MOST HD6XX pads suck, I tested 20 of them

This is the Sennheiser HD600 and I

bought every ear pad that I could for it

on the market. I measured every single

ear pad that I got and I'm going to tell

you which ones are actually worth

getting and which ones aren't.

By the way, this also applies to all the

other similar Senniser models. They're

listed on the screen here.

Roll my sleeves up for this one. Okay,

two things we need to cover. First,

there will be an LTT Labs article

dropping the same time as this video.

You can check that out the link in the

video description where we go over some

more of these things in detail. The

second thing is that the HD 6XO series

is usually better with the stock [music]

pads. Just how it is. While sometimes

you might get a frequency response

improvement, usually you sacrifice on a

thing called tambber, which is just how

natural things sound. But I don't want

to waste too much of your time. Let's

get into the measurements. I'm going to

sort these by brand. Starting off with

Dacone. I have all of these Doneyi pads

here, but only one of them I recommend.

I also have this entire bin, so uh

buckle up. First, let's check out the

Done Choice leather. These do come with

foams. They are a solid pad, which

honestly is pretty soft and comfy. These

sit at about 30 mm deep, 42 to 43 mm

wide, and about 66 mm tall. They do come

with foams, which is important, but I

don't love the way they sound. They are

pretty bassy, pretty warm, too much so I

would say, and they have some pretty

heavy recesses in the ear gain and the

treble. Now, all this is recorded on the

Bruincare 4128C, which is a rig that

already kind of overestimates 3 kHz a

little bit. You can see how this would

end up sounding warm and dark and a bit

too much of both. Next up is the Done

Choice Suede. In terms of dimensions,

these are basically the same as the

other Donis I just showed you. They do

also come with foams and they suffer

from the same problem. A bit too much

warmth where it kind of bleeds into the

mid-range, though not as bad as the

previous ones. But the big problem with

these is that they are very, very, very

relaxed on the treble. They're quite

dark. Between that and the increase in

lows, it makes them sound very dark and

warm. If you're super treble sensitive,

this might be the way to go. But they do

start to kind of elevate back up around

13 kHz, so that might not be to your

taste. Again, there's one of these that

I do recommend, but we're not there yet.

Next up is the Dacone Elite Hybrid.

Similar dimensions to the previous. They

do come with foams and similar story in

the bass. Only way, way too much bass

happening. Way too much in the low

mid-range. If this was strictly a

subbase increase, it would be awesome.

But these are far too warm. Most of the

treble, part of the mid-range, pretty

similar to stock with a little bit more

of a recess around 1.8 kHz and then a

bit of extra energy in the treble above

10 kHz. These are going to sound

[snorts] super warm uh with a slight

Vshape in the upper treble. Again, not

to my taste. Takone Elite Sheepkin is

next. Again, same on dimensions. They do

come with foams and similar problems.

Too warm in the low frequencies,

bleeding into the mid-range, and

recesses in the ear gain and treble.

We're getting down to the last two

Donies here. Which one is the one that

you think I recommend?

Here is the Dacone Elite Velour, and

it's not the one of the two that I

recommend. It does come with foams, also

similar dimensions, and what do you

know? Recesses in the ear gain and a bit

too much warmth in the low frequencies.

This one is a bit less of an offender

than some of the previous ones. So, you

might actually end up liking it.

Personally, I find this to be too

recessed between 2 kHz and maybe 3 1/2

kHz with a little bit too much uh warmth

added as well. And that leaves the

Doneyi pad I do recommend for the HD600.

This is the Done Fenrated Sheep Skin.

Bet you didn't expect it was this one,

huh? comes with foams, similar

dimensions. This is warmer than the

stock pads, I would say, by a notable

amount, but it's not super super boommy.

It is balanced out by the treble being

mostly similar to stock. There is a

little bit less around 2 kHz. That

starts to get to be a bit much for me,

but it's not crazy. Around 3 kHz and up

is pretty similar. Slightly more energy

above 10 kHz. This one overall does get

my seal of approval. I would say that

the tambber is not quite as good as

stock, but it does have better bass than

stock in a way that isn't crazy out of

balance with the mids and treble. So, if

you wanted slightly better bass and are

willing to sacrifice a little bit of

tambber and you need bigger ear space,

these make sense. That is our first

thumbs up of the video. Next is the ZMF

pads. I have talked about these before

years ago and actually these have held

up really well. This is the same pair of

ZMF perforated suede HD600 pads that

I've had for years, and they still

measure very similar to how they did

back then. These are about 45ish mm

wide, about 69 mm tall. Nice. At their

deepest point, they're about 29 to 30 mm

deep, and on the more shallow end, they

are about 22 mm deep. Here's the

perforated suede ones. These are the

ones I recommend out of the ZMF lineup.

They are damn near stock. Very slight

differences in the treble. A little bit

less at 2 kHz and then a little bit less

around I think like 6 to 8 kHz. Other

than that, these are basically deadon

and seem to be a more durable

replacement for the stock pads if you

want one that you don't have to replace

basically every year and a half to 2

years. Thumbs up. These two, not so

much. the ZMF solid lamb skinin pad. As

you can see here, pretty decent lift in

the bass, but a bit too much warmth in

the low mid-range. We have a weird

recess happening in the treble, and it's

just a bit too much for me personally.

These are a no-go for me. The perforated

lamb skin very, very good up until the

treble where we get a bit of a weird

dip. If you find that part of the treble

to be kind of harsh in that like 6ish to

8ish kHz range, you might like these

because it's basically the same as stock

outside of that range. But because of

that dip, I'm not personally a fan of

it. I would say just go with the suede

version. These ones are not for me.

Next, we have these pads by AHG. They

are perforated lamb skinin and

they do come with foams. Uh they also

come with more treble. This is one of

the only headphones I tested that had

less bass and more treble than stock. If

you find the stock HD600 to sound kind

of dark, you might like these, but it's

a pretty substantial increase from like

2 kHz and up. I don't like these pads.

Just going to leave it at that. I don't

think they sound good. But if you really

really want more treble across the board

than an HD600, 650, so on, you could use

these. By the way, the best pad out of

this entire video I'm saving for a

little bit later. These are the WC

Freeze pads from Wicked Cushions. They

do come with foams built into the pads,

so it's not removable. And this is a

cooling gel pad. The cooling gel feels

kind of nice. Though, it's worth noting

they do trap in some heat after a while.

These are a little bit bigger feeling

than the stock pads at around 69 tall.

Nice. 49 wide, and 25 deep. The problem

is these don't sound quite as good. They

do have a nice increase in bass, but

it's a bit too much in the low

mid-range. They start to get a little

bit boommy. This wouldn't be too much of

a problem if the treble kept up. But we

have a weird recess in the ear gain that

kind of does some wonky things. If it

was an even recess in the ear gain, it

might not be so bad, but this does do

some weird up and down kind of little

roller coaster throughout the treble

right there. Around 1.8 kHz, we dip a

few dB below the bounds. And the same is

true around 5 kHz. Other than that, they

lined up pretty closely, but the dips in

that region just make it sound odd. And

keep in mind again, this is a

measurement rig that we know already

overestimates the 3 kHz region by a bit.

So, realistically, these are kind of

scooped in the ear gain region, and I

just don't see that as very competitive.

They are comfy, though. Next up, we have

GVO ears. These are simply listed online

as GVO ears black. They do come with

foams and they're pretty plush and

puffy. These are 38 mm wide, 64 mm tall,

and a plump 31 mm deep. They are pretty

comfy compared to stock. I find them to

sit just a little bit farther off the

ear. And these are not bad. Uh they do

have an increase in bass, an increase in

the low mid-range, also making them

sound warm. But most of the treble is in

line with stock. There is a bit more

treble emphasis above 10 kHz around 14k.

So you'll probably notice these are more

airy sounding and more warm sounding

than the stock pads. I could do with a

little bit less warmth than these. But

honestly, these aren't bad. And I don't

feel bad giving these the thumbs up if

you want something that is a bit more

air and a little bit more warmth than

the stock sound. These are the GVO ears

gray velour or on the back of their

packaging they call them starry sky.

These do come with foams as you can see.

And look at that, a gray velour pad.

They're about 65 mm tall, 42 mm wide,

and about 31 mm deep. They add

impressively more bass without adding

too much more low mid-range, which is

really nice. The downside is they

totally lose it in the treble. The ear

gain and the treble are recessed just

too much for it to make sense and they

don't sound very [music] good. They

could have maintained that better bass

without ruining the treble. These would

have been winners, but they are not.

These do not get my recommendation. And

our third set of GVO ears. These are

called the black velvet pads. They do

come with foams and you'll notice

immediately they're a bit wider around

than the stock pads are. So, about 43

millimeters wide, 73 to 74 millimeters

tall, and about 28 millimeters deep.

These are pretty comfortable. If you

find the stock pads to just be too small

vertically or horizontally for your

ears, this does solve that problem.

They're very spacious, though not as

deep as some of the other pads we've

tested. The problem is is they do some

weird things in the treble. They do add

more bass, very tastefully so, and this

is a good amount of bass ad and a good

amount of low mid-range ad without them

sounding like crazy crazy warm or

bloated, but they have this weird sort

of dip going on around like 5 kHz that

I'm just not a fan of. It's not the

worst. And this is better than a lot of

the pads we've already seen so far, but

it's not quite enough to get my

recommendation, especially knowing with

what's coming down the road. But if you

wanted something that is relatively

similar to stock and you don't mind this

dip, something that's maybe just a

little bit more airy too, these are

actually decent for that. Next, we have

this Yaki pad. Another one that is

notably larger than stock. They are 48

mm wide, 77

mm tall. Holy guacamole. And around 31

to 32 mm deep. These sound like crap.

Super super elevated low mids. just the

point where it's a bloated boommy muddy

mess. The mid-range and treble really

solid, but just way too much happening

in the low mids. These do not get my

recommendation. These are the chrome

pads, and they do come with foams. They

are around 39 mm wide, 65 to 66 mm tall,

and around 29 mm deep. These are

basically the same thing as stock pads,

but with a little bit more bass and a

fair bit more upper treble above 10 kHz.

If you want your HD600s to be very

similar to stock, but be quite airy, but

basically the same everywhere else,

that's what these do. That's pretty much

it. So, like some others, if you wanted

something that makes them more airy but

doesn't change much else, the Crons are

a decent option for that. But, they are

not my favorite one on this list. They

get a mild thumbs up. These are the Jwag

pads.

You need that. And you want to know why?

Because these are impossible to get on

the headphone and near impossible to

take off. They have this extra bit of

foam right here that presses against the

headphone while you're trying to clip

them in. And you have to apply so much

force to get these to clip onto your

HD600. Once you finally do get them on,

I find this material to be a bit too

abrasive for my face. It's just kind of

rough. I feel like it makes me very

sweaty and agitated. I imagine this is

what it'd be like if you rubbed a shoe

up against your face. They have some

bass elevation. It does bleed into the

low mid-range. It's not crazy, but it's

not the worst we've seen either. Most of

the rest of the treble is fine. I just

find these uncomfortable and hard to put

on, so what's the point? Now, these are

the two best pads that I have tested

besides stock. These come with foams.

These are the Soulwit Lambkin pads. They

are 40 millimeters wide, 67 millimeters

tall, and about 25 26 millime deep. At

least this pair is the lamb skkins.

They're very, very similar to stock.

They have more subbase, which is nice. A

tiny bit more warmth in the low

mid-range. And other than that, they are

almost dead on with the stock tuning,

about a decibel less in most of the

treble until you get to around 13 14

kHz, and then they start to just stay

level instead of recessing in. These

sound great. They are a lot like the

stock pads, but with barely more punch

and barely more upper treble. It makes

them sound a bit more articulated.

Though, the downside is I do find them

to get a little bit warm on my head

after a while. Not too much. They're

still breathable, but it is a little bit

more temperature- wise warm on my head

than the stock pads. [music] These get a

strong thumbs up. And then there's

these, which is funny enough a cooling

gel pad that gets a pretty strong

recommendation. These are the Soulwit

cooling gel pads that come with foams.

They're a little bit different in

dimension from the other ones at around

40 mm wide, around 68 mm tall, and then

about 28 29 mm deep. The cooling gel in

these is very effective. That's already

cool on my face. Look at that. And they

are just about dead on with stock, but

they kind of take away what people refer

to as the Sennheiser Veil. They have

slightly like a decibel better subbase

without adding anything at all to the

low mid-range. So, it's slightly more

subbase, but not any warmer at all than

stock. And then basically everything

from 2 kHz up is increased by about a

decibel until you get to 13 14 kHz and

then we have more air over that. These

are great. Now, I will say I think that

the tambber with vocals specifically on

these stock Sennheiser pads from

Sennheiser is a little bit better, but

things like electronics or anything that

is very fast and articulated or clicky

or has fine details just sounds better

on these solid cooling gel pads. I was

very impressed with these and actually

really surprised. I thought, "Oh,

cooling gel pad, it's probably going to

measure and sound like crap." But these

ended up being one of the best ones out

of the whole roundup. And there you have

it. A handful of things that I

recommend. It basically is going to boil

down to these four above the rest. The

two soul wip pads, the Doneyi

Fenistrated sheep skin and the ZMF suede

perforated pad for the HD600 series.

Again, at the time of publishing this

video, there will be an article up on

the labs website. You should check that

out. It'll be at the link in the video

description. And stick around because I

am making a review of the Head D1. I

know that one's a little bit late coming

to the party, but I really wanted to

take my time with it. If you want early

access to videos, you can check out the

Patreon and the float plane, both the

link in the video description. And as

always, don't forget to stick around,

subscribe for more videos like this in

the future. Till next one, guys. Peace.

a

oh

a