# Ear Pad Rolling For Noobs

Many people buy ear pads from so-called ear pad manufacturers, which sell range of pads and often one pad for many different headphone models.\
\- This is often misleading.

One problem is simple misinformation.

Many people's definition of what 'good' sound is can easily become distorted and they are easily deceived into accepting a broken, hard V-shape, + boomy bass sounds great (for example Razer Kraken).\
Don't get me wrong, sometimes V-shape DOES sound great - when it's done properly.



In this exmaple I tested three headphones with the **Geekria Comfort Mesh Fabric pads (for ATH-M50**, etc, etc).\
All of them are similar to the ATH-M50 - medium sized, closed back headphones. \
Each headphone with the Geekria pads produced undesirable results.\
\
• very boomy bass\
• extremely excessive treble\
• peaks and dips moved to the 'wrong' places&#x20;

![Huge midbass is gross. Treble is a spiky hot mess.](https://31762434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M4NrSugToAwYkW0a8hV%2Fuploads%2FzEARjZsblvE5eSbJmGhj%2FJVC%20HA-MX100-Z%20%2B%20Geekria%20Pads%20\(bright\)%20vs%20Stock%20\(dark\).jpg?alt=media\&token=3726db6e-3901-489e-b12a-cc65000d133c) ![What was once neutral, is no longer. Subbass is worse. New peak at 8kHz.](https://31762434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M4NrSugToAwYkW0a8hV%2Fuploads%2FIpRRsqPBnnqpQJx5EbPD%2FSatolex%20hdh0297%20Plum%20Modified%20\(dark\)%20vs%20Modified%20%2B%20Geekria%20Pads%20\(bright\).jpg?alt=media\&token=59bc6e52-77a0-4d72-9907-dc529137ba52) ![Too much midbass. Lots of slam but no thunder. Treble is peaky.](https://31762434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M4NrSugToAwYkW0a8hV%2Fuploads%2FDjxM4li7JJ5at3Ax7LM5%2Fsw-01%20geek%20vs%20stock.jpg?alt=media\&token=42e5167d-d6e1-42e6-b0ec-65dccb8e6b10)

\
Only one headphone I tried them with produced a somewhat 'acceptable' result.

This headphone is already bonkers, so don't pay attention to that, but the pads hardly caused any deviation at all.

![](https://31762434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-M4NrSugToAwYkW0a8hV%2Fuploads%2FKTuj2XH12dngb8VGjdNp%2FVictor%20HP-D900%20Modified%20\(Dark\)%20vs%20Modified%20%2B%20Geekria%20Pads%20\(Bright\).jpg?alt=media\&token=f8a869a1-9f1f-4c0f-815d-58078e9de636)

So you never know what results you're REALLY getting, unless you can either measure the headphone, or have 'golden ears'... (yeah right).\
\
This is only one example, there are countless others out there, many even worse than this.



### Things to watch out for when chosing the right pads:

• Leather pads for Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic and Grado headphones?... just no, don't do it... \
• Almost any time you see a vastly alternative material to the stock one, just run away.\
• Planars are usually the exception - they very often tolerate all pad types almost equally - but when chosing your pads, try not to deviate from stock dimensions as much as possible.

### &#x20;Some more 'rules' when chosing pads:

<mark style="color:blue;">**CLOSED BACK DYNAMICS:**</mark>

• Deeper ear pads will often produce more bass and more treble.\
• Deeper ear pads may increase soundstage, or perceived soundstage.\
• Smaller pad openings will increase bass.\
• Larger pad openings will reduce bass.\
• Thinner/flatter pads can reduce treble.\
• Going from pleather/leather to velour will reduce bass.\
• Going from pleather/leather to velour can radically increase treble sharpness horribly.

<mark style="color:blue;">**OPEN BACK DYNAMICS:**</mark>

• The stock ear pads probably sound the best - very often this is not a joke.\
• Some of them are however VERY tolerant and going from one velour type to another can yield almost identical results, with little detriment. \
• Changing from velour ear pad to another with MORE DENSE foam (memory foam for example) will yield more bass.\
• Changing from velour ear pad to another with LESS DENSE foam will likely yield less bass.\
• Changing from velour to pleather/leather can lead to boomy bass artefacts and unwanted resonances.\
• Changing from velour to pleather/leather will almost certainly have a negative effect on the soundstage.\


<mark style="color:blue;">**ROLLING PADS FOR OPEN BACK PLANARS:**</mark>\
\
• From my experience, a lot of brands don't have a clue what they're doing with ear pad choice.\
• Some planars just sound better with velour/soft type pads. \
• Some just sound better with pleather/hard type pads. So experimentation is recommended.\
• Try not to deviate from stock dimensions too much.\
• 'Angled' pads are usually DEEPER than stock donut pads, so expect these types of pads to increase bass.\
• Don't be afraid of trying alternatives like cheap aftermarket pads for AKG, Beyerdynamic, Fostex etc... as most of these headphones all use 100mm pads which are very often easily interchangeable.&#x20;

