HE-400i Alpha earpads.

[Rod]

Mrspeakers Alpha pads. Comfortable.

 

[amirm]

They look thicker than stock ones. Are they? And what do they cost?

 

[Rod]

They look thicker than stock ones. Are they? And what do they cost?

https://www.mrspeakers.com/shop/accessories/ear-pads/alpha-pads-genuine-lamb-leather.html

http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/earpad-mounting-rings.html

I had to trim a little leather from the inside of the new earpad so the clips on the hifimans ring were not covered. I also trimmed a little along the outside edge of the Hifimans plastic ring as there a little big for the Alpha pads.
New pads are thicker than the stock ones. Ears will be farther away from the speakers.
On my old pads the rings are glued on so there not reusable. I also super-glued the new rings on the new pads.

 

[amirm]

On my old pads the rings are glued on so there not reusable. I also superglued the new rings on the new pads.

Oh, so I would need to pry off the glued ones first to put these on? If so, how difficult was that?

 

[Rod]

Oh, so I would need to pry off the glued ones first to put these on? If so, how difficult was that?

No I bought new rings from hifimans. Kept the rings in the stock pads so there reusable. Took me about an half an hour. If you get the new pads you will see what I described.

 

[Rod]

Oops. The rings are glued to the earpad, not the headphones.

 

[Rod]

 

[amirm]

Oops. The rings are glued to the earpad, not the headphones.

Ah, OK. Thanks.

 

[Rod]

Ah, OK. Thanks.

I also made sure one of the clips on the ring lined up with the sewing seam on the earpads. That way you know you can line it up so the thick part of the pad goes towards the back. On the new pads the seam will be on the thinner side of the pad(front), not the bottom like the stock ones. That way the thinner part of the pad will be to the front.

 

[Rod]

More bass on these. Because of bigger ear cavity on the pads?

 

[Rod]

The bass on this song sounds awesome with the new pads.

 

[Rod]

Description of new pads from someone on Reddit that seems pretty accurate. He is better at describing changes than I am able to do.



Lows

All of that planar texture is still there in every range that I can remember. The lower bass extension seems the same, but more noticeable and the "hit" seems quite a bit more prominent. I definitely like the change in the low end as I listen to a ton of electronic music and it seems to synergize well with this.

Mids

Mid range seems about the same for all practical purposes. I think initially I felt that the headphones lost a little something in the mid range, but I think it was actually just offset with a little bit more bass kick and the effect that the pads have had on the treble.

Highs

Up top there is a little more brightness (I think) and the high freq seem more distinct. I don't think I would consider this hot, but there is definitely something a little different going on. Again, I think I like the change, makes the music I've been listening too seem more fun. After two 4-5 hour sessions this week I did not find anything fatiguing about the sound, I'd be good for a 12 hour sessions at the PC no problem.

 

[RayDunzl]

Description of new pads

Not something that can easily be A/B'd nor blindly compared, I suppose.

Right now I'm having trouble distinguishing anything different between having a miniDSP 2x4HD (measures not so wonderfully) doing additional A/D/A conversion vs not, and the comparison is enabled by single-clicking back and forth.

I know which is which, since I'm clicking, but still...

And, I'm deaf, so my opinion means squat.

---

Are they more comfortable or a different material? Leather or pleather?

I rather like the velvety pads on my HD650. I see those have some of both.

 

[Rod]

Not something that can easily be A/B'd nor blindly compared, I suppose.

The bass was what I noticed most as he described, I played the track above and the bass seems to have more slam?(hope that the right word) Yes its a pain to a/b unless you had two sets to compare

 

[Rod]

It was worth it just for the comfort level being increased. The stock pads could get a little painful. I was trying to adjust the old pads on my head during listening sessions all the time. The ear cup is rectangle instead of round and deeper. My ears dont rub like the old ones.

 

[Rod]

"And, I'm deaf, so my opinion means squat."
I know what you mean. I ran heavy equipment mostly in mining, some construction in the early years. In the olden days we did not have cabs or hearing protection like is mandated now. MSHA requires hearing test once a year. You know those bad government regulations that saved the hearing that I had left./s
In my younger years I watched old men close to retirement have to quit(forced retirement, at least they had pensions) because of ringing in the ears. There hearing was wracked.

 

[RayDunzl]

Mine seems more genetic, from Mother, first noted around 1960 when Dad played the Stereo Test Record.

Seems normal up to cutoff. I don't want to get a "real" left/right test so I won't be biased by that knowledge.

Kept me out of the Army, so, I got that going for me, which is nice...

 

[sejarzo]

More bass on these. Because of bigger ear cavity on the pads?

I bought a lightly used pair of HE-400i and the seller included the Brainwavz leather pads along with the stock velour pads and yes, there is more bass with the Brainwavs. I attribute it to the seal being much better with the leather pads.

I think the cavity is smaller with the Brainwavz pads because the inner diameter seems smaller than the stock pad. When I first got into better phones, I bought the HD600 because the oval pad fit my ears/head better than the larger round K701 or DT880 pads and sealed more consistently.

With the HD600, I generally felt the need to boost the sub 120 Hz region by 4 to 6 dB on many recordings, as I did when my son lent me his HE-400s for a month or so. I use no low end boost running the Brainwavz pads on the HE-400i.

 

[Rod]

Clamp pressure is slightly higher. Hope it relaxes over time. The phones are only about a month old.

 

[Rod]

I took my thumbs and and applied pressure right at the bend of the metal on the head-strap and bent it outward. That did it. Relieved the clamp pressure just a bit. That is a strong piece of metal flat-bar, did not deform it. I just did what my head would of did over time.