[IgorUA]

Welcome me, I'm in the club. I bought the 600 Ohm version and I just can't believe that such sound quality still exists. The sound is so clear and so realistic! Before that, I had HD580s with a paper baffle, which sounded great, but they are far from the HD540s. And the stereo effect is much wider. I have already replaced the foam on the back and the tiny foam on the speaker magnets. I installed non-original pads from DT990. I listen to it with a tube amplifier.

Now I have a few questions for you.

If I already have the 600 ohm version, do I need the Gold ones? Do I need to upgrade my headphones according to the Golden? By installing such cotton rings, which are on the Golden ones.

Is there some proven way to kill the treble a bit without reducing the detail of the sound? In order not to additionally cover the speaker with something? Because the high frequencies here are magical, but they often can be unpleasant on some tracks. And how to increase the bass level a little?

For those who have experimented with different pads, can you recommend any good? Maybe even you can share the link?

Thank you all! These headphones are something new and unexpected for me. And happy holidays!

 

[thee mutz]

A good way to adjust treble and bass to suit your personal taste is to have an amp with treble and bass adjustment knobs on it.
do you need the gold version? I don’t think so.

 

[Buddy Shagmore]

Take a look at the Schiit Loki or Lokius eq. Add to your system. Good to go!

 

[mendye770]

Take a look at the Schiit Loki or Lokius eq. Add to your system. Good to go!

Is it a amp that colors the sound?
Or what goes in goes out?

 

[Buddy Shagmore]

Is it a amp that colors the sound?
Or what goes in goes out?

It is not an amp. It is a stand alone eq. You add it into your system. The Lokius is a 6-band (with XLR in & out), the Loki is a 4 band eq. You can adjust the bass, mids, and treble to your liking. I have one in my main hi-fi system, and it is the secret sauce I was waiting for. Just sorry I didn't do it sooner. It is very clean and noiseless. So in a head-fi system, it would sit between your DAC and your amplifier.

Schiit Lokius

 

[Buddy Shagmore]

Here is a Schiit head-fi setup with a Loki on the right.

 

[mendye770]

It is not an amp. It is a stand alone eq. You add it into your system. The Lokius is a 6-band (with XLR in & out), the Loki is a 4 band eq. You can adjust the bass, mids, and treble to your liking. I have one in my main hi-fi system, and it is the secret sauce I was waiting for. Just sorry I didn't do it sooner. It is very clean and noiseless. So in a head-fi system, it would sit between your DAC and your amplifier.

Schiit Lokius

Cool!!
Definitely want to add that to my rig!
I hope it’s not too pricy..
Btw, is there a big difference in sound quality between the 2?

 

[Buddy Shagmore]

They say the Lokius is dead quiet, mine is. The Loki maybe has a few quirks. Plus you can get silver or black.

 

[thee mutz]

If someone is interested in buying an 540 Reference or Reference2 : i have them for sale in the Classifieds.

 

[dakanao]

I opened up one of the cups of my 250 and it looks like everything is complete, even the grey foam ring is in reasonable shape.

The grey foam ring is about as thick as the white ring which is approx. 2 mm. I still have some pieces of foam that i cut from a bigger block of foam that are about 2 mm thick so i can use them to make spare rings . I originally cut them for use in the cups of a AKG K240 sextett.

Hi, where did you buy the 2mm thick foam?

 

[thee mutz]

I did not buy them, i cut them from a block of foam with a hot wire cutter we have at my work.

 

[dakanao]

I did not buy them, i cut them from a block of foam with a hot wire cutter we have at my work.

And was that block of foam purchased?

 

[moriez]

Guys, I have a spare 300 ohm Ref I driver and a pair great condition cups available in case someone's looking. Shoot a PM if interested.

 

[sennsay]

Gidday fellas, been a while since I was on here, life moves and all. I now have a second set of 33 year old HD540 Ref 1s, that I purchased relatively locally ... within 110 km ... very early in 2022, identical to the 1989 purchase that I made brand new ... except for the different ear pads, they are foam with the white facing on them. Even the cable is absolutely original and the whole kit is basically mint.
I remember the gloriously comfortable original Sennheiser pads that came with my first HD540's, I went through two sets of them over so many hundreds of joyful hours and probably went over the 1000 hour mark easily. I'm still using those original Ref 1s now, with their third set of new Wang pleathers only a couple of weeks old.
However, now that I have another identical pair, I'm wondering if there are any pads out there that come very close to the original cloth covered joys? Has anyone ever found anything that nice ... without going to the effort of making their own, that's not something I want to do? The original pads were not bulky velour jobs, but thinner in the width of the foam than the Wang velours, f'instance.
I've a good mind to write to Sennheiser and see if they still have the patterned formulation for the HD540 pads, has anyone already done that?
The white faced pads + original steel cable pairing does have a nice openness about the soundstage, but it's also peaky, can harden in the upper mids and lacks any real depth in the bass, certainly none of the organic weight, fluidity and solidity of impact that I have with the Wang pleathers and Mogami cable. Yes I know, some of that fabled 'in front of the head' openness of the original cloth and velour type pads is diminished a bit, but that is no bother to me when I enjoy the sheer organic intimacy and far more balanced frequency range that I have now, no detail is lost with that and the background is 'blacker' and extremely quiet. In saying that, I DO have an opportunity to have an almost stock pair (I don't consider the white faced foam pads to be the equivalent of the original cloth pads and the foam feels a bit more 'crunchy' than it ought to be) not only as a comparison but as a viable alternative, though the steel cable is constricted in soundstage (it's pinched somewhat in the middle) and has some grain that is completely missing from the Mogami.
So, has anyone found a truly worthwhile alternative to the original cloth pads?
BTW, I sold the Schiit Magni 3 amp last year and now have the new Magni 3+ to replace it. It's quite a fine upgrade! I'm noticing a much greater ability to be fluidly dynamic from top to bottom, with seemingly a much better dynamic freedom and lack of distortion in the mids when the going gets tough, like a soprano belting out the high notes without the compression the older model would have, as just one example. Bass is noticeably superior, taut, fluid, weightier while being fast and responsive at the same time. Wonderful. Top end is a little more expressive, detailed and transparent. Currently it's hooked up the the fine HRT (High Resolution Technologies) MusicStreamer II+ USB DAC and the same utterly transparent Slinklinks pure silver ICs, a great combo from the iMac. The Schiit Modi Multibit DAC is not far away, I swap between them when using the QP1R DAP.
I look forward to any good suggestions re the pads. Thanks and cheers.

 

[IgorUA]

I don't have any ideas yet other than to try different pads from byerdynamic. They are simply the same size and produced. Has anyone compared pads from DT990 and DT770? Or maybe DT1990? Also, these different pads have a different number of perforation holes on the inside. How do they affect the sound with HD540?