[Backsplash7]

I imagine you must have good ears to hear a 9ohm difference, but then I've never measured any of mine so I'm not sure what I'd be listening out for!
Yes, I can see that plastic part in mine, I guess its doing the same job as the one in the HD800s? My ref II's came with quite new looking inner foams, and original velour pads; the outer materials are in good shape, but the foam inside is as flat as a pancake.
Very interesting that the fabric earpads are more spacial and detailed, but a shame that they have their tradeoffs. And yes, I definitely agree that being able to listen to headphones for an extended period of time is preferable to a short but painful experience.
Its interesting, I've been reading posts from the last couple of years on this thread and a lot seems to be said for pleather earpads.
I picked up something very similar looking to these for my HD520's, but with a different fitting... I'm wondering if these would be a good alternative to the HD430 or wang pleather pads, if you or anyone else have tried these?
https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/sennheiser-hd250-earpads.html

 

[SIRKRA]

I imagine you must have good ears to hear a 9ohm difference, but then I've never measured any of mine so I'm not sure what I'd be listening out for!
Yes, I can see that plastic part in mine, I guess its doing the same job as the one in the HD800s? My ref II's came with quite new looking inner foams, and original velour pads; the outer materials are in good shape, but the foam inside is as flat as a pancake.
Very interesting that the fabric earpads are more spacial and detailed, but a shame that they have their tradeoffs. And yes, I definitely agree that being able to listen to headphones for an extended period of time is preferable to a short but painful experience.
Its interesting, I've been reading posts from the last couple of years on this thread and a lot seems to be said for pleather earpads.
I picked up something very similar looking to these for my HD520's, but with a different fitting... I'm wondering if these would be a good alternative to the HD430 or wang pleather pads, if you or anyone else have tried these?
https://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/sennheiser-hd250-earpads.html

Fortunatly I'm not able to hear the 9ohm difference haha, but seeing the perfectly matched driver on this ref 1 is a thing for me, as i thought only the gold Had perfect matched drivers.
All the other headphones from the era that i have, are all mismatched.
Never Had a 800 but i recall users saying that those are bright, for that there is a resonator mod to tame them.
I don't know how the ref 2 velour sounds because mine came with pads not useable and there was one driver with cloth and one with foam, a real mess. Never tried those but i would say that if one buy the original 430 pads and use the 430 foams, it's set, as they are the only one recognized from sennheiser to work with the 540 after they discontinued the officials, i'm with them because the 430 pads and foams on the 540 sounds good, doesn't makes You feel you're missing something or that there are serious deficit. ( they're a bit sweaty and hot that is the con )

 

[SIRKRA]

Those are the sponges from within the velour pads, one was much older than the other, different colors and different heights.
But the magic lies here, sennheiser used the same material in the back center of the driver to damp the mids. ( in the ref 2 is that orange color, in ref 1 is greyish black )
So i've now an official spare part for replacing the crumbling center foam.
Update: i replaced the old center foam with the appropriate quantity of the orange one and now the over brightness is a lot better but still brighter than ref 2

 

[Backsplash7]

Fortunatly I'm not able to hear the 9ohm difference haha, but seeing the perfectly matched driver on this ref 1 is a thing for me, as i thought only the gold Had perfect matched drivers.
All the other headphones from the era that i have, are all mismatched.
Never Had a 800 but i recall users saying that those are bright, for that there is a resonator mod to tame them.
I don't know how the ref 2 velour sounds because mine came with pads not useable and there was one driver with cloth and one with foam, a real mess. Never tried those but i would say that if one buy the original 430 pads and use the 430 foams, it's set, as they are the only one recognized from sennheiser to work with the 540 after they discontinued the officials, i'm with them because the 430 pads and foams on the 540 sounds good, doesn't makes You feel you're missing something or that there are serious deficit. ( they're a bit sweaty and hot that is the con )
For me it's even a thing that they do sound better than those officially intended for them ( fabric ones ).

Ah well its good that its not noticeable, but yes, its nice when numbers match haha. I've not heard any of the 800 series either, but I did see the mods that were being done to them. So do the HD430 pads clip into place alright? I had read at some point in this thread that someone had to apply tape to keep them in.
After seeing the foam you have there, maybe what I should do as well is try to find some suitable foam to replace whats inside of my official velour pads and see what happens

 

[SIRKRA]

Ah well its good that its not noticeable, but yes, its nice when numbers match haha. I've not heard any of the 800 series either, but I did see the mods that were being done to them. So do the HD430 pads clip into place alright? I had read at some point in this thread that someone had to apply tape to keep them in.
After seeing the foam you have there, maybe what I should do as well is try to find some suitable foam to replace whats inside of my official velour pads and see what happens

The 430 ones clips perfectly, if You want to open the velours, just be sure to have someone good at stitching because glue is a no no i've read.
They're originally "thermoglued together" or something like that, i didn't see stitching when opened them.
For the foam search for a 50 ppi porosity

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I am glad to see the HD540 Reference II getting some love and praise. I hoarded over 12 of them at one point because I was so enthusiastic about the sound quality, design and comfort and I wanted to restore several to absolutely perfect condition and be confident in my recommendation to others. Their major strength is that you can wash the velvet earpad material when it gets dirty and replace the foam interior by making your own foam rings with cookie cutters and scalpel. If you take care of all the parts like the cable, it has the potential to provide many years of listening enjoyment at a very economical price. I wish I could recommend MySphere so readily but then I think about how much money I had to pay out to obtain it. HD540II is much more accessible and is very lightweight and modular.

 

[SIRKRA]

I am glad to see the HD540 Reference II getting some love and praise. I hoarded over 12 of them at one point because I was so enthusiastic about the sound quality, design and comfort and I wanted to restore several to absolutely perfect condition and be confident in my recommendation to others. Their major strength is that you can wash the velvet earpad material when it gets dirty and replace the foam interior by making your own foam rings with cookie cutters and scalpel. If you take care of all the parts like the cable, it has the potential to provide many years of listening enjoyment at a very economical price. I wish I could recommend MySphere so readily but then I think about how much money I had to pay out to obtain it. HD540II is much more accessible and is very lightweight and modular.

i for sure recommend the ref 2 if one can find them in first place, i find the 1 ( 300ohm ) a lot similar but has a tendency of a more edgy/glassy nature ( lacking the resonator ) while the ref 2 is a bit more relaxed/smooth
talking about the ref 1, but 600ohm, what is your opinion?

 

[Backsplash7]

I am glad to see the HD540 Reference II getting some love and praise. I hoarded over 12 of them at one point because I was so enthusiastic about the sound quality, design and comfort and I wanted to restore several to absolutely perfect condition and be confident in my recommendation to others. Their major strength is that you can wash the velvet earpad material when it gets dirty and replace the foam interior by making your own foam rings with cookie cutters and scalpel. If you take care of all the parts like the cable, it has the potential to provide many years of listening enjoyment at a very economical price. I wish I could recommend MySphere so readily but then I think about how much money I had to pay out to obtain it. HD540II is much more accessible and is very lightweight and modular.

Your enthusiasm was certainly enough to pique my curiosity of the 500 series, and I'm glad i tried it! But the MySphere is well outside of whats possible for me. I had been hoping to go back and refer to your guide on how to reupholster the earpads but sadly the images have all gone now... wish I'd found this thread whilst you still had some of those custom pads available!

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I don't recommend the Ref 1 as readily because it doesn't tend to come with the parts that I prefer. I like the stock oxygen-free copper cable and velvet earpads of the Ref II model. I even like the colour and appearance of the mk2 model more. The mk1 model sometimes comes with a stiffer steel-litz cable that has harder insulation and is more microphonic of physical vibration. The earpad type are not as simple to cut open and sew up with a good tidy finish. I do have some photographs of earpad refoaming on my computer somewhere. I will find them again eventually. I compared one 600 Ohm Ref I to one of my Ref II, side-by-side and they were pretty much identical sounding. I compared them for an extended period of time but could not conclusively say which one sounded better.

 

[SIRKRA]

I don't recommend the Ref 1 as readily because it doesn't tend to come with the parts that I prefer. I like the stock oxygen-free copper cable and velvet earpads of the Ref II model. I even like the colour and appearance of the mk2 model more. The mk1 model sometimes comes with a stiffer steel-litz cable that has harder insulation and is more microphonic of physical vibration. The earpad type are not as simple to cut open and sew up with a good tidy finish. I do have some photographs of earpad refoaming on my computer somewhere. I will find them again eventually. I compared one 600 Ohm Ref I to one of my Ref II, side-by-side and they were pretty much identical sounding. I compared them for an extended period of time but could not conclusively say which one sounded better.

The cable that came with the ref 2 it is copper but with silver plugs and jack, right? I even have a 430 cable that has copper plugs and silver jack but i like the one of the ref 2 more. This is so strage as to me this whole thread prove that every one of this model was a bit a "character" apart, i know everyone has different hearing but it's seems there are not 2 models alike, i can clearly tell what is my ref 1 300ohm and the ref 2, even with same setup, the ref 2 is even louder at the same volume.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Oh, I don't like the large plug termination of the steel-litz cable either. The copper cable is a 3.5mm jack with an optional push-on adapter to convert it to 1/4 inch jack, the same as the HD600 had. Copper cables give a more natural sound anyway, helping to avoid excessive treble and listening fatigue.

I spent a lot of money on Sennheiser spare parts to re-condition HD540 headphones to my liking. The profits I made by selling some of the headphones basically broke even with the costs of my part orders so I pretty much earned my investments back and learned a bit along the way. The most important lesson was how the earpad material/thickness/foam and headband clamping force affected the stereo imaging and frequency balance.

 

[SIRKRA]

An ocean of jacks

 

[Backsplash7]

Oh, I don't like the large plug termination of the steel-litz cable either. The copper cable is a 3.5mm jack with an optional push-on adapter to convert it to 1/4 inch jack, the same as the HD600 had. Copper cables give a more natural sound anyway, helping to avoid excessive treble and listening fatigue.

I spent a lot of money on Sennheiser spare parts to re-condition HD540 headphones to my liking. The profits I made by selling some of the headphones basically broke even with the costs of my part orders so I pretty much earned my investments back and learned a bit along the way. The most important lesson was how the earpad material/thickness/foam and headband clamping force affected the stereo imaging and frequency balance.

Its a shame that there are fewer spare parts available now

An ocean of jacks

Mine has the 3.5mm as shown in your first picture, but I dont have the adapter

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Yes, I liked the cable/plug in the first photo the most and I tried to make sure all my purchases/sales featured that cable type. The push-on adapter was typically silver coloured. I bought several of the gold-plated variant of it like the old HD600 had, so that all my cables had an adapter. Not sure if the Sennheiser spares website still sells them.

I have some photos here. https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/achieving-high-fidelity-sound_topic4160.html

 

[SIRKRA]

Yes, I liked the cable/plug in the first photo the most and I tried to make sure all my purchases/sales featured that cable type. The push-on adapter was typically silver coloured. I bought several of the gold-plated variant of it like the old HD600 had, so that all my cables had an adapter. Not sure if the Sennheiser spares website still sells them.

I have some photos here. https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/achieving-high-fidelity-sound_topic4160.html

I confirm that is the one that sound best and with the lowest resistance second one is the 430 and last is the px1 ( really a lot "trebly zing zing" cable )
The push-on adapter of the ref 2 is a lot noisy and easy to "crackling" ( don't know if it's mine or )