How the hell did you break that? I'm not even particularly careful with my MA900, and there is no point of weakness that I see aside from the exposed 'rubber' of the extension arms which can separate from the headband if you yank it forcefully. Again, I advise on actually holding the rubber pieces and THEN pushing down on the cups if you want to extend the size. Don't just hold the headband and yank down on the cups. A surefire way to cause the wires to become exposed.
Cutting off the felt that the 1840 pads come with cause your ears to not press against the driver padding, so the mids aren't AS forward (since your ears aren't as close to the drivers). I think the upper mids may have become a bit more forward, and the sound isn't as thick.
Previously, I had left the 1840 pad's felt covers on, which further altered the sound, and made it much bassier and more mid recessed. The felt isn't super thin, so it didn't allow the sound to reach your ears unobstructed.
If you feel the MA900 is too mellow, you might like what the 1840 pads do. Also, the bass isn't super powered like it was with the felt cover. I think it may have reduced the upper bass a smidge over stock. Need more testing.
MA900 - Good
MA900 + 1840 pads = bassy, recessed mids
MA900 + 1840 w/felt removed = brighter than stock, not as mellow, potentially reduced upper bass (quicker decay too), mids aren't as thick.
The main downside is that vocals sound a little nasally in specific regions.
I think it will pair up well with Dolby headphone, since DH tends to warm up the sound, and the processing isn't about vocal tone quality.
So for ME, I'd say for non-gaming needs, I'll stick to the stock pads. For gaming, or if I feel any fatigue from the stock pads (unlikely, but sometimes I need a break from my ears resting against the driver padding), I'll switch to the 1840 pads. The pad swap is easy and quick.
