I ask as I had thought about picking up a pair from mass drop. But numerous people there took issue with the comfort of the default pads and the alternative lads that come with them seem to do terrible things to the sound.
My understanding is that the original 99 Classics had the smaller ear pads— or smaller holes earpads; Meze had complaints about comfort and replaced them with the larger. The larger sound like a big bloaty mess in the bass. The 99 Noirs come with the larger pre-installed iirc, with the smaller as the “option”. IMO the option is better for sound, and make the earphones feel semi-on-ear.
I don’t mind the comfort with the semi-on-ear feel; I don’t think it’s a particularly good sounding set of cans either way, but unlistenable with the “larger” pads.
Given that, and to answer your question… I have not found any other pads to improve things; I haven’t had much hope that they’d be findable, given most aftermarket pads lean toward to “larger” end, compared to the Meze pads that sound better to me.
That’s unfortunate. I wonder what a pair of brain waves suede pads would do to the sound. Yes it larger so bigger sound but the leakage of the suede might counteract that.
That is a good thought. If I ever decide to give the cans another try, maybe will see if I have some velours / suedes to fit them. BUT… I didn’t find the original smaller pads uncomfortable, so haven’t been super motivated on that score.
I feel almost certain that someone who likes the 99 Noirs more than I will be more helpful!