REVIEW HIFIMAN HE500 A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH - Page 5

Spent a couple of weeks with the new velour pads, and oh my it's yummy. For those people who have the older pads or leatherpads I would highly encourage the newer velour pads. It is made of finer more dense material and it has done several things. (IMHO)

1. Added more meat to the bass and mids, now roughly on par with the LCD-2 R2. No, I'm not kidding it's very close now, amazing, just amazing jaw-dropping bass weight, speed, extension.

2. Shifted the timbre so that the midrange (vocals) sound more "real" or "natural" as people put it, again very close to the LCD-2 R2, hard to decide which sounds more "natural."

3. Sound stage has become even more 3-Dimensional, better layering.

Treble soars, smooth, showing me what was missing witht LCD-2 R2. WOW...

This is just my guess but the differences in opinion about how good the HE-500 is should be prefaced by asking which pads one is using because the new velour pads are the bee's knees for  me.

I don't see the new velour pads on headdirect website, are they available?

Quote:

Originally Posted by M-13 

Spent a couple of weeks with the new velour pads, and oh my it's yummy. For those people who have the older pads or leatherpads I would highly encourage the newer velour pads. It is made of finer more dense material and it has done several things. (IMHO)

 

1. Added more meat to the bass and mids, now roughly on par with the LCD-2 R2. No, I'm not kidding it's very close now, amazing, just amazing jaw-dropping bass weight, speed, extension.

2. Shifted the timbre so that the midrange (vocals) sound more "real" or "natural" as people put it, again very close to the LCD-2 R2, hard to decide which sounds more "natural."

3. Sound stage has become even more 3-Dimensional, better layering.

 

Treble soars, smooth, showing me what was missing witht LCD-2 R2. WOW...

 

This is just my guess but the differences in opinion about how good the HE-500 is should be prefaced by asking which pads one is using because the new velour pads are the bee's knees for  me.

Thank you for your impressions!

Are there any difference in comfort between the old and new velour pads? 

Nice review, Frank. 

I wouldn't say the comfort is any worse or better. The new velour is more firm and dense. I personally like it.

Not sure when Head-Direct will start offering the new velour pads, assuming  it will be soon.

Just to clarify I'm not saying that HE-500 is "better" than the LCD-2 R2, just that the gap is closer than ever, and would go so far as to say that at the new pirce point of $699, offers a better value.

And yes the Lyr drives both phones with authority and grace. Listening to the R2 right now, and oh my... this is why I own both phones.

I have tried each and ever pads Hifiman could offer but still by best pads are the DT990 Velour pads they sounded much better then the Hifiman's one..i guess the Beyer company makes better pads than the Hifiman..since Beyerdynamic is older in existence than Hifiman i guess they have more experience than Hifiman..imo
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank I 

I can say i prefer the new velour to the leather pads and by a wide margin. The biggest improvement is the clips. I had less difficulty in swapping pads. I am curious as to how the Beyer 880 pads would sounds so may explore those down the road.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by keph 

I have tried each and ever pads Hifiman could offer but still by best pads are the DT990 Velour pads they sounded much better then the Hifiman's one..i guess the Beyer company makes better pads than the Hifiman..since Beyerdynamic is older in existence than Hifiman i guess they have more experience than Hifiman..imo

Can you please describe how they are better? I am tempted to try them, if they do not change the frequency response character (not add any brightness) compared to the pleather stock ones.

I didn't like the way the HE-500 sounded with the leather at all. I am also using the Beyer pad and they offer the best sound / confort IMO. Very similar to the original Hifiman velour pad but I think they provide slightly better seal. I haven't tried the new velour

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank I 

I know Beyer pads are soft on the ears maybe more comfortable. the leather i had did not have the foam inserts so my ear was touching the driver a very uncomfortable experience. The velour is thicker so it stays off the ears but I probably try the beyer pads also after the new year.

I have the very same problem with the pleather pads. What foam inserts? Has the design of pleather pads changed?
 

I ordered the pleather pads few weeks ago and didn't get the insert. Those pads are too thin and skew the sound as the driver is so close to your ear. Thankfully the pleather pads were cheap...but crap. I would have prefered to pay a bit more and get better quality. The first velours also seems to be all slightly different in thickness. That why I decided to switch to the Beyer.