HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) please post your impressions. . loan pair for UK pg. 28. - Page 168

Quote:

Originally Posted by LugBug1 

Hah but the seed has been planted.... It will always be in the back of your mind niggling away at you now  'wonder what the velours actually sound like.. mmm..?' You'll end up trying em. It's inevitable. And when you do, I'd be very surprised if you still prefer the pleath.

I wouldn't be very surprised if I were you; I certainly prefer the pleathers. Treble seems somehow sweeter to me with the pleathers, and the whole sound more...well, whole.

The first few moments of the putting the HE-500 on, I instantly thought, this is it? This is so boring, so smooth, like drinking soft water, I hate it. However I know it takes much longer then a snap decision for this kinda of thing, so I took it through the paces, and tracks I know really well...bit by bit a picture started to form...coming from Magnums v4's I just wasn't prepared with how different the tonal balance was at first. 

Things I've learned tonight.

1. He-500s can image to a degree I didn't know headphones could do. Spooky.

2. Live music is flabbergastingly amazing, hand claps , crowd noise, just crazy.

3. These are actually really comfy on my head, even with the stock pleather.

4. I haven't found anything that sound bad on them.

5. Deep insanely detailed bass, maybe not slam(Though I'm sure the mini-x will help), but detail to spare.

6. I have never heard female vocals, until today.

What a trip, I can't wait for my parts to get here, so I can build my taps cable and see what these babies can really do off my emotiva. I will say even ran off my Essence ST, they are a cut above my magnums to a degree I wasn't expecting to be so pronounced. I would still like to hear and LCD2 someday, but right now I am not regretting my purchase.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by LugBug1 

Hah but the seed has been planted.... It will always be in the back of your mind niggling away at you now  'wonder what the velours actually sound like.. mmm..?' You'll end up trying em. It's inevitable. And when you do, I'd be very surprised if you still prefer the pleath.

Yes, I Can't argue with this sir. You're probably right about me being "unfaithful" someday....

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougofTheAbaci 


What are you rolling for AMP?

I Will be a running an emotiva min-x on taps as soon as my cable parts come in the mail, currently just running them off my Essence St at +12db gain setting in it's amp section. I'm sure the Emo will be an improvements as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pp312 

 

I wouldn't be very surprised if I were you; I certainly prefer the pleathers. Treble seems somehow sweeter to me with the pleathers, and the whole sound more...well, whole.

+5000.

I did some extensive swap tests again last night and oh boy, there is just no comparison. Velours make vocals sound thin and scratchy, and pleathers just give them the life and density needed to sound like actual sung voices. The only slight flaw of the pleather sound seems to be that it adds a slight cupped colouration, it is extremely minor though, and is far far outweighed by its imposed improvement on the sound.

The whole pleather and velour IMO also depends on the amp. When I first got the HE-500, I only had the Fiio E10. From the E10, I definitely preferred the velour over pleather. With O2, I like the pleather more. With Emotiva, the velours are my preference. With regards to vocals, especially female, the O2 with pleather pads are the best from these three amps and different pad combination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio-Omega 

Do you guys prefer HE-500 over Audeze LCD-2 ?

It really depends on what application you are using with.

Personally for movies, the LCD-2 wins: deeper bass and more depth. The HE-500 is wider than both my LCD-2 and D2000 but those have more depth. Depth wins for me in movies.

Electronic music: LCD-2 wins although HE-500 is much better than my Denon D2000 or Ultrasone pro 900 for that except pure DNB.

Live music: really too close. Both can reproduce the very subtle details. The HE-500 can sometimes win because of the width. It depends on the source itself.

Vocals: preference changes based on mood and what suits the singer better. HE-500 is more natural, whereas the LCD-2 is more juicier smoother.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

+5000.

 

I did some extensive swap tests again last night and oh boy, there is just no comparison. Velours make vocals sound thin and scratchy, and pleathers just give them the life and density needed to sound like actual sung voices. The only slight flaw of the pleather sound seems to be that it adds a slight cupped colouration, it is extremely minor though, and is far far outweighed by its imposed improvement on the sound.

To be fair yours probably do sound better with the pleather following the mesh mods etc. But in stock form, they lose their best attribute; The airy, zingy, smooth treble. They make an already dark phone into a little too dark one IMO.

J$ Beyer earpads just arrived in the mail! Gonna do some critical listening with them on my HE500s and report the results.

 good stuff!

First impression of the J$+HE500: It sounds like a marriage between the stock (airy treble, microdetails) velours and (robust lush lower end, black background) pleathers. But more importantly, hallelujah it's comfortable.

It sounds a bit sibilant similar the HFM velours though, possibly because it doesn't have any nylon screen in the middle at all to mediate the treble.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

First impression of the J$+HE500: It sounds like a marriage between the stock (airy treble, microdetails) velours and (robust lush lower end, black background) pleathers. But more importantly, hallelujah it's comfortable.

How'd you mount them?