Review on Enhance Your Audio Experience with Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam Earpad - Black PU/Velour for Large Over The Ear Headphones - AKG, HifiMan, ATH, Philips, Fostex by Amy Mears

Brainwavz earpads are now known and respected for comfort, quality and sound. There are many reviews of the leather and velor versions of these ear pads, you can find them here: Brainwavz HM5 Velor Memory Foam Replacement Memory Foam Ear Pads - Fits many other brands of over-ear headphones - AKG, HifiMan , ATH, Philips, Fostex Brainwavz Replacement Memory Foam Ear Pads - Fits Many Other Large In-Ear Headphones - AKG, HifiMan, ATH, Philips, Fostex. There was also a post about these ear pads on the Cnet Audiophiliac blog. I was looking for these to use with a recently purchased pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones, which you can see here: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones Basically, I had a really hard time deciding between suede and leather to decide. options. For one thing, the ears sweat a lot from the skin, which is extremely uncomfortable. On the other hand, velor offers less noise isolation and I expected to use these headphones almost exclusively on the go. Velor also reduces bass compared to leather. For me it was a worry, but a secondary consolation. I went back to the fourth for a while but finally found this hybrid pair on the Brainwavz website. They have velor where they touch the ears and leather on the inside (perforated) and on the outside. They are very similar to the ear pads that Hifiman uses on their new high-end models and they are called focus pads. Anyway, they seemed to offer the best of both worlds for my needs and were only marginally more expensive than the non-hybrid versions, so I bought a pair. I have to say I'm very glad I made this choice. As many others have pointed out, the difference is in day and night comfort. I found the ATH-M50x's standard pads to be good, but not very comfortable. They didn't fully fit my ears and were relatively flat, which put pressure on my head. The small leather pads also made my ears sweat quickly. After just one day of using storage pads, my Brainwavz was already here, so I switched straight away. The process of changing pads isn't easy, but almost anyone can do it with a little fiddling. With Brainwavz, my Audio Technica have easily become the most comfortable headphones I own. Before the ear pads, they were only slightly (though still noticeably) more comfortable than my sub-$20 Monoprice headphones. The Brainwavz ear pads are nice and thick and very soft. They really feel like pillows on your head. The velor feels great against my skin and the soundproofing is perfect for my needs. You can still hear everything around you, but the sound is muted enough to enjoy the music. I think most people place a little more importance on sound than they should. Yes, the sound is slightly different, but the difference isn't huge. It's definitely not better or worse, so whether you like it more or less really comes down to personal preference. As others have noted, the bass is a little less powerful. There's more room between your ears and the drivers with this pad, and the perforated leather probably makes it a bit softer too. The bass drop is negligible and no less accurate. For me, the Brainwavz pads also smoothed out the mids a bit. YMMV, after all. But the most important thing I can say about the sound is that you shouldn't worry too much about it (for what it's worth, I don't know if the same applies to velor pads, I haven't tried them myself) . Buy them if you want to increase the comfort of your headphones exponentially. A short anecdote. I took her on a flight the other day. The flight was delayed 5 hours so we got on the plane tired from sitting at the airport. Then we found out that the air conditioning on the plane wasn't working, so it was very hot. The plane took off and I put on my Audio Technica headphones. (For those interested, I was listening through a Fiio E17 digitally connected to my iPhone via the Apple Camera Connection Kit). After a few minutes I was completely immersed in the music. The pads blocked out engine noise just enough for me to hear my songs and they felt great on my head. I listened for at least 2 hours straight and even though it was very hot on the plane and I listened to my music relatively loud (to compensate for engine noise) I still felt comfortable at the end. The velor kept my ears from sweat and the headphones didn't even feel stuffy! The sound quality was great and to be honest after this flight I knew 100% that I made the right decision. Bottom Line (TLDR): These are supremely comfortable ear pads that will transform the comfort of any pair of headphones you put on. Also, if you like the feel of velor but prefer the sound/insulation of leather, these hybrid pads are literally perfect. It's totally worth the $25 I paid and I will recommend it to all my friends.