If you have a chance you might want to try out the Campfire Audio Cascades. Awesome closed-back with lots of bass and a great sound. I bought the TH-610’s and even did the Lawton driver mod, but still didn’t love them. I was hesitant to start dumping more money into them for Beautiful Lawton cups.
As always, it all comes down to personal preference, but the Cascades are AMAZING, to me.
Cascades are certainly on the list! My biggest problem is the wait times would be around 2 weeks for the UK (everywhere is out of stock currently).
The wait may be worth it though, just the design of them looks stunning to me, and of course the fact they’re complete bass cannons!
I also had to buy blind from more than 4,000Km’s away, but still in Canada.
They are one of the few winners I have had in the hobby. I went through quite a few closed-backs. 
7200 has a lot of bass, quantity, more so than the Fostex series
I owned an X00 for about 3 years, used daily. Got an EMu Teak to replace it last April.
So I had a chance to read some of the reviews here regarding different pads. Main reason for wanting to try new pads was increased comfort.
Ended up going with the Brand Accessories Orion pads with solid sheepskin (similar to Eikon pads AFAIK) and the Dekoni attenuation rings. Here’s my general impressions:
Pros: Bigger soundstage, better imaging, better detail. Tighter bass with better extension, more upper treble, better “air”. More comfortable I think, time will tell, I wish the foam and leather were both a bit softer. The pads that came with my Teak were the Brand House ones with the large L and R that are more similar in shape to the THX00 pads. Those have seemingly nicer leather.
Cons: Recessed mids, slightly veiled. Less “musical”, with the sound being more “dry” and “airy”. To be expected. Can’t expect everything to sound bigger without losing some of its musical density.
Neutral: With the better detail and imaging, I think the Orion pads are more revealing of poorly recorded tracks. The scooped and veiled mids are more apparent on some tracks than others. Sometime it feels as though there is not any problem with the pads, just the actual track itself. Makes the headphones pickier regarding what sounds good. It seems like the Teak now more closely matches descriptions of the TH900 than THX00. Might be good or bad depending on your preferences and existing stable.
Overall a pretty good upgrade for “audiophiles” IMO. The pads and attenuation ring really do change the sound in an obvious way. They seem more “accurate” now, but less musical.
Did some gaming (non-competitive) and listened to a variety of jazz, electronic, classical, acoustic, and pop music last night to come to these conclusions. They will be staying on for a while, but I’ll definitely re-evaluate the old pads after spending more time with these.
Welcome to HFGF!
Thanks for posting your impressions of the different pads. Nice write-up!
Thanks! Hoping others might be able to chime in and say whether or not they’ve had similar or different experiences. I didn’t do any rapid A/B testing, but the differences were immediately apparent.
What you said is about the same as my experience. The only thing I can add it that I find the real ZMF pads to sound better than the accessory house orion pads. Something about the bass was wonky to me with the Orion pads that the Ori pads don’t have trouble with. Also the ZMF pads have a better overall fit and finnish imo.
If you want pads that sound pretty close to stock (I actually liked them better but ymmv) maybe try the dekoni X00 sheepskin pads. They don’t reduce the mids as much as bigger pads like the Orion and Ori but are much more comfortable than stock and still sound great. Something to consider though is the dekoni pads didn’t work well after installing Lawton cups. They just sounded congested band muffled when compared to the Ori pads.
Thanks for the feedback. I think my Teak came with the dekoni sheepskin. That’s what the drop website said, but the pads look just like the brand accessory ones. Maybe they make pads for dekoni?
I’ll be switching back to the stock pads this weekend to see how they are since I’ve already had a pod amount of time with the Orion. Not sure, but I think I do prefer the stock pads overall, as I think the midrange is much better with them and comfort is about the same.
Hello,
You have to be careful.
When I converted my Th x00 Mahogany to Emu Ebony cups I had the Dekoni ring with Ahg pads on it and it didn’t fit properly.
On the rebuilt D2000 with the Emu Rosewood cups with Dekoni rings and Ahg pads, it fit right away.
I still have a set of Dekoni pads here that totally disappointed me. they did tame the treble on the mahogany cups, but the rest was total rubbish.
To save you unnecessary pad rolling costs it would be good to describe the current sound of your configuration and what you are aiming for.
And whether you have the Lawton Mod kit stage 1 installed, that also makes a bit of a difference if you don’t have it.
If the Teak is an improved Denon D5000, as I once heard from a user, then you should stick with leather/imitation leather and definitely use the Dekoni rings.
I bought the Yaxi Alcantara pads for the Ebony Mod and tried them with and without the rings and the result was shocking.
@a_coconut also wrote a very good review somewhere about pads he had tested.
That should improve your choice a little.
I would also keep an eye on Yaxi Leather, or at least have a look at their site.
They are a bit narrower than the Ahg for example and should be able to offer you more closeness in all areas.
The Teak is between the Ebony and Rosewood in terms of order.
How does the campfire audio cascade compare with the th-900, does anyone have experience with these two? I know it’s impossible to judge the ability of headphones from an eq graph but does anyone have a comparison between these two? I haven’t been able to find anything online unfortunately.
Can you elaborate a little bit more about the Yaxi leather pads? Did you try them on your X00?
Hello,
So with the Ahg pads after Ebony Mod it was so that the treble was better than the mahogany.but still somewhat pronounced.
The mids were a bit washed out and the bass too far away.
I have seen by chance when googling pads.
And went on the basis of this link here after the table where the pads has cleared up.
And compared the current sound signature to where Yaxi stated.
Wenn du die vergleichst siehst du das Alacantara leicht über dem Leder ist.
Without wanting to go into great detail.
The Ebony wood is denser and harder from the wood type.
Why that has not worked with the Ahg pads is because they were too thick.that is, by the thickness of the pads have more distance to the ear.that’s why much sounded washed out and not rich enough.
With rosewood, the wood is softer and less dense.
If the pads were thinner there it would be too much.
That’s why the Ahg fits better.
So exactly the other way around.
Since the walnut is in between Ebony and Rosewood
I would say that the pads must be thinner because the wood density is harder than rosewood.
If you think that the emu could be a bit thicker, I would take the Alcantara and use the Dekoni rings.
The leathers change the signature mainly in the treble because many say that they find the Th900 great but to them is too pointed.
The leathers are kept pretty close to the stock pads but offer the better comfort.
The stock pads are very good but the comfort is not good is but all Fostex headphones so.
And Yaxi has raised in the table their data no questions after purchase.
They were exactly as specified, at least that was my impression.
In summary, if you want to keep the signature of the Emu, go for the leather, if you want to add a little extra, go for the Alcantara.
I would in any case install the pads with rings and once without, so you have a comparison.
With the Yaxipad you just have to watch out that you install the something different.Somewhere is a description.
The seam in the middle comes up instead of in the middle to the screw where the earpiece is fixed.
RME Roon Streamdeck by Hilton, on Flickr
RME Roon Streamdeck by Hilton, on Flickr
RME Roon Streamdeck by Hilton, on Flickr
Looks pretty 
Very nice! Although with vaulted ceilings and a large window it looks like more of a Man Cathedral 
It is a bit… It’s actually nick named the Man Penthouse - top 3rd floor of the house with a beautiful 180 degree outlook on the rainforest backyard with full windows down one side and another balcony overlooking KOI pond and courtyard on the other. I know how lucky i am!
20201216_144236 by Hilton, on Flickr
Rainforest view by Hilton, on Flickr
Walkaround of the room when I first moved in and setup (click on pic to go to flickr and play a quick video tour)
Video tour by Hilton, on Flickr
I just ordered some Teaks directly from EM-U. I was originally going to get TH900s but my order, which was a sale that included a wonderful financing setup, fell apart due to Guitar Center not planning to order any more of that model. Frustrating for sure, but after a bunch of research into the Teaks and how much people like them (many prefer them to the 900s) I’m actually thinking this may have worked out for the best. With the money saved I’ll probably end up doing a Lawton mod down the line, though I’d like to give them a real go in their stock form first.
Now I just have to wait for idk how long. =(
Hello,
No, don’t be disappointed.
It was the right decision.
Emu has managed to give the drivers a touch without being annoying in any area.
The Th 900 is slightly too shrill in the Leak and has already been criticised.
Above all, it doesn’t justify the price.
That’s why the choice with the Teak is the right one and, as already mentioned, you can go one better with the Lawton mod.
The cups I ordered from Emu were delivered from Singapore to Germany within a week.
Have fun with the Emu Teak.
Give it at least 20-30 hours of break-in time before you commit.
My Fostex Tr x00 needed that too.
After 100 hours, however, nothing will happen.
