HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) please post your impressions. . loan pair for UK pg. 28. - Page 145

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 

In some testing of the 6s, we used the same dac on all the amps during this experiment. The better amps don't add to the signal, they interfere with it less.

We're definitely in different camps when it comes to powering the HE-500's.  Mine are being powered by the SPL Auditor which has minimal current delivery (300mw or so) but has HUGE voltage swing.  The amp makes my HE-500's sound spec-on and much better than my ROC SA which delivers 9W and 15W maximum into 60ohms.  ROC SA is no slouch.

With all this speaker amp talk, the DAC is seldom discussed. 

I turn a blind eye to all this speaker amp talk for the HE-500, finding it ridiculous. Carry on.

Some good posts there Happy camper and Rezolver. I'm also in the camp that the HE500's don't need that much power, though admittedly haven't tried speaker amps. I simply don't find them lacking on my hp amps... They all have different power outputs from as low as 500mw to 3w at 32 ohms and the only thing I would say increases slightly is soundstage with the more power but this may just be the quality of the amp? What I do hear is a difference in light and shade. Some sound darker some brighter. What I do find a little strange is, the most poweful amp that I have sounds the slowest to me... My little mosfet desktop sounds the fastest. The sweetest sound comes from my Hybrid, and I'm starting think that the orthos do benefit from tubes and transistors together rather than loads of power from either. Plenty of current to drive them and voltage when needed. I'm no expert on electricity, (no shock there ha) but it makes sense to me.

Rezolver, I believe you can get good sound out of the Auditor. Myself, I heard the Phonitor with LCD 2 and 3 and that was quite good. It was actually at the UK LCD-Distributor on a meet..., so much to power and planars. As pointed out, quality matters too. I understand that power can be useful for planars, but what if the product is good enough to just produce what you love to hear... 

I am running the HE-500 at the moment on a lowly Little Dot MKIII but with carefully selected tubes and I am positively surprised that it sounds as good as it does. At the moment I find the Auditor an appealing upgrade for several reasons. What I read about the sound signature matches my liking: Neutral representation. Large sound stage and extended treble (as opposed to the V200), small form factor (as opposed to Schiit Mjolnir), non-fatiguing (as for a tube amp). I found it also quite interesting that the sound quality was described as very close to the Cavalli Audio Liquid Fire amp, which is a totally different price tag.

One can discuss whether it is an advantage or disadvantage not to have a balanced out. Ultimately, the 6.5 mm out would save me some money for new cables and allow me to connect my AKGs (K501 and Q701) without hassle.

Overall, it sounds like a good match, although it doesn't do 1W @ 30 ohm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acapella11 

Rezolver, I believe you can get good sound out of the Auditor. Myself, I heard the Phonitor with LCD 2 and 3 and that was quite good. It was actually at the UK LCD-Distributor on a meet..., so much to power and planars. As pointed out, quality matters too. I understand that power can be useful for planars, but what if the product is good enough to just produce what you love to hear... 

I am running the HE-500 at the moment on a lowly Little Dot MKIII but with carefully selected tubes and I am positively surprised that it sounds as good as it does. At the moment I find the Auditor an appealing upgrade for several reasons. What I read about the sound signature matches my liking: Neutral representation. Large sound stage and extended treble (as opposed to the V200), small form factor (as opposed to Schiit Mjolnir), non-fatiguing (as for a tube amp). I found it also quite interesting that the sound quality was described as very close to the Cavalli Audio Liquid Fire amp, which is a totally different price tag.

One can discuss whether it is an advantage or disadvantage not to have a balanced out. Ultimately, the 6.5 mm out would save me some money for new cables and allow me to connect my AKGs (K501 and Q701) without hassle.

Overall, it sounds like a good match, although it doesn't do 1W @ 30 ohm.

Acapella, if you have a chance to audition the auditor, do it.  If you have a good DAC/source behind your amp, then you will be impressed.

You've done your amp research that's for sure.  Guess all that's left is to pull the trigger :)

The LCD2v2's sounded OK to my ears on the Auditor.  The low end lacked separation and detail.  They sounded better driven by the ROC SA but still not as good as the HE-500's on the Auditor.  At this time I also found how much more separation and detail the low end on the HE-500's had compared to the LCD2's.

The SPL Auditor drives K501's beautifully.  These are the only remaining headphones in my collection.

That 120V tech behind the amp is no gimmick and its also used in SPL's mixing consoles which sell for $10,000+.  Its resolution power is fantastic.  360mw @ 30ohms, PFFFT, who cares.  Voltage swing is where its at w/ this puppy.  From what I've read, I believe it is a balanced Dynali that can swing 60v, which is the closest I've seen to the Auditor/Phonitor.

This amp is a keeper and is my go to amp.   Expect it to be in my sig for a VERY long time (unless SPL releases something new :)).

Main genre's I regularly rotate through are:

rock (classic, grunge, metal), some acoustic stuff like Cat Stevens, Neil Young. 

electronic/industrial (skinny puppy, anything ultimae records, stendeck, download, assemblage 23, VaC, gridlock. love that's 90's industrial sound)

and pop (MJ, Pet Shop, Depeche). 

Female vocals I dig; Melissa Etheridge, Portishead, Whitney, Mariah, Diana Krall, Adele, Carole King, etc.

Rarely do I listen to classical in comparison to the other genres and even more rarely do I spin Jazz.

My typical listening volume is -28db on the amp, with my DAC set to Low Gain.

Pure magic.

Agree with HC there. The amps i've tried is mostly portable amps such as the MK3b, PB2, PB1, O2 and i find the PB2 to be my liking, the Dacport LX+PB2 (SE)+HE500 combo do have a pretty good synergy, it doesnt lack of power, it manages to keep the transparancies with a good dose while maintaning the warmth of the HE500 and it's PRaT 

Apparently the Schiit launched a new amp called Magni and the price is unbelievable cheap, it's only $99 http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoom25 

 

Yea will update as soon as my cables get here. I will be able to test for myself two polar subjects here on head-fi: the O2 and speaker amps with orthos.

Fantastic :) Try to do a blind test, or as close of one as you can. I have an O2 on order for my HE-500 but I don't know if it's worth going to speaker amps ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by moshen 

Fantastic :) Try to do a blind test, or as close of one as you can. I have an O2 on order for my HE-500 but I don't know if it's worth going to speaker amps ;)

I'll also throw the E10 in there - with 150 mW it can still sound fun. That way I'll have something underpowered, something enough to power it and something with way too much - and then see how the sound changes. If if seems like a night and day difference between the amps consistently for days. I'll leave it at that, but if close then I'll do some blind testing. 

I'm looking to buy a set of headphones for 95% gaming.  The HE-500 seems to fit the bill after reading through this thread...

My question is, is the HE-500 an end-game headphone?  Or would you point to a HE-6 or HD800?  There are ALOT of comparisons of the HE-500 to the LCD-2.  So if the HE-500 IS NOT an end-game product, then the LCD-2 isn't endgame?  That doesn't make sense to me...

Is the HE-500 an end-game for a serious gamer who loves immersion and bass?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogersjd14 

I'm looking to buy a set of headphones for 95% gaming.  The HE-500 seems to fit the bill after reading through this thread...

 

My question is, is the HE-500 an end-game headphone?  Or would you point to a HE-6 or HD800?  There are ALOT of comparisons of the HE-500 to the LCD-2.  So if the HE-500 IS NOT an end-game product, then the LCD-2 isn't endgame?  That doesn't make sense to me...

 

Is the HE-500 an end-game for a serious gamer who loves immersion and bass?

It takes a very complimenting amp and DAC to accomodate the HE-500 or LCD-2 for endgame consideration, IMO.

HE-6 for me hopefully :D

Well, I ordered it yesterday so no way of knowing yet, but I surely want it to be! :)

I might have to start building my gear around them at a later time, but for now what I have should be fine (NFB 3.32, Mini-X a-100)

I'm going to be pairing my HE-500s with an O2.  Titanium HD Sound Card.  Headphone stand suggestions?

Can someone comment on the weight of the HE-500?  I hear it's like the heaviest thing around...  I currently have AD700s.   So basically, I'm used to pillows of heaven on my head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogersjd14 

I'm looking to buy a set of headphones for 95% gaming.  The HE-500 seems to fit the bill after reading through this thread...

 

My question is, is the HE-500 an end-game headphone?  Or would you point to a HE-6 or HD800?  There are ALOT of comparisons of the HE-500 to the LCD-2.  So if the HE-500 IS NOT an end-game product, then the LCD-2 isn't endgame?  That doesn't make sense to me...

 

Is the HE-500 an end-game for a serious gamer who loves immersion and bass?

I love my HE-500 for all kinds of music and always satisfied with it, but for movies and gaming I go with the D2000 every time. The D2000's soundstage works better for gaming as well as movies - plus it rumbles really nicely. With the HE-500, the lack of depth with the wide soundstage is somewhat annoying and confusing - especially for binaural stuff - the D2000 consistently performed better for me. The LCD-2 has much more depth and works quite nicely for movies, haven't tried them for gaming though. Although D2000 is the lightest and the comfiest of them all, which makes them easier to use for long sessions (3hr) - can't really do that LCD-2 or HE-500. With LCD-2 or HE-500, I go an album long (60 ish minutes), then take off the phones for like 5 minutes and then resume.

BTW all three have great bass, extension and impact.