[Tman5293]

Here's a pic of my XL cushions:

 

[money4me247]

  i come here so seldom these days i feel like a tourist... anyhoo, alot of catching up just went on and i wanted to share my view of the XL pads aswell.
 
ill start out with the positive - the sound.
now, ive only had about 1.5 hours of listening with them, so this is all just "early impressions", but so far im impressed! while others mentioned a slight increase in soundstage, to me its rather dramatic! i feel like this is the biggest, and the most positive thing the new pads have to offer as far as sound quality. 
i also feel like theres a better seal with these pads, resulting in what, to me, sounds like a much more relaxed bass, and a more impactful and deep subbass (these changes are subtle, but 100% noticeable imo). to me, this is a very positive change as im quite the sub bass freak, and i tend to get annoyed with over bloated mid bass.
as far as mids and treble, it just sound slightly different to me. i cant quite put my finger on it. i cant really name these changes as of yet... i need some more eartime before i feel comfortable giving an opinion there.
 
and heres the negative - comfort 

im glad to read all these posts from releived people who are enjoying their new found comfort. but its just not so for me im afraid... let me elaborate:
originally, with the stock pads, my antihelix would get crushed by the driver, and even after a rather extreme "paper towel" mod, which stretched the pads to their utmost limits, i would still feel pain after about an hour.
the new pads are deeper for sure, but theyre also much softer, so in effect - not all that different for my apparently freakishly pointy antihelixs.
i put the new pads on and took them for a spin and right after about 5 minuets i could already detect some minor discomfort. its been about and hour and a half and my ears hurt like hell. its still an improvement mind you, but not a very big one. i guess ill do the same mod with the new pads... hopefully that will work, but even if it does, one would expect new "XL" pads to be big enough without any consumer mods...
so i guess im the first one with a negative opinion on the new XLs... maybe i just have very abnormal ears...
 
i still love my m-100s nonetheless. i was just expecting something more from these pads thats all

 
you should measure how many millimeters your ears protrude from your head (from base to antihelix). then you can find headphones that are deep enough to accommodate them. pads also squish when you wear them, so you need a few millimeters for clearance. i remember that the sony mdr-1r has an angled drivers to give your antihelix more room, so maybe you should look at headphones with those kinds of features.

 

[adamlr]

   
you should measure how many millimeters your ears protrude from your head (from base to antihelix). then you can find headphones that are deep enough to accommodate them. pads also squish when you wear them, so you need a few millimeters for clearance. i remember that the sony mdr-1r has an angled drivers to give your antihelix more room, so maybe you should look at headphones with those kinds of features.

 
ill tell you what, my ears touch the inside of my dt 770s aswell, only their drivers are covered with a layer of foam or something, which makes them just fine. i can wear my 770s for hours on end without suffering any discomfort. 
 
im too busy to try right now, but ill do my version of the "paper towel" mod on these pads aswell and hopefully ill be alright.
 
im just a little disappointed with the XLs... their called XL after all... again, if im the only one, then i guess its just my weird ears (though they look entirely normal i swear!). and i still do get an extra half hour or so before it gets really painful than i did with the former pads, so its not all that terrible. it is and improvement, just not a very big one.
 
as much as id LOVE to get new headphones (not for replacing the m-100, just for variety), i dont think ill be measuring my ears just yet. i start college on sunday and i have the feeling i wont have enough time to listen to music for so long, not to mention the money id save and could use to pay my rent...

 

[Oregonian]

   
ill tell you what, my ears touch the inside of my dt 770s aswell, only their drivers are covered with a layer of foam or something, which makes them just fine. i can wear my 770s for hours on end without suffering any discomfort. 
 
im too busy to try right now, but ill do my version of the "paper towel" mod on these pads aswell and hopefully ill be alright.
 
im just a little disappointed with the XLs... their called XL after all... again, if im the only one, then i guess its just my weird ears (though they look entirely normal i swear!). and i still do get an extra half hour or so before it gets really painful than i did with the former pads, so its not all that terrible. it is and improvement, just not a very big one.
 
as much as id LOVE to get new headphones (not for replacing the m-100, just for variety), i dont think ill be measuring my ears just yet. i start college on sunday and i have the feeling i wont have enough time to listen to music for so long, not to mention the money id save and could use to pay my rent...

You might try a rope mod instead of paper towel as it gets you more depth without compressing as much.  Worked for me. 

 

[synergic]

So my pads surprisingly arrived today. I've spent over an hour trying to remove one of my pads off. The amount of force I've applied to them is unreal, yet it still won't come off. The other side came off easily enough, but this one is just ridiculous.
 
edit; after another 30 minutes and a lot of help from a flathead screwdriver, I finally managed to get the second off. God damn that was hard.

 

[synergic]

Some initial impressions with the XL pads:
 
- soundstage is definitely more spacious. Now, instead of listening through a long hallway, it's more of a natural, spread out sound
- bass lost some of its rumble and gained a bit more punch, likely due to the better seal
- mids sound more laid back/pushed back
- treble is less fatiguing
- the overall sound is more laidback and less aggressive
- they are extremely comfortable, but after some time, the pads still deflate enough for tip of my ears to (barely) touch the drivers. I only experiencing slight discomfort now after wearing them for over an hour.
- right now, I prefer the regular pad's sound to the XL pads. With the XL pads, it makes it seem like my M-100s are attempting to be more like a V-shaped Momentums, which definitely isn't bad, but it's just not as fun as the original sound. Instead of being great at one thing (V-shape), it places itself in-between the original M-100 and Momentums. My opinion may change overtime though so it usually takes me some time to start enjoying something new

 

[jmsilva22]

I got nothing but love for my XL pads 

 

[Rangen4life4]

   
ill tell you what, my ears touch the inside of my dt 770s aswell, only their drivers are covered with a layer of foam or something, which makes them just fine. i can wear my 770s for hours on end without suffering any discomfort. 
 
im too busy to try right now, but ill do my version of the "paper towel" mod on these pads aswell and hopefully ill be alright.
 
im just a little disappointed with the XLs... their called XL after all... again, if im the only one, then i guess its just my weird ears (though they look entirely normal i swear!). and i still do get an extra half hour or so before it gets really painful than i did with the former pads, so its not all that terrible. it is and improvement, just not a very big one.
 
as much as id LOVE to get new headphones (not for replacing the m-100, just for variety), i dont think ill be measuring my ears just yet. i start college on sunday and i have the feeling i wont have enough time to listen to music for so long, not to mention the money id save and could use to pay my rent...

 
 
 
You my friend, are not the only one! They still touch my ears and I feel some amount of discomfort, but it is a lot more comfortable than the stock pads.

 

[DigitalFreak]

Finally got my XL pads today. Installation went pretty quick and had the new pads on my M-100 inside of 5 minutes, although I had to really pull on the stock pads to get them off. The M-100 now feels almost like I'm wearing my XB700. I'm not liking what it does to the mids but I'm liking the bass and the sound stage, Overall, need more time to form an opinion but early on I'm generally pretty happy.
 
 
 

 

[DigitalFreak]

   
It is interesting to offer 2 versions of the M-100. The sound is definitely different for everyone, I've found the bass tamed and the highs more pronounced but I thought the mids were more recessed, One of my coworkers with the M-100 said that  with the XL pads they were fairly flat... Tyll's remeasure/re-review of the m-100 would be interesting 

to my ears they're marginally more recessed. I'm noticing the upper mid seems slightly more energetic slightly masking the effect for me. The treble also has more energy so I'm liking the effect overall although I wish the mids were a bit more linear. Bahhh, who cares this is a fun sounding can.

 

[miceblue]

For me, with the XL pads, there seems to be a better seal on my head so the bass has a little more impact, but also seems a bit looser, the soundstage is a bit wider so instruments sound less "in my head," the midrange seems to be a bit more laid-back/distant, and the treble is toned down a bit/less harsh. Some of the music in my collection is more listenable with the XL pads since the treble doesn't sound as fatiguing, but at the cost of having a more laid-back midrange. In terms of noise isolation, on the bus they seem to have about the same amount as the original pads.
 
ヽ（´ー｀）┌

 

[DigitalFreak]

  For me, with the XL pads, there seems to be a better seal on my head so the bass has a little more impact, but also seems a bit looser, the soundstage is a bit wider so instruments sound less "in my head," the midrange seems to be a bit more laid-back/distant, and the treble is toned down a bit/less harsh. Some of the music in my collection is more listenable with the XL pads since the treble doesn't sound as fatiguing, but at the cost of having a more laid-back midrange. In terms of noise isolation, on the bus they seem to have about the same amount as the original pads.
 
ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Interesting, we seem to mostly agree except for the highs. For me the XL pads seem to sound a tad brighter helping to balance the sig out a bit. My stock pads gave me just as good a seal as my XL pads. You think it has anything to do with the XL pads giving you a better seal?

 

[miceblue]

 

  For me, with the XL pads, there seems to be a better seal on my head so the bass has a little more impact, but also seems a bit looser, the soundstage is a bit wider so instruments sound less "in my head," the midrange seems to be a bit more laid-back/distant, and the treble is toned down a bit/less harsh. Some of the music in my collection is more listenable with the XL pads since the treble doesn't sound as fatiguing, but at the cost of having a more laid-back midrange. In terms of noise isolation, on the bus they seem to have about the same amount as the original pads.
 
ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Interesting, we seem to mostly agree except for the highs. For me the XL pads seem to sound a tad brighter helping to balance the sig out a bit. My stock pads gave me just as good a seal as my XL pads. You think it has anything to do with the XL pads giving you a better seal?

It might be. I'm kind of curious to see how the seal differs between the two. The XL pads definitely seem to wrap around my head/face more than the original ones. I was able to easily slip a small pad of sticky notes at the bottom-back of the earpad with the original pads, even with headband adjustments. It's not nearly as easy with the XL pads.
 

 

[Craigster75]

IMHO, the XL pads on the M-100 make them the best sounding, most comfortable portable closed headphone in the $300 range currently on the market.

 

[DrSheep]

  IMHO, the XL pads on the M-100 make them the best sounding, most comfortable portable closed headphone in the $300 range currently on the market.

 
Yep, and with way better cabling options than the Momentum.