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dubstep girl said:

no. its actually quite forgiving. the detail is very nice though, not hyper detailed, but nicely detailed.

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I would agree; it seems to strike a nice balance.

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snip3r77 said:

Guys,

Sometimes do you think the HE500 brings up too many detail and flaws from the recording?

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Too much detail - no.
 
Something present details in an awkward manner - yes.

What do you mean by awkward?

zoom25 said:

Too much detail - no.

Something present details in an awkward manner - yes.

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To me I think it exposes the recording flaws. Some of the normal recording ( non audiophile ) are affected.

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jesterphile said:

What do you mean by awkward?

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Presentation wise, on the soundstage, it can sometimes make certain passages or details come off rather unnaturally, that usually never comes off like that on other headphones or pretty much any speakers. One of the reasons is the inherent lack of depth.

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zoom25 said:

 
Presentation wise, on the soundstage, it can sometimes make certain passages or details come off rather unnaturally, that usually never comes off like that on other headphones or pretty much any speakers. One of the reasons is the inherent lack of depth.

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Fair enough, thanks for the explanation - I haven't noticed it yet, I'm sure I will now though lol

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jesterphile said:

Fair enough, thanks for the explanation - I haven't noticed it yet, I'm sure I will now though lol

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Yeah, I noticed that the soundstage is really wide but doesn't have much depth.

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jesterphile said:

Fair enough, thanks for the explanation - I haven't noticed it yet, I'm sure I will now though lol

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No problem
 
I didn't notice it for the first month I guess. Although after having them for about a year, you eventually tend to pick up on stuff over time and get a pretty good sense of what they can and can't do.

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zoom25 said:

 
No problem

 
I didn't notice it for the first month I guess. Although after having them for about a year, you eventually tend to pick up on stuff over time and get a pretty good sense of what they can and can't do.

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Haha I guess you would, Out of interest: which of your phones (HE500s, LCD2s, D2000's) do you prefer?

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jesterphile said:

Haha I guess you would, Out of interest: which of your phones (HE500s, LCD2s, D2000's) do you prefer?

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I like them all. For different music or applications, they vary. I actually started liking my D2000s more after getting the planars.
 
For movies, I would say D2000 is my favourite. HE-500 has no depth or rumble. Being wide is great and all, but no depth for movies is an absolute no-no. The D2000 isn't that wide but has more depth (overall a great width to depth ratio), proper subwoofer bloom. It's actually phenomenal with the O2, which doesn't work out as nicely with the planars. Also, the vocals on movie sound a whole lot natural and clean on the D2000 than on HE-500. The D2000 gives out a noticeably better movie presentation than the HE-500. I forced myself to watch up to 5 movies on the HE-500, but I usually couldn't stand it more than half way, the sound is too off. The HE-500 are comfortable but nowhere near D2000. Although vocals in typical music comes off a lot better on HE-500. I don't know why the mids become weird and recessed for music, but for movies, it scales to a whole another level.
 
For movies, I think I have tried the LCD-2 once or twice. I remember it fared better than HE-500, although it also didn't have the full engulfing subwoofer bass presentation you find in a theatre. Also for movies, I have never found the D2000's bass to be ever sloppy. It's actually so well ridiculously controlled, much more fun than HE-500. I should try LCD-2 more in the future for movies, but the D2000 has virtually nothing wrong it for movies. It has full extension and right bass impact and transients. Music is another case, where the LCD-2 and HE-500 kill it. Although looking at 50 Hz square wave response on D2000, you can see they are actually quite impressive. Not as good as LCD-2, but still applaudable. Definitely my favourite closed headphone.
 
For movies I can say with confidence that D2000 is better than HE-500. The verdict is still out on LCD-2s though.
 
For music, it again varies, and especially with genres. One thing I will say about the D2000 is that it does a whole lot better with slow/moderate paced music. Up to a 100 BPM, the D2000 are solid. That's why for rap, they are my favourite, even for LCD-2s. Their bass is very coherent for rap and not loose at all. The mids don't seem recessed at all and the rumble of them makes the LCD-2 seem quite poor...On the other hand, switch over to trance, DNB or dubstep, and all of a sudden the vocals start getting muddy. The bass isn't kicking hard enough and getting sloppy. Both HE-500 and LCD-2 win here.
 
HE-500 loses depth and has a okayish centerstage presentation. Kick ass treble though. Hands down the best in that area.
 
LCD-2 has the best height to width to depth ratio among the three. It's the most 3D of them all and wins the overall soundstage presentation among them. Even though HE-500 images better, it can't really utilize it with it's lack of depth and fuzzy center soundstage. Although near the sides, it's imaging is off the charts.
 
LCD-2 doesn't have the sparkly treble of HE-500 or the bloom of D2000 but it still manages to image quite respectably. While the soundstage isn't wide as the HE-500, I don't have a problem with it though, as at least it's soundstage comes off more natural and true to life.

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zoom25 said:

 
I like them all. For different music or applications, they vary. I actually started liking my D2000s more after getting the planars.
 
For movies, I would say D2000 is my favourite. HE-500 has no depth or rumble. Being wide is great and all, but no depth for movies is an absolute no-no. The D2000 isn't that wide but has more depth (overall a great width to depth ratio), proper subwoofer bloom. It's actually phenomenal with the O2, which doesn't work out as nicely with the planars. Also, the vocals on movie sound a whole lot natural and clean on the D2000 than on HE-500. The D2000 gives out a noticeably better movie presentation than the HE-500. I forced myself to watch up to 5 movies on the HE-500, but I usually couldn't stand it more than half way, the sound is too off. The HE-500 are comfortable but nowhere near D2000. Although vocals in typical music comes off a lot better on HE-500. I don't know why the mids become weird and recessed for music, but for movies, it scales to a whole another level.
 
For movies, I think I have tried the LCD-2 once or twice. I remember it fared better than HE-500, although it also didn't have the full engulfing subwoofer bass presentation you find in a theatre. Also for movies, I have never found the D2000's bass to be ever sloppy. It's actually so well ridiculously controlled, much more fun than HE-500. I should try LCD-2 more in the future for movies, but the D2000 has virtually nothing wrong it for movies. It has full extension and right bass impact and transients. Music is another case, where the LCD-2 and HE-500 kill it. Although looking at 50 Hz square wave response on D2000, you can see they are actually quite impressive. Not as good as LCD-2, but still applaudable. Definitely my favourite closed headphone.
 
For movies I can say with confidence that D2000 is better than HE-500. The verdict is still out on LCD-2s though.
 
For music, it again varies, and especially with genres. One thing I will say about the D2000 is that it does a whole lot better with slow/moderate paced music. Up to a 100 BPM, the D2000 are solid. That's why for rap, they are my favourite, even for LCD-2s. Their bass is very coherent for rap and not loose at all. The mids don't seem recessed at all and the rumble of them makes the LCD-2 seem quite poor...On the other hand, switch over to trance, DNB or dubstep, and all of a sudden the vocals start getting muddy. The bass isn't kicking hard enough and getting sloppy. Both HE-500 and LCD-2 win here.
 
HE-500 loses depth and has a okayish centerstage presentation. Kick ass treble though. Hands down the best in that area.
 
LCD-2 has the best height to width to depth ratio among the three. It's the most 3D of them all and wins the overall soundstage presentation among them. Even though HE-500 images better, it can't really utilize it with it's lack of depth and fuzzy center soundstage. Although near the sides, it's imaging is off the charts.
 
LCD-2 doesn't have the sparkly treble of HE-500 or the bloom of D2000 but it still manages to image quite respectably. While the soundstage isn't wide as the HE-500, I don't have a problem with it though, as at least it's soundstage comes off more natural and true to life.

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Wow thanks for the write up, I think LCD-2s will be my next headphone.

^I found the lcd-2 to have a less realistic tonality than the HE-500 when I heard it.

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jesterphile said:

Wow thanks for the write up, I think LCD-2s will be my next headphone.

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You won't be disappointed with them. Well, maybe at the start perhaps. Out of all my headphones LCD-2 and KRK KNS 8400 took me the longest to get used to and I didn't like them at all at first. For you, it might be less or you might like them off the bat.
 
Of course, take my suggestions with a grain of salt, as I'm not using the HE-500's with the 337/339, to see their true potential...IMHO of course 

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davidsh said:

^I found the lcd-2 to have a less realistic tonality than the HE-500 when I heard it.

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I have a means of trying them soon before I lay down money for them... thanks for your opinion man, I'll keep my ear out for that in my comparison
 
I keep asking myself if I should sell the HE500's and get LCD2's but I keep coming to the same conclusion 
 
 

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davidsh said:

^I found the lcd-2 to have a less realistic tonality than the HE-500 when I heard it.

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Same. It was quite off at first, especially the treble which removed some harmonics. The vocals were the same for me. Although after couple of weeks of adjusting, I would say it got a whole lot better. Not to mention silver cables for LCD-2 does good for treble. Now I can say for sure that the vocals and their presentation is better on LCD-2 than HE-500. Realistic tonality....still out for judgement as I have mostly been hearing LCD-2s with electronic music and not live instrument stuff.
 
Pink Floyd and other live albums were killer on the HE-500 though. HE-500 excelled with Pink Floyd.