Today we will take a look at Upgrade your headphones! Dekoni Elite Velour ear pads for Audio-Technica ATH-AD series headphones that includes ATH-AD700X, ATH-AD900X, ATH-AD1000X, ATH-AD2000X and ATH-AD5000X. The ear pads for today’s episode were kindly provided by Dekoni Audio in exchange for my honest review. I’m not paid to say anything in particular about this product and all thoughts and opinions in today’s episode are my own.
Dekoni makes great ear pads for full-size headphones, and I was really excited to test their ear pads on my Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X that needed its ear pads replaced. The ear pads arrive in a stylish square box, inside the box we have a pair of ear pads, a Dekoni sticker and a thank you card.
Dekoni Elite Velour ear pads as the name says are made of velour and the pads are 110 mm in diameter, the inner cut of the ear pad is 55 mm and the height of the ear pad is 20 mm. Original pads in comparison are almost the same size, but Dekoni pads are more uniform and dense.
Dekoni has spent a lot of time developing and refining their velour ear pads. They use a tighter velour to create an ear pad that behaves more like conventional leather, but at the same time preserving the velour’s comfort. This helps to maintain the sound isolation and bass response, both of which are the usual downsides when using typical velour ear pads. Luckily this is not the case with Dekoni’s Elite Velour.
Replacing your headphone ear pads aren’t as complicated as you might think. The ATH-AD series don’t use any glue so the process is straight forward. First lightly pull away a small portion around the outer edge of the old ear pad. Continue working around and pulling away the rest of the headphone pad until it completely comes off the ear cup. Repeat the process for the other side.
When you take the new ear pads from Dekoni, the easy way to tell which one is the left one and which one is the right one is to look at the inside part of the ear pads. The left ear pad has a thin while around the perimeter of the ear pad. Now take the new pad, look for a seam and align this seam to the bottom part of the ear cup.
Then line up one side of the new pad into the plastic groove of the ear cup and I suggest going from the back part of the cup where the plastic is wider. Once you’ve got a portion of the ear pads ring securely in place, continue with the rest of the ear pad by sliding the ring into the groove using your fingers. Then slightly rotate the ear pad to secure the entire ring in its place.In fact, the entire process is quite simple and it took me under 10 minutes from start to finish. The new ear pads fit well, they look great and really compliment my pair of AD700X.
Dekoni Elite Velour ear pad sound impressions
Now let’s talk about the most interesting part – the changes that have been introduced with the ear pads swap. The first thing that I noticed was that the ear pads increased the comfort, and this became even more obvious during my first long listening session with the new pads. The stock ear pads on AD700X are soft too, but comfort of Dekoni’s Elite Velour is in my opinion a step forward. They are cozy and feel so great, that after my first long listening session I didn’t want to take my headphones off.
The second thing is that the bass response of my AD700X improved a bit. Yes, the new replacement ear pads from Dekoni slightly altered the bass response, but in a good way. Those familiar with AD700X know that this is a very lean sounding pair of headphones with a large sound stage. And while some recordings and applications benefit from a tuning like that, for the most part, I had to EQ my pair and give it a slight bass boost. Not that Elite Velour earpads replaced my need to EQ, but now I don’t need to EQ this pair as much as I previously did. Which to me sounds like in a win-win situation.
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Conclusions
I think that Dekoni Elite Velour ear pads are a great upgrade for your Audio Technica AD series headphones. It makes your listening experience more enjoyable, as this pair is more comfortable than the stock ear pads and it also slightly alters the sound in a good way.
Pros:
- Easy to fit
- Very comfortable
- Provide good isolation
- and are reasonably priced
Cons:
- Ear pads slightly alter the bass response which can be a deal breaker for some people
If you are looking for a new ear pads for your ATH-AD series headphones, make sure you check Dekoni Elite Velour ear pads. And that concludes my review for today. If you want to see more content like this consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for future updates. Thank you for joining me, and until next time, goodbye!
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