Battle Of The Flagships (57 Headphones Compared) UPDATE: Ultimate Ears UERM added (4/14/13) - Page 162

Quote:

Originally Posted by zibra 

David, have you heard Hifiman HE5LE? Ive spent some time with it and these still surprise me after few months. They also scale very good with better equipment and I dont know wheres the end of their potential. I would like to hear more opinions vs highlt praised HE500 which I never heard. HE5LE look to me like forgotten diamond a little.

HE-5LE  IMO  In Short:

Better bass response and just a better overall tonal balance.    

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 


well..one guy on the last meet i attended called my 337: the mighty 337.. And that was with the svetlana tubes in it and not the 5998's i have now..and he was referring to the way how he drove the he500 and even the he6 perfectly..soundwise
I tried almost all bursons and musical fidelity's amps even a violectric v200 and two woo audio's and for my ears and some others also on the meet..the 337 sounded best ( even being one of the cheapest of them all) with the he500.. And on a review i read the reviewer stated the 337 and 339 were one of the best amps for the he500 he heard.
But first of all its ofcourse all personal..and second.am sure there are better amps..but am sure they will be much much more expensive.. As the 337 is a steal for what he offers.. Imho

Well of course there are better and also much more expensive amps out there.  I was just picking at you.  However, I wouldn't go around saying "It's Know to be one of the best" after 1 meet and a couple of people liking it.  

Oh well, I'm sure it's other out there that feel the same about their amps and the HE-500 combo.

Just saying... 

What is worse? What about imaging and airness. Have you tried pleathers on HE5LE? Have you tried to remove foams?

For me..

HE-6 --> HE-5LE --> HE-4 --> HE-500 --> HE-400

I use stock Denon Dx000s pads on all mine.

Waiting to get my hands on a pair of HE-5s

Is it true you own a pair of Beyerdynamic T5p? Why don't you see them in your Top50+ ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HumanSaurusRex 

Is it true you own a pair of Beyerdynamic T5p? Why don't you see them in your Top50+ ?

Hm....if I have to take a wild stab at it, it's probably because they are not within the top 50. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

HE500. I have both side-to-side for the last few days just swapping between them with music and trying out different earpads, and really in the end, vocals:instruments ratio for HE400 is 1:2 maybe 1:3, while for HE500 is perfectly 1:1. That and the fact that HE500's treble doesn't have the stringency that HE400's treble has, means vocals shine through with HE500 like a glorious golden halo.

 

However HE500 doesn't have the sense of air or space that HE400 has. So for non-vocal music HE400 sounds much more lively and clear, as opposed to HE500 which sounds almost too romantic and with less energy. That's not to say HE500 is lacking though, it's just that HE400 does it so well (the only other headphone I've heard that retains this sense of air and openness while still having the ridiculously great bass and lower midrange is HE6).

I kind of feel the same way as the guy this response was to. Making me want to try the HE500's even more haha.

David ... you forgot to add this to your K501 review.  "Acoustic masters" 

Are the HD800's on another level from the K501s when it comes to reproducing acoustic music?

Musical Journey For those interested.  

Track 3.  Concentrate on the accordion.  The flubbering when he depresses are breathtaking (stage right aka NE aka 45 degrees right from center).  Kobain's descent, dip followed by a raise in vocal tone @ 3:36.  The intricacies are throughout this great listen!

Darn, album finished.  Moving onto...

^^^ Between them and Radiohead, I'm not sure who's more doom and gloom.  Moving to...

^^^ Prior to David I tried...

... but it was too painful of a listen. The 'bright' background of the K501's w/ the forward midrange and emphasized treble due to lack of bottom end is not suited for electric guitars (album does not have a well recorded

Soul Asylum - Runaway Train / Without a Trace -- sound great as well.  I'm seeing a pattern here.

Joan Osborne - One of Us.  The guitar amp feedback can be heard during the intro on the right and is quickly adjusted.  Great song as well with a killer solo.  Recognize!

To sum it all up, the K501's are a fantastic headphone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by catspaw 

Since this review, i bought the HE-400, however i have some issues with its sound (not sure if signature or lack of amp, using a E17 at the moment). Main problem is that i feel some music generes "distant", especially in a few mids/highs.

I noted this with Rock mostly.

 

I am unable to use the terminology in this forum like "recesed mids" or so, since i dont have enought expirience with diffrent HP, but even in a few games like Mass Efect 2, some sounds seem to be strongly lowered in terms of volume.

 

I used to play this map where the music was really cool, so i used to lower the sounds, and increase the music, but with these Its hard to get the sound working. I can hear the bass strong, i can hear the gun im shooting strong (high pitching sounds), i can hear the weapon exchange very clearly, but the rest of the music that is suppoed to be there (perfectly audible in my speakers, Z-5500 logitech, and my older headphone, Sennhesier HD 380 Pro) feels very low on volume. Kinda Muddy, like overwhelmed by other sounds.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by beatfreak 

After owning the He400's for three weeks and listening for many hours, I found that the are exceptional when listening to electronic music.  My issue is while listening to Norah Jones, or Adele 21, I find that the instruments are up front, but the vocals seem to be 10 rows back.

 

Yep and yep. I won't harp on the HE-500's again, but that's exactly the problem I had with them. The "best part of the music" was the hardest to enjoy. Too distant & not integrated with the rest of the spectrum. Instantly frustrating.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 


well..one guy on the last meet i attended called my 337: the mighty 337.. And that was with the svetlana tubes in it and not the 5998's i have now..and he was referring to the way how he drove the he500 and even the he6 perfectly..soundwise
I tried almost all bursons and musical fidelity's amps even a violectric v200 and two woo audio's and for my ears and some others also on the meet..the 337 sounded best ( even being one of the cheapest of them all) with the he500.. And on a review i read the reviewer stated the 337 and 339 were one of the best amps for the he500 he heard.
But first of all its ofcourse all personal..and second.am sure there are better amps..but am sure they will be much much more expensive.. As the 337 is a steal for what he offers.. Imho

I own the 337se, and I actually like the energy and dynamics of the  Lyr with the HE-500 over it, even with the upgraded tubes it was much less expensive then  the standard 337. 

This review was much MUCH more than I expected. Thank you very much.

If you are able I would like you to do one for headphone amps too!