Author: OldDude04

I'm an old school car audio basshead that has moved on to headphones as I've gotten older. But I'm still a basshead at heart and need the low low from my setups, whether it is a DAP, IEM or Over Ear headphone.

Adventures in HA-SZ2000 Pad Rolling

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I’ve been using HM5 sheepskin non-angled pads for quite some time on my JVC HA-SZ2000, but I’ve been wanting to try some good angled pads. So I got my hands on a pair of MrSpeakers Alpha Pads, and some ZMF Calfskin Oval pads to compare to my HM5’s. I’m glad I did. The ZMF ovals went on easy enough, were pretty comfortable, and added some nice midrange and treble plus a bit of width to the sound stage. However, they took away a bit too much bass for my liking. Then I put on the Alpha Pads and the game was changed for me. The mids and highs were a drastic improvement, and the SZ had a wide and deep sound stage for the first time. But what made the pads the best choice for me is that no bass was lost at all, I still felt every hit. Plus, they are far and away the most comfortable pads I’ve ever put on the JVC. To sum it up, if you can get your hands on them, try the MrSpeakers Alpa Pads on your SZ2k/1k, you won’t be sorry.

 

HM5 Sheepskin pads

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ZMF Pads

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MrSpeakers Alpha Pads from the back of the JVC

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Old Man Rant #1 – Don’t Fear The EQ

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Ok, every once in a while I’m going to throw up a quick rant about something or another, and this is my first. It’s my god-given-old-man right, lol. I’ll get right to it. I’m sick of reading, hearing, or seeing folks say that “You’re not an audiophile if you EQ your music” or “You’re not listening to the track the way the producer intended”. One reason that is ridiculous is that we the listener have no clue what headphones or speakers the person was using at the time, maybe they had more bass or treble than our headphones or speakers. Maybe, without EQ’ing, we’re not listening to the music the way they intended? We don’t actually know. And, because we’re not buying or listening to our music for the enjoyment of that producer, why should we not EQ it to our tastes? I say we can. I EQ every single headphone I have out of every source I use. I have EQ setups for extra bass, extra highs, raised mids, even for different genres. I enjoy the hell out of my music when it’s EQ’ed. And that is what this rant was about, not to tell you that you absolutely have to EQ, but to tell you it’s 100% ok to EQ your music if that is what you like, without someone telling you that you aren’t doing it right. Music enjoyment is subjective, do you, screw the haters, lol.

/rant

Who is this new old guy?

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In case you’re wondering who the new guy is, I’m OldDude04. Some of you may know me from Head-Fi. I’m just an old school basshead and music lover that started out way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s using car audio in my mini-truck to fill my need for the low end rumble. As I got a bit older and got my own place, I spent silly money on home stereo equipment in my long-term chase for the bass. Then I got married, had some mini me’s and all of a sudden I couldn’t play my stereo cuz babies were sleeping. (They sleep ALL the time, lol) Anyway, long story short, I was forced to find a new way to get my daily helping of bass, and I turned to personal audio. I look forward to sharing some of my thoughts with you guys on IEMs, amps, & headphones, and how they relate to a basshead’s needs.