Dekoni Pads for the Sony WH1000XM6 Headphones
I have been somewhat of a Sony fanboy for many MANY years - going right back to the days of the cassette Walkman, Discman and Mini Disc players and recorders. I’m also a fan when it comes to Sony’s sound character - I really enjoyed their MW-A55 MP3 Walkman. In fact, the only Sony device I’m disappointed about has to be their WF1000XM4 - thanks to their appalling faulty battery issue.
I owned their WH1000XM2’s for a fair few years and rated them very highly - enough to actually purchase the Dekoni pads for that model quite some time back. They definitely improved the comfort and fit on those headphones.
Being the big Sony fan I decided to upgrade the XM2’s to the XM6’s not long after they first came onto the market. Obviously, like many other people, I watched a million YouTube video reviews on these headphones prior to purchase so I wouldn’t have any surprises. Generally I was extremely pleased with the Sony’s with perhaps one exception - their fit. I know there’s a lot of audiophiles out there who consider the Sony’s to be ‘mid-fi’ at their best but I really do like their sound character and consider them some of the best headphones out there - especially considering the fact that they’re wireless.
I’m a reasonably big guy - but I can’t remember anyone shouting “Oy - big head!” at me whilst walking down the street. However I was disappointed with the fit on the new Sony’s - they really took a lot of fiddling around to get a reasonably comfortable fit. After a few weeks of ownership I decided to purchase a set of replacement pads from Wicked Cushions. These definitely improved the fit but I still found I wanted a couple of extra millimetres of space for my obviously giant ears. Enter the Dekoni replacement pads for the WH1000XM6.
Dekoni offer both Pleather and Suede pads for the XM6 - each offer their own set of potential benefits. These replacement pads are easy to fit - care needs to be taken to ensure they’re aligned properly but once you’ve done this they simply click in place. You need to make sure all the connectors click into place but this is easy as long as you have everything aligned properly.
Fitting these replacement pads is fairly easy. They only align one-way and once you’ve lined them up simply click them into place. It would have been nice if Sony had chosen to use magnets rather than clips but I suppose they didn’t really expect people to be hot-swapping their pads every five minutes.
There’s a lot of alternative pads for headphones on the market which claim to be ‘memory foam’. Well all I can say is that there’s ‘memory foam’ and there’s ‘memory foam’. The Dekoni’s are clearly using proper ‘MEMORY FOAM’. They have a slight stiffness to them and take a few seconds to return to their standard shape after being squeezed. Compared to the Wicked Cushions, they definitely feel firmer. What’s most welcome though is the couple of mm’s or so of extra internal space - at last I can get a good fit!
There is a small price to be paid though and that is that the headphones are a little tighter on your head thanks to the extra thickness from the pads. I haven’t noticed any difference regarding the active noise cancelling - nor did I with the Wicked Cushions in all fairness. There’s a subtle improvement in bass tightness and midrange focus with the pleather pads which is perhaps due to their firmer ‘feel’ however the XM6’s still have their usual dynamic and intimate sound. The Pleather pads also help when it comes to sound leakage - you have to be listening at fairly high levels before you would be bothering anyone else - ideal for travelling headphones.
I really do like what these pads do to the sound quality from the Sony WH1000XM6’s. The sound appears to be more focussed and more ‘intimate’ - especially in the lower frequencies. There’s no doubt in my mind that some of this is down to the increased passive noise cancellation these pads provide. I certainly didn’t feel the need to change any of the EQ settings when changing to these pads from the Wicked Cushions.
I didn’t experience any problems when wearing my fairly thin-framed glasses - I would imagine your results may vary depending on the type of glasses you have. I certainly noticed almost immediately that I didn’t have to fiddle around with them in order to get a good fit. This is something I had to do with both the original Sony pads and even (although to a lesser extent) the Wicked Cushion pads. Speaking of fit, there’s absolutely no problem in fitting the headphones in their supplied case so no worries there.
Dekoni also supplied me with their new Suede pads for the XM6’s - as far as I know these are the only suede pads currently available for the XM6’s so I was very curious to see what difference they make - both in their fit and feel and also with regard to any changes to the sound quality and effect on ANC.
The suede pads felt more comfortable both in terms of being softer but also I felt less pressure on my head from the headphones themselves. It’s fair to say that these pads pretty much transform the way the XM6’s feel on your head. They are still tight though so there’s no risk of them falling off during vigorous activity. Compared to the pleather pads there is a little more sound leakage with these pads and possibly a slight reduction in the active noise cancelling.
To my ears, the suede pads do have an effect on the sound character of the Sony’s. There’s a subtle change in the bass frequencies - this, of course, can be adjusted with Sony’s excellent software. The higher frequencies were also slightly (and I do mean slightly) more emphasised - cymbals have a slightly more metallic ‘sheen’ to them and the overall sound signature is slightly ‘harder’.
Personally, I like the comfort of the suede pads a lot. I don’t find the Sony WH1000XM6’s the most comfortable headphones in the world so anything that helps alleviate this has to be a good thing. However I really like the subtle sound character changes that the pleather pads offer. It’s only fair that I compare the Dekoni pads with the original Sony pads and the Wicked Cushions replacement pads. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Wicked Cushions offer an improved fit to the originals but there’s also no doubt that the Dekoni pads offer improved fit and comfort over the Wicked Cushions. Fundamentally the differences in sound quality and character between these two types of pads really is pretty subtle and the primary differences come down to their feel and the differences in passive noise isolation. Ultimately it comes down to how much you’re prepared to pay. The Sony’s are definitely not the cheapest headphones out there but I really love their sound quality and functionality and am definitely happy to spend a little more money to get clear and definite improvements on these excellent headphones. If you’re prepared to spend the money then I highly recommend both types of the Dekoni pads very highly.