I haven't spent a lot of time listening to them yet. I'm not hearing anything degraded. Besides the more open sound, one noticeable improvement is quieting the irritating resonance I hear in certain mid frequencies, usually in female vocals when they sing loud or high, and fiddles/violins. This is fatiguing for me, and I've seen a few others here mention this resonance issue.
You might think the sound would be thinner with the larger pads, or that you'd have to turn the volume up higher, neither is the case.
The comfort is night and day. I can have them on my ears now indefinitely with no discomfort.