I sort of like the YAXI pads that fit it. My originals were way to squished. The Yaxis form a nice seal, and move the cups a tad away from your head, giving a notably improved soundstage.
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I really started digging the squished pads with the HD58X. For me, it gives an extra advantage of bass “always being there” for low listening volumes (~70dB or lower).
Allow me to quote myself a joke I made this week in the HD660S thread:
The more I listen to these HD6-family Senns, the more I’m convinced my ears should be literally touching the drivers. Yep, it means I’m a mid-range whore – the hard way, of course. 
HD58X is a keeper for me.
Cheers. 
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Having recently gotten into enjoying the brighter and tighter HE6Se v2, I decided to revisit the HD58X just for fun. At first blush it sounds muffled, slow and kind of low res. But, the timbre is clearly better and there’s something there that reminds me of why I loved it.
Since the HE6Se has turned me into a bit of a clarity whore, I decided to take off the rear felt damping mod, put the new pads back on the HD58X, and replace the front foam with sheer curtain fabric again. On top of that, I used EQ to make it slightly less dry sounding and bring the upper mids forward ever so slightly. And boom, just like that, I’m loving the HD58X again!
An HE6Se listening session always starts with “wow, this is amazing” and ends with “I need a break”. An HD58X session always starts with “yeah, that’s alright” and as long as the music’s good, ends with “darn it, I wish I could keep listening”. I easily can enjoy the HD58X at 10dB less than the HE6Se, and while it will never sound as impressive, it will always sound more right. That’s a sure recipe for long-term listening enjoyment.
The fact that you can sometimes pick this thing up new for as little as $129 new is just nuts!
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lol omg I am working on a review of these pad swapped…the difference between a old used pad and a new dekoni pad is drastic…its like sennheiser veil to WOW GREAT TREBLE. I didn’t even realize my pads were that old, I got the headphone from my brother and he said he barely used it because it didn’t fit his ears well
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Shangri-La (Kinks) is the HD-580
a mini-review of this venerable headphone
This evening I put some things together - Balanced Hart Audio Cables. The new Sabaj DAC/AMP, ROON, and my original Sennheiser HD-580 headphones with the replacement pleather pads from Yaxi. This is a much better setup than these entry-level hi-fi headphones usually get. I’m listening in balanced mode. The pad-roll - well I think it’s better than my original pads, but it’s been years since those originals weren’t crushed down from age and use. The Yaxi pads place the drivers slightly further away, and provide a better seal than the originals.
ROON lets me apply crossfade and EQ, and I’ve been playing around with EQ. The Sabaj is not TOTL, but it’s quite good. Adequate power, Excellent implementation of the best ESS 9038 chip.
So that brings me to how the Sennhiser HD-580 is somehow very similar to The Kinks “Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire”. I’ll bet that @Torq and @prfallon69 know where I’m going with this. Yes, I’m going to “Shangri-La” and also to “She’s Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina”. The Kinks, in their lyrics have done my review for me, as I look back on this long time headphone of mine and compare it to the HD-6xx, or the Rosson Audios Design RAD-0.
First, the HD-650 or HD-6xx will scale. It can surprise you when you start upgrading the chain to that headphone. It obligingly puts out a bit more with each addition, and it gets pretty damn good by the time you’re done. It’s not trying to be TOTL, but it puts in a very respectable performance.
The HD-580 does not scale the same way. At some point it "just wants to sit in its little Shangri-La because it’s reached its top and in just can’t get any higher. " And at sometime you are listening to this “Because he can’t afford a Rolls or a Bently so he had to buy a second hand Ford.” There. I’ve properly referenced this headphone and put it in it’s respectable but slightly desperate slot of an aspirant that never quite makes the cut.
Like Arthur, this headphone has it better than 90% of the world that came before. And it can be rewarding and relaxing. I could, if I had not heard SO MUCH BETTER, live with this headphone as I did for a decade or more. A kid that didn’t know any better might think it was really good. But it’s just always straining at its limits.
My wife listened to a cut of the new Journey album on it. She said she sees why some people thought there sound was a bit muddy. She blamed Jonathan’s cheap ways. Then I let her compare to the RAD-0. She smiled and said how clear it was. How she heard things in the live banter that she had never heard before.
And there you have it. Those of you who are too young to remember, or have not had your ideals crushed under the weight of an uncaring reality need to spend a little time with Arthur - The Decline and Fall of the British Empire. You might want to put on a pair of Sennheiser HD-580s to fully appreciate it.
NOTES: to make this more of a “review”. The comfort of these headphones is excellent. There is not too much clamp pressure, there is not too much weight. I can wear them for hours and listen to music. They don’t even seem to get too hot.
Frequency response: Little or no sub-bass. Improved only a little bit by a +3db bass shelf starting at about 70 hz. Mid bass is pretty good, no bloat or muddiness, and the midrange is also smooth. I never hear any shoutyness moving up the frequency range, but it sounds just a bit “thin” to my ears. I don’t know how else to describe it. Almost as if I wish there were bigger drivers or more air moving. The highs are good - I hear cymbals and tapping sounds, but not with the clarity of a higher-end headphone. Almost no “air” or upper frequency shimmer. You always know the cymbals are recorded, not in front of you. Ditto snapping fingers.
In its favor, this headphone, “because it doesn’t scale much” sounds pretty much the same on lower end equipment. So if you are just plugging into a phone, or using an Apple dongle, or maybe a computer audio port, you aren’t losing much. In fact, in these situations, the HD-580/58x can be better than a more demanding higher end headphone.
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Thanks for sharing! Sounds really good!!!