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- brandBTG Audio
- itemEmotiva Mini X A 100
- itemGrado SR 80
- itemHiFiMAN HE 400
- itemHiFiMAN HE 500
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2012 Head-Fi Holiday Gift Guide (Summit-Fi)
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- 2012 Head-Fi Holiday Gift Guide (Over-Ear)
HE-500, LCD2, D5000, DT770, SR80, on a speaker amp (Emotiva mini-X A-100) Project - Page 35
Gear mentioned in this thread:
- MrTie84
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Yeah that's about right, trying to stay busy, but Tuesday can't get here soon enough, I hope my cable parts get here on Monday, but I'm sure in pinch the ST will drive them until they do get here.
- MalVeauX
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Just pulled the trigger on some He-500's and I just happen to have a spare Mini-x, so I will be giving the combo a go. I believe from reading here the Mini-X is common ground, so no issues with wiring taps to a female 1/4th inch adapter correct? I mean if I have to build a 4 pin xlr cable I will, but it seems like a quick adapter for the stock cable would get the job done just fine. Has anyone tried a tube pre before the mini-x? I happen to have a HllY mkIII I'm gutting and actually putting quality caps into so it might be interesting to place it before the mini-x in my chain to give the cans a little more warmth, Thoughts? Either way extremely excited as this is my fist Ortho, and my first $$$ HP, I'm currently running a single piece mahog cup Magnum v4.
Should look like this.
Foobar2k to Essence ST to Hlly MKIII to Mini-X to HE500.
Heya,
I liked having a tube pre-amp (LDMKIII, was thinking of a dark voice 336). I ended up getting a tube dac though to remove an item from the chain. I like the tube sound a little more with the HE500/Mini-X setup, gives it a little swagger to my ears.
Very best,
- hifimanrookie
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- MrTie84
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Out for delivery, this work day can't end fast enough. I even left a huge sign telling the UPS guy to leave the damn box in my breeze way. I hope my female TRS gets here today as well so I can get the taps adapter made. Otherwise I'll be driving them off the Essence tonight, might be good idea any way to compare the sound of under powered vs the emo.
Counting the seconds....
- Happy Camper
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Out for delivery, this work day can't end fast enough. I even left a huge sign telling the UPS guy to leave the damn box in my breeze way. I hope my female TRS gets here today as well so I can get the taps adapter made. Otherwise I'll be driving them off the Essence tonight, might be good idea any way to compare the sound of under powered vs the emo.
Counting the seconds....
nice pictures...
- MrTie84
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The first few moments of the putting the HE-500 on, I instantly thought, this is it? This is so boring, so smooth, like drinking soft water, I hate it. However I know it takes much longer then a snap decision for this kinda of thing, so I took it through the paces, and tracks I know really well...bit by bit a picture started to form...coming from Magnums v4's I just wasn't prepared with how different the tonal balance was at first.
Things I've learned tonight.
1. He-500s can image to a degree I didn't know headphones could do. Spooky.
2. Live music is flabbergastingly amazing, hand claps , crowd noise, just crazy.
3. These are actually really comfy on my head, even with the stock pleather.
4. I haven't found anything that sound bad on them.
5. Deep insanely detailed bass, maybe not slam(Though I'm sure the mini-x will help), but detail to spare.
6. I have never heard female vocals, until today.
What a trip, I can't wait for my parts to get here, so I can build my taps cable and see what these babies can really do off my emotiva. I will say even ran off my Essence ST, they are a cut above my magnums to a degree I wasn't expecting to be so pronounced. I would still like to hear and LCD2 someday, but right now I am not regretting my purchase.
- moshen
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The first few moments of the putting the HE-500 on, I instantly thought, this is it? This is so boring, so smooth, like drinking soft water, I hate it. However I know it takes much longer then a snap decision for this kinda of thing, so I took it through the paces, and tracks I know really well...bit by bit a picture started to form...coming from Magnums v4's I just wasn't prepared with how different the tonal balance was at first.
Things I've learned tonight.
1. He-500s can image to a degree I didn't know headphones could do. Spooky.
2. Live music is flabbergastingly amazing, hand claps , crowd noise, just crazy.
3. These are actually really comfy on my head, even with the stock pleather.
4. I haven't found anything that sound bad on them.
5. Deep insanely detailed bass, maybe not slam(Though I'm sure the mini-x will help), but detail to spare.
6. I have never heard female vocals, until today.
For some reason going up in audio quality is much harder to discern than going down. I can usually immediately tell if the balance or quality is off or bad, but it's much harder to tell how much better a better piece of audio gear is until you use it for a while. Sometimes I forget how good the HE-500 is until I try another headphone.. then the quality, balance, or tonal difference (if it's worse) is pretty immediate.. seems like you're starting to like them though. 
- kidchunks
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Grats on the purchase MrTie84. Be sure to try the velour pads. 
- MalVeauX
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The first few moments of the putting the HE-500 on, I instantly thought, this is it? This is so boring, so smooth, like drinking soft water, I hate it. However I know it takes much longer then a snap decision for this kinda of thing, so I took it through the paces, and tracks I know really well...bit by bit a picture started to form...coming from Magnums v4's I just wasn't prepared with how different the tonal balance was at first.
Things I've learned tonight.
1. He-500s can image to a degree I didn't know headphones could do. Spooky.
2. Live music is flabbergastingly amazing, hand claps , crowd noise, just crazy.
3. These are actually really comfy on my head, even with the stock pleather.
4. I haven't found anything that sound bad on them.
5. Deep insanely detailed bass, maybe not slam(Though I'm sure the mini-x will help), but detail to spare.
6. I have never heard female vocals, until today.
What a trip, I can't wait for my parts to get here, so I can build my taps cable and see what these babies can really do off my emotiva. I will say even ran off my Essence ST, they are a cut above my magnums to a degree I wasn't expecting to be so pronounced. I would still like to hear and LCD2 someday, but right now I am not regretting my purchase.
I'm stoked for you. Welcome to hi-fi. 
Very best,
- MrTie84
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- Location: Saginaw, MI
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-Kidchunks, I did try the velours a bit last night, I think I will prefer them in the hotter months, but but right now I think I like the pleather and how it effects the sound of the bass just a little bit more, the difference is fairly subtle to me though. It's also cold in my basement office, Hi-Fi earmuffs :P.
-Moshen, totally agree I found this to true in speakers and gear as well.I almost always am never instantly wowed by a change, everything sounds different and wrong to me.Granted it doesn't take much longer, but I gotta settle into a thing for like an hour or so before I can really even start to form any opinion. That said I did start switching back and forth last night, and on live recordings I really like, the differences were staggering, the magnums have fun and a certain tone I really enjoy but they are purely inside my head, the imaging from the HE-500 is extremely game changing for me, then again this is my first taste of the new "High End" cans.
-MalveauX, Thanks for the thread, in a way finding this and having a spare Mini-X laying around, you really sealed my fate on what can to buy. If my damn female TRS doesn't get here today I'm going to have see if I can't find one at radioshack.
- MrTie84
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Oh so happy to join the club, my cable isn't nearly as pretty as others but a female TRS+ Mogami quad gets the job done. Sounds cleaner then High gain setting I needed on my Essence.
- jerg
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I guess the Head-Fi admins don't find HE500 hi-fi enough 
- wje
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- HE-500, LCD2, D5000, DT770, SR80, on a speaker amp (Emotiva mini-X A-100) Project
Gear mentioned in this thread:
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