HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) please post your impressions. . loan pair for UK pg. 28. - Page 186

TTVJ has had the HE-500 and HE-6 on their Deal of the Day before.  I almost pulled the trigger on an HE-500 earlier this week because it was down to $630.

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin w. 


Well, i tend to never get away with anything

Justin, will you match $630?

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Originally Posted by MrTie84 

Although I haven't heard the WA7, going by the specs max power is 1watt into 32ohm, which means IMHO it's going to be under powered for the HE500.

The he500 is not all about power like the he5le or the he6... But u do need a quality amp..my amp is dual mono 1w per channel..and it sounds far better with the he500 then the mini powerhouse shiit lyr..its all about quality..and ur ears.. Yes the planars are more difficult to drive..but a good quality amp would be able to drive it well. Its all about synergy between the amp and the he500.. For ur info..the matrix mstage is even less the 1watt..and i used it with gainon 10db to burn in my he500 and he did it very well.. My 337 ofcourse blew him out ofthewater with the tubes i have..but it was better then some other amps outthere.. Just try some amps..and let ur ears decide 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enkaydian 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you guys for all the help, I will be getting the headphones then the amp in the next month, thx again for all the info guys, it has help me make my decision. That sucks it does not come with the fancy box lol, side question though,  how do you think the Woo Audio WA7 will fair with these? i know a lot of people recommend the schiit lyr and dac, but the WA7 has it all in one, for the same price i believe, with the looks to go with it!

I just ordered a WA7 and it so happened that the dealer has extra stock and I got to pick mine up today! so lucky! I tried it at the local dealer before I made the purchase. Not only does this small cube look great, but also sounds great with my HE-500 + cardas clear headphone cable!! WA7 drives the HE-500 pretty well with great clarity! I don't know if there is anyone found that the soundstage of HE500 is a bit weird (when using the stock cable (silver) and other amps) or it just me, but with the WA7, the soundstage becomes wider and "normal" to me! I believe the sound would change with different sets of tubes. I will try to write a review for my HE-500 with WA7 after it run-in for some time...

(I was going to try my WA7 at my office..but Windows 7 didn't install the driver properly. I notice from the Woo Audio website that they will release a customized driver for the DAC and I am asking Jack of Woo Audio to send it to me so that I can try the DAC section. I also placed an order for the pico power and hopefully it will drive my HE500 as good as the WA7!!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 

The he500 is not all about power like the he5le or the he6... But u do need a quality amp..my amp is dual mono 1w per channel..and it sounds far better with the he500 then the mini powerhouse shiit lyr..its all about quality..and ur ears.. Yes the planars are more difficult to drive..but a good quality amp would be able to drive it well. Its all about synergy between the amp and the he500.. For ur info..the matrix mstage is even less the 1watt..and i used it with gainon 10db to burn in my he500 and he did it very well.. My 337 ofcourse blew him out ofthewater with the tubes i have..but it was better then some other amps outthere.. Just try some amps..and let ur ears decide 

Yeah I'm one of the speaker amp using weirdo's, I'm sure the WA7 will do a good job, I'm just leery of anything less then around 2 watts.

That thing is very nice looking to boot.

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Originally Posted by Enkaydian 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you guys for all the help, I will be getting the headphones then the amp in the next month, thx again for all the info guys, it has help me make my decision. That sucks it does not come with the fancy box lol, side question though,  how do you think the Woo Audio WA7 will fair with these? i know a lot of people recommend the schiit lyr and dac, but the WA7 has it all in one, for the same price i believe, with the looks to go with it!

I didn't know this had come out.  What a beautiful amp.  I love woo products and design!

Very nice design. Kind of a nice ornament with the glow of the tubes aswell.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by snip3r77 

 

Ok I've just collected it. Spent like 15mins on the default leather pads and I changed to the velour. It's definitely more comfy and still getting to the signature. I'm casually listening now and I suppose it needs some run ins? How long would it be? I can just turn on my pc and let it run with 24/7 at normal listening volumes.

 

BTW my O2 is at the "softer volume gain toggle" and it's now at only 10 o clock. I guess I can still crank it up. Should I be running at the "softer volume/gain toggle" or the louder one ?

 

Cheers.

Hey, I would say let the HE-500 for a while before getting a final picture. Well of course it is partially you getting used to the sound, so it doesn't have to be burn in. However in my case, I went from a used HE-500 fully burned in to a new replacement which sounded bad at first. After a while it finally returned to the original sound. I would give it a week. Regarding the volume level for burn in, play slightly louder than what you are used to.

I don't know which O2 you have. My O2 is from JDS Labs with the stock gain settings. At first, I kept going to high gain in an effort to get more bass thump, but it had woo too much distortion. After getting used to the O2's sound, I kept it at low gain. For the past few months, with HE-500 and LCD-2, I keep it at low gain position and stay anywhere from 11-1 o clock. No need for high gain for sure.

They're cheap enough anyway for a top tier hp.

OK, so first thing I am not affiliated with this shop, associated, nor do I get any provisions ;)

But, if you happen to live somewhat close to north London, you may want to check this out. They do have an in-house show room, where I have seen HE-500, HE-400, Beyerdynamic T1 and some Audio Technica HPs. Then I went on their homepage, and they seem to even have HD700, HD800 and a few Grado headphones. To drive all this, they use amps from Musical Fidelity, Sennheiser and ... Schiit (Mjölnir) ;)

http://www.hdaudiovisual.net/accessories-headphones.irc

Quote:

Originally Posted by LugBug1 

They're cheap enough anyway for a top tier hp.

Agreed. Once you hear these, any thoughts of buyer's remorse will dissipate instantaneously.

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Originally Posted by Zoom25 

 

Agreed. Once you hear these, any thoughts of buyer's remorse will dissipate instantaneously.

It took me a couple of hours to really realise what a great headphone it is...