Question regarding the stand that comes with the HP-3.
Has anyone noticed any damage to the headband due to keeping it on the head phone stand?
Seems like the point of contact is slim so it would leave a mark on the headband.
Thinking of maybe getting a Thomann ROOMs Audio Line headstand too.
None so far. If you have cats your results may vary.
Mine have developed a bit of an indentation where I always place them on the stand. Iām not sure I would call it damage though, the material isnāt showing any wear and the band fills back out when I pull the cups apart to put it on my head.
Thanks for the comments, guess Iām just worrying too much.
I will probably just use the included stand and maybe get a Thomann later on just for the looks, they do look beautiful!
Hi Folks,
Iām gonna say some negative things, but there is a happy ending here. Iāve owned the HP-3 for about 3 months, and Iāve been on quite a roller-coaster with these. I had never tried them but I found an open box set for an insane discount, so I took a chance on them. And I was extremely surprised to find that they sucked quite a lot. The bass was muddy, the mids were vanishing into a poorly defined background and the treble was like the audio equivalent of stubbing my toe. Just super loud and painful on nearly every percussive sound. I was truly shocked by how different my experience was to the ocean of good reviews I had read/watched (Z included - Iām usually pretty down with his recs). I dont know if there is something different about my set but I didnāt want to give up on them, so I started playing around with various damping materials and pad swaps, and found that the pads made a huge difference. I eventually landed on a set of brainwavz XL protein leather memory foam pads (Iām using some small magnets I got on amazon to mount them - message me if you want more info on that) and no damping material. The sound is un-fucking real now. Every aspect of these cans improved by, I dunno, Onefucktillion%. The peaks mellowed out, and the detail and clarity is just pouring out in every part of the FR. The stage is bigger, the comfort is waaaay better. Iām addicted to the sound now. Smooth as butter and extremely dynamic and detailed at the same time. I wake up and reach for my HP-3 first thing, because I miss them when Iām asleep. I dont know what went down at Klipschās headphone division, but they built a superb set of headphones and then severely crippled them with their stock pads. And then they used a proprietary magnet system to make pad-swapping a pain in the butt. Iām so perplexed by this. But these are now one of the best sets Iāve heard. Up there with high-end planars.
So TL/DR: these are outstanding if you swap the pads to the brainwavz xl pleather. They suck with stock pads. Night and Day difference. Like night time on Pluto, day time on the sun.
But im very interested in what you guys think of these, stock or otherwise. I could just have a weird set (less likely) or a broken brain (more likely), so please feel free to dissent. Or join me on the brainwavz hype train.
Can you share how you found a way to mount new pads with magnets?
Just received my set of Ebonys today!
Seems like TC Acoustic still has some on pre-order for 1000 SGD, or around 730 USD which is quite a bargain.
ā»They are on pre-order because the Singapore shop does not have any in stock and will have them shipped from Hong Kong, took a total of 3 weeks from order to reaching my house (1 week to ship from HK to Japan).
Looking forward to the weekend to test them out!
Going to totally say that while the pads may have helpedā¦ the break in/burn in period with the driver is stupidly long. Likeā¦ the fact that I think the Oak version reminds me of a baseball glove is uncanny to the break in they experience.
Like a baseball glove, when you get a brand new gloveā¦ they suck. Itās stiff, just doesnāt feel right, and you do everything to break in the glove. So the HP-3ās you do a burn in for about 20 hours or so and they start turning into a pile of garbage/over prices kph30 into their own more neutral and better resolving headphone. Now over 300 hours on the HP-3 and they sound SOUND GOOD which is strange. Like a broken in baseball glove that fits right and effortlessly operates, itās comfortable and performs VERY well.
I think the bio cellulose drivers take a very long time to burn in properly and I donāt think itās just a matter of cranking up pink noise or bassy music either. They needs SERIOUS time to just settle and as the driver freeās up the treble becomes more relaxed and less veiled, the mid range and bass over time become much more clear. Iām very curious if you try the stock pads with more use if HP-3 sounds better to you. If you scroll up, you will see my opinion on these headphones change drastically from regret and disappointment to enjoyment. The only difference is run time and trust me, some of that time was painful!
Iām perfectly happy with the stock pads but I have some Brainwavz XL pads around so I may try this. Iād like to see how you mounted the pads if youāre not opposed to sharing a pic or two.
Edit: Jk, found some tiny magnets and see that it should be really easy to place them.
Double edit: I just went ahead and held several different pads in place before bothering to order magnets. I have the same pads you recommended so I tried those first. To me the signature didnāt alter much it just seemed like the quality in general dropped or sounded off. I have some suede pads so those went next and it took about 2 seconds to determine that those were a hard no, everything went muddy. Last I tried some perforated memory foam pads I have, brandless, theyāre basically dekoni elite knockoffs. These probably changed the sound the most but not in any way I liked. The highs came in strong and the low end went out the window.
So yeah, Iāll be sticking with the stock pads, which is a relief to me because they are suuuper comfortable for me and I hate how bulky those XL pads are.
I bought some 6mm neodymium magnets. There are two methods Iāve used.
Make a ring out of a thick card material and glue the magnets on. When this is inserted into the pad it acts as a magnetic adapter. To get the magnet spacing right, you can lay the ring on top of the headphone cup and stick the magnets on, and trace them where they stick with a pencil. Glue them place.
The way I currently have it is a bit lazier and bit less nice looking. the magnets are stuck onto the pads themselves by sticking a magnet both inside and outside the pad skirt at each magnet point. These magnets are stronger than the ones in the hp3 so they stay put when you remove the pads.
Iāve listened to them an awful lot, but couldnāt say if Iāve had them running for 300 hrs. So maybe my roller-coaster ride has few more loop-de-loops. But I have switched back to the stock pads a few times recently just to make sure Iām not going crazy, and they still sound like a drunk porcupine crawled into my ear. Which is to say, sharp and also inarticulate. The Stock pads are plenty comfortable, but the brainwavz pads donāt touch any part of my ear so they have an edge there too. Stock looks better though.
Thanks for testing them out. Really fascinating. Not sure how to justify the difference in experience. Overall the signature isnāt radically different, but the technicalities are crazy different sounding. Im A/Bing now. Here are some of my comparative thoughts: First thing I notice is the stage feels narrower with stock. The detail in the highs is still good, but the mids and bass sound much less detailed. The mids sound less natural. vocals in particular sound less realistic. The bass sound muddier and much less spacious. They just overall sound like a cheaper set of cans with stock.
I think the bainwavz bring out the sub noticeably more. I can hear much deeper extension on both ends - perhaps the brainwavz are just giving me a better seal. And everything just seems like it has room to breath in its own space. I feel immersed by the sound, like iām listening to a hifi surround system, while the stock pads just sound like Iām listening to ā¦ headphones. Which is a fine baseline, but less desirable.
Silly question, do you actually mean muddier on the bass as itās less defined or that the bass is not as pronounced? I find just holding up some LCD leather pads up to the hp-3 that improved the bass in volume but not really clarity.
Mind you my test is just lazy at best out of curiosity.
No such thing as a silly question. Volume is not what Iām talking about. when I say muddy, I mean the opposite of clear. I can hear the bass doing its thing, but transients get lost (especially noticeable on rhythmic percussive bass lines where you would hear a sequence of fast transients). And lack of discernibility between otherwise distinct bass textures. So smoothing over of details in general. Iām no beep boop science guy, but I expect the way the stock pads partially cover the driver is creating extra bass reflection and smoothing over the details.
Too bad the Audeze pads didnt work. I would have expected they would shine on these.
Also just for the record, I have also tried brainwazs medium hyrbrid and velour pads, and bayerdynamic dt1990 A and B pads on these. Each had some fault or another, but before the xl leather pads, the velour medium pads were the most normal sounding, but required 3 layers of felt dampening to quell the treble. While tuning was all over the place between these other pads, clarity was improved in all of them.
Well I do have to say I like your magnet idea a lot. Iāll have to order some to pad swapā¦ Making these hp-3ās a bit more appealing. I have some Eikon pads to play with which might work better.
If you get nothing else out of my ranting, at least the magnet thing is a good take away. Iām curious how those Eikon pads sound.
The magnets I got are 6mm by 2mm. The magnets in the stock pads are also 6mm. You could possibly get thinner ones, but I like the amount of magnetic attraction I get out of the 2mm.
Last night I made some magnetic inserts for the XL pads, mostly to make the pads look better when they are mounted to the HP-3. They worked, BUT the sound changed. The highs went back to being abrasive and it lost its spacial airiness. The magnets are inside of the pad skirt with this method, whereas I previously had magnets both inside and outside of the pad skirt. So Iām thinking that in the previous method, the space that the outer magnets make between the cup and the pad are creating additional venting, which is, I think, changing the sound for the better.
Otherwise the insert ring (made out of a soft plastic CD case) could be affecting the sound somehow. Not sure how exactly.
This also has me curious about the possibilities of altering whatever materials exist behind the driver. Anyone out there tried unscrewing the back?
I have been forced to take mine apart. Whatās up?
Oh yeah? Whats in there? Is it candy? Easily removable? Room to add more? Room to rent out?
