I have been doing a bit of pad rolling the past couple of days after buying the Zeos Eris ear pads. I have been using Brainwavz PU/Velour hybrid memory foam pads the past few weeks. Between the stock, Brainwavz, and Eris pads, the Eris pads sound the best to me (with a minor mod).
A/B’ing the stock and Eris pads reveals a large mid/mid-bass hump, and about 2 to 3dB of ear gain with the stock pads. That hump muddies things up a lot in that range.
Going to the Eris pads provides a more neutral-ish sound (without being thin) which reveals instruments, providing much better clarity, instrument separation, and more natural timbre. There is also a slight increase in soundstage. There is still bass/sub-bass when called upon, but it is reduced a couple of dB. The mids are better defined and natural sounding after being pulled back. Treble is clearer and has a slight perceived ear gain, but is not overwhelming to me.
A/B’ing the Brainwavz and Eris pads reveals a much smaller, but still present, mid/mid-bass hump, and about 1dB of ear gain with the Brainwavz compared to stock. That hump is not aggressive, but enough to still color the mid-range.
Going to the Eris pads from the Brainwavz is more or less the same experience as stock, just to a lesser degree.
The solid leather inner/outer walls and velour-ish top of the stock pad makes them quite shouty to me, and muddy in the mids. The PU leather fenestrated inner and solid outer walls, and velour top of the Brainwavz helps negate a lot of the shoutiness of the stock, along with much of the mid hump. The vegan-leather fenestrated inner wall and micro-suede outer wall/top of the Eris do a great job of providing a more neutral sound.
Granted, while the pulling back of the mids is great, I was missing the bass/sub-bass of the Brainwavz. This is where the mod I mentioned comes in.
I took some 3M transpore perforated medical tape left over from my T50 modding days, cut the width of a 13.5” piece of tape in half, and wrapped one half all around the outside of each pad from the cup lip to half way up the pad wall. This provides a nice hybrid between the Brainwavz and the Eris pads.
Adding the tape helps bring back the 1 or 2dB of bass/sub-bass I was missing from the Brainwavz, while keeping the mid/mid-bass at their more tamed levels. The perceived increase in treble was also less.
Overall, the modded Eris pads provide a much more balanced sound a touch warmer than neutral, while still providing great instrument separation and timbre.
p.s. The Capra Audio strap is a must for comfort.
