sennsay
1000+ Head-Fier
Discoveries. Stock HD430s as supplied; forward, fairly detailed, very clear, focused, no real bass, lacking in communicative warmth. Add Mogami cable, a little smoother, a touch more bass extension, but still mid forward, nowhere near as relaxing as the Ref1s. Swap out pads, add orhpolsters with the inner foams from the Ref1s, much better! Now we're talking a lesser version of the Ref1s, like a good stand mount speaker compared to a much higher spec floor stander in the same range. There's only so low the HD430s will go and that's that and while the mid bass is much better, it's easy to hear the lower bass just roll off and when pushing them any further I can hear them protest.
So, plan B ... which was pretty much plan A from the get go, use the headband for the HD250s, they're a perfect match. I now also have brand new pleather pads, a perfect original cable AND I have a new set of plastic pad rings! Excellent, a seemingly expensive way to buy spare parts, but much easier than buying them all separately.
Play time again with the HD250s.
Another bonus is that the new 430 pads clip straight into the Ref1s and sound pretty good too. I didn't use my usual foam inners this time as the 430 pads have a mesh backing. However, I will cut that out, as it will not work like that with the HD250s anyway.
So, plan B ... which was pretty much plan A from the get go, use the headband for the HD250s, they're a perfect match. I now also have brand new pleather pads, a perfect original cable AND I have a new set of plastic pad rings! Excellent, a seemingly expensive way to buy spare parts, but much easier than buying them all separately.
Play time again with the HD250s.
Another bonus is that the new 430 pads clip straight into the Ref1s and sound pretty good too. I didn't use my usual foam inners this time as the 430 pads have a mesh backing. However, I will cut that out, as it will not work like that with the HD250s anyway.
It was worth the wait for the 430s, I now have a headband for the HD250s and holy moly, if the 430s pads (less the mesh) aren't the best match for the Linear's yet! Clip right on in there, the HD400 foams in place (carefully centred), Mogami cable attached and damn we have action! And what a choice action it is, the mids and treble sound seamless and open, the bass is taut, dynamic and punchy without boominess and extends deeply and cleanly. Brilliant! Now they sound like closed back Ref1s! A touch of 'plum' in the mid bass, yes, yet it doesn't detract from detail, depth (the kick drum on Neil Young's Sleeps With Angels is a taut and weighty crack at the back of the soundstage, just as it should be, complete with the ambient space around it) and the rhythmic swagger that is common to both the HD250s (now!) and the Ref1s. The way the bass guitar plummets to the lowest notes on the fabulous Larry Carlton/Robin Forde album 'Live In Tokyo', specifically the 2nd track 'Burnable' is knockout and easily as good as the Ref1s. That's deeep! Terrific pace and timing to boot. No treble spikes, no edge - so far - no sibilance, just even and dare I say it, linear, all the way up. Excellent vocals. Giorgio Moroder's voice has just a little extra richness than with the Ref1s (Daft Punk's R.A.M), but otherwise no excess thickness to slow down the already weighty bottom end of this album. So far, just brilliant. Tried the HD6xx cable, meh. Thins the whole sound and loses soundstage width to boot - just as it does with the other headphones, including the HD6xx! Tried the new/old style cable that came with the HD430s, very meh! Like the HD6xx cable yet more so. Back to the Mogami and it was night and day, no exaggeration. It's not subtle with these cans! My task over the next couple of days is to make a new set of Mogami cable specifically for the HD250s, instead of swapping the one set I currently have between three sets of headphones.
