Sennheiser users take note!

[Firefox 0]

If your headphones are about 2 years or older, it's time you look at the pads. The foam covering the drivers on both my HD270 and HD570 have disintegrated.. The pads w/ foam have been changed about 2 years back and they aren't cheap either.

I paid about ~S$170 for each pair of headphones and the replacement pads cost S$40 per set.

That's to say, I've just paid 50% of the headphone's cost just to replace the pads twice in the 3 years I've had them.

Note also that I've barely used the headphones in these 2 years since the replacement of the pads as I've bought the DT-931's.

 

Picture of very well disintegrated foam:

 

[wil 0]

wow.

 

Those look like el-cheapo foam pads. 40 bucks for those? That's quite a rip-off.

[Firefox 0]

wow.

 

Those look like el-cheapo foam pads. 40 bucks for those? That's quite a rip-off.

No, not just the foam covers. See the Velvet pads at the corner?

Those too.. It comes as a set, 1 pair of Velvet cushiony pads and a pair of foam covers.

Very slightly cheaper solution is to buy the leather pads set for the HD270/ EH2270 headphones. But the savings is only $10 and the leather pads get awfully warm after a short while.

[wil 0]

Oh..my bad.

 

But yea, i guess headphone accessories are expensive in general.

[RonTheMan 0]

Yeah, had to replace the pads for my HD497 as well. Cost me $14 for a pair.

[kuryakin 0]

Yeah, had to replace the pads for my HD497 as well. Cost me $14 for a pair.

btw, where did you do that?

[erickoh 0]

You can get the replacement pads direct from Sennheiser at

 

438A Alexandra Road, #08-10, Alexandra TechnoPark, Singapore 119967

Office Hours: 9am - 6pm

Tel: (65) 6273 5202

 

Replacement pads for my HD595 costs nearly $30 from them, but may be cheaper

than getting them from a retail shop. No harm calling the service centre to check first.

[Firefox 0]

You can get the replacement pads direct from Sennheiser at

 

438A Alexandra Road, #08-10, Alexandra TechnoPark, Singapore 119967

Office Hours: 9am - 6pm

Tel: (65) 6273 5202

 

Replacement pads for my HD595 costs nearly $30 from them, but may be cheaper

than getting them from a retail shop. No harm calling the service centre to check first.

It may be cheaper from them but if you live in other parts of Sg, the difference in transportation costs might make up the difference.. LOL..

[elmo 0]

My experience is the same for Beyerdynamic DT 990 ear pad, it costs me $30.I don't own any Sen cans, but can you guys change to the velvet material? it definite lasts longer than the "leather" version. The latter disintegrates and always leave a ring mark around your ears.Check out Sen for more options of material.

[Absolute0 0]

Picture of very well disintegrated foam:

 

That looks pretty bad. Are the drivers fine? Anw headphone pads are generally pretty expensive, not just for Sennheiser cans. For instance the CD3K replacement pads and Grado flat pads both cost in excess of US$30. I have the velvet pads on my Senn's and they look pretty fine after about one year's use, hopefully they will last.

[heady 0]

The disintegrating foam did not damage my Senns HD450 which is 20 years old now. Mine has fabric cover which was fine but the foam did the same thing as Firefox's Senns. I just cleaned up the foam and replaced it with the dishwashing sponge. Works fine and still works today. However the cable broke and I just replaced the cable with a DIY version using VHS-Video wire which sounded very good indeed.

[Firefox 0]

That looks pretty bad. Are the drivers fine? Anw headphone pads are generally pretty expensive, not just for Sennheiser cans. For instance the CD3K replacement pads and Grado flat pads both cost in excess of US$30. I have the velvet pads on my Senn's and they look pretty fine after about one year's use, hopefully they will last.

Drivers are fine since they're sort of sealed.. I used a blower and cloth to clean up most of the foam-dust..

 

The velvet is fine.. I even have a 4 year old pair of pads.. It's the foam that disintegrates..

 

 

I can sort of understand how the pads for CD3K's can cost that much.. S$50 for a pair of pads on a S$700 headphones is quite different from S$40 for a pair of pads on a S$175 headphones.

 

The equivalent would be replacement pads for the CD3K's costing ~S$200. And imagine if you had to change them twice..

[Absolute0 0]

The velvet is fine.. I even have a 4 year old pair of pads.. It's the foam that disintegrates..

 

 

I can sort of understand how the pads for CD3K's can cost that much.. S$50 for a pair of pads on a S$700 headphones is quite different from S$40 for a pair of pads on a S$175 headphones.

 

The equivalent would be replacement pads for the CD3K's costing ~S$200. And imagine if you had to change them twice..

Arh I see what you mean. Fortunately the foam on my Senns look fine enough as well, but I ought to pay more attention to them, thanks for the tip.

 

I guess I wasn't specific enough but the CD3K replacement pads are going for US$45 on audiocubes (the only source of the pads that I know of), which is equivalent to roughly S$75, and that is excluding shipping. Probably about S$100 with shipping and that's substantial enough considering most of the price difference between a $700 set of cans and a $200 one actually goes towards the other components and design.

 

I see where you are coming from but that's pretty inevitable considering that pads are still pads, they don't come cheaper even if they are almost identical (same materials, etc.) just because they are for a cheaper set of cans. Perhaps this is the same for op-amps (pardon the lousy analogy). A specific op-amp would cost the same even if it is for differently-priced amps, $2000 or $200. So I guess we just have to live with it and consider whether it is more appropriate to continue paying for replacement pads or if it would be more economical to upgrade to something else with that money.

[Rameish 0]

A good discussion going on here and a lesson for 2nd hand bargain hunters. If the cans are cheap ie below say S$200 new then I would say factor in the cost of replacement pads before deciding if it's a good buy. Sometimes when you factor in the warrenty issue and the wear and tear involved in 2nd hand equipment it may indeed be wiser to buy new. BTW the normal grado pads are S$20 at MBD. Maybe another reason to go with Grado :-)

 

 

 

[shootertec 0]

If you don't want to do it yourself, can I have mine fixed by someone else? How much would that cost?