itâs interesting thatâŠwhat did Sennheiser do so that putting other pads on ruins the sound profile while others benefit to the extreme?
Iâve heard what MadGman speaks of about Sennheiser pad rolling, I have no problems with the Pads on my 660âs, comfy as fcuk and sound greatâŠBut this does lead to think why do headphones manufactures spend mucho 
to perfect a driver and the ascetics of a new headphone only to slap on a shite pair of pads?..in some cases necessitating a $30-50 investment to rectify long term comfort and sonic improvements, obviously thatâs a personal thing but it does seem to happen regularly?
Not necessarily, you just have to know what your doing and what you want. It is tricky with Sennheiser cans for sure though, for example a pad swap on the 6xx ruined them for me, but with the right mods a pad change on the 58x was godlyâŠ
Some focal cans are super dependant on their pads for their sound, so much so that it really makes them sound terrible if they arenât stock pads. They really put in time designing the pad to contribute to the sound
Hello, Everyone
I just purchased my first real audio set up and have a few questions after weeks of comparisons. I found a new in an open box pair of HD 660s for 350$ on amazon and paired them with the Monolith portable THX AAA. They should be in within the week. I needed a portable/desk solution since I travel a lot and would like to be able to enjoy my music anywhere I go. I firstly found a pair of new HD 600âs on amazon for an amazing sale price of 210$ but the seller delayed the order twice over two weeks and it was very sketchy so i cancelled the order. âI wanted to have both come in to test them side by sideâ
Main concerns with the HD 660s only being 150ohm is there a threshold of scaling I would experience with higher volumes limiting it compacted to the HD 600âs. âYes I do understand the power draw is almost identical to each otherâ
Use case for the headphones would be primarily for music but also for gaming. I do play competitively for a ranked team. âWhy I was leaning into the HD 660s over the HD 600âsâ TIDAL will be used for my media source until I build up my library of physical copies.
I do plan on purchasing a set of hart audio cables with the interconnect kit. Also, I was wondering about how well the fenestrated sheepskin pads from Dekoni would keep the original sound signature for the HD 660s.
Thank you for your opinions and comments.I really havenât heard any aftermarket pads that didnât change the sound, so if you want to preserve the stock sound signature, donât change them
The 600 and 660s are pretty different from each other (personally I think you made the right choice from what you described) and I wouldnât worry about the whole volume thing
Any chance you have an opinion about the Monolith THX AAA compared to the new Q5s with the THX AAA module besides the Q5s being 100$ more on amazon. The main difference for my needs would be the fact is has balanced and THX AAA. I donât very much care for the Bluetooth but it is something I might use in the future depending on needs.
Also since iâm using TIDAL as my source and would like to listen to MQA files would it be advantageous of me to also download and use USB Audio Player PRO.
So the q5s with the thx module would be about 500USD so I think it would be a decent bit more than the monolith. So I do think the q5s with the thx module is the better amp and dac with more features and power (and better sound of course) using balanced or not. UAPP is pretty dang nice, my go to music player.
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The Q5s is only 399.99$ USD with the THX AAA module currently on amazon US. For only a 100$ difference I am more than willing to spend the upfront cost for a better device in the long run. Since I have the means to return the monolith THX AAA I might go ahead and pair it with the HD 660sâs.
My bad, I didnât see it was on amazon, yeah I would say for the long run, if you have the budget, the q5s would personally be my pick
You have mentioned more power from the Q5s is that due to the balanced connection or the unit itself will support a higher threshold of power output. I will be pulling the trigger and purchasing it once we finish this exchange.
Compared to the regular q5s, the thx amp will output more power balanced, but less power unbalanced compared to the regular q5s
Thank you for your responses and helping me make this decision easier. You have helped me change my mind that the Q5s would be a better all around unit for the HD 660sâs given they come with a 4.4 balanced cable in the box. So final consensus is Q5s THX > Monolith portable THX for the HD 660s.
That would be what I would go with
This honestly cleared up a lot of things for me to be honest. I wanted balanced from the start and was torn that the Monolith did not have it but it did have THX AAA. I have also read that the Monolith does have some noise due to manufacturing. âperceived or notâ Again thank you for the insight. Long time creeper first time poster.
The other main difference I can see is the Q5s does not support MQA. Kind of a bummer but would it really be that noticeable since THX AAA + Balanced.
I am not the best person to ask about mqa since I prefer a true lossless file sound wise, a bit biased there lol
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If you do not mind explaining your reasoning for this. Also to be truthful even without MQA TIDAL still supports the best streaming audio file format for my needs without going out and buying every single CD.
Compared to playing the same master through a lossless cd quality flac, and tidal mqa, the cd sounds better on higher end setups to me. Both have the apparent detail, but with the flac I notice a better ability to recreate the space where mqa suffers in that aspect for me. Kinda nitpicking at that point. If I had to use a streaming service, it would most likely be Amazon Music HD or qobuz
As we were talking about file formats and streaming services since I have this free 3 month trial of TIDAL I will be testing out their HiFi lossless audio ânon MQAâ with the USBAPP app since it seams to have a good implantation for TIDAL. I can not find much information on the Amazon Music HD app at the moment and feel it is a bit early considering it was just announced months ago. Hopefully by the time my trial is over or I find better information that will change.
Mainly if and how well it will work with the USBAPP app and how well it works with the Q5s with the respective file formats and bit rates from the Amazon app.
Also when can I stop by and import your music file library kkthx 
You might need more storage space than you expect if you want to do that lol