Update: I’ve had these for some time now and they have held up well to some stiff competition. There are 3 headphones that are in constant rotation for my focused listening: Meze Empyrean II, Hifiman Mini Shangri-La, and Warwick Acoustics Bravura. Of those 3 I’d rank the MSL last but the fact that it is even in rotation considering the other 2 is remarkable. With a Capra strap, they are the most comfortable headphones I own and have a big, spacious sound with bit of extra something in the highs I can’t quite pin down. Music just sounds light and airy - kinda magical. The problem is the bass. There just isn’t much of it and there’s no sub-bass or punch at all.
So of course I EQ. Unfortunately there aren’t measurements of the MSL from the “big 2” standard measurement rigs to start from. So I used Listener’s DF-equalized method with some added bass shelf. This worked quite well and in fact is the only headphone I’ve tried this method with that worked (sorry Listener). Except the sub-bass and punch were still lacking. At a certain point adding more bass gain just didn’t result in more bass sound.
I’ve not had any luck with pad rolling any headphone previously but at the suggestion of a Head-Fi MSL user, I recently tried swapping the stock pads with Dekoni Elite Velour pads for the Arya. Wow! Impressive amount of bass possible now with even good response below 50hz. However much of that magic in the highs was gone. And without that distinguishing characteristic I was just chasing an overall sound that I already have in the Empyrean II.
So I took another chance and got the Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads. This is the same type of pad as stock. Size and shape look identical, but the padding material is definitely softer in the Dekoni pads. Now I have it all. I can shape the sub-bass to exactly where I want it and the MSL just does it. Improved clarity over the velour pads and they preserve most, if not all, of that light, airy sound. Plus plenty of punch too.
I understand this is basically a new headphone and therefore I am still in the “honeymoon period”, but DAMN! I think the Mini Shangri-La may have just edged out the Bravura for the top spot! They are shockingly good. Still using EQ of course. 