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HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) Proving to be an enjoyable experience in listening.
Oct 8, 2013 at 8:59 PM Post #8,401 of 20,386
bhazard said:
   
You'll have to buy it custom or have someone make it for you. I bought mine for ~$40 from a head-fi member who was getting rid of his. Well worth it.
 
I don't believe in $100+ "magical" cables made with unobtanium.
Click to expand...

 
Any suggestions on people to contact to have a custom one made at a reasonable price? Thanks. 
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 10:08 PM Post #8,402 of 20,386
http://www.amazon.com/HOSA-Stereo-4-Inch-Phone-Female/dp/B000068O5D
 
+
 
2 x http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PCBL34-Gauge-Female-Banana/dp/B004HJ5JPQ
 
=
 
MATHEMATICAL! (~$20)
 
(Careful with shared ground/resistance matching.)
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 10:12 PM Post #8,403 of 20,386
sonido said:
  http://www.amazon.com/HOSA-Stereo-4-Inch-Phone-Female/dp/B000068O5D
 
+
 
2 x http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PCBL34-Gauge-Female-Banana/dp/B004HJ5JPQ
 
=
 
MATHEMATICAL! (~$20)
 
(Careful with shared ground/resistance matching.)
Click to expand...

 
Thanks! Can you elaborate on the issues with shared ground and resistance matching? 
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 10:25 PM Post #8,405 of 20,386
sonido said:
  What amp are you looking at?
Click to expand...

 
The $20 Lepai. It doesn't look like it takes banana plugs, so could I just chop the mono ends off that 1/4 inch adapter, figure out which wire is + and which is -, and stick the bare wire right into the spring loaded holes in the back of the amp? I don't really see where the ground comes into play.... I haven't studied electronics since high school physics.
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 10:41 PM Post #8,406 of 20,386
manbear said:
   
The $20 Lepai. It doesn't look like it takes banana plugs, so could I just chop the mono ends off that 1/4 inch adapter, figure out which wire is + and which is -, and stick the bare wire right into the spring loaded holes in the back of the amp? I don't really see where the ground comes into play.... I haven't studied electronics since high school physics.
Click to expand...

I looked up info earlier on shared ground on that amp and it's apparently not shared, which means doing that setup would likely damage the amp/make it unusable. You would need to rewire your HE-500 to output 4 pin XLR and then connect to opposite sex XLR and chop off the end then manually connect to wire grips. I think the cheapest  HE-500 to XLR is $150 from Hifiman. Of course you can just snip off the TRS in your default cable and connect directly to the amp, but you lose the the ability to connect to TRS inputs. You'd be kinda going all in here and I don't know if you want to do that. Since the Lepai is a solid state amp resistance matching shouldn't be an issue here (in the positive direction as in higher resistance of headphones), so no need for resistors.
 
Also if you decide to chop off the stock cable, figuring out polarity/left-right should be quite the treat.
blink.gif
 
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:00 PM Post #8,407 of 20,386
You could also get this for $60 and chop off the TRS and try to figure out the correct wiring. HE-400 and HE-500 has the same connector afaik.
 
http://www.head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=145
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:07 PM Post #8,408 of 20,386
All this talk about custom cables and modding the HE-500 is a little to much for me. Is there a mini-amp that works great with the HE-500 using the stock HE-500 cable? I plan on connecting the headphones to my PC.
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:11 PM Post #8,409 of 20,386
sonido said:
  http://www.amazon.com/HOSA-Stereo-4-Inch-Phone-Female/dp/B000068O5D
 
+
 
2 x http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PCBL34-Gauge-Female-Banana/dp/B004HJ5JPQ
 
=
 
MATHEMATICAL! (~$20)
 
(Careful with shared ground/resistance matching.)
Click to expand...

Will work with the Emotiva since it has shared ground.
 
Lol I guess the holy grail now is to find a decent $20 speaker amp that uses common ground.
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:19 PM Post #8,410 of 20,386
Sonido, thanks for all your help. One last question -- what is the difference between chopping off the TRS on the stock Hifiman cable and chopping the ends off of that TRS splitter? It seems like I would have R+, R-, L+, L- either way (unless I'm wrong about this part?...). Or could I get a TRS extension cable (female to male) and chop the end off of that, since it would be cheaper? I realize that figuring out which wire is which could be a hassle, but I figure that it might be easier if I could carefully cut it open at the TRS jack and see which wires in the cable are connected to which parts of the jack. But cutting the mono ends off that splitter seems simpler because then R and L would already be separated and I'd just have to figure out polarity. 
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:41 PM Post #8,411 of 20,386
daddydc650 said:
All this talk about custom cables and modding the HE-500 is a little to much for me. Is there a mini-amp that works great with the HE-500 using the stock HE-500 cable? I plan on connecting the headphones to my PC.
Click to expand...

In my experience in the lower price region and without any cable hassles..onky two amps come to mind of which i both listened to for a very long time... And liked!
The m-stage (with both gain switches on 10db) and the lyr (with amperex orange if i am not mistaken)..just Switch on..and connect headphone..good music! No worries! And no handwork needed... The mstage is also very portable..its light and slim..i always took it with me in a backback! Just needed a electricity socket..and music!! Wonderful amp for the money..cheap and sturdy..had the version 1 for almost 3 years ..not one single problem..using it daily for at least 1 hour a day! Had it opa627 class-a opamp modded... U wont regret that purchase and ofcourse the lyr..a bit more expensive (and some tuberolling needed).. But still good value for money..if u go around 700 then to my ears there is only one killer.. Wont mention name as all of u know which amp i mean..just sold it (again) for almost 300 euros more then what i paid for it last year..so in total i have a profit of 900euros on the amp! And both owners didnt think twice to pay that money after listening..this new owner i dont know.. I sold it on a sales site like ebay..but dutch version..
As i said before..no need te believe me..but the reactions of those two people gave me confirmation the mmmmmm is far better then its pricerange... But for u i think its s bit above ur pricerange..try the mstage or lyr.. U wont regret both buys! Speaker amps can be good..but its risky if u dont know the amp technically and u need to buy/ make adapters..not my piece of cake...i want music without any hassle..Imho ofcourse

Ps..ofcourse..if ur handy..by all means..get urself a budget speaker amp or a pioneer/marantz vintage amp (be careful..they could cause big repair costs)

Good luck my friend with ur choices!!
 
Oct 8, 2013 at 11:50 PM Post #8,412 of 20,386
hifimanrookie said:
In my experience in the lower price region and without any cable hassles..onky two amps come to mind of which i both listened to for a very long time... And liked!
The m-stage (with both gain switches on 10db) and the lyr (with amperex orange if i am not mistaken)..just Switch on..and connect headphone..good music! No worries! And no handwork needed... The mstage is also very portable..its light and slim..i always took it with me in a backback! Just needed a electricity socket..and music!! Wonderful amp for the money..cheap and sturdy..had the version 1 for almost 3 years ..not one single problem..using it daily for at least 1 hour a day! Had it opa627 class-a opamp modded... U wont regret that purchase and ofcourse the lyr..a bit more expensive (and some tuberolling needed).. But still good value for money..if u go around 700 then to my ears there is only one killer.. Wont mention name as all of u know which amp i mean..just sold it (again) for almost 300 euros more then what i paid for it last year..so in total i have a profit of 900euros on the amp! And both owners didnt think twice to pay that money after listening..this new owner i dont know.. I sold it on a sales site like ebay..but dutch version..
As i said before..no need te believe me..but the reactions of those two people gave me confirmation the mmmmmm is far better then its pricerange... But for u i think its s bit above ur pricerange..try the mstage or lyr.. U wont regret both buys! Speaker amps can be good..but its risky if u dont know the amp technically and u need to buy/ make adapters..not my piece of cake...i want music without any hassle..Imho ofcourse

Ps..ofcourse..if ur handy..by all means..get urself a budget speaker amp or a pioneer/marantz vintage amp (be careful..they could cause big repair costs)

Good luck my friend with ur choices!!
Click to expand...
Great post! Thank you and everyone else for the info. Time to make a decision. ...
 
Oct 9, 2013 at 12:00 AM Post #8,413 of 20,386
manbear said:
  Sonido, thanks for all your help. One last question -- what is the difference between chopping off the TRS on the stock Hifiman cable and chopping the ends off of that TRS splitter? It seems like I would have R+, R-, L+, L- either way (unless I'm wrong about this part?...). Or could I get a TRS extension cable (female to male) and chop the end off of that, since it would be cheaper? I realize that figuring out which wire is which could be a hassle, but I figure that it might be easier if I could carefully cut it open at the TRS jack and see which wires in the cable are connected to which parts of the jack. But cutting the mono ends off that splitter seems simpler because then R and L would already be separated and I'd just have to figure out polarity. 
Click to expand...

Yes there are 4 wires as you mentioned (R+, R-, L+, L-). Your problem lies in the fact that the TRS on the stock cable has only 3 connection points since they simply combined R- and L-. You need to bypass that, so that's why you need to cut off the TRS.  That $20 Amazon solution doesn't apply to you since you wouldn't be bypassing the TRS. The extension cable wouldn't work since once again, you are not bypassing your 3 connector TRS on the stock cable. I only recommended that $60 cable so you don't have to go all in on your stock cable, as you can cut of the TRS on the $60 cable. Cheapest way would be to just cut off your stock cable and figure out the wiring.
 
Oct 9, 2013 at 12:05 AM Post #8,414 of 20,386
hifimanrookie said:
if u go around 700 then to my ears there is only one killer.. Wont mention name as all of u know which amp i mean..just sold it (again) for almost 300 euros more then what i paid for it last year..so in total i have a profit of 900euros on the amp! And both owners didnt think twice to pay that money after listening..this new owner i dont know.. I sold it on a sales site like ebay..but dutch version..
As i said before..no need te believe me..but the reactions of those two people gave me confirmation the mmmmmm is far better then its pricerange...
Click to expand...

 
Oh what amplifier is that??
 
Oct 9, 2013 at 12:36 AM Post #8,415 of 20,386
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