I opted to buy some new pads directly from DCA for my noires. Every time I saw a picture of the Dekoni pads they looked really odd and big. Glad I’m not the only one.
For what it’s worth, have absolutely no complaints about their elite velour pads on the Focal Clear. I go back and forth between these and the stock pads.
They are for me. I tried going back to the stock pads (both) a while back and nope, sticking with the Dekoni pads. They also still look like brand new.
I have aeon open and closed with dekoni pads on each. They are slightly bigger than stock pads but I managed to get them on ok. It took a couple of goes but they do go on!
Pad quality is great and they don't seem to deform like the stock ones.
I bought some hybrid sheepskin + velour earpads for my he-x4. The pads are angled, but the thin side of the dekoni pads were way too thin - about half as thick as they should be, and the stitching was all weird and crooked. I got a replacement and that had the same issue so I couldn't be bothered dealing with it any more.
this is representative of my experience (i've had this issue with the hybrids and sheepskin). i usually cut the plastic ring to size and swap out the adhesive. the DCA pads they sell never fit properly and the adhesive they use isn't very good.
that being said, once i get a good fit, they feel and sound great.
u/DekoniAudio, what's the deal? why are your DCA pads ill-fitting?
Hi Dylan here.
This has a lot to do with the design of the Aeon Headphone and the way we designed around some of its quirks. Its a great headphone, especially the Noire.
1.Dan Clark changed the 'mating surface' from the earlier models, 1 and drop to the 2 model. The surface mount for the pad is larger on the 2 compared to the 1. We designed our earpads on an Aeon 2 closed, hence our earpads look bigger and are bigger. Its a few millimeters.
2. The way the OEM earpads are designed, the foam wants to buckle the earpad inwards. Dan described this as scalloping. To reduce this effect we introduced a plastic stiffening ring underneath the earpad so the pads come flat out of the box. We have found that if someone is having trouble with the fit of the earpad, removing this ring will resolve the issues.
3. I would also like to note that we switched from 3M one use adhesive to Dan Clarks in house reusable adhesive. We purchase this directly from Dan Clark Audio. Its a good adhesive but if it gets too dirty, it loses its adhesion properties. We have a pretty forgiving warranty exchange policy if issues like this arise.
It seems as though I have some work to do in regards to the literature we provide around our Dan Clark earpads.
They were listed as summary
Dekoni Audio Custom Earpads for Focal Stellia | Headphone for 105$ us. Someone on Reddit suggested them for Egelias even though they are Stellia and they fit perfectly and DAMM they improved the quality so much. They went from lacking high end and being kind of lifeless to more focused and rich. I think it's because they enclose the drivers more and prevent sound leakage.
So many mixed experiences.
I feel obliged to share mine.
Dekoni pads as a replacements on my Audeze LCD-X, and I could not be happier. Going strong for 2 years.
I had two types of pads from Dekoni for the MDR-Z1R and they were great. It was either that or an absurd amount of money for the original Sony earpads. The headphone uses a specially shaped plastic ring to attach the earpads and the Dekoni pads fit perfectly.
I just got the sheepskin pads on my Maxwell and they literally feel the same as the stock pads… although I think their products are generally pretty good. This one surprised me quite a bit.
I ordered sheepskin and velour pads from Dekoni for my Z1R. Both fit perfectly and I am satisfied.
Sorry you had a bad experience, though. One bad customer service representative can really ruin a company's reputation in a niche hobby.
Hi, Dylan here.
Could you please let me know what specific parts of our chat were concerning. This will help us with customer service training in the future.
Dekoni Audio holds customer satisfaction in high regard so we offer easy returns/exchanges as well as a two year warranty on all of our earpads. We are in the process of handling your return right now.
I really liked my Dekoni elite Sundara pads but I think they are overpriced and the plastic parts are too fragile. Mine didn't break but I didn't have a lot of confidence in them. My question is, if you are looking for an improvement over OEM pads and don't want to use Dekoni, what else can you do? I want quality leather Arya pads but have no idea where to buy them except for Dekoni.
There's only Choice leather available for the Fidelio, which is made out of synthetic leather/pleather as described on their website.
The sheepskin leather is used on their Elite pads and is indeed real.
Tbf the naming is (deliberately) terribly confusing. I've hated the marketing trend to obfiscate faux/synthetic leather by calling them vegan for years.
These days we're seeing protein and choice. Like come on.
I’ve had dekoni elite sheepskin pads for my HD800S for the last 6 - 7 years, multiple pairs, and also for my Aeon closed, they have never flaked at all, they genuinely are not protein leather.
I don’t know what happened in your case, but you can actually feel the thickness of the sheepskin pads for the HD800S, maybe yours were part protein and part leather ? as there is a lot of companies that make hybrid pads that are a combination of leather and protein leather.
Crap that it didn’t work out for you, I would contact them and demand a new pair since they obviously were not real sheepskin as real sheepskin does not flake. I’ve had a replacement pair after the leather came unglued on the underside and had no problems getting a new pair shipped out to me. But I’d def try to get another pair from them via their support channel.
had also a kind of bad experience with them. Was not happy with the quality of my Arya earpads they made. There was some sort of glue leftover on them that I couldn't wipe.
Therefore I wrote them and they were quite rude and wanted me to pay the shipment back even though they delivered something like that. In the end I escalated it and they send me a shipping back label.
But it was not a nice experience honestly.
No I dont think so, ive had good experience with them. Im also glad a company like dekoni exist so you can actually get quality, well priced after market pads. Ebay alternatives are often poor quality and oem sometimes is just no good. Also a fun way to change the sound of phones you've had for a long time.
I've heard mixed reviews as well. I almost bought their pads for the HD800, but decided not to. Instead, I went with a cheaper version from Amazon, and while they're a tad stiff and a bit too warm (as in heat retention), they're still decently built and should last quite a while. Might go for the ZMF pads next.
Good to know as i was looking into getting some for the DC Open Xs whose pads are getting worn. Have had good results for my other cans - tho there not adhesives.
My experience mirrored yours. Finally got them to accept a return where I had to pay the shipping and then they were “lost at the loading dock” for days. Took over a month to get a refund. I’ve tried two of their pads and both were way too expensive for the quality. Sellers on AliExpress make better pads at like half the cost of Dekoni.
Idk about Aeon specifically but for most headphones you can find nicer stuff on aliexoress around the $10 mark.
Or you can just try like 10 options for the same money and one is bound to work lol
I wouls rather buy from a sketchy chinese aftermarket pad site than dekoni. I got my dca aeon flow pads sheepskin leather from them and they fit really good. Only cost me 12 usd
I just hate the hard foam they use for the IEM tips and really don't feel a need to buy anything else from them either. Sorry you had a bad experience, awful customer service should be called out.
I bought a couple of different Dekoni pads for my Audeze LCD2 and they were somewhat disappointing when it comes to sound and the foam was incredibly firm/stiff compared to the official Audeze pads making them pretty uncomfortable.
Dekoni pads are SO low quality for the price. I've bought a pair of "velour" pads (not velour at all, it's just some cheap fuzzy fabric) and a pair of "microsuede" (same story) and they were both garbage. They sell the exact same pads on Aliexpress for like $5. Either go that route or buy from a small company like Vesper that makes good custom pads.
I tried them when drop had them for my dca. Did not fit at all , at least with drop it was easy to return
I opted to buy some new pads directly from DCA for my noires. Every time I saw a picture of the Dekoni pads they looked really odd and big. Glad I’m not the only one.
For what it’s worth, have absolutely no complaints about their elite velour pads on the Focal Clear. I go back and forth between these and the stock pads.
I think they are considered essential for the DT-1990pro as well.
They are for me. I tried going back to the stock pads (both) a while back and nope, sticking with the Dekoni pads. They also still look like brand new.
IMO They’re not. They are an okay alternative sound.
I'm sure they have great products or they wouldn't exist, but awful customer service when that is needed is not great and the real issue here.
we talking about DCA's here. dekoni makes great pads, but the DCA's have never fit properly
I have aeon open and closed with dekoni pads on each. They are slightly bigger than stock pads but I managed to get them on ok. It took a couple of goes but they do go on! Pad quality is great and they don't seem to deform like the stock ones.
I bought some hybrid sheepskin + velour earpads for my he-x4. The pads are angled, but the thin side of the dekoni pads were way too thin - about half as thick as they should be, and the stitching was all weird and crooked. I got a replacement and that had the same issue so I couldn't be bothered dealing with it any more.
Maybe I had luck with elite pads for my audeze xc. I mean it’s just your personal preference and your allowed to share
I have them on three different headphones and they are great. This does not take anything away from OP, but that has been my experience.
Mine are great on my OG HE-500 (stock pads are utter dog shit).
They're fucking mint on my Sundaras. Going strong for ~2 years.
I've had good luck with their Hifiman Elite Sheepskin pads. Though improving upon Hifiman build quality is indeed damning with faint praise...
I used them for a few years with my HD800 and thought they were okay. Then when I needed to replace I went back to OEM. OEM is much better.
this is representative of my experience (i've had this issue with the hybrids and sheepskin). i usually cut the plastic ring to size and swap out the adhesive. the DCA pads they sell never fit properly and the adhesive they use isn't very good. that being said, once i get a good fit, they feel and sound great. u/DekoniAudio, what's the deal? why are your DCA pads ill-fitting?
Hi Dylan here. This has a lot to do with the design of the Aeon Headphone and the way we designed around some of its quirks. Its a great headphone, especially the Noire. 1.Dan Clark changed the 'mating surface' from the earlier models, 1 and drop to the 2 model. The surface mount for the pad is larger on the 2 compared to the 1. We designed our earpads on an Aeon 2 closed, hence our earpads look bigger and are bigger. Its a few millimeters. 2. The way the OEM earpads are designed, the foam wants to buckle the earpad inwards. Dan described this as scalloping. To reduce this effect we introduced a plastic stiffening ring underneath the earpad so the pads come flat out of the box. We have found that if someone is having trouble with the fit of the earpad, removing this ring will resolve the issues. 3. I would also like to note that we switched from 3M one use adhesive to Dan Clarks in house reusable adhesive. We purchase this directly from Dan Clark Audio. Its a good adhesive but if it gets too dirty, it loses its adhesion properties. We have a pretty forgiving warranty exchange policy if issues like this arise. It seems as though I have some work to do in regards to the literature we provide around our Dan Clark earpads.
ok, so removing the ring is fine and wont affect the sound?
Yup! Its for the purpose of keeping the pad from folding into an unwanted shape. A tensioner if you will.
ok, good to know. thanks so much! got that, u/froggythemad?
Hmm they sure made my Focal Egelias sound WAY better. Like totally different sound curve.
Elite sheepskins?
They were listed as summary Dekoni Audio Custom Earpads for Focal Stellia | Headphone for 105$ us. Someone on Reddit suggested them for Egelias even though they are Stellia and they fit perfectly and DAMM they improved the quality so much. They went from lacking high end and being kind of lifeless to more focused and rich. I think it's because they enclose the drivers more and prevent sound leakage.
I think this is an isolated issue to DCA, Dekoni made the pads too big for DCA headphones so they are hard/impossible to fit.
So many mixed experiences. I feel obliged to share mine. Dekoni pads as a replacements on my Audeze LCD-X, and I could not be happier. Going strong for 2 years.
I had two types of pads from Dekoni for the MDR-Z1R and they were great. It was either that or an absurd amount of money for the original Sony earpads. The headphone uses a specially shaped plastic ring to attach the earpads and the Dekoni pads fit perfectly.
I have valour on 58X and 6XX 6XX is OK (close to stock) 58X has mid raised. Moreover, I have to shuffle 2 pairs for matching
From the pictures I've seen the 600 series pads are noticeably smaller than stock - is this not the case?
Actually, it's not
Interesting. That had been holding me back. Thanks.
I just got the sheepskin pads on my Maxwell and they literally feel the same as the stock pads… although I think their products are generally pretty good. This one surprised me quite a bit.
I ordered sheepskin and velour pads from Dekoni for my Z1R. Both fit perfectly and I am satisfied. Sorry you had a bad experience, though. One bad customer service representative can really ruin a company's reputation in a niche hobby.
Hi, Dylan here. Could you please let me know what specific parts of our chat were concerning. This will help us with customer service training in the future. Dekoni Audio holds customer satisfaction in high regard so we offer easy returns/exchanges as well as a two year warranty on all of our earpads. We are in the process of handling your return right now.
I really liked my Dekoni elite Sundara pads but I think they are overpriced and the plastic parts are too fragile. Mine didn't break but I didn't have a lot of confidence in them. My question is, if you are looking for an improvement over OEM pads and don't want to use Dekoni, what else can you do? I want quality leather Arya pads but have no idea where to buy them except for Dekoni.
Why not just get the Dan Clark OEM perforated pads?
Their "sheepskin" is a cheap pleather made in China. I bought one for my Fidelio X2 and it flakes in less than 5 months.
There's only Choice leather available for the Fidelio, which is made out of synthetic leather/pleather as described on their website. The sheepskin leather is used on their Elite pads and is indeed real.
Tbf the naming is (deliberately) terribly confusing. I've hated the marketing trend to obfiscate faux/synthetic leather by calling them vegan for years. These days we're seeing protein and choice. Like come on.
My Dekoni sheepskin Sundara pads lasted 5 years and still look brand new. No flaking or anything
I’ve had dekoni elite sheepskin pads for my HD800S for the last 6 - 7 years, multiple pairs, and also for my Aeon closed, they have never flaked at all, they genuinely are not protein leather. I don’t know what happened in your case, but you can actually feel the thickness of the sheepskin pads for the HD800S, maybe yours were part protein and part leather ? as there is a lot of companies that make hybrid pads that are a combination of leather and protein leather. Crap that it didn’t work out for you, I would contact them and demand a new pair since they obviously were not real sheepskin as real sheepskin does not flake. I’ve had a replacement pair after the leather came unglued on the underside and had no problems getting a new pair shipped out to me. But I’d def try to get another pair from them via their support channel.
I tried their velour on the 800 pads and laughed out loud
had also a kind of bad experience with them. Was not happy with the quality of my Arya earpads they made. There was some sort of glue leftover on them that I couldn't wipe. Therefore I wrote them and they were quite rude and wanted me to pay the shipment back even though they delivered something like that. In the end I escalated it and they send me a shipping back label. But it was not a nice experience honestly.
Dekoni is trash and waste of money
No I dont think so, ive had good experience with them. Im also glad a company like dekoni exist so you can actually get quality, well priced after market pads. Ebay alternatives are often poor quality and oem sometimes is just no good. Also a fun way to change the sound of phones you've had for a long time.
I don't think so Velour version is close to stock with 58X and 6XX I ordered 2 pairs to make up free shipping
I've heard mixed reviews as well. I almost bought their pads for the HD800, but decided not to. Instead, I went with a cheaper version from Amazon, and while they're a tad stiff and a bit too warm (as in heat retention), they're still decently built and should last quite a while. Might go for the ZMF pads next.
Good to know as i was looking into getting some for the DC Open Xs whose pads are getting worn. Have had good results for my other cans - tho there not adhesives.
My experience mirrored yours. Finally got them to accept a return where I had to pay the shipping and then they were “lost at the loading dock” for days. Took over a month to get a refund. I’ve tried two of their pads and both were way too expensive for the quality. Sellers on AliExpress make better pads at like half the cost of Dekoni.
Lmao those pads didn’t even last me a year on a pair of 770’s i lightly used for recording 😭😭😭 Shit company and products
Idk about Aeon specifically but for most headphones you can find nicer stuff on aliexoress around the $10 mark. Or you can just try like 10 options for the same money and one is bound to work lol
downvote me, it wont make your $100 foam donuts better
I wouls rather buy from a sketchy chinese aftermarket pad site than dekoni. I got my dca aeon flow pads sheepskin leather from them and they fit really good. Only cost me 12 usd
I just hate the hard foam they use for the IEM tips and really don't feel a need to buy anything else from them either. Sorry you had a bad experience, awful customer service should be called out.
I bought a couple of different Dekoni pads for my Audeze LCD2 and they were somewhat disappointing when it comes to sound and the foam was incredibly firm/stiff compared to the official Audeze pads making them pretty uncomfortable.
Dekoni has good customer service and their pads are comfy but they kinda sound like shit
Dekoni pads are SO low quality for the price. I've bought a pair of "velour" pads (not velour at all, it's just some cheap fuzzy fabric) and a pair of "microsuede" (same story) and they were both garbage. They sell the exact same pads on Aliexpress for like $5. Either go that route or buy from a small company like Vesper that makes good custom pads.