Just received mine Today. Pads are glued. The metal face of the cable collector came right off when arrived. Headphone structure seems a little bit different from the pair I just returned to amazon. This one has a wire exposed near the right side pivot with some ugly glue residue which I didn't see on my last pair. As for the sound, last one was splendid. Don't even want to try this pair. Would not trust any Gibson or Phillips product anymore. They are treating their top line product as trash. Last pair bought from Amazon for 199 returned because the chrome decoration rings around the ear pads popped out. Glue under those ring were not strong enough. It seems all problems around this headphone are caused by glue.
LordMcNastyNo exposed wires on mine.
headphones sound great after some testing. Good bass, sharp highs. Mids are a little recessed. Haven't really experienced any sound stage yet. Ill be back in a few days with what I hear.