Now that I have fully committed myself to this hobby, I am curious to see what others do out there to keep their collection looking good and new?
I only own 3 pairs of what I would call audiophile worthy headphones and have them now on display. I’ve griped in another topic about the Focal Clear MG Pro’s pad system and how quickly they become dirty.
Outside of those however I would love to know what you guys out there do to your HP’s and pads? I suppose the frequency of cleaning depends how much head time they get…for me it’s quite a bit since I game/music listen with them daily.
I’m fairly new to this hobby, and I don’t know if this already common practice, but I find the best way to remove oils from leather and most other surfaces is a large microfiber cloth. I’m a slug and I secrete a lot of oil from my hair and skin, so I always give my headphones a quick wipe after a day of use. Dunno how this would help the fenestrated Focal pads, or velour, but it’s been keeping sheepskin looking new for 6 months. Hope this helps. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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Know you materials. Pleather/vegan leather is plastic, so it’s fine with anything. But actual leather (despite almost all pads being leader bonded to cloth), should rarely be touched with solvents like alcohol, cleaners, ect… A water damp cloth would be fine.
If you’re running foam pads, Koss/Grado/ect, you can wash them in very light laundry detergent. Actually, a soak in softener does soften them a touch–old mod for stock Grado pads.
But at the end of the day, remember pads are often meant to be replaceable. If you love your cans, might be worth snagging another pair of pads as backup.
Thanks for the replies. I’m going to try some light detergent on a delicate cycle with the pads only. I even have a small zipper screen bag to toss them in to keep them protected. Then I’ll let them air dry I suppose and hope it doesn’t mess with the foam and ultimately, sound signature.
It’s only a 200.00 experiment after all 
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Pads usually are not that pricey for OEM replacements. I would take one pair and try it on there.
That should work with cloth pads. Leather is wipe down with warm water and reoil maybe 1-2x a year. There is special saddle soap for real real dirty leather but i dont see headphone pads dragged through the mud