HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) please post your impressions. Proving to be a great headphone... - Page 141

Alright..... sold my HD650 (always preferred my HD600) so I could afford to see what everyone's raving about.  My new HE-500s are out for delivery for this afternoon.  I get the impression my Asgard should be sufficient.  I'll check back later!
 

Asgard is at the limit..better is to get the lyr..it will drive the he500 much better imho

This is what I'm given to understand as well. I even emailed Schiit about it and they recommended the Lyr.

 

Are we talking about a qualitative or quantitative difference here?  In other words, is the improvement due to more power (which may be a matter of fact), or rather, the difference in SQ afforded by tubes (which may be a matter of taste or preference) ?

Both..the he500 needs a amp with at least 1w rms. Thats a minimum..u go under that the he500 suffer in flair what he can put in music..the extra watts the lyr has makes it more livelier...but as i said before..its not best amp for he500..for the price around 400usd..u do a good deal..but if u wanna be sure..listen to a lyr and compare to ur asgard..or google for it and here on headfi... Good luck with ur search

Before you go and spend more coin on gear, have a listen to your HiFi's on your Asgard setup and see how you like it.  We look forward to your impressions.

 

My Auditor / HE-500 combo sounds great, and the specifications are WAY below the norm what some people around here would recommend as sufficient.  If you look outside the power output of an amp you might be surprised what you will find :)

 

Enjoy your HE-500's, they are truly a wonderful headphone.

 

Auditor Max. Output Performance:
1,7W (+32,2dBm) @ 1 kHz and 600 Ohms connection
360mW (+25,6dBm) @ 1 kHz and 30 Ohms connection

 

 

 

Hi, HE-500, Auditor and Telegraph Road by Dire Straits here.  Instrument precision on the Auditor is superb.  No smearing or slowness here.  Very fast amp.  Tonality is spec on.  Smooth as butter and yet lively.  Reminds me of a refined "RS1 style" lively sound, without the peaks in the treble.  Cymbals crash with authority. The 'zing' is there, when called for, for those stringed instruments.  That final pick on Mark's guitar.  That cymbal crash to start the solo.  That last key on a piano solo.  Exhilarating!

 

HE-500, ROC SA and the same song, more bass weight on the ROC SA, full bodied.  Vocals are pushed back, they sound smoother in comparison and sound more 'right' to my ears.  Nothing is out of place here.  Even across mids and highs.  Bottom end weight is apparent, non-intrusive and tight.

So darn smooth.

The solo lacks that ZING offered by the Auditor.  Just turned the volume up. :). The ROC can go loud without being intrusive to the ears. 

 

Song ends (didn't even notice).

 

Back to the Auditor for a second listen.  The tone of the space in which the instruments play in is magnificent.  Great presentation.   The Auditor wins hands down here.  ROC is smoother, Auditor more lively.  Pick your poison.  Speed feels the same.

 

Both are great amps.

 

Don't forget.  Behind every great man, there's a great woman, and that woman is the Reference 5.2 DAC.

 

 

Side note:

In DavidMahler - Battle Of The Flagships (50+ Headphones Compared)... GIGANTIC, COLOSSAL, ENORMOUS comparison of headphones GALORE, he does not list the Phonitor as his preferred amp, and instead picks two tube amps.  He writes the following:

 

MY PREFERRED AMP: Woo Audio 5 / TTVJ Millett 307a

 

Is the Peak/Volcano a replacement to the TTVJ Millett 307a?  That's a Peak I'd like to climb :D

 

Happy Listening :)

 

Previously...

Edited by rezolver - 11/29/12 at 6:50pm

To be fair though, the Lyr may well be better (haven't heard) but the Asgard is still good enough. Some actually prefer it. It has a lovely tone, but it's a little bright. I'd give it a chance first with your HE500's because they will open up more and also brighten up over the hours until they get settled in. I've found that when you feed the HE500's more power the bass increases. This also gives the impression of a larger soundstage. If you are cool with the bass on the Asgard then I'd say leave it at that. An amp such as the Lyr will be higher maintenance in regards to tube rolling (the stock aren't very good apparently) etc.  

 

The asgard is a bottom of the barrel amp for the HE-500.  It's pretty much the bare minimum of quality I would accept and the asgard in no way brings out the best from these great cans.  I haven't had my asgard for quite some time now, but I recall it being very thin compared to even high impedence tube amps that were supposedly not suited for the HE-500.

 

Bottom line the asgard does not offer a great level of depth or transparency.  At its price point you can find better options.  If you're going to spend a small amount of money on an amp for your HE-500, I'd recommend the little dot I+.  It will hold you over without a doubt until you feel the need to upgrade or maybe you won't.

I'd have to disagree with you there my friend. Having owned both the LD1+ and Asgard, even with best tubes and opamp the LD still sounds "cheap" compared to the more refined sound of the Asgard. I understand about the power issue, but I've found in experimenting with quite a few amps that the HE500's can still work well with lower powered amps, depending on source power etc. Incidently, the asgard gives out just over 1 watt into 32 and this is more than most dedicated HP amps. If the op had lower end Grado's then I would without hesitation recommend the LD1+, but not for the HE500's. It's a great little amp but nowhere near good enough for a world class hp and would be a waste of money if he wants to eventually upgrade from the Asgard.

I'm not sure if I was the OP on this Asgard vs Lyr riff, but I'm running my new HE-500 from the Asgard and I'm thrilled.  I'm not necessarily opposed to upgrading to the Lyr, but I'm finding no weaknesses .... crystal clear highs against a backdrop of deep, true bass.  In fact, I find my present bass deep, full and perfect.  Frankly my concern might be that the Lyr, either by virtue of it's (somewhat) greater power capacity, or by virtue of the warm coloring that tubes may add, might render the sound output with TOO much bass emphasis for my tastes.   Any comments?  Or rather, anyone NOT have a comment?  

Edited by BobJS - 12/1/12 at 8:15am

Only to agree that the Asgard is a very refined amp for the money. It's the mids and highs that were special for me, very open, smooth and tight. It also has quite a wide soundstage for SS too. I would just sit back and enjoy your new phones! :)

We have a winner. Give the Week burn in and enjoy. Don't think about an HE-6 being a beast or what "does" a speaker amp sound like.

Here's another review of the HE-500 I found.

 

http://www.thresholdlovers.com/articles.php?lng=en&pg=1589

Sounds to me like you love the Asgard/HE-500 combo and are happy.

I now have the Lyr/HE-500 set up and feel the same way as you do with your Asgard set up. Super happy. I feel the bass is super tight with good extension. Certainly not bass heavy. I find this set up is quite balanced thoughout the frequency spectrum. Very liquid and musical sounding with very little glare or harshness. One might find this set up to be a tad dark. Not too dissimilar to the feeling with the Lyr & Sennheiser 600 pairing... though there is more sparkle & clarity to these 500's than with the Senns. (I'm coming from a Lyr/Sennheiser HD-600 set up previously.) Soundstage and imaging is still something I'm trying to figure out with this rig. Sometimes I feel it to be more closed in and less open feeling than with the Sennheiser rig, but other times I'm blown away with its presentation. More listening to do here I suppose.

Anyway, I know from experience that It's easy to get trapped in this feeling that things can always be better, and feeling this constant need to upgrade- but im learning to to think differently. I'm trying to just enjoy what I have and not obsess about what could be better. Hopefully it's about the music anyway, so if you are enjoying your music with the rig you have, let it be fo a while.... It does sound like you are super happy. Just my humble opinion.