good. I don't find the sound to have changed much compared to stock, though it feels a little less loud. But my ears are not sore anymore and that's a huge plus. The pads do feel ever so slightly harder, but it's not a problem for me.
 
Another thing I've been using when mixing with my modded 7520 is an EQ correction preset in my DAW. @jsblack got me started by letting me use his personal 7520 correction filter for the Sonarworks headphone plugin. The Sonarworks filter doesn't sound useable to me, unfortunately - it's way to weird sounding compared to my mixing monitors and mixing environment. I know, I should really compare with a custom filter made specifically for my pair of 7520's, but the difference with jsblack's filter is so big, that I don't think it will change my view on this. The filter sounds like a little AM radio to me and just too strange. Maybe I just can't cope with "flat".
 
Instead, I created a slightly altered and less pronounced version of the Sonarworks measurement and created a preset in my preferred equaliser in my DAW. That correction and EQ plugin sounds much better to me and much closer to several of the monitoring systems I've been comparing with. When I bypass my new EQ preset in the DAW, it sounds quite poor, which both makes me glad but also a little sad. Sad, because I didn't expect the stock sound of the 7520 to be so far off, compared to what I like now. But progress is good and this has opened my eyes (ears) for always looking for improvement and optimisation.
 
The frequency areas where my new personal EQ correction makes a noticeable difference is in the 100 Hz area (slightly less boomy) and especially in the 8 KHz area where sibilance and brittleness reside (vocals, hihat, cymbals). Both areas are taken down in amplitude but with very different filter characteristics. The 8 KHz cut is very narrow and also includes a neighbouring lift at 5 KHZ. I have done one real multitrack mix using this correction filter and it has turned out fine to my ears. I mix mainly on my monitors, but also use my 7520 headphones maybe 30% of the time. Of course I bypass this filter when listening on the monitors
 
I've been thinking of posting two sound samples for you 7520 owners to listen to. One without and one with the correction filter. It would be interesting to see if you also hear a difference and if it's an improvement to you.

 
Yes please!

 

[jackson1]

The problem is finding a suitable snippet that I'm allowed to post. It would be easy if I could just post some Biffy Clyro or Foo Fighters to hurt your ears with
 
Hmm, I just found out that I'm not allowed to post attachments here. I click "Insert Attachment" and the forum greets me with "You don't have permission to create attachments".

 

[StudioSound]

Lots of interesting things going on here since I last visited!
I'd be very interested in hearing tracks processed through the headphones profile.
I created a "generic" filter in JRiver based on the graphs posted which broadly matches the correction and it does seem to have improved the sound.

The latex tubing sounds like it might be a good solution for people wanting to stick with the original earpads if it doesn't alter the sound.
Because they are not memory foam, they compress over time and definitely become less comfortable. I'm on my second pair of (original) pads now .
However the original pads seem to be very scarce now, thus very expensive.
Actually all replacement parts are ridiculously expensive from Sony now - to the point that I'm not sure I would buy Sony headphones again.
Parts for other headphones (e.g. Sennheiser) seem far more available and far more reasonably priced.

As far as alternative earpads go, I bought two pairs of the Brainwavz HM5 earpads to try as they are memory foam, have a larger cavity, and though thicker, are not ridiculously thick like the "Alpha Pads" were. (which were too thick to be comfortable)
They're 5-10mm larger in every dimension - width, height, and depth, which makes for a comfortable fit if you thought the original pads were too small.
Of course they will change the sound, but from a very brief test, it seems like the pleather pads are much closer to the original sound than the velour pads. I think that the denser memory foam helps counter the fact that the pads are larger.
I thought I would try velour since many people seem to swear by them, but I don't find the material very comfortable (in general, not specific to the Brainwavz pads) and it has a much bigger effect on the sound.
Of course I don't have anything to say about long-term comfort yet, but the clamping force is a bit higher since the pads are thicker - which has always been an issue for me with most headphones. Hopefully that will sort itself out over time.

EDIT: Well after spending a few days with the Brainwavz pads, I don't think I will be keeping them.
The increased pressure is uncomfortable when wearing them for longer periods of time, and I don't like how they change the sound.

 

[StudioSound]

Guys, this is absolutely perfect! Hollow, soft, nice! I'm going back to my original pads now. Modded.

Thera-Band Exercise Tubing

 
Tubing arrived today, and I agree; this is perfect if you want to stick with the original pads but either found them too shallow to begin with, or they have worn flat.
Glad I kept my first set of pads that had worn flat instead of just throwing them out after replacing them.

I went with the red tubing, cut it to approximately 24cm lengths and it's a great fit. Can't even tell it's in there when you're wearing them.
It seems that you can order this stuff in short lengths inexpensively off eBay. I bought 1m just to have extra in case I needed it, but since 24cm is about the right size, you should only need to order 50cm.
Though I know that some people might prefer black aesthetically, that's supposed to be stronger stuff and it looked like the wall was thicker - so it's probably not the best choice for comfort.
I've ordered some yellow tubing to try as well, as it's supposed to be a little thinner and might be a bit closer to the 7520 with new pads. My only concern was that it might be too thin, and collapse when worn. I'll update this post when it arrives some time next week.

 

[starfly]

 

  Guys, this is absolutely perfect! Hollow, soft, nice! I'm going back to my original pads now. Modded.
  Thera-Band Exercise Tubing
 

 
Tubing arrived today, and I agree; this is perfect if you want to stick with the original pads but either found them too shallow to begin with, or they have worn flat.
Glad I kept my first set of pads that had worn flat instead of just throwing them out after replacing them.

I went with the red tubing, cut it to approximately 24cm lengths and it's a great fit. Can't even tell it's in there when you're wearing them.
It seems that you can order this stuff in short lengths inexpensively off eBay. I bought 1m just to have extra in case I needed it, but since 24cm is about the right size, you should only need to order 50cm.
Though I know that some people might prefer black aesthetically, that's supposed to be stronger stuff and it looked like the wall was thicker - so it's probably not the best choice for comfort.
I've ordered some yellow tubing to try as well, as it's supposed to be a little thinner and might be a bit closer to the 7520 with new pads. My only concern was that it might be too thin, and collapse when worn. I'll update this post when it arrives some time next week.

 
 
In what way does this affect the sound?

 

[StudioSound]

In what way does this affect the sound?

If I'm honest, I have not been using the 7520 as much recently due to the comfort issues once the pads had worn flat, and not being able to find replacements that I liked - not wanting to buy another pair of overpriced Sony ones that would only last me a year.
But I would say that it seems to have had very little, if any effect on the sound - certainly far less than swapping the pads out for anything else.

The yellow tubing arrived today and I just fitted it - I think this would be my preference. It sits a bit flatter and lessens the pressure compared to the red tubing.
Of course it depends on how deep you need the cavity to be. Thicker tubing would make it a bit deeper. The yellow tubing is still thick enough that my ears don't touch the inside, though my ears don't stick out much.

I'd start with that and maybe try other tubing if you don't find it to be enough. It's very inexpensive to buy 50cm lengths off eBay - far less than replacement pads, and better than replacing them.

 

[jsblack]

 
To make up your mind about size increment...
I think i'm going to pick a piece of Yellow, Red and Green, to experiment properly..
Though, i did a test with some 4 mm electric cable and it did affect the sound in a boomy way..

 

[jsblack]

Another interesting view... they seem to have about the same diameter on this pic... and it's not filled up...