Upgrade from L300 pads
"Not sure if they are genuine sheepskin leather as they look and feel exactly the same as my L-300 pads besides the thickness. According to Stax site the L300 and L500mkii have synthetic leather earpads whereas only the L700 has sheepskin leather - so I'm guessing it may be a mistake in the description here and these L500 pads really are synthetic which is why I'm not giving it 5 stars. They are more comfortable than the stock L300 pads simply as they are about twice as thick so your ears don't touch the inside. I'd say this is the main reason to buy these pads. The sound isn't that much different than the stock L300 pads after EQin'g them, but you do need to use L500 EQ settings though as the sound changes enough where the L500 EQ sounds more correct. Either way - EQ sounds better with either pads."