[sennsay]

Yes possibly an improvement but likely at the expense of something else I'd guess. Either way cool find @meatroll. Part appears authentic or at least a great looking copy of the original ''inner-outer'' (top) felt ring. Care to comment on changes they brought to your Ref1?

Sennsay, thanks for clearing up somewhat. I notice we use different terms for all the damping material. The white rings are definitely felt. Foam are these guys

Yes, you are correct, the term is felt And I'd imagine that it would have quite a different effect than foam.

 

[pappy97]

Anyone ever use Aune X7S amp with their 600 ohm HD540s? How is that combo?

 

[wppk]

Hello ! I didin't read the whole thread, so maybe I am not ivin any real news, but as I didn't find anythin yet concernin what I notices, I think it may be of some interest to tell about it : I have twol hd 540 old, wich I suppose to be both 600 ohm, cause the two plus are black/ Is there another way to reconize them ? If i compare them on the same amp, non is louder than the other, anyway, which I suppose would normally not be the case if they had diferent impedances. well, I was very surprised to discover that the new pair I jous bouht is bass heavy, compared to the other. I have a third pair, very comparable to the non bass heavy one, and it also has black plugs. anyway, the sound of the bass heavy version, which has no noticeable appearance in the look, is really amazing. the normal version is great, as evrybody knows here, but, the bass heavy is astounding. I have also to explain that I made specific cables (much better than the oriinals) and compared the headphones sxwapin the cables and pads (foam or velours types). has anyone noticed that ? btw, I know that there are importante differences in the sound result on the hd 430, of wich drivers are obviously different, and the ref doesnt change.

 

[lantian]

You guys really say that the HD540 has a big soundstage? Then something must be wrong. My unit sounds too good to be broken but it has litterally no soundstage. The cable and the pads are the original ones i think. The cable feels very cheap.

The pads have worn out/ rotten by now. So have the foam thats inside them. Foam has to be replaced and pads should be renewed.
So far all the hd540 and hd 540rg have enormous soundstage. Just as big if nobigger than what i get listening to speakers. Nothing cam match the. Depth hight and width of these studio monitors. They are monitors and if the gear used is tuned for something else, then the listening expierience will be compramised. My brother sold his ar mr2 just because of that. The device was tuned for something completely different. These phones are reference studio motiors and have the exact same imaging as speakers. Could be the problem. Otherwise everything givea huge soundstage with them.
Only time it felt a bit cramped was when my amp8ex arrived and for the first 24h or so they felt stuck in the middle. But it all opend up real nice quite quickly. Check to see if the cable is not broken aswell. Stock cable is also pure garbadge. Get the hd 650 stock cable for them. Best one from sennheiser or make your own.
Hope they open up.

 

[lantian]

I have one for my ref 1 ,bought it on taobao,somehow cant find it anymore,but i found it on this site https://www.newbecca.com/product/40065895036

Thank you so very much. Been searching for these ones forever. Need a pair for my 250's. Have so clothe in there for now.
But it needs to be felt just like inthe hd 540 rg. But till now couldnt find any felt that would fit. Has to be there otherwise they sound not quite right. Just like the original pads have to be thwre. The phones where designed with those pads, where the pads actully acoustically and physically work together with the driver. Sennheiser themselves said other paids are not even recommended for they may break the driver down ower time by making it work a lot harder than intended.

 

[Deolum]

The pads have worn out/ rotten by now. So have the foam thats inside them. Foam has to be replaced and pads should be renewed.
So far all the hd540 and hd 540rg have enormous soundstage. Just as big if nobigger than what i get listening to speakers. Nothing cam match the. Depth hight and width of these studio monitors. They are monitors and if the gear used is tuned for something else, then the listening expierience will be compramised. My brother sold his ar mr2 just because of that. The device was tuned for something completely different. These phones are reference studio motiors and have the exact same imaging as speakers. Could be the problem. Otherwise everything givea huge soundstage with them.
Only time it felt a bit cramped was when my amp8ex arrived and for the first 24h or so they felt stuck in the middle. But it all opend up real nice quite quickly. Check to see if the cable is not broken aswell. Stock cable is also pure garbadge. Get the hd 650 stock cable for them. Best one from sennheiser or make your own.
Hope they open up.

Where do i get new pads? I think my pads look fine. Can you show me a picture of your pads?

Ok i found enough. So i think i buy new pads and do i need that foam too?
https://de-de.sennheiser.com/zubehoer-hd-425-hd-430-hd-540-ohrpolster

 

[lantian]

I would just replace the foam in the original ones. Also dont forget the silk peace in between the two slices. Ot has to be as closenas possible to original foam. Dont know what its called. Got lucky and diiscovered its basicly packiging foam. Got a lot from my work.
Best approach is to cut open the pads from outaide and take out the old one. You can visually compare it to foam you inted to use. If they look the same then youe golden. It has to have enough stiffnes to it to transfer the vibrations over correctly. Memory foam is the worst one could usw here. If thw foam is to stiff it will not work either and the density has to more or less match otherwise it will sound muffled. Didnt make any pictures as i am only doind that for myself.

 

[sennsay]

A new cable. After all my great enjoyment of the Mogami #2893 cable on all of my headphones for at least a couple of years now, I've been wanting to sample one of their RCA interconnects and at last found a dealer that had some in stock. I bought a 3' length of the "Pure Patch Cable" (#2965), pretty much their good quality standard IC, there is a Gold version that appears to have only 'higher quality' gold plated connectors on the same cable. The 'stock' cable has perfectly fine gold plated RCAs and seems to be the best value.
I ran them between the Sonic Frontiers hybrid pre-amp and my hot-rodded HP amp, fed by the QP1R/optical cable and Multibit DAC, with a big file of iTunes tracks that goes for many hours to run in the cable for a while. Listening from fresh out of the bag, they were a touch sharp and had a smidge of grain, though only an hour or two later had already lost most those traits, to become the smooth open window I'm used to with the headphone cables. Big soundstage, as per usual with the Ref 1s, superb presence and focus, great timing and rhythm. As always, an open book to the recording quality or lack thereof, yet also does not make hot albums unlistenable. Midrange has body and texture so far, though I have not even got to my real 'test' albums yet.
So far, so very good, it looks like it might be a long night, certainly tomorrow evening! Looking forward to Random Access Memories, Ani diFranco and Ricki Lee Jones, both Live concerts that are extremely telling about openness and soundstage.

 

[T 1000]

Аnd cardas clear light was when I plugged it into the headphones it was so bright in high that it was uncomfortable to listen to, but it partially opened after 50 hours and after 100 got dark depth, the micro details are clear and the whole picture, no matter how layered the music, is clear and concise. The bass is taut, and there is more energy in general.
How good they sound may be shown by the fact that I neglected my new solaris SE

 

[T 1000]

A new cable. After all my great enjoyment of the Mogami #2893 cable on all of my headphones for at least a couple of years now, I've been wanting to sample one of their RCA interconnects and at last found a dealer that had some in stock. I bought a 3' length of the "Pure Patch Cable" (#2965), pretty much their good quality standard IC, there is a Gold version that appears to have only 'higher quality' gold plated connectors on the same cable. The 'stock' cable has perfectly fine gold plated RCAs and seems to be the best value.
I ran them between the Sonic Frontiers hybrid pre-amp and my hot-rodded HP amp, fed by the QP1R/optical cable and Multibit DAC, with a big file of iTunes tracks that goes for many hours to run in the cable for a while. Listening from fresh out of the bag, they were a touch sharp and had a smidge of grain, though only an hour or two later had already lost most those traits, to become the smooth open window I'm used to with the headphone cables. Big soundstage, as per usual with the Ref 1s, superb presence and focus, great timing and rhythm. As always, an open book to the recording quality or lack thereof, yet also does not make hot albums unlistenable. Midrange has body and texture so far, though I have not even got to my real 'test' albums yet.
So far, so very good, it looks like it might be a long night, certainly tomorrow evening! Looking forward to Random Access Memories, Ani diFranco and Ricki Lee Jones, both Live concerts that are extremely telling about openness and soundstage.

I am looking for a quality DAC.
My attention is drawn to R2R. How does it compare to other DACs?

 

[sennsay]

I am looking for a quality DAC.
My attention is drawn to R2R. How does it compare to other DACs?

I have two R2R DACs here, both are a little different (certainly different approaches to circuitry) yet both are wonderfully 'musical'. As a gross generalisation, R2R/Ladder DACs are the more natural sounding devices compared to the Sigma/Delta types, which have often sounded more like 'hifi' than the expression of natural and organic voices and instruments. The swing with Sigma/Delta DACs has come away from the more edge-driven, hifi-like sound to a more natural and balanced expression these days, at least in some cases. Ladder/R2R DACs need a really good warm up time to be at their best! They also require a great deal of precision matching with all those resistors for the finest channel balance. When done right, they are mighty fine musical instruments, just look at the reviews the Denafrips DACs are garnering these days. Well deserved, I hear.
What I truly love about even the relatively 'lowly' Schiit Modi Multibit DAC is that once well warmed up, it has such a natural expression of instrument tone that last night, with a few hours on the new Mogami IC cable, I was in serious WOW land. An almost constant delighted grin on my face, many soft wows and a few omgs to boot, hearing instrument details and tone I had not heard before. The DAC is plenty good enough to show up what it can do through an even better/balanced cable than the already utterly transparent cable I had been using and also well worth pairing with the well over $400 pure silver Slinkylinks cable between DAC and pre-amp. The Willie Nelson/Winton Marsalis album, Two Men With The Blues came over as the very finest I'd ever heard it. Such natural (that word again) realism of the instruments, stage presence and Willie's husky voice pushed well forward remained husky without the edge it can often have. I was in awe. So the new cable let me hear more of what that DAC is capable of, the cable is just so 'quiet', ie, like the #2893 cable I use for my headphones it seems to have less or no interference with the musical signal, allowing me to hear more of the DAC's abilities to just play music. I want more of that cable in my other systems!
Sorry if I appeared to go slightly off track, but not really, I can now hear more of what the little Schiit is capable of. The DAC in my QP1R is a Sigma/Delta type with Class A circuitry, it too sounds damn fine, very enjoyable but just a tad more 'hifi', no bad thing in this case, though I have heard many S/D DACs that are just edge driven ultra-clarity but eventually quite tiring to listen to.
Best thing is to just listen for yourself, you might end up with both types.

 

[meatroll]

40$ for HD430 is good or not ? I know this's HD540 thread but seem like here're many people who own 430

 

[sennsay]

If they're in good condition, sure they're a great buy for $40! Stunning transparency for vocals, don't use hard pads though, mine came with German Orhpolsters, way to firm. They're very nice with the 'wang' velour pads. Soft, light, comfortable, sod all real bass, yet fast and clear.

 

[sennsay]

Just bought a set of both pleather and velour 'wang' pads for the Ref 1s- need the velours for the thinner foams at some stage. I've actually nearly worn my pleather pads to multiple cracks after 3-4 years of almost constant use. I played with my HD430s several days ago with the velour 'wangs' on board, very nice! Extremely comfortable, far more suited to the 430s than the 540s for SQ. Sure the 'wangs' didn't last for a decade or more like the original cloth pads on the 540s, but for a few $$ every few years and the SQ they bring, bargain!

 

[mendye770]

Hey guys, does anyone happen to have a extra driver for the 540 reference 2?
Unfortunately, one of the drivers of my reference 2 is starting to sound fuzzy. I don’t know what’s up with it exactly.
Btw, for those wondering, I have both the reference 1 600 ohm version and the reference 2 and between the two, the reference 2 sounds much better!!!
It was a total shock for me but thats the case.