Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphones › Over-Ear › HE-5LE › HE-5LE Reviews

Member Reviews: HE-5LE

HeadphoneAddict

HE-5 LE are a well rounded and balanced high-end headphone

Posted
By HeadphoneAddict

Pros: Sonic balance, bass and midrange quality, speed, cohesiveness of imaging, construction, tuneability

Cons: Require an amp with a lot of power and tuned for low impedance phones

I received the HE-5 LE about 7 weeks ago and I've been dying to post a review on them. But I haven't been feeling well lately and it took me longer than usual to put my thoughts together. I'm sorry this is not as organized and coherent as I would like it to have been, but I can't delay posting this any longer.   As they arrived:      INTRODUCTION:  I probably have about 400 hours on the HE-5 LE right now, with about 250 being 24/7 burn-in and 150 hours from listening to music or movies. I want to start by saying that during this time the HE-5 LE have become my "go to" daily listening phones for over 6 weeks now. I'll also say right away that while they are not a "giant...
(read more)
Comments (1)
Was This Helpful? 13 
Skylab

HiFiMan HE-5LE Planar Magnetic Headphones mini-review

Posted
By Skylab

Pros: Terrific sounding, very comfortable planar headphone at a good price.

Cons: Requires a strong headphone amp to have them sound good

The HiFiMan HE-5LE represent something of a benchmark in terms of price performance, IMO.  They are excellent sounding, with exceptional detail and transparency.  For the money, they provide a level of performance that wasn't possible just a few short years ago.   The HE-5LE have an incredibly open, detailed, transparent and clean sound.  The bass is deep and powerful when called for, but not exaggerated or bloated at all.  The mids are clean as a whistle - not overly lush at all, but not at all thin or brittle.  The highs are also very transparent, with perhaps just a little excess energy in a couple of spots that might make them a tiny bit bright on some systems and for some listeners,...
(read more)
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 7 
maywng

HE5LE/LCD2/HD650/HD800 mini review

Posted
By maywng

Pros: Lush, warm and inviting sound

Cons: Needs proper amping to excel

  HE5LE /LCD2/HD650 /HD800 mini review   Interesting, unexpected or maybe expected outcomes.   Music used: Sarah Brightman, Norah Jones, Katherine Jenkins, Alisson Krauss, Eagles, Infected Mushroom. Source: Win7/Foobar/WASAPI DAC: Audio Gd DAC19DSP (neutral)+ Audio Gd Ref9 (slightly warm) Amps: Meier Audio Concerto+ Violectric V200+ Lehmann BCL Cables: original cables that came with the headphones.   Comfort/Fit: HD800=HE5LE> HD650> LCD2 Upper Highs: HD800>HE5LE>HD650>LCD2 Lower Highs: HE5LE>HD800>LCD2>HD650 Mids: LCD2>HE5LE>HD650>HD800 Lows/Bass: HE5LE>LCD2>HD650>HD800   Overall SQ: HE5LE>LCD2>HD650>...
(read more)
Comments (3)
Was This Helpful? 3 
JamesHuntington

Huge Sound and very revealing.

Posted
By JamesHuntington

Pros: Looks, pretty comfy, not too heavy, sound very good for the price

Cons: Cable goes right into my chest. Heavier cable than I'm used to.

My pair was a supposed demo model from one of Hifiman's retailers. They came in mint condition, which is lucky for me. I'm not using a balanced cable yet, but I already feel it's a good upgrade from my AKG K701. The sound seems huge! So far they love some Donald Fagen the best. I've only listened to them for about 30 minutes now and they have made the hair stand on the back of my neck twice.  Day 2: After about 6 hours on them, and realizing that my itunes was EQ'd and affecting the sound, I like them more than I did at first. I'm not a expert, but i can hear very well and have listened to music about all my 38 years. I hear many details in music that are lacking on my K701,...
(read more)
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 
Joong

Clean / smoothe / great tonal balance

Posted
By Joong

Pros: Tonal balance with purple peak

Cons: Not particular

Great for full-orchestral / choral and chamber music. Excellent for strings, woods, and choral music. The phones have a good combination of tonal balance of HD650 but without grainy nature and the beauty of K702's string at its mid range, and textured bass without excess.   I heard the first time the beauty of Mahler 8th with real but amazing choral section with them.
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 
fatalelement

HE-5LE: Incredible sound quality for an unbelievably low price

Posted
By fatalelement

Pros: well made, beautiful sonic signature, comfortable, not ugly, incredible value

Cons: hard to drive with tubes, large (though this is not necessarily a con)

I do not consider myself an accomplished or experienced audiophile, so I will avoid getting too deep into terminology or discussions that I feel I have no place in. However, I do consider myself a human with ears, and I feel qualified to review these. I received my HiFiMAN HE-5LE’s as an early birthday present to myself. I found two things: 1. The box has since changed (it is not a super nice wooden box anymore, but is still quite nice, and 2. HiFiMAN has decided to include a braided cable without the lamented-over XLR termination and converter as an option. Neither of these things bothered me, and the second was in fact quite helpful. I bought these from a legitimate audio...
(read more)
Comments (8)
Was This Helpful? 
che15

As close as a giant killer as there is

Posted
By che15

Pros: Do everything well

Cons: Hard to drive

Simply the best of my headphones, sounds great with a T amp like my Virtue 1. These cans do everything right from top to bottom . Greatest value for your money out there at this time.
Post Comment
Was This Helpful? 
Head-Fi.org › Head Gear › Headphones › Over-Ear › HE-5LE › HE-5LE Reviews