Reddit mentions of Brainwavz Sheepskin Leather Angled Memory Foam Earpad - Suitable for Large Over The Ear Headphones - AKG, HifiMan, ATH, Philips, Fostex

One of two electrostatic setups:
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(1) Reasonable electrostatic setup.

Stax SRS-3100: Includes an L300 and an SRM 252S. Can be found on eBay such as here or here. Price is ~$650 for the combo.

Aftermarket earpads: Amazon link $49.50

DAC: Schitt Bifrost $400.

Total Price: $1100. Use the extra money on something fun.

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(2) Working man's electrostatic setup. After 5 minutes of searching I am unable to find the SRM-252S amp for sale on its own, and every other electrostatic energizer I'm aware of will put the setup way over budget.

Buy the same L300+SRM 252S combo from before. Can be found on eBay such as here or here. Price is ~$650 for the combo.

Sell the L300 on eBay or /r/AVexchange. A coursery search suggests that your unopened headphones could probably be listed for $350 for a reasonably quick sale, but price as you will.

After the sale, buy an L-300 Limited (identical to an L700) on eBay or wait for one to come up on /r/AVexchange. If there's no luck waiting for either of these, just buy a new L500.


Still need the aftermarket earpads: Amazon link $49.50

Buy whatever DAC fits into the remaining money. If the combo was bought for $650, the L300 was sold for $350, and the L300 Limiteds were bought for $849 per the eBay link, then that puts us $1200 in the hole. This leaves enough room for a $200 DAC, where I'd probably go with a Modi or search for something better in the used market for the same price.

This buy-and-sell setup is a bit convoluted and a lot of people will tell you that you're not doing the headphones "justice" by using a fairly basic energizer/dac setup, but I'd tell you that better headphones on a lesser setup generally sounds better than worse headphones on a better setup.

Yes I would. You could also go with the real leather or angled real leather pads. They both feel very premium. I personally prefer the angled pads, but they look a little silly.

I was considering the Brainwavz Sheepskin Angled Pads found here: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01J53WTUQ
I chose them because people have confirmed they would fit my Denons for sure, they are oval shape. I believe the ZMF Eikon pads are round so they wouldnt be compatible with mine.

Those will likely be just fine - though the Velour will not seal like a faux leather or sheepskin would which will mean a lose in some isolation - but that's personal preference at the end of the day anyhow.

Note that I have had success as an American ordering with my US Amazon account through both the German and UK Amazon sites. You may see if that's an option for you - here's the link.

If you plan to upgrade the pads go for the ATH M40X and upgrade with pleather Brainwavz HM5 replacement pads.

If you want go full bourgeois: sheepskin

Sadly, the ones I liked above are the "pleather" material. I have a few of these myself. The sheepskin ones are even more expensive lol:

https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Angled-Memory/dp/B01J53WTUQ

So funny enough, I was just about to post about the Brainwavz pads - Im looking at getting the angled pads for my HE-400S - I already have the Focus A pads from Hifiman, but the circular earholes are annoying the fuck outta me. I happened to come across these sheepskin pads - are these sonically the same as the HM5 angled pleather pad?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J53WTUQ?psc=1

Or the angled sheepskin version: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01J53WTUQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01J53WTUQ&pd_rd_wg=7V1o3&pd_rd_r=F9QFS2HYF096VVJBNJVA&pd_rd_w=J6pf1

I hear the audio technica m40x with upgraded earpads (https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Angled-Memory/dp/B01J53WTUQ) are pretty decent.

Purchased the Sony WH-1000XM2 and now I'm looking for some bigger replacement earpads for using at home (the stock ones are basically semi-on-ear).
Does someone have experience with the Brainwavz sheepskin or other earpads in combination with Sony / other ANC headphones?
I am concerned about losses in sound quality / noise cancelling and that they won't fit in the case anymore.

Also, would you recommend the angled or even version? The angled ones seem to be geared towards sending the sound "directly" into the ears which sounds nice for music but questionable for everything else. The Sony stock earpads are pretty much even.

Edit: Links for Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Memory-Earpad/dp/B01J53KM32/
https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Sheepskin-Leather-Angled-Memory/dp/B01J53WTUQ/

I'm assuming you're talking about 8323, as I couldn't find anything for 8382.

In the past, Monoprice sold their own upgrade to the pads for $5-10 but I don't see it any more.

Any of the M50x pads work for 8323. Here is a velour one that's not bad, although now we're talking up to $35. You can get cheap potentially crappy ones on eBay for less, but I haven't tried any I could vouch for.

Brainwavz sells some pads, HM5 pads, that I think normally fucking wreck headphones (including the M50x) but actually sound pretty good on the 8323. Get the angled ones. Amazon has the pleather ones for $30 and the sheepskin ones in for $50 right now.