[stimuz]

After mods this is very power hungry headphone.

I agree. I'm starting to see why all aiva+clones are bordering on semi open and why the Aiva needed less power for loudness. Opening the grills upped the requirement for loudness a bit. Also kind of explains why when I had my Aiva and 580 at the same time the Aiva was louder at the same volume, theres a lot of reflective material on the grill.

 

[Miiksu]

So with the AliE sale coming up in just under 5 days, what's the verdict on pad choices? Audeze-style sheepskin, perforated sheepskin or perforated microfibre?

Musictek charge USD $50 for shipping the Aiva pads internationally, so that's not happening.

Audeze seems to to be the verdict, but interested in more thoughts.

M1060 sheepskin pads. You have to tape it to the headphone but comfort and audio quality is top notch. Sheepskin and angled is my choice. Micro suede is also very nice and feels good to the skin

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000322381714.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.340e4c4d9auExF

I agree. I'm starting to see why all aiva+clones are bordering on semi open and why the Aiva needed less power for loudness. Opening the grills upped the requirement for loudness a bit. Also kind of explains why when I had my Aiva and 580 at the same time the Aiva was louder at the same volume, theres a lot of reflective material on the grill.

The more I did damper and made it closed the better sound it got. Dynamics is now way better. Even treble seems still measuring a bit messy on cumulative spectal decay and it still sound clean. Very good headphone for any music genre, monitoring or gaming. Only drawbacks that it need a strong amp and modifications skills to get the best results. Takstar could do V2 on this headphone already. Some back dampering and better pads (angled). Would make this HP even better.

 

[jasswolf]

M1060 sheepskin pads. You have to tape it to the headphone but comfort and audio quality is top notch. Sheepskin and angled is my choice. Micro suede is also very nice and feels good to the skin

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000322381714.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.340e4c4d9auExF


The more I did damper and made it closed the better sound it got. Dynamics is now way better. Even treble seems still measuring a bit messy on cumulative spectal decay and it still sound clean. Very good headphone for any music genre, monitoring or gaming. Only drawbacks that it need a strong amp and modifications skills to get the best results. Takstar could do V2 on this headphone already. Some back dampering and better pads (angled). Would make this HP even better.

Do you believe the pads sold here to be the Aiva v2 pads, the Aiva v1, or something else entirely?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000714597987.html

 

[Miiksu]

Do you believe the pads sold here to be the Aiva v2 pads, the Aiva v1, or something else entirely?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000714597987.html

I haven't tested Sendy Aiva nor the pads. But it seems on the picture it looks like current production. I saw a video that was showing lowered part of the cushion was on the side not on the top.

 

[stimuz]

Do you believe the pads sold here to be the Aiva v2 pads, the Aiva v1, or something else entirely?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000714597987.html

Looks similar but with different sized earholes and by the picture the fabric looks the same as the 580 stock cloth which is very different from the sendys fabric.

 

[Miiksu]

Looks similar but with different sized earholes and by the picture the fabric looks the same as the 580 stock cloth which is very different from the sendys fabric.

Interesting I did not see that. But I did not paid too much attention anyway..

Hmm I made more adjustment to my back mod. I got now midrange up and this is first time seeing subbass slightlly lifted. More flat and 'boring'.

This is smoothed and see tonal balanced better. Even there is some high spots it's quite ok.

 

[CopperFox]

M1060 sheepskin pads. You have to tape it to the headphone but comfort and audio quality is top notch. Sheepskin and angled is my choice. Micro suede is also very nice and feels good to the skin

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000322381714.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.340e4c4d9auExF

This gets my vote too (my preference is pleather though). I also tried the smaller pads from the smart watched store that someone recommended earlier but the M1060 pads sound much better and the foam inside is higher density.

 

[jasswolf]

This gets my vote too (my preference is pleather though). I also tried the smaller pads from the smart watched store that someone recommended earlier but the M1060 pads sound much better and the foam inside is higher density.

If we're talking PU leather versus sheepskin, sheepskin is going to boost sub-bass and low-bass significantly, then offer a small 800Hz dip (which helps this headphone) and then shave a tiny bit off 3.5 and 5.5 Khz, while opening up the treble after about 7kHz.

If it's protein leather, specifically eggshell protein leather, then it's probably the best choice overall for most of the highs, but it may cause a spike in the 10-12 kHz region (though this headphone construction may want this).

Dekoni have some basic measurements in the past between these three for their TR-X00 headphone (eggshell protein leather being their stock choice):

So there's some mild differences after 500Hz, but you can see that for the Takstar would be best suited to eggshell and sheepskin over PU. The other option for the M1060 listing is 'protein leather', so I believe there's an important distinction to be made here.

If you have measurement equipment, I'd love to see how things move from Takstar's stock leather, to the sheepskin, to the protein leather pad I assume you've bought, as it might explain your preference.

I like sheepskin for the bass kick that doesn't create a bleed into the mids, but the protein leather may offer a nice little boost in the high-mids, and may increase soundstage.

 

[Miiksu]

For my liking and measuring genuine leather worked best. Most solid response but fabric gave most smoothed treble. Fabric pads could also work if you are not basshead. At this day I'm still modding these cans for my liking. On my first measurement my DAC+AMP was not good enough. Now I have one of the top DAC's out of there and improved my test penk. My only problem on the first measurements was bass.

My tips to tune these cans to awesome is:

- Use big and good pads (angled is good)
- Add masking tape to the front
- Dampen inside but leave space to the driver and damping material
- Block some areas on the back with heavy stuff (like a blutack) for your liking

@chaotic_angel I have better measurement on the sleeves. I'm now listening. I made another blutack backmod. It's ugly but easy to get work. I got now smoother bass response and somehow slightly relaxed upper frequencies.

Here is the measurement.

I like this the most. Balance is very good. It has flat bass response. Midrange is well balanced, some dip around 2.8kHz and treble is showing a bit spikes and unevenness but still quite good.


A bit crude on the treble side but sound is good.


And my latest backmod. I still use all my inside back mods and front too.

 

[Restatic]

M1060 sheepskin pads. You have to tape it to the headphone but comfort and audio quality is top notch. Sheepskin and angled is my choice. Micro suede is also very nice and feels good to the skin

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000322381714.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.340e4c4d9auExF


The more I did damper and made it closed the better sound it got. Dynamics is now way better. Even treble seems still measuring a bit messy on cumulative spectal decay and it still sound clean. Very good headphone for any music genre, monitoring or gaming. Only drawbacks that it need a strong amp and modifications skills to get the best results. Takstar could do V2 on this headphone already. Some back dampering and better pads (angled). Would make this HP even better.

I told you . I was looking for an acceptable 'Audeze alike' headphone, and I found out that Audeze is ' so good' because of the earpads they are using.... a lot of technology of planar foils, wires, magnets...it's all the same! So what's the most important difference why the Audeze's are so f^W$ing good??

I did compare a lot of my own headphones with Audeze LCD-XC. I did replace the earpads on a lot of very extreme expensive electrostatics / planar / dynamic headphones....... Prices differs from 25.000e to 150e..... My conclusion was and still is a simple as it is:

!!-- It's (mostly) all about the ****ing earpads - !! (good red wine might help also)

But ok.... so what did I do? I did put my Audeze alike earpads on Stax / Hifiman / Fostex / Takstar / Blon / BossHifi / etc etc... price of the headphones from the range between 60e - 300e.

Conclusion: With the 'Audeze alike' earpads, and properly fixed on the earcups.... all of the headphones did get 1000% (or more) improvement of quality of the sound. Dynamics, comfort, bass balance, etc etc... it all was a very, very big improvement. Strange thing in the way the designers of the headphones think, is that those designers did not put on some amazing good quality of earpads on their headphones...

Why... tell me why???

 

[yawg]

Hi Restatic,

I have paid more than 130€ for sheepskin pads for my Stax Lambda Signature earspeakers imported from Japan and was not really impressed. Actually I found the adhesive was substandard, very sticky but not solid. So these angled Chinese SK pads did wonders for your Staxen, too? Better bass? The bass is there but it's still the Achilles heel of the Lambda series IMO.

 

[Miiksu]

I told you . I was looking for an acceptable 'Audeze alike' headphone, and I found out that Audeze is ' so good' because of the earpads they are using.... a lot of technology of planar foils, wires, magnets...it's all the same! So what's the most important difference why the Audeze's are so f^W$ing good??

I did compare a lot of my own headphones with Audeze LCD-XC. I did replace the earpads on a lot of very extreme expensive electrostatics / planar / dynamic headphones....... Prices differs from 25.000e to 150e..... My conclusion was and still is a simple as it is:

!!-- It's (mostly) all about the ****ing earpads - !! (good red wine might help also)

But ok.... so what did I do? I did put my Audeze alike earpads on Stax / Hifiman / Fostex / Takstar / Blon / BossHifi / etc etc... price of the headphones from the range between 60e - 300e.

Conclusion: With the 'Audeze alike' earpads, and properly fixed on the earcups.... all of the headphones did get 1000% (or more) improvement of quality of the sound. Dynamics, comfort, bass balance, etc etc... it all was a very, very big improvement. Strange thing in the way the designers of the headphones think, is that those designers did not put on some amazing good quality of earpads on their headphones...

Why... tell me why???

Have u tested Dekoni's suede pads? They look same as China sheepskin pads but outer material is fabric.

https://dekoniaudio.com/product/dek...ze-lcd-series-headphones-dekoni-choice-suede/

 

[jasswolf]

Have u tested Dekoni's suede pads? They look same as China sheepskin pads but outer material is fabric.

https://dekoniaudio.com/product/dek...ze-lcd-series-headphones-dekoni-choice-suede/

That links to an interesting piece on all their different pad variants:

https://dekoniaudio.com/audeze-lcd-2-measurements/

Notably, this graph:

And here's a nice comparison to target in terms of what parts of the curve you want to try and smooth out and boost/lower:

 

[Miiksu]

@jasswolf Thank you sir! Seems that sheepskin angled is the best to make midrange more alive and that bass response is very good.

My measuremt has similaraties. When not fully modded

I added some high density foam inside the sheepskin earpads to give softness. This is how the measurement looks like.

2x18mm high density foam wall inside the earpad. Look my upper post that has no foam inside the earpad.

 

[Miiksu]

I'm very impressed. The sound now so much better. Tonally very nice I like this and bass response is bretty good. I also started to EQ.

This is how it looks. Some tape and high density foam inside the pad. 3-4 layers of the tape to lower treble.



After EQ. I only raised the bass 2+1 dB to get this flat.