So, I am currently on the search for a particular type of headphone. The only headphone in my collection that’s open back and makes use of sheepskin pads, and doesn’t sound like crap, are the aeons. So, I am curious as to if theres a budget option thats 1. open back 2. makes good use of a form of leather pad, perforated, sheepskin, choice leather, etc even if it means buying and replacing the pads as long as it doesn’t destroy the sound 3. has a Bright or more ideally a V signature since I like bass and 4. Have a wide soundstage with accurate imaging. Budget in the $300 would be the maximum price tag. Detachable cable would be a bonus. I did think of the Superlux headphones but I despise their headband with a passion. It’s possible that I already own a headphone that would be good with a pad swap but not to my knowledge, since I don’t own a ton of replacement pads as it is. Help would be appreciated Usage would be 50/50 music and gaming casually. I thought about swapping my Beyers to leather pads but to my knowledge this ruins the sound
those are bright? i thought the monoprice house sound was darker
Open-back, wide soundstage, accurate imaging.
M650s are bassy, laid-back treble.
Edit:
M600s are really, really laid-back and muddy apparently (so, if you want treble, don’t).
But I don’t have the velour pads. Velour adds treble apparently.
Excellent soundstage too:
So you don’t have the treble but… yes, you have everything else. And they were one sale for 80$. So I had to mention these.
Edit: Soundstage talk starts at 666 seconds 
He doesn’t particularly describe those as a V or bright instead he says they are warm which isn’t particularly what I am looking for unfortunately.
Otherwise, open-back V-shaped… AKG K701s I think.
Never tried but AFAIK they’ve been the “go-to” for gaming for a while.
Have you tried the DT 990s with the Dekoni Choice Leather. With those on, they get more rumble than my MMX 300s, kid you not…
Also, they sound louder, more engaging with the thicker pads. Must be some Dekoni magic…
Yep, thats why I mentioned theres a chance I already own a headphone that may be good with leathers. The 990s were my first beyer and still in my collection though I do not own the choice leather. Interesting as they are already bassy as hell. Do you find them bloated or muddy at all in the low end? How does it respond to the recessed mids? Treble any less or is it sharper? I assume it lost soundstage? Assuming this is for 600 ohms?
hmm? Those don’t make use of leather based pads those are velour and they are more neutral. I own the K7xx which is bassier. here is a frequency comparison.
K612, K701, K702, K712, and K7xx are known well for gamer recommendations especially the k702 however to my knowledge they really only respond well to the Yaxi pads I already have on mine
Hello,
What do think ablut the Sennheiser Hd xx series?
They have sure a great wide Stage.maybe the Bass is not so Powerfull but can be enough for you.
Is not a Magentophone.
One of the drawbacks to sennheiser is actually that they do not have a large wide soundstage to them in comparison to say a dt990, 1990, k702, etc. I own the HD 598, 58x Jubilee, 6xx and the 660 s which I purchased recently. All of them are fairly balanced but they have a moderate to small soundstage that is pretty intimate. Plus the fact they are all very smooth and neutral sounding headphones which is what you normally expect from Sennheisers to my experience with them. HD 598 had the biggest soundstage of them to my ears 660 s is really nice and sounds better however in this particular case it isn’t what I am looking for. Looking for a bright or ideally V signature open back that uses sheepskin,pleather, leather, choice leather, whatever the case may be just some form of leather pads since I like their comfort more though to my experience so far in like 95% of the cases if you use a leather pad on a open back headphone it tends to ruin the sound signature. Sennheisers have a velour pad which isn’t what I am looking for and to my knowledge leathers don’t improve the sound to them nor are they a bright or v shaped headphone.
DMX says NO lol but seriously, these pads do wonders to the bass response. They do bring down mids and treble but doesn’t murder them. Soundstage…that’s a tricky one because the music becomes more engaging and louder but also has more body to it, possibly due to the raised bass. I would say that the pads make the 990s warmer but more musical and fun. And yes I’m using the 600ohm version.
Hmm okay
if you want to go in the direction of V shape then I spontaneously think of Fostex Th 610 or the E mu teak.
And would prefer the e mu teak.
Also because you offer different cups and the amount of upholstery is moderate.
However, the purchase price is just above your budget, but then you have one of the best V shapes by far.
If you want to stay at $ 300.
Would still be to find a Denon D2000 in reasonably good condition, and buy the rosewood cups from Emu. Requires a bit of dexterity. But then you really have a blast as the listener.
Compared to the Fostex Tr x00 mahogany and Denon D7200 it plays on the wall in comparison.
Alternatively, a used Fostex Tr x 00 purpelheart would be difficult to find.
I do plan on trying out the rest of the Dekoni arsenal on the 990s, specifically the Elite Hybrids which seem to, going off the graph, bump up the bass even more than the Choice Leather but do a better job of retaining mids/treble. I’ll report back when my ears explode!
hmm, you have an estimated time when you will be able to do that? Pretty curious. DT 990s are one of my favorite headphones. Odd if it works as to my knowledge no pads really work better than the stock pads for dt 990s dekoni elite velour are the special exception to that rule. I have seen graphs for the 1990 being pad swapped but it wasnt necessarily better however they do become absolute bass cannons
Closed are closed backs
again closed back
again closed backs. Looking for an open back
Don’t make it easy for you 
. Forgot that you were looking half open, sry.
There is a lot of Akg but you can hardly find any positive reports here, if what you find it is users who want an improvement.
Obviously there is something that bothers you or you really only want to go one step further.
I’m not quite sure Audio Technica has a little bit, otherwise Hifiman.
There are also a few Beyerdynamics that are open.
lol thats the problem. There are alternatives of course like akg which is the k7–x series however they all use velour. Beyerdynamic does the same thing and uses velour. I actually don’t like audio technica like at all lol anything I have bought from them feels cheap and flimsy and I just don’t like their sound. Hifiman is a bit of a lucky bag sort of deal due to their absolute horrid quality control however, they also don’t use leather pads they use a Hybrid suede. This is why I said I am having some issues finding a headphone that reacts well to leather based pads while still being open and having a V signature lol.
Hifi dreams swears by the ollo audio s4x. Personally i havent tried it yet but i trust his ears.
Personally i would go for srh1440 padswarped with the srh1540 pads for a more V sound but you would need to get extra pads
those have hybrid pads looks like a mix with velour. named Hybrid Velvet not what I am looking for and thats outside of my budget by a fairly good margin
Interesting idea going with a Shure but again this is outside of the budget. Priced at $300 not including a pad swap also after looking up a frequency not what I am looking for
Should be a week or so, waiting on Amazon…I was surprised too that the Choice Leather worked so well. Initially, I pad swapped the 990s with 770 pads just for kicks and was surprised to get rumble, but at the cost of compressed mids. Then I tried the Choice Leather…and I was ok with it. This was back when I was focused on pad swapping MMX 300s, which are ded to me now btw, but now that I’ve had more time to listen, I’ve come to really like the Dekoni pads on the 990s! I think the extra thickness of the pads might have something to do with Not wrecking the mids/treble, or it could just be Dekoni magic idk…
I also have been looking at the Dekoni graphs and it seriously stumps me how their Elite Hybrid pads manage to get more bass than their Sheepskin. This absolutely turns everything I thought I knew about pads, upside-down…so I have to test whether it’s bull or if Dekoni has somehow learned the arcane art of bass boosting…