[lawrence2357]

Nowadays, I use Mark Audio speaker drivers inside nearfield cardboard boxes from Proprius monoblock amplifiers. Fantastic sound quality.

I am picturing the boxes dangling off your head next to your ears

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Haha, no, but that is the kind of thing I would do. The K1000 with drivers fully angled outwards looked ridiculous to wear but offered fantastic spatial sound. Speakers have to be positioned a bit in front of the face to achieve a genuine stereoscopic effect, where both ears hear both channels and you get the depth of field. Headphones can't fully realise this depth without implementing digital signal processing.

 

[lawrence2357]

I've started placing my headphones slightly in front of my ears so the back of the pads is pressing on my ear. It gives a slight impression of the source being in front and also tames that fatiguing "right next to your ear" mid and treble which I can struggle with.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

One thing I used to do with the HD540II is take the earcups/drivers off the headband, remove the earpads/inner material and hold each driver in the air in front of my ears with music playing at moderate volume. I would move the driver position and alter the driver angle to study how it affected the stereo image position. More frontal positioning certainly improved depth of field.

 

[sennsay]

I've had to just give up on those GREY1/BLACK 1 pads, the seller has been away in hospital for a while, so a lack of response until yesterday is understandable. I've asked for a refund and I will buy another set of wang pleathers most likely, since nothing approaching the dimensions and feel of the original pads has come about. Still, the order for the GREY1 pads are still in the mail SOMEwhere .......

 

[sennsay]

One thing I used to do with the HD540II is take the earcups/drivers off the headband, remove the earpads/inner material and hold each driver in the air in front of my ears with music playing at moderate volume. I would move the driver position and alter the driver angle to study how it affected the stereo image position. More frontal positioning certainly improved depth of field.

Gee, I'm way behind the eight ball, I must be old school by actually wearing my Ref1s sitting over my ears and still I get a soundstage up, down, in front and right around to behind my ears (with some recordings) Maayybe, some form of steam punk head brace with wires springing out from it to hold the naked drivers in front of the head would do it? A tiny geared crank handle on each side would allow for altering driver position around the head depending on the recording for best results ..... or just any result.

 

[lawrence2357]

Gee, I'm way behind the eight ball, I must be old school by actually wearing my Ref1s sitting over my ears and still I get a soundstage up, down, in front and right around to behind my ears (with some recordings) Maayybe, some form of steam punk head brace with wires springing out from it to hold the naked drivers in front of the head would do it? A tiny geared crank handle on each side would allow for altering driver position around the head depending on the recording for best results ..... or just any result.

Neat idea, I'd add a second crank that would open/close some sort of gauze filter structure that would tame the treble according to taste and recording.

 

[Backsplash7]

Indeed, they are very well made and long-lasting headphones, both of mine are in superb condition and the first pair has had probably close to a thousand hours on them, or more, since I bought them new back in 1989. You have the original old steel cable there and although it can add some upper mid exposure and a little grain, it may actually suit the R2R-11, as I used to own one. The Ref IIs have a small lower treble peak themselves. Glad you're happy with them.

Can definitely attest to the 540II having a lower treble peak, which for me really messes with my hearing. After the recent pad foam experimentation it made me very sensitive to sibilance again, and I also noticed that the ear in which I have tensor tempani syndrome, had adjusted to lower the volume of part of the spectrum to compensate, which hung around for a week after I had to stop using them, which was strange yet fascinating. I only have these sort of issues with this headphone, unfortunately. I suspect that if I had some of the attenuating rings from the golds, that might make them more listenable.
I would expect that for 99% of users this won't be an issue, but thought it was worth adding to the conversation

 

[sennsay]

Can definitely attest to the 540II having a lower treble peak, which for me really messes with my hearing. After the recent pad foam experimentation it made me very sensitive to sibilance again, and I also noticed that the ear in which I have tensor tempani syndrome, had adjusted to lower the volume of part of the spectrum to compensate, which hung around for a week after I had to stop using them, which was strange yet fascinating. I only have these sort of issues with this headphone, unfortunately. I suspect that if I had some of the attenuating rings from the golds, that might make them more listenable.
I would expect that for 99% of users this won't be an issue, but thought it was worth adding to the conversation

Yes, I'm not a fan of lower treble or upper mid emphasis. However, when I had the HD540IIs for a while, that peak was ameliorated by removing the stock cable and switching to my Mogami cable. What that did was show me that a shallow peak was there but removed the edge and sharpness of the peak. I find that the Mogami allows the nature of the headphones to come through without highlighting any flaws. The HD540II then just sounded very smooth yet showing me that the headphone was lighter and more forward in nature in the lower treble. Makes it more listenable.
Well worth adding to the conversation!

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I lost interest in headphones eventually, after using DIY nearfield speakers for a while. You can position/angle the drivers however you want, however close/far/high/low you want, playing however loud/quiet you want, with whatever baffle materials you'd like to try. Can design the baffle so you can swap out different drivers simply, use what cabling you want. It can be as cheap or as expensive as you want and you don't have to wear anything on the head or be tethered to desk/equipment. My next comparison will be Mark Audio CHP-90 vs CHR-90 (paper vs metal), both of which have quite flat/even frequency responses. I think the CHP-90 is exactly what I'll like. As I don't wear anything on the head now, I guess it is pointless for me to be commenting on a headphone forum, hence why I lost interest in doing so.

 

[lawrence2357]

As I don't wear anything on the head now

You must get cold when you go out in the winter.

 

[ConnorG]

Hey all,

I've posted a few times on this thread in the past. Very cool to see just how much attention the 540 Golds get, especially when seeing how many posts this thread has! I have a few things to add to the thread, which may or may not have already been specified here before. With over 250 pages of content, you'll have to forgive me if I've missed some posts.

First of all, I've owned my 600 Ohm 540 Golds since early 2020, and have enjoyed every moment of ownership. They are a very nice balance between the technical performance I hear with my STAX headphones, and the tonal balance and richness I get with cans like my BS650. They don't have the lush and full-bodied low end that the 650's have, but they definitely come pretty close on the right chain. They are a much more lively can with better headstage, layering, and laser imaging. I definitely prefer the 540 Gold to the lsn HD800 I compared it to. The HD800 was way too diffuse sounding and had very thin midrange. The HD540's sounded much better to my ears. The 540's share somewhat of the same 'diffuse' presentation, but it is much realer sounding without hiding vocals too deep into the mix. I like that they can be incredibly intimate when the music calls for it, but also have a fairly wide and believable stage at the same time. Some may consider them to be bright, but I feel they are just on the bright side of neutral. Their bright presentation may be accentuated by the lack of bass on specific chains. Upper midrange can become fatiguing at higher listening levels on an unforgiving chain, but I rarely have this issue. The bass that is there is pretty clean and punchy. Definitely has more body and impact when compared to the hollow bass that most STAX cans offer. The midrange clarity and timbre are what keep me coming back to these headphones. They have a special 'magic' that is very addicting. It is something that has to be heard to be understood. I also own a couple pairs of 540 Reference 1s (600 ohm), but they don't give the same impression I get with the Golds.

Some of my favorite albums to play on the 540 Golds are 'Water Falls' by Sara K, 'Companion' by Patricia Barber, 'Nightbird' by Eva Cassidy, 'Love Scenes' by Diana Krall, and 'Sessions from the 17th Ward' by Amber Rubarth. These albums captivate exactly what the 540's do so well - from vocal intimacy and timbre to spatial presentation and emotion. The 540's really excel with female vocals, piano, strings, and brass instruments.





I have rolled through quite a bit of pads for the Reference Golds, and I have to admit the OEM Sennheiser velour pads offer the best sound signature. I spent a considerable amount of time searching for the OEM hybrid pads, but to my dismay they sounded pretty terrible. They made the Golds extremely bright, and took away the midrange texture and bass body that made these headphones special. Too bad, as I paid a lot of money for them. They came on a cosmetically mint pair of early Reference 1 600 ohm 540's which arrived with one driver not working! So a total loss for me. I have also experimented with pads from Brainwavez and the "Wang" pads sold on eBay that have become ubiquitous in this thread. The Wang pleather pads have come closest to the OEM velour pads, but they still aren't the same. I am beyond thankful that the 540s do not have a high clamp pressure like the 6x0 series that need new pads every few months. My OEM velour pads are still going strong after all this time and they don't show any signs of degradation. I am thinking of sending my pads out to a company like Vesper to have them replicate the pads all the way down to dimensions, velour material, and density / thickness of the foam. I remember hearing someone mention doing this, but I have yet to see anything come of it. So I may have to be the guinea pig.



I have been researching the 540 Golds for a while now, and have a few notes I would like to add to this thread which include serial numbers, baffle colors, and impedance variations. It is well known that the early versions of the 540 Gold are 600 ohm, and the later versions (S/N's past ~13,000) are 300 ohm. The general consensus is that the 600 ohm versions are the ones to have, but something that is not too well known is the baffle variations within the 600 ohm versions. I have gathered that there are are two baffle versions of the 600 ohm 540 Golds - White screen and black screen. Serial numbers don't appear to correspond with the changes, as a friend of mine owns a pair of white screen 540 Golds that were very close to the serial number of my black screen 540 Golds. Friends that have compared the white screen 600 ohm versions to the black screen 600 ohm versions agree that they are inferior, even with the same pads and tuning rings installed. I will attach photos to this thread to illustrate what I am talking about here:



As you can see above, the center screens are different. I have no firsthand experience when comparing the two, but I trust my friend's ears here.
If you have a pair of 540 Golds, I would appreciate if you posted the baffle you have, along with the serial number of your pair. The black screen 540 Golds posted above are S/N 009437, and the white screen pair is S/N 009030. Both of which are stamped 600 and measure 600 ohms static resistance. It is interesting that Sennheiser changed the baffle/screen material arbitrarily between these examples, but the same can be said about the 580/6x0 series headphones as well. Photos of the internal structure / damping of my 540 Golds can be found here.

I went to a meetup held by Schiit Audio in MA a handful of months back, and brought the 540 Golds along with me to let others hear. Most everyone was extremely surprised with their sound signature / performance. The room was filled with multi-kilobuck headphones, and the 540's held their own. I had a few people tell me that they were going to search for a pair too. It was very cool to see others enjoy such an old 'antiquated' pair of unsuspecting headphones



I have a short video uploaded to YouTube showing the 540's playing some music. Not meant to be an accurate representation of them, it was more for fun when I originally uploaded...




I may come back to edit / update this post in the future as I am always interested in researching deeper into the 540 Golds. Happy listening!

 

[sennsay]

Gidday, ConnorG, nice write-up there. You've brought up a couple of points for me, it was Brainwavez that were the second set of memory foam pads I tried with both the HD6xx and HD540 Ref 1s (I couldn't remember the name a few pages ago when I described them), they were as horrible as the Dekoni versions - I think memory foam with velour faces. As with you, "Dismay" was my experience too. Secondly, those white-faced pads in the pad pic are the ones that came with my second set of HD540 Ref1s, also hideous, thin and bright with almost no bass at all, I suspect that the foam was perishing, as it was a tad 'crunchy' without actually breaking up. The opposite sound to the memory foam pads.
I've had no experience with the HD540 Golds, having owned my 34 year old main Ref1s since new and not been impressed with others I've heard or needed anything else. The only time they have been 'bright' is with thin velour pads combined with the stock cable. They aren't inherently bright sounding cans. Mine are as smooth as silk as I have them here and especially so with the FrankenDAC/Burson Vivid V6. They will show up that a recording is either brighter than neutral or has the sound of digital processing that isn't especially organic. A good example being Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love album, one I have avoided for many years, even on LP, with it's quite processed digital sound. It presents, now, as the very best I've ever heard it! Frankie and the Vivid V6 let all the music through while showing the hard compression that Kate has used throughout the album, yet allowing it to be listenable and even admirable in it's creativity. Mine now sound more like the slightly lusher and fuller sound of the HD650s, yet without their staging flaws and lack of sheer timbral expression. Bass detail and focus is much better!
I'm not surprised at all that your Golds held their own at a Schiitr meet-up I'd like to have seen the looks on some of their faces.
BTW, what is the little amplifier with the fold down door flap? It looks a little familiar, as if I've seen it a long time ago but can't place it. Good of you to add all those photos, even though I don't own a pair of Golds ... yet ... it's good info to have available. Thanks for chiming in!

 

[Backsplash7]

Gidday, ConnorG, nice write-up there. You've brought up a couple of points for me, it was Brainwavez that were the second set of memory foam pads I tried with both the HD6xx and HD540 Ref 1s (I couldn't remember the name a few pages ago when I described them), they were as horrible as the Dekoni versions - I think memory foam with velour faces. As with you, "Dismay" was my experience too. Secondly, those white-faced pads in the pad pic are the ones that came with my second set of HD540 Ref1s, also hideous, thin and bright with almost no bass at all, I suspect that the foam was perishing, as it was a tad 'crunchy' without actually breaking up. The opposite sound to the memory foam pads.
I've had no experience with the HD540 Golds, having owned my 34 year old main Ref1s since new and not been impressed with others I've heard or needed anything else. The only time they have been 'bright' is with thin velour pads combined with the stock cable. They aren't inherently bright sounding cans. Mine are as smooth as silk as I have them here and especially so with the FrankenDAC/Burson Vivid V6. They will show up that a recording is either brighter than neutral or has the sound of digital processing that isn't especially organic. A good example being Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love album, one I have avoided for many years, even on LP, with it's quite processed digital sound. It presents, now, as the very best I've ever heard it! Frankie and the Vivid V6 let all the music through while showing the hard compression that Kate has used throughout the album, yet allowing it to be listenable and even admirable in it's creativity. Mine now sound more like the slightly lusher and fuller sound of the HD650s, yet without their staging flaws and lack of sheer timbral expression. Bass detail and focus is much better!
I'm not surprised at all that your Golds held their own at a Schiitr meet-up I'd like to have seen the looks on some of their faces.
BTW, what is the little amplifier with the fold down door flap? It looks a little familiar, as if I've seen it a long time ago but can't place it. Good of you to add all those photos, even though I don't own a pair of Golds ... yet ... it's good info to have available. Thanks for chiming in!

The white-faced pads, I assume are the ones which were originally meant to have pleather on the top face? I had briefly thought about getting some pleather to add to mine, but forgot all about it

 

[sennsay]

The white-faced pads, I assume are the ones which were originally meant to have pleather on the top face? I had briefly thought about getting some pleather to add to mine, but forgot all about it

I have no idea if they were meant to have pleather on the faces. I have seen very similar original pads to them on the very first iteration of the HD540 Refs, the model with the slightly different headband, they too had a white face, no pleather, I presume cloth, but I've not experienced them in the 'flesh' ... or the cloth. I'm personally not that interested in sewing up pads The foam in mine has definitely deteriorate and I'm more inclined to bin them.