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Post by Mr Trev on Oct 20, 2016 15:59:57 GMT
Been reading through a couple of thread where folks talk about swapping earpads to change the sound and was wondering… exactly what effect does the HM5 earpads have on the sound? I have a pair of sr125 that I modified to fit the earpads and since I have no way of measuring I'm not sure what the earpads are doing to the sound. I installed the pads mostly for the comfort - the stock earpads were the L-cush and I could only stand to wear them for ~45 minutes. Bought some S-cush, but they were not much better. So I decided to try out the HM5 velour, much better. The one thing I noticed about the sound was the bass extended a tad lower, but I never really have done any critical listening with them (and to be honest, I wouldn't be that good at it). I also tried the pleather ones, but they did make things too bright, giving the treble a "ringy" character that isn't there with the velours. I do realize that this is a pretty vague question to ask, and the best I could get is speculation since no one has heard them. I'm just hoping for a generalization if the pads do in fact make a consistent change regardless of the phones. Is it the material makes the biggest changes, or is it the size? Does the fabric covering the driver act as a filter? How would using the cork adapter rings change things? Until I punched the holes into them they were way to bassy.
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Rabbit
Administrator
Posts: 7,087
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Post by Rabbit on Oct 20, 2016 16:19:06 GMT
I'm not certain, it my impression has always been the mid bass is raised,
They have kind of become the stock answer to all headphones!! Probably because they're so universally available and not too expensive.
I think a lot is also to do with how the headphone works. For instance, the Gradis are very open on the front and back. The pads would change the pressures on the front since the hm5 close the front side down while leaving the back open.
The Grado cups are nasty for me. Can't wear them for long at all. I prefer the flat soft pads TBH, which also calms the top slightly.
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Post by Mr Trev on Oct 20, 2016 17:17:18 GMT
The HM5 are way more comfy. With the stock Grado pads the phones are essentially on-ears for me which I can't tolerate anymore - had to return a pair of t51p for the same reason. I also think the SS might be bigger due to the drivers being farther from my ears, but I can't be certain - doing swaps is out of the question ATM because I doubt I could get the adapters off without breaking them (plus my auditory memory is almost non-existant)
btw, I had to ditch the hp150 headband. Too much clamp
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solderdude
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measureutternutter
Posts: 4,882
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Post by solderdude on Oct 20, 2016 17:19:07 GMT
The problem with changing pads is that pads don't always 'react' the same on different headphones because of the baffle construction (read paper covered ports, driver etc.) but there are some pads that will give more 'lows' and in other headphones these pads may give more (different) mids or bass only. There are quite leaky pads (Grado, DT990, HM5 velours, SRH1540 to name a few) where others give more bass or mids (DT770, HM5 pleather, SRH840 etc) The above plots are valid for HE350 ONLY. I tested several HM5 pads on a DT150 as well. You can download the results here: www.mediafire.com/file/hcl9u26x27gx89j/DT150_pads.pdf
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