[Edwood]

Leather sounds interesting in theory, but in practice I've found leather to get hot and sweaty with ear pads.
 
I do like the comfort level of the stock velour ear pads, but I'm all for trying something new.

 

[Zida]

Quote:

The moral here is do not remove the pads. these are poor quality and IMO the clips are all going to break.

 

...hoping these redesigns address the issue of the earpad attachment.

+100

 
Quote:

This is a good move and hopefully the new pads will be better than these and hopefully the people who purchased the headphones get a replacement pair.

It would be VERY nice if that were the case. I wouldn't pay for a leather pad I would have a 50% chance of breaking just by trying to put it onto the headphones.
 

 

[FauDrei]

 

[nc8000]

I don't believe that there is any problem putting the pads on, the breakages happen when trying to take the pads off.
 
And as I see it there is no reason or obligation why they should give free pads to existing customers, there is nothing wrong with the stock ones on the phones.
 
I will definately be buying a set of the new leather pads

 

[mrarroyo]

I  hope Fang post pictures of the new leather pads. Personally I find the HE-500 quite comfortable with the velour pads and so far I have had no issues, granted I have not attempted to remove the ear-pads. As a side note leather pads can at times be hotter and make the user sweat more than with the velour pads, time will tell.

 

[nc8000]

The pads on the HE-4 are fine but the ones on the HE-500 are a little shallower so my ears touch the protection grill over the drivers making it a little uncomfortable with long sessions. Also I generally prefer leather pads as I don't have any heat/sweat problems.

 

[Zida]

I don't believe that there is any problem putting the pads on, the breakages happen when trying to take the pads off.
 
And as I see it there is no reason or obligation why they should give free pads to existing customers, there is nothing wrong with the stock ones on the phones.

In my experience* the pads came off okay. Just slide away from one of the tabs as much you can and gently pry, repeat for an adjacent one and last two can slide right out. The problem is it can be very hard to put them back safely where you *need* to bend the fragile plastic to get it in place. I have one broken tab and one extremely worn tab on one of my ear pads now, and luckily got the other one on cleanly.

It's hard to say Fang owes upgrades to existing customers, I was just saying it would be extremely nice of him if he did.

To everyone suggesting we have no reason to take the earpads off, there is someone who just posted here** that he found he was missing the proper damping material on one earphone after taking the pads off. Maybe we want to double check the work... or maybe we've just worn out the pad and need to try to apply a new one. If they're built to be user replaceable (they are, there's a spare in every box!) then they shouldn't be that fragile and *have* to be bent so severely to fit into place. Even the KSC75 are easier to safely replace, and they're foam stretched over spikes!

Anyhow, the point of my post was just that if the new leather pads fit on in the same way, I'm not going to risk buying them when I know I have a good chance of breaking them just by trying to install them. On the other hand if their tabs are made of a new material or somehow function in a different way I think I have to since my right pad keeps sliding off now and especially because the earcup's yoke presses up against, and pry off, the weakened pads when it pivots.
 
* limited, not trying that again!
** http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/493214/hifiman-he-6-planar-magnetic-headphone/3885#post_7548555  

 

[immtbiker]

Once again, Fang has taken the art of trying to improve on things that other companies do not offer when selling their product.
 
That's what separates Fang from the rest of the pack. Would Sony or Audio Technica throw an extra ear pad in their box box when selling you a pair of their headphones?
I think not. Stax earpads have to be replaced on a regular basis. Fang goes the extra mile to make his customers happy.
Now we are being given an option to upgrade our headphones to a leather pad. This is why I'll be a lifetime Head-Direct customer.
 
Thank you, Fang. I'm looking forward to seeing how a leather pad will feel on my head.
 
I use my Jades everyday and have never had any problem with the leather pads deteriorating, and if they do, I'm confident that Fang will make things right.

 

[tankman]

I hope they could've better quality controls on their hm-series portable players.

 

[mrarroyo]

I have the HM801 and HM602, what do you mean better quality controls? Mine have not failed and are easy to use. The software is a bit finicky and challenging, I hope Head Direct can improve the user interface.
 
As far as the pads are concerned I found that if you light bend the whole ear-pad rather than the individual tabs you should not have a problem replacing them. I did this with the HE-5 and HE-6 but have not tried it with the HE-500.

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

Interested in the HE-500 and am hoping these redesigns address the issue of the earpad attachment.

Fang, will there be any update / revision to these earpad attachments tabs?
 

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

The moral here is do not remove the pads. these are poor quality and IMO the clips are all going to break. The question I have is even the new designed pads may still be an issue with break clips. The way I see it this can be a issue with how the headphone is designed. Fortunately I do not ever mess with my pads on my headphones but someone took these off and frankly they are not on now properly because the clips are broken and the replacement pad was also abused. Loaners get beat up and that is sad in itself. The headphone sounds excellent and I am sure Fang will get this issue resolved with the pads. I do not for one see why someone borrowing a headphone they do not own would start taking them apart to begin with but someone helped these pads get the way they are on this Loaner

Don't you ever wash your pads? I have washed pads on my HD555s several times, the last time last week. Same with HD600.
 
 

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

Don't you ever wash your pads? I have washed pads on my HD555s several times, the last time last week. Same with HD600.
 
 

No. I dont wash my pads. If they got that bad I would replace them and that is where the issue is with the HE500 the clips will break when you try to get new ones on.
 

 

[mrarroyo]

Frank, I found that if you slightly bend the entire pad to facilitate the insertion the tabs do not break. Also it is better if the temperature is above 82-85 F so the material is a bit more pliable.

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

Frank, I found that if you slightly bend the entire pad to facilitate the insertion the tabs do not break. Also it is better if the temperature is above 82-85 F so the material is a bit more pliable.

very good tip, haven't thought of that. Thanks