On the pad discussion, I’m a vegetarian, but not fully vegan and not for religious reasons. I try to minimize leather use within reason, but not 100%. I tried to keep the Atrium totally suede, and I have the Universe, BE2, Auteur, and Caldera Ultra Perf in suede as well as the Atrium stock mesh, vented radial mesh, and solid mesh. I’m really sensitive to 2.5 kHz - a blast in that frequency sends shivers down my spine like nails on a chalkboard. For example I can replicate it in the opening of Fortunate Son with the little lead guitar licks. On my head, the Auteur and Caldera Ultra Perf provided a relative reduction to the 2.5 kHz, but the Auteur pad made the bass a little wooly and warm, which wasn’t bad, but the Universe just sounded so much better to me there. The Caldera Ultra Perf suede was tonally better to me than any of the others in suede, but there is something magical and perfect that the Universe Suede does with bass or slam - it also has much better soundstage. Though the Caldera Ultra Perf suede improved tonal balance, after a week or so I switched back to the Universe suede because I just missed all of the space and tactility, but the peak at 2.5 was back, and I have just lived with it until today. It was manageable, and if that was the only way I could listen to the Atrium, I would still love them, but they would occasionally have a spine tingling spike that would pull me out of the bliss, maybe once every 30-60 min of just letting my collection play on random. I also tried the different meshes with the Caldera Ultra Perf suede, Universe suede, and Auteur suede. The radial vented mesh helped offset some of the loss of air with the Caldera and Auteur pads, but it brought back that peak. the BE2 pads are a non-starter sonically and in terms of comfort with my huge ears. If anyone wants an essentially unused pair of them in suede, give me a shout!
I finally caved, having tried all combinations of mesh and the above pads, and ordered the Universe lamb. I just got them this morning, but it is immediately obvious to me why they are the default option. They have all the technical magic and near-perfect tonal balance - I have not been able to tear them off my head all day. They reduce that 2.5 peak for me slightly, but looking at the measurements on the website, it’s looks like it’s not an absolute reduction at that frequency, but more of a change in overall relative balance.
I’m not sure if this effect would happen for everyone or if it would extend to the Caldera Ultra Perf in lamb, but in suede, it seems to chill out the 2.5 kHz region while keeping the bass and treble relatively intact. It just made the soundstage so much more intimate that it really felt like it cut down an amazing imaging ability of the Atrium. I’m sure others’ mileage can and will vary. I probably won’t buy any of the other leather pads, because I think the Universe lamb sounds basically perfect for me, at least for today
