which yaxi pads fit on the KPH30i
Just the regular ones that are made for the Porta Pro.
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Wasn’t really aware of pad stretching, thanks for confirming that! I thought I had a faulty one, though I am curious if it should change sound or is it just that slight squeak sound now when rubbing the foam? Does it suggest that part of the foam pad is not on one of the teeth?
I’m also interested in the Yaxi pads, I went ahead and got a pair but I was hoping to pad swap easily with my ksc75 that I also just got, I suppose pad swapping with kph30i is not as easy (and safe from tearing?) with the ksc75/porta pro?
Something I’d also like to try is the Grado G-cush pads for kph30i from headfi since they’re essentially just placed over the whole driver.
Squeak? I had a squeaking and buzzing noise in the drivers. Popped them open after pulling the pads off and sure enough there was a bunch of cat hair and human hair stuck in there. Used a suction vacuum on them, put them back together, and it was fixed!
Be careful with this, just don’t destroy the drivers lol. I just use some plastic tweezers to remove hair
Oh no I had it on really low power. It wasn’t like I was using a shop vac or anything lol.
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If you’re pressing against the foam pads with no audio playing and it squeaks then it’s most likely the foam just rubbing against the plastic drivers and creating that noise. If you hear squeaking or popping noises and distortion in the music then it’s related to what Soren and Mon posted earlier and you have either hair or debris making contact with your drivers.
Swapping factory KSC75/Porta Pro pads onto the KPH30i will probably be very difficult and most likely lead to tearing. The Yaxi pads use a different type of foam material that’s much more stretchable compared to the factory pads.
Definitely the first thing! So no worries there. I guess I was just not used to having these foam type pads rub on my ears. Definitely just the pad stretching when I tried removing one side. Still scared of doing it though, I’d really like to keep the factory pads on my KPH30i.
BTW apologies for the misdirect, I meant to ask if it was at all possible to put on the pair of Yaxi pads on my KPH30i then easily try the same pair later on for the KSC75 in a kind of budget way of pad rolling. Which of the two would you guys say will benefit more from the Yaxi pads sound and comfort-wise?
I know the KPH30i probably need them more better of how clampy they are. I do hear that the bass gets a little better with them on the KSC75 though.
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OMG I accidentally found this visual guide specifically to replace (and keep) the KPH30i’s stock foam pads into Yaxi pads:
I was looking into @JDM_WAAAT 's recommendation for a budget dongle DAC and saw the guide related here. I’ll probably use those Apple DACs to replace my on-board 'til I save up for a dedicated desktop dac/amp.
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Ah yes. What I did was I gently pulled the foam off them, then as the tabs began to show, took a pair of pliers and ever so gently popped out the driver and the housing. Popping them back in is pretty simple, and this is certainly a good way to do a pad change without going through the entire re-wiring and soldering process.
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yes the fit with Yaxi pads on the 75´s got way better
so the bass improved a lot, stage got even wider and the highs are better controlled
the Porta Pro did improve, though not as much as the KSC75
the KPH30i beeing my least favorite of all won´t get Yaxi Pads, because of the amount of work I had to put in and I fear breaking it - if there is something, I will break it with the first try 
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i’d suggest trying the yaxi pads on the 75 first as they were originally designed to do so. You could technically fit the yaxi’s that were on the 30i to the 75 but not sure how good the fitment would be. The pads might be too stretched out at that point to get a nice fitment on the 75 after use. Since the 75 and 30i drivers are slightly different its probably going to be hard to distinguish any real sound improvements unless you do some a/b testing with the stock pads. I can note that I enjoyed the sound much more on the 30i when I swapped the yaxi pads on from the stock pads. In terms of comfort I’d say the 30i is more comfortable because the yaxi pads provide more surface area for your ears to rest on.
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After trying Yaxi pads on the ksc for a short while, I think they sounded better overall, a bit more bass and a ton of treble clarity improved for my ears. However, since I only own one pair at the moment, I’ve decided to use them on my 30i since I think they need them more out of the box for primarily the comfort and not necessarily for sound improvement, they do open up the sound a bit like you said. I’ll get a new pair for the ksc when the stock ones break since they’re already comfortable, just needed a bit of adjustment to the clip out of the box.
I’d like to share this guide which allowed me to keep the stock pads and safely opened the 30i without breaking the clips, bent some of the teeth though. Took me a bit of finesse and a guitar pick just so I can still go back to the stock pads or even try on some future pad mod like this Grado G-cush mod for kph30i.
Thanks so much for the tips here, the thread has been extremely helpful! Lovin’ these computer lab lookin’ pair of retro headphones, now with thicc Yaxi pads!
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These links you shared are amazing for anybody looking to mod these things. Thank you so much! Great help and info, enjoy the mods!
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How do you go about cleaning the foam pads/yaxi pads?
These were pretty dark for my taste. Like a warm blanket is over the entire sound. You get used to the sound after a bit but not my go to.
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Can’t wait to hear them. Ordered on Drop but I’ll have to wait til late March/ early April to receive them.
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On Amazon and gray