No, that’s not what the analysis said. It said that the one pair of aftermarket cushions were of inferior quality. No findings were made of all aftermarket cushions.

I don't have anything to sell, if you want to roll the dice on aftermarket earcups, knock yourself out :)

But you paid 300-400$ for headphones, to me it's worth paying the OEM premium just to make sure they keep delivering the quality and experience I was looking for initially when I paid the high price. Otherwise, you might as well buy the lowest priced noise canceling headphones: you'll get a commensurate experience but you won't break the bank.

Anyway, to each their own :)

An ear cup is an ear cup, hardly military precision required in manufacturing. I got a pair of aftermarket cushions for my QC35s and I found them to be more comfortable, if there's any difference to noise cancelling I certainly haven't experienced it. Why pay 3 times more for something that does the same job, doesn't matter if I paid $1000 for them.

You're right - there's no reason to pay 3 times more for something that does the right job.

The problem is aftermarket cushions may not do as good of a job at passive noise reduction.

Follow the link and check if you have the right number of clips on your aftermarket cushion. Obviously this isn't the full picture but is certainly a large piece of it.

The question isn’t whether the aftermarket cushions perform at the same level as OEM, it’s whether they have sufficient performance for ‘outoftheabyss’s needs. If they’re good enough, why pay more?

> it's worth paying the OEM premium just to make sure they keep delivering the quality and experience I was looking for initially

And I am the guy who spent 4 times a few hundred on AKG studio headphones but replaced the ear cups with some much, much cheaper but better feeling ones.

To each their own :)

Note that he report is by the seller themselves. Can you imagine them saying: "yes, we overcharge you for the cups, the off-brands work just as well"?