(update in progress) Falenkor's Competitive Headphone Write Up. Now with added Hardware explanations!

Gaming Audio Competitive
956

That was my first thought honestly since the clamp on sennheisers is already pretty skull crushing lol.

It really just depends in my opinion when it comes to Sennheiser specifically since I can’t really recommend 650/6xx due to it’s 3 blob imaging and 600 isn’t that great about it either. From my experience the best sennheisers are the 560s, 58x, and 660s. Though I agree on the 560s in terms of competitive gaming vs the 660s with you here, I think my takeaway there though is the lack of pad swaps on it like this. To my knowledge, pads designed for the 600 series can’t be used on the 560s… now I know that modhouse makes an adapter ring of sorts, but I am not sure if this will work to allow attachment of the pads… let alone which of those adapter rings, made more so since they never seem to respond to emails. Less someone has some info on this… may try to fit them anyway. My largest complaint about 560s is that my ears rub the inside portion that sticks out from the speaker seen in the picture as example, and the pads squeeze my ears a bit so I was searching for something a bit more spacious if possible

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I find this with most of the pads that the bass just feels overly bloated with them so I use them casually not for competitives

the pads are expected by Friday, so we will see how they perform for sure.

957

Sadly they dont fit, i tried it, the HD6… pads are a bit bigger if I remember correctly.

I can understand that, i had the same problem with the HD599, but I dont have it with the HD560s. The HD560s doesnt have the pads of the HD599, the HD560s actually uses the pads of the HD559, which are a bit firmer than the ones on the HD599. This little bit more firmness is actually enough to keep my ears away from that plastic thing that sticks out.

958

Going to test a small theory that may work, I went ahead and ordered the pad adapters for the HD 559 and others from modhouse. I want to see if that lip it offers will allow me to connect the pads from ZMF and see how they perform… I won’t bother with others since other pads notoriously just destroy sennheisers sound to begin with. Really that’s my biggest complaint to the 560s is while I love the sound and the larger stage it offers, the design and build quality imo leaves more to be desired. I can’t pad swap it well and the headband is also different compared to newer models so I cant make use of my dekoni headband. Seeing how this is the older headband I already know from experience that this headband is going to go flat in maybe a year for the 560s same problem as their pads which degrade after around 3 months and the sound starts to teeter

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959

Yeah, it feels really cheap. I would have happenly paid a bit more to get the same sound out of a HD6… chassis. At least all that plastic makes it also really lightweight.

Im using my HD560s now for 1,5 years quite regulary. I dont really feel like its flattening faster than other models, its still quite comfortable to wear for me. But I also should get some new padding soon, often its quite hard to notice how much a pad actually compressed until you see a brand new pad right next to it.

With Beyer-Models i noticed the pad flattening way more, they were noticably flatter after a few months. It was tolerable with the DT1990s for me, but with the DT880s it was actually quite bad, because it has additional felt in front of the driver which my ears will make contact with. The Tygrs were even worse for me tho, that material of that new foam disc really drives me crazy.

960

They seem to use a different kind of velour pad for 1990 and T1 as those have held up all this time for me meanwhile the 880s and 770s here are definitely not holding up… Tygrs especially don’t seem to hold up either. They seem to need replaced yearly, which is a bit bothersome if you ask me. It would be really nice if this ZMF pad turns out exceptional to not change the sound all that much since their pads are likely to last a hell of a lot longer

I mean, personally I am a bit annoyed that the headband is not just different but glued on there instead so its specially designed instead of a wrap or the design of the 6-- series with the clasps. It leaves room for failure at that point and I have seen several complaints of weak adhesive for the hd 560s. Agreed that I would have preferred the other chassis from the 6 series in comparison even at a slightly higher price point

961

It definitely is.

Personally, that doesnt really bother me. I prefer this glued on pads over a full leather headband like the HD599 has it. I made the expierence that leather headbands will kinda dissolve after some time and start flaking off, it hasn´t happen to my HD599, but i also hardly used them. My ATH-M50x was looking totally destroyed after 2 years, Beyerdynamic also seems to suffer from this, look at the pics from Igors Custom Studio, its disgusting. At least with Beyer you can easily replace the headband, but with the M50x you will have to replace everything (which isnt that easy), its not possible to just replace the padding.

The glued on pads are still quite easily replaceable, you are not even reliant on sennheisers (in the moment quite badly available) replacement parts, it should be easy to find a 3rd party pad to stick in there. I would probably just put some velcroe tape on it, then get a (third party) HD6xx headband replacement, stick the other side of the velcroe tape on the plastic part of the HD6xx pad and i guess it should hold up fine.

I recently saw this post on r/headphones, there seems to be a silent revision of the HD560s padding, it seems to use the PC38xs headband padding now.

Some guys also claim the earpads are different now which makes them also sound different. Question is if that different sound comes really from new earpads, or just from comparing the new pad to a used pad (which we know changes the sound), or it it is just “normal” unit to unit variaton.

In general, unit variation is often a thing we forget when discussing headphones. Especially the old Beyerdynamic drivers which are in the DT770, DT880, DT990 and Tygrs have quite a big unit to unit variation. Oratory published some measurements of the DT770,

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So not are we only hearing differently already, the headphones are actually sounding quite differently too. The big unit to unit variation on the Beyer models also seems to more important than which impedance you get. So you could get a 32 Ohm that sounds better than a 600 Ohm, or a 600 Ohm that sounds better than a 32 Ohm, its just luck.

962

I only experience this with awful leatherette materials and is why I never bother keeping that material around… if it’s real leather I have zero issues with them but usually real leather has to be a custom order from another company like ZMF or Dekoni.

I mean, pretty much… I can modify it to make use of the dekoni headband as technically they are of the same size it’s just a difference of adhesive vs clasps.

Likely either placebo or used vs new imo

That in itself is troubling because that means you can be recommended this fantastic headphone but for them they could get this awful sounding variation compared to yours having them sound completely different.

963

Got the pads in, still sitting with them… not sure how I feel about them yet to be honest lol. I think a nitpick would be the beyers back of the pad has too much leather to wrap around the cup so the excess kinda sticks out. 660s seem louder and more forward but a touch more in terms of space. As for my T1, not sure where to put my finger on it but it changed something need to sit with them longer. The pads though remind me of Focals actually, which are quite nice

964

For some clarification honestly I don’t see a huge difference between the 560s vs the 660s as one being immensely better than the other as they are good in their own rights. 560s is naturally brighter but can appear thin at the same time sibilant meanwhile the 660s has more roll off in it’s treble and can appear warm/dark which may also be a deal breaker. 560s has a closer driver and it’s curved with larger soundstage for me my ears rub on the edge of the driver which is outright annoying… there is no fix for this as the pads can’t push my ears far enough from that driver to keep from the rubbing feeling. Meanwhile the 660s has the largest soundstage of the 600 series and is the more refined headphone with the best imaging in that lineup. 560s is also built quite cheap being in the cheaper build lineup of the 5 series so as far as build materials go 660s has it beat hands down. Comfort is questionable… 560s is lighter but the drivers too close imo meanwhile 660s is heavy and has a lot more clamp. Both imaging are completely exceptional… it’s really a purely preference pick both work exceptionally well in FPS with the 560s edging out simply due to treble and a larger stage however, 660s responds to EQ just fine so we can rule out treble and simple go by soundstage. Keep in mind the 660s however, is more mod friendly for it’s headband and now pads thanks to ZMF(which these pads are quite nice I admit and do increase the stage of the 660 a bit more but the sound changes a bit). If I had to choose 560s or 660s for musicality I would likely go with 660s for it’s well bodied sound since I am not a fan of the thinner brighter presentation of the 560s… I have beyers that do that better imo when it comes to treble presence in a headphone

As far as these pads are concerned, I don’t notice much change to the signature… it’s still maintaining it’s key traits just adding air for the most part. The 660s became a bit more forward actually from using the pads compared to it’s usual laid back nature and gained slightly more space from the somewhat thicker pads overall I think these pads are a good addition if you want something a little different and a bit more space but the change in sound being slightly different could throw you off a little. As for the beyers, I noticed virtually no difference outside and ever so slight change in the treble presence(less treble actually but marginal) but it caused a weird presence in the mids can’t place my finger on it just yet…

965

Do you still have the DT1990 and give your opinion of the pads with them? For the sheepskin variant there is at least some info to be found but not so for the suede.

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966

Sure do, give me a couple days to actually sit with them and do some A/B testing. Though, if I am being quite honest these pads seem to be easily closer to the stock sound than that of the Dekoni Velour on the other beyers I have thrown them on so that right there is a solid improvement it’s just that the pads are quite pricey.

967

Before anybody asks, yes… I already have the new modmic Kimura on the way as it interests me being a microphone that can attach to other IEMS I want to test it’s sound quality as that can be a rather large game changer to some people depending on how it sounds and performs. Kimura DUO comes with IEMS as well which is what is coming in.

Also I have the new Meze 109 Pro coming in this week for a trial run

968

Thanks for that.
I really prefer the A-pads from Beyerdynamic, so the Dekonis that i tested sounded wrong. Not as clean as the Analytical pads or as fun as the Balanced ones, its really hard to describe for me.

969

Have you tried the Kinera Gramr? If so could you give your words on those compared when you get the Kimura.

970

For the most part, IEMS are a grey area to me since the market is so heavily over inflated… this makes it exceedingly difficult to pin down what is good and what is not to begin with.

The last one of these I tried was an Ethos MkIII as well as I forget it’s name brand but it was one of the headset IEMS and both were just kinda… decent if anything, nothing really to write home about. I have placed a personal order for the Kinera here since you brought it up and will sit down for some A/B testing later. They are both roughly the same price and both can be either 2 pin or MMCX… however, looking at the two I would say it looks as though Kinera will have better wire quality.

971

You are a saint! Looking forward to hear your thoughts.
I have had the Gramr in the my cart for a few weeks now - and had not seen the Antlion one.

Also saw this; (1) HiditionGaming Thread | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org when we are down the IEM/Boom Mic route

972

hmm, sketchy site… was originally on kickstarter and kickstarter still claims its going yet the dates are not updated at all, no mention of any forms of return policies this quote •Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. is a bit of a red flag for me… Essentially stating they could lie about alot but they are not liable for any inaccuracies or issues. By simply going to their website they now have traced my name and email address which now I will likely receive spam laughably enough, it launched a year ago and didn’t make any waves at all

they seem to have a good tuning but so does many IEMS, I am a bit concerned about the 8k-10k peak there as that is quite the jump. I would be very skeptical about even obtaining this one due to the conflicting factors above… maybe if they actually make it more available, but I am not one to pick up a kickstarter item and sell it after

also IEMS like this have a built in mic, which does take away the factor of being able to walk around with them if people so choose to do so with their audio, the build quality just looks cheap on this and doesn’t really scream confidence in terms of quality or performance, none the less I will keep an eye on it in the event it may become more available

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973

So, I sat with both kinera and kimura and I definitely have some things to say

As far as the mics go both aren’t too bad imo but let me get a bit into them

Presentation wise the antlion leaves a lot to be desired… it screams cheap to me and like they cut some corners. Where something like modmic itself is released in a nice leather case all in one very nicely packaged this comes with a plastic tray weirdly assembled with a small circular pouch underneath that tray, however the items in the tray(extra ear tips and 1 pair of foam, an adapter for the plugs) are loose so if you bump or pick up the tray carelessly they can fall out. The circular pouch in the back only held a coil of the wire for the IEMS which is honestly the strangest packaging to me and I really think they need to go back to the drawing board on that one as this does not say quality product.

as for the Kinera Gramr’s presentation, its an easy open box with everything packaged quite nicely, The box opens up to a sheet of foam where the mic and it’s adapters rest inside neatly with a pull tab to reveal a leather pouch where you find a very nice custom style cable and some pop filters. Overall this is fairly simplistic but works fine. I think if antlion would actually package their new IEMS within that pouch of some sort or redesign the holding case itself… I would agree a lot more with it, but the pouch can’t hold the mic so it just felt a bit redundant.

Microphone quality outside of being a bit warm I would have to say the antlion itself feels a bit shorter and unwieldy… its rather stiff on top of it. The mic itself on the antlion runs a bit hot as well and had some ever slight compression on my end meanwhile Kinera I didn’t experience those problems… however Kinera sounded warmer by comparison adding more bass to my voice rather than producing a more natural tone, in this regard I would say that the antlion is the clearer more natural microphone. Both actually sound better than the Ethos by a very large margin I can’t really complain about their sound quality but I will notably say that the modmic wireless has a better sound quality than these two as a comparison

Comfort & Cables. Sorry but I won’t excuse Antlion for this one lol… I hate the cables for the Kimura entirely they feel cheap, too thick and unwieldly, and the connection that wraps around the ear just is uncomfortable on top of the mic side slightly pulling the iem from my ear due to it’s strange weight and design overall. It’s your standard black cabling they should have used a thinner IEM cable like Gramr did here. Gramr for me is extremely comfortable and I barely feel the cable that is around my ear at all, it’s more like a custom cable and I will give them some props for this overall I think Gramr wins hands down here in my opinion. Now mind you some people may prefer the stiffer cable approach from the Antlion since the Gramr’s cable is a lot more floaty and lighter which may make it a bit harder for use.

If I had to pick between these two… despite the slightly warmer presentation I would go with Kinera Gramr as I found them more comfortable, easier to use, better presentation and packaging and since it’s been around longer you can likely find one 3rd party for much cheaper

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974

As always great write up! Then I will stick with my first though of the Gramr sounds like the better deal even with the varmer presentation.

975

The treble ever so slightly gets dialed back but overall seems to be keeping a good neutral bright signature to the headphone. Treble noticeably is lower, there’s a soundstage increase by a good margin based on width, sub bass sounds ever so slightly different slightly higher than analytical pads but its quite marginal. However, I can’t at all say this ruined the stock sound signature as the changes are barely different to my ears outside of that rather large change to the air and soundstage it’s like taking the original sound signature and putting it inside of a larger room or more from a set of speakers in this case. Topped off with my ears definitely are not touching the drivers the pads are extremely comfortable and breathe just fine, I would not encourage these pads on the closed backs since they seem to fit better towards open backs of course you can get leather or something instead for those. If it wasn’t for the perforation on these pads it would likely increase the bass on the 1990 fairly dramatically much like what the dekoni suedes do. I will note that mids seem still quite energetic and loud the headphone is still maintaining that analytical nature where it will rip apart my bad soundtracks. These pads however, will not fit within the pad adapter system that is on the DT 1990 here and also seen on the new T1 3rd gen but the pads very easily fit around the headphone since it has so much excess leather for the lip of the pad it took me maybe a second to throw these on compared to the bit of struggle you get out of the stock pads since you have to use it’s adapter system. I would happily recommend these over dekoni elite velour if you want to keep that stock sound a bit more but I will also say that if you wanted that more V shape on a thicker pad I got that experience more so from the 1990 and dekonis hybrid pads.

I can also compliment them on the pads for the 6xx/660 etc as they do perfectly well with those headphones as well and honestly I found them more comfortable for the sennheisers… the again added space in the sound was a much needed change and I found them to be a big upgrade on the 660s curious how they will perform for the new 660s2