[ArChaos]

I suppose that would make sense, if the ref II was replacing both the ref I's and golds; keep the best parts and so on...........

That's exactly what happened:

HD540 Reference - Manufacturing years: 1986-1991 (First 600 , then 300 Ohm in the last years).
Had woven fabric ear pads with a thin pleather ring stiched to the front side, against your face.

HD540 Gold - Manufacturing years: 1987-1991 (First 600 , then 300 Ohm1987 in the last years).
Had the same woven fabric ear pads with the thin pleather ring stiched to the front side, against your face. On most of the headphones sold today, which still have the original ear pads, the pleather ring has peeled off and we see the fabric underneath. Sometimes it's white, sometimes it has stripes on it and I've even seen headphones with black colored fabric..

HD540 Reference II - Manufacturing years: 1991-1995 (only 300 Ohm' all over production cycle). DE FACTO, they replaced both Ref. I and Gold, since both their manufacturing cycle ended in 1991.

The HD540 Reference II had all velour ear pads. To my ears, the velour ear pads sound tangibly different from the fabric ear pads used on Ref. I and Gold. I think both sound great and have their pluses and minuses. The sound signature/timbre of the fabric ear pads is more transparent, more detailed, more textured, more refined that the velour. On the other side, one could argue they sound thinner with less energy and punch. The velour add some fullness to the sound and more energy on the low frequency range. It very much depends on the types of music one listens to and the recording quality. I think the velour are also a bit more "forgiving".

The HD540 velour ear pads are very close both in sound and appearance with the HD560 Ovation ear pads, but the connection ring of the HD560 is a bit different from the HD540 ring, so one has to improvise a bit to use them with the HD540.

Attached here are pics of new HD560 Ovation II ear pads,

then a pair of old HD560 Ovation I ear pads,

and lastly, an original very well preserved pair of HD540 ear pads on their way to be refurbished (still looking for the best glue - ZERO tolerance for errors..)

 

[Backsplash7]

HAHA! Well, I threw the pads away because the backing of the pads was rotting and partially torn. I think there must be different HD540 II velour pad versions, from what I remember Cosmo mention in some of his posts. I believe the pads I threw away weren't serviceable anyway, because the backing wasn't really sturdy velour but a very thin pleather/plastic material, if I remember correctly.

I have actually heard the HD540 II with original velour pads (in good condition) and it was very good sounding, and a little brighter, but I don't remember the details because I only listened for about half hour. This is my first set which I put on storage almost as soon as I got it. The headphones are in great condition, but they reek of what Ithink is hair tonic or something like that, so I am trying to decide how to solve that problem. Perhaps wash the pads (though I cringe thinking this may ruin them).

In comparison, the HD540 II with the wang pleathers has more bass. I can't compare the fine details, but to my ears it sounds amazing. Maybe I can't appreciate the finer nuances like you can. In any case, it is my best sounding headphone right now, better than my HD600 and HD580, and head over shoulders above my AKG K240 600 ohm Monitors (which are also nice, but much less resolving and natural).

Yeah, you are right about the difficulty of judging drivers simply based on sound, too many variables, and this is so subjective, anyway.

I am wondering if replacing the shell foam covering the grill with light felt or even something like microfiber cloth would work.

I think it might just be me, but using thinner filter foam or cloth things for even a short amount of time gives me several weeks of tinnitus, so I have to use thicker filters. But I do remember the thinner foam did help the wang pleathers in terms of general clarity. Though they are still a lot less open sounding than either of the official pads.
I've had really stinky pads too... when I got my HD700's and opened the box, the earpads and headpad literally stank my house out
Top tip for cleaning pads and foam though, fill a sink with warm/hot water, add a little bit of laundry detergeant and then gently massage the offending articles, rinse and dry... or for particularly stubborn smells, rinse, repeat but then leave to soak for an hour. Only problems I've had have been when the foam is already dust or a sticky mess anyway.

So many people fret about their headphone amps. The sound chain, in order of importance, to me goes like: Ears > (Pads > Shell and Driver Foam >= Cable) = Headphone = Source > Amp.

I know that some of you purists might light your torches and dust off your pitchforks when I say this, but I have successfully run the HD540 Reference II (300 ohm) and the K240 Monitor (600 ohm) from a mid 2000s mp3 player using a respectable Sigmatel DAC, running off a rechargeable AAA Eneloop battery, with excellent results (full sound including bass, with good articulation, etc). Am I deaf, or are amps overrated?

If anyone is curious about this Mp3 player, it is part of a line of RCA players using a Sigmatel DAC like the one used in the original iPod Shuffle (1st Generation), which to this day is considered by many to be the best Apple portable audio device ever. The RCA Lyra RD1028, RD1072, and RD1076 have as far as I know the same Sigmatel DAC, with the only difference being the onboard memory (128Mb, 256Mb, and 512Mb respectively). The nice part is that they can take up to 2Gb SD cards (you can still buy Transcend cards in Amazon that work in these players), and run on AAA batteries (I get about 10 hours from an Eneloop AAA battery running an "impossible to drive" AKG K240 Monitor 600 ohm made in Austria).

The RCA Lyra was sold in Europe under the Thomson brand.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/guilty-pleasures-gear-you-shouldnt-use-but-cant-stop-using.956673/

I'm using a pc soundcard as my dac/amp, so I'm very much 'the enemy' round these parts! But I am saving up to try and get an hdva600, hdvd800 or hdv820 eventually.
Not settled on a dac yet, though I think I like the idea of an r2r dac actually properly decoding the signal, as opposed to a delta sigma making its best guess; but I suppose hearing is believing

 

[Backsplash7]

That's exactly what happened:

HD540 Reference - Manufacturing years: 1986-1991 (First 600 , then 300 Ohm in the last years).
Had woven fabric ear pads with a thin pleather ring stiched to the front side, against your face.

HD540 Gold - Manufacturing years: 1987-1991 (First 600 , then 300 Ohm1987 in the last years).
Had the same woven fabric ear pads with the thin pleather ring stiched to the front side, against your face. On most of the headphones sold today, which still have the original ear pads, the pleather ring has peeled off and we see the fabric underneath. Sometimes it's white, sometimes it has stripes on it and I've even seen headphones with black colored fabric..

HD540 Reference II - Manufacturing years: 1991-1995 (only 300 Ohm' all over production cycle). DE FACTO, they replaced both Ref. I and Gold, since both their manufacturing cycle ended in 1991.

The HD540 Reference II had all velour ear pads. To my ears, the velour ear pads sound tangibly different from the fabric ear pads used on Ref. I and Gold. I think both sound great and have their pluses and minuses. The sound signature/timbre of the fabric ear pads is more transparent, more detailed, more textured, more refined that the velour. On the other side, one could argue they sound thinner with less energy and punch. The velour add some fullness to the sound and more energy on the low frequency range. It very much depends on the types of music one listens to and the recording quality. I think the velour are also a bit more "forgiving".

The HD540 velour ear pads are very close both in sound and appearance with the HD560 Ovation ear pads, but the connection ring of the HD560 is a bit different from the HD540 ring, so one has to improvise a bit to use them with the HD540.

Attached here are pics of new HD560 Ovation II ear pads,

then a pair of old HD560 Ovation I ear pads,

and lastly, an original very well preserved pair of HD540 ear pads on their way to be refurbished (still looking for the best glue - ZERO tolerance for errors..)

Thats a great selection you have there, and hats off for adding the historical data in an easy to read manner! I agree with you that both the ref I and ref II pads sound very different, but I do like both of them, depending on my mood or what I'm listening to; interestingly I find both signatures work equally well for heavy rock and orchestral, and I find having the option of two completely different, yet fully enjoyable experiences to be fantastic. I'm not aware of any other headphone, or speaker, offering that sort of versatility.

Interestingly, the facing cloth on my ref I pads is black. I have always wondered, does having the pleather on top change how they sound at all? And just out of curiosity, is the inner diameter of the ref II pads different to that of the 560 pads?

That last pair of 540 pads have great looking condition on the foam, but I dont envy the task of having to try and re-glue the plastic rings to the bottom. I'd probably go the route of taking out the foam from inside, and popping it into another pair that still has all the plastic in place, if I had that option

 

[Backsplash7]

So it finally happened, I upgraded my amplifier... with mixed results!

I have moved from a pc soundcard, the soundblaster ae-9pe to a sennheiser hdva600. I am however still using the soundblaster as my dac, but this will also change in time.

I am running the signal from the rca-out of the soundblaster, and using the amp with unbalanced out to the hd540's at the moment, pending a swap of my cable connectors. From my testing with hd600, the balanced output is perhaps 3 or 4 times better overall than the unbalanced, and surprisingly makes the 600's as wide as my 540's were on the soundblaster; quite impressive!

Back to the 540's for some initial impressions. This amplifier is certainly more resolving, and much better at separation, as you'd probably expect. The soundstage is wider, and perhaps a bit taller too, which is something I have never noticed on headphones before. Bass seems to have more power behind it and seems to be extending lower, which is fun. But with the extra resolution in the amp, some music sounds better and shows me more details, whilst some music now sounds horribly compressed and tinny; its true what they say then, bad recordings (or mastering and mixes) sound bad on good equipment.
It also shows the dac in soundcard to be underdetailed, overly bassy and closed in, even though the sound is wider and better separated it also feels less clear and more restricted... its a strange and unsettling experience, somewhat like fingernails on a blackboard.

I put some of this down to the current op amps in the soundblaster, having had my burson v6 vivid duals go faulty and having to replace them with the only duals I have to hand, muses02. The things that bug me about the sound, track very closely with the changes in signature between these op amps, so short term, I could really do with finding some more bursons.
Long term I'd quite like to try an r2r dac such as a denafrips, though a chord qutest is another possibility.

Once I'm able to test these with my balanced silver cable, and/or find some better op amps I'll update this with some more impressions. Definitely happy with the purchase so far though, just didn't expect to feel like I'd need to make other upgrades immediately as a result!

 

[T 1000]

So it finally happened, I upgraded my amplifier... with mixed results!


I have moved from a pc soundcard, the soundblaster ae-9pe to a sennheiser hdva600. I am however still using the soundblaster as my dac, but this will also change in time.

I am running the signal from the rca-out of the soundblaster, and using the amp with unbalanced out to the hd540's at the moment, pending a swap of my cable connectors. From my testing with hd600, the balanced output is perhaps 3 or 4 times better overall than the unbalanced, and surprisingly makes the 600's as wide as my 540's were on the soundblaster; quite impressive!

Back to the 540's for some initial impressions. This amplifier is certainly more resolving, and much better at separation, as you'd probably expect. The soundstage is wider, and perhaps a bit taller too, which is something I have never noticed on headphones before. Bass seems to have more power behind it and seems to be extending lower, which is fun. But with the extra resolution in the amp, some music sounds better and shows me more details, whilst some music now sounds horribly compressed and tinny; its true what they say then, bad recordings (or mastering and mixes) sound bad on good equipment.
It also shows the dac in soundcard to be underdetailed, overly bassy and closed in, even though the sound is wider and better separated it also feels less clear and more restricted... its a strange and unsettling experience, somewhat like fingernails on a blackboard.

I put some of this down to the current op amps in the soundblaster, having had my burson v6 vivid duals go faulty and having to replace them with the only duals I have to hand, muses02. The things that bug me about the sound, track very closely with the changes in signature between these op amps, so short term, I could really do with finding some more bursons.
Long term I'd quite like to try an r2r dac such as a denafrips, though a chord qutest is another possibility.

Once I'm able to test these with my balanced silver cable, and/or find some better op amps I'll update this with some more impressions. Definitely happy with the purchase so far though, just didn't expect to feel like I'd need to make other upgrades immediately as a result!

I am glad that you raised the quality of your listening.
If you like technically well-tuned headphones that don't follow "popular" trends, then these can be the end game. All you have to do is research and upgrade your system. I wish you a lot of enjoyment with these headphones

That amp looks nice

 

[Backsplash7]

I am glad that you raised the quality of your listening.
If you like technically well-tuned headphones that don't follow "popular" trends, then these can be the end game. All you have to do is research and upgrade your system. I wish you a lot of enjoyment with these headphones

That amp looks nice

Thanks, it certainly looks snazzy in real life... and its way longer than pictures suggest!
I do tend to go with my gut, so that I pick things which suit my own needs. Which is why I picked up the hd700, even though its reputation is bewilderingly negative. Fun fact about he 700 is that they actually exaggerate things in the chain to an even higher degree, so they are currently too irritating to listen to, even though they Can sound very nice. I still prefer the 540 as my everyday pair though

 

[T 1000]

Thanks, it certainly looks snazzy in real life... and its way longer than pictures suggest!
I do tend to go with my gut, so that I pick things which suit my own needs. Which is why I picked up the hd700, even though its reputation is bewilderingly negative. Fun fact about he 700 is that they actually exaggerate things in the chain to an even higher degree, so they are currently too irritating to listen to, even though they Can sound very nice. I still prefer the 540 as my everyday pair though

Yes, I had HD 700 and they sound really nice, typical Senn. sound, but HD 540 are on another level for them.
My Aryas are next to the HD540 RG and for the last few months I haven't reached for them at all. The Aryas on my system sound really exciting, but the HD540 RG is at a higher level.

 

[Grumpy Old Git]

Those look very deep though. Wouldn't they affect the sound? If I remember correctly, the HD430 Sennheiser pads (which I bought just to get the set of plastic adapter rings inside, which are compatible with the HD540) don't sound very good, and they are also of the thicker leather variety.

I got an HD540 Reference II with the original velour pads with completely deflated foam, and I have been thinking about opening them up to put some foam rings and experiment. I know Cosmo did that, I will have to look up his posts. I don't remember if this can be done non-destructively (by cutting some thread at the seam) or if I actually need to cut the velour fabric itself.

EDIT: The HD430 pads from Sennheiser have become unavailable in the past few months both at Sennheiser and at Thomann, and I am not sure if this has to do with Sennheiser's acquisition. Now the only option to get adapter rings is to salvage them from existing units, or to 3D print them (a user here actually has a 3D printing file for them somewhere, but I am not sure how accurate it is).

Sorry for the late response. I think it depends (as usual) on individual taste, in reality they are only slightly thicker than the originals.
The seal is near perfect, resulting in a nice firm (and relatively) deep bass, mid's and treble don't suffer either.
I'm using my 600 Ohm 540's with a Van Damme Pro grade OFC cable, I class this as on a par with Mogami cable.

 

[moriez]

Sorry for the late response. I think it depends (as usual) on individual taste, in reality they are only slightly thicker than the originals.
The seal is near perfect, resulting in a nice firm (and relatively) deep bass, mid's and treble don't suffer either.

I just bought a pair. Lets see how they are against the wang pleathers.

 

[T 1000]

I want to share a recent experience with you.
Basically nothing new
I spent a couple of days in my apartment in my hometown, and the little time I could spare for listening sessions I mostly had the Philips Fidelio X2 on my ears.
I did not use the HE 560 due to the poor condition of the pads, and the HD 540 Ref.2 were sonically inferior to the X2. The drive was on a Marantz HD DAC 1.
On my other system that I put a lot of care and investment into, in the city where I spend most of my time, the HD540 R II are transformed into reference headphone and the X2 is a very unstructured and poor sound in comparison.
My suggestion is that the HD540 requires a good system, and there are much better options for a cheap one

 

[jadverkko]

These both give crazy good value still up to this day. Havent really followed the prices they go for these days, but I got HD540 golds for 60euros and reference II for 30euros back in the days. Still one of my most listened headphones and probably will stay so.

 

[Backsplash7]

These both give crazy good value still up to this day. Havent really followed the prices they go for these days, but I got HD540 golds for 60euros and reference II for 30euros back in the days. Still one of my most listened headphones and probably will stay so.

Are the golds the 300 or 600 version? And how do you find these compare to each other, when using the same earpads and cable etc?
Very jealous of the condition of your ref II headband padding by the way!

 

[coolhand]

Speaking of headband padding, I'm wondering if anybody happens to have a surplus headband pad on its own ?
I have a pair of HD250 Linear II which are in excellent condition EXCEPT for the pad itself which looks to have met with some funky hair product or cleaning solvent which has partially dissolved the surface and rendered the pad super gummy and unusable !
They share precisely the same headband pad and outer band as the HD540.
In lieu of the headband pad alone, I'd also take an entire headband too... any leads as to where I might find either will be much appreciated

 

[T 1000]

These both give crazy good value still up to this day. Havent really followed the prices they go for these days, but I got HD540 golds for 60euros and reference II for 30euros back in the days. Still one of my most listened headphones and probably will stay so.

What do you like more about the Gold compared to the 800S

BTW -the pair in the picture are cosmetically like new

 

[Backsplash7]

I was looking at some images of different 540 versions recently, and was struck by a particular difference between all of them. I noticed with an image of the 540 ref I that the driver screen was fully paper in both the inner circle and outer ring, which is different to my 540 ref II that has paper on the outer ring and a fine mesh material (possibly a plastic?) in the centre. I was able to find an image of the 540 gold, which revealed a black silk in the centre circle. The outer ring was obscured by the white fabric filters in this image, though I expect the outer ring would likely still be paper.
Seeing as how sennheiser seemed to turn its back on paper screens for good after this series, I am now wondering whether it could be worth experimenting with the 540 to replace the screen completely with silk, if a suitable match for the silk type could be found. Has anybody else tried something like this before?