Ratty Headphones into Radioactive Waste - Vesper Audio and my Oppo PM-3s

[RetroRomper]

I've owned my Oppo PM-3s for at least six or seven years and I've used them kindly, but heavily: think I've had them since Berkeley in 2014 when I picked them up at a favorable price for what are a $400 pair of cans (I paid less than half that, oh the days of having money.) Their sound has been described as analytical, neutral, and natural in a form that doesn't add any additional "sparkle" or "sound" to music.

People have bashed on them either way (especially when they came out against the Audeze Sines, which had a more "fun" sound) but I've enjoyed them and have experienced pre-recorded music in ways that only a top of the line Stax or Electrostatic headphones have outdone in spades.

They have one erratically, awful, humongous flaw: the material the earpads and headphones are made out of are terrible & I can't imagine how cheap even though replacements have cost me $40 each and I was dumb enough to have Oppo refurbish the headband for me. Let us review how my pair currently looks (as of a few hours ago):



Third pair of earpads and second headband, the material of which is so cheap that it has become paper thin and unseemly, best described as "ratty" and the white flakes are a normal detail of my shirts and even furniture I sit on. However, there is a solution! Throw money at them:



A company from Ukraine sells custom made leather earpads & bands for far less than I paid for my three sets from Oppo directly and after HapticAnimal bought a custom pair for her Audeze Sines, I decided to take the plunge because at this stage they're unusable (the padding is so awful that my ears smoosh into the actual underlying components and the feel that wearing them brings, pushes my head towards a migraine)

What I discovered upon contacting them, was that they provided properly dyed and furnished leather in multiple colors! After a bit of thought and sketching out ideas while so high I don't actually remember the day before and after brainstorming these, I decided on this color scheme / material:




"Of course Retro would buy the radioactive colors! Plus actually wear them in public..." is what you are surely thinking. However, these colors were picked AFTER seeing examples of the leather which do not correspond to the bright shades of insanity (sadly) that I've sketched above. With another two or three weeks until my order is complete and sent me way, I'm going to keep exactly how the leather looks a surprise as I'm sure it will delight even me.

Excelsior!

[AArdvark]

Daym, I thought fifty bucks was on the steep side for a pair of headphones. Can you really hear the difference between nuetral and fun? The tinnitus I am developing really cuts down on teh quality factor.

THE
DOOOOOOO!
AARDVARK

[The Happiness Engine]

What kind of drivers do they use? I've been rocking a pair of Sennhesier HD500s for decades now. They could do with some replacement earpads.

[RetroRomper]

What kind of drivers do they use? I've been rocking a pair of Sennhesier HD500s for decades now. They could do with some replacement earpads.

The Oppo PM-3s and Audeze Sines were part of a short experiment in portable planar headphones: low ohm, low power ratings (suspiciously so for Planar drivers which are notoriously power hungry) and both have folding / closing mechanisms to make them easier to carry. If your HD500s are rocking still, ya, I'd say it'd be worth putting money into a "will likely be buried with you" set of earpads for it.

Vesper Audio has some examples on their website of Sennheiser earpads replacements (but they can professionally make earpads for 99.9% of headphones out there:

https://vesperaudio.com/earpads?brand=34



Before I post their price list for the options they offer, I bluntly asked about the best options for longevity and sizing and they were kind enough to answer:

1. Real leather and memory foam are the best for longevity. It's sound is closest to oem. Perforation (on leather, inner cavity) also recommended. Rest really depend on one's taste and purposes. Unfortunately there is no set that is ideal for everyone.

2. If you feel stock pads are comfortable for you it is better to stick to it's dimensions. There is no manual on how to confirm this, sorry.

Handcrafted custom earpads, over-ear type, whole genuine leather, hybrid or whole microsuede(vegan), not angled, fast foam, are 50 euro/pair. (~56.4 usd). Payment via paypal (goods/services type).
You can order standart or any custom thickness/angle/opening.

We offer:
Real leather - black, emerald ink, dark-grey, red, coral, dark brown, brown, orange, blue, dark blue, beige, purple, and perforated black
Alcantara - black 8 euro extra, blue, beige, burgundy alcantara - no extra
Perforated\regular black microsuede - no extra,
Brown, grey microsuede - no extra
Black longpiled microsuede (extrasoft) - no extra
Real black suede (chamois) - 4 euro extra, brown - 8 euro extra
Velour - black, brown, grey, pastel green - no extra
Memory foam - 3 euro extra
Angled pads - 5 euro extra
Additional gel cooling - 8 euro extra
Air priority tracked mail - 7 euro.

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To completely drench you in information, here are the color examples they sent me:

Emerald Ink


Coral


Stock earpads for the Oppo PM-3 were $40 each and brainwavz can run from $11 - $70, but for something that directly touches you and is the deal breaker between pain and pleasure for something you've kept taken care of for years and years? The price is really quite good (much less when you factor in the rest of the insanity the Audiophile World pays for cables, DACs, Amps, etc.)