DeeKay10
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2010
- Posts
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A while ago I was looking into replacing the not-too-comfortable SRH440 ear pads with something more appropriate, like the 840's or the 940's velour pads, which I read good opinions about. Figuring bigger is better, I tried searching the forum (and Google) for how the 1440 or 1840's pads would fare, but didn't find anything.
So, since all the replacement pads are priced practically the same, I went ahead and bought a pair of 1840's pads.
The good news is that, physically, they are a prefect match. In fact, they are even easier to insert than the originals. As far as comfort goes, it's evident why these ship with the open-back top models - they're big, soft and take away the acknowledgement of having leather around your ears (instead averting your attention to the 440's poorly-padded headband).
The bad news is what they do to the sound: Firstly, the moderate isolation the SRH440 offer is nearly gone with these on and I doubt they could be used outside of home comfortably. Secondly, due to that isolation factor and the fact the 1840's pads are thicker than the 440's, the ears are now further away from the drivers, so both the lows and highs sound weaker. They're still there, but not as audible.
Lastly, and that's pretty much what kills the deal, is that the 1840's pads mesh is thicker, which along with the prior, makes the music sound muffled and overall destroys the musicality.
I thought I'll post about the experience to help people that encounter threads like this - http://www.head-fi.org/t/458545/shure-srh440-impression/210#post_7952767 - and want to try to mod their SRH440s (the HD600 headband seems just right).
I'm going to get a pair of 940's pads later and I'll update this post whether I encounter similar symptoms.
Update: Impressions of the 940's pads updated at the bottom of the page.
So, since all the replacement pads are priced practically the same, I went ahead and bought a pair of 1840's pads.
The good news is that, physically, they are a prefect match. In fact, they are even easier to insert than the originals. As far as comfort goes, it's evident why these ship with the open-back top models - they're big, soft and take away the acknowledgement of having leather around your ears (instead averting your attention to the 440's poorly-padded headband).
The bad news is what they do to the sound: Firstly, the moderate isolation the SRH440 offer is nearly gone with these on and I doubt they could be used outside of home comfortably. Secondly, due to that isolation factor and the fact the 1840's pads are thicker than the 440's, the ears are now further away from the drivers, so both the lows and highs sound weaker. They're still there, but not as audible.
Lastly, and that's pretty much what kills the deal, is that the 1840's pads mesh is thicker, which along with the prior, makes the music sound muffled and overall destroys the musicality.
I thought I'll post about the experience to help people that encounter threads like this - http://www.head-fi.org/t/458545/shure-srh440-impression/210#post_7952767 - and want to try to mod their SRH440s (the HD600 headband seems just right).
I'm going to get a pair of 940's pads later and I'll update this post whether I encounter similar symptoms.
Update: Impressions of the 940's pads updated at the bottom of the page.
), but I'll look into it.
