He-500 worth price tag?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poetic 

I've been listening to my Sennheiser HD 650's and Hifiman he-400's for a while now. But I really want to know if the He-500's are worth the price tag/upgrade. I plan on using this on my Hisound Studio 3rd anniversary. Are the He-500's hard to drive? Do they require more power than my He-400. and would they fit my my hisound player like a glove :)

HE-500 are much harder to drive than the two headphones you currently own, and though I've never heard them on the Hisound Studio 3rd Anniversary, specs say it outputs 80 mW of power, which suggests that they would unfortunately not be a great fit with the HE-500.  Rule of thumb is generally around 800mW to 1W worth of output power for it to sound optimal with the HE-500.  IMO, HE-500 are a clear upgrade to the HD650 (Never had the opportunity to hear the HE-400).

To my ears, the HE-500 is the best value for the Sound Quality provided of any high-end headphone when driven correctly.  It can play any genre of music well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poetic 

I've been listening to my Sennheiser HD 650's and Hifiman he-400's for a while now. But I really want to know if the He-500's are worth the price tag/upgrade. I plan on using this on my Hisound Studio 3rd anniversary. Are the He-500's hard to drive? Do they require more power than my He-400. and would they fit my my hisound player like a glove :)

Heya,

The HE-500 is a little different from the HE-400. If you want to have a more natural sound, better mids, a slight less emphasis on bass, and a more natural and sparkly treble, the HE-500 would be good. But otherwise, it's almost like a simply different flavor that is very similar to the HE-400 as it is. And very different from the HD650. Worth it? That's up to you. It's worth it to me, but that's my preference. The HE-500 does take about 1 to 1.5 watts at 38ohms to be fully dynamic (per Dr Fang). So it's harder to drive than the HE-400, but it's still relatively efficient and works from most amplifiers so long as they can provide current.

What about the HE-400 do you not like, sound wise?

Very best,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poetic 

 the He-400 sound lovely, i just have alot of cash to burn at the moment. Im already considering that DAC you've suggested for me. But i wanted another pair of headphones to go with it.

Heya,

If you have cash to burn, I would look at different headphones from what you already have.

Consider things like:

Beyer T1

Audeze LCD2

Shure SRH1840

Ultrasone PRO 2900

Denon D7000/7100

Mr Speakers Mad Dogs

AudioTechinca W1000X & AD2000

And of course, much better source equipment.

Very best,