A headphone shootout from a speaker listener - Testing eight headphones from £ 80 to £ 1,200 - Page 3

Hmmm maybe I will go for 2 pairs of headphones (1 open and 1 closed)... Instead of getting the HE400 as all rounders.... Shame about the build quality by the sound of it :/

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicholars 

 

Hmm maybe I will give them a miss then... Was that the newer revision or the old ones?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedlam inside 

Hi,
 

Sorry to hear of your trouble. At least you confirm I'm not quite as mad as a bag of ferrets or the only one with a dud.
 

I had the original HE-5 and the LE. Also the HE-300. The Achilles heel is the area where the earcup housing bail joins the metal headband. If it flexes or is subject to the least amount of stress, it snaps off. And the pads.....if you remove them and put them back on more than a couple of times, the plastic tabs go weak or break off. I assume the design has been upgraded, but the ones I had looked like the tabs were cut out with a knife. Really cheap and amateurish.

I have had no problem so far with a he-500 produced like mid december. The mounting system works good, albeit it could be better

The only issue I have had build wise is, that the earcup/headband slider mechanism is a bid more loose on 1 side, but nothing to worry about really. They stay in place as they should, and I can adjust both sides whilst wearing them.

About the comfort, I think it is good. No excessice pressure anywhere. The clamping vs. headband down-weighing seems well balnced, and the only thing I could complain about, is that the pressure on my head should be a bit more even. They are weighing a bit more on the sides of my head than in the middle. But it does not annoy me at all, and if it did, I would just bend the headband slightly, as they encourage you to do in the manual that comes with the phone.

The comfort is by comparison better than my old logitech g35 gaming headset, and I have actually grown to like the comfort as much as the beyer dt-880 except for the added weight.

But I most note, that these headphones seem like hi-fi on a budget. They are sturdy enough, but you can't compare them to some of the other TOTL models produced in Germany. They do seem a bit china-like.

BUT remember that hifiman has 3 yrs warranty, and I guess that if the headphones are still functioning in some 2 and a half years, they will probably also be functioning in 10 years... Longevity would maybe be a reason for me to buy the lcd2 or a beyer/sennheiser, but I just don't have the money to get comparable sound AND very good quality. The lcd2 would almost cost me twice as much, for example.

A little edit: I have changed the earpads/ taken them off atleast 10 times. No problems so far.

Almost forgot to mention that you should have tried hooking up your HE-500 to your speaker amp.

I enjoyed reading this review, very interesting and well written. Thank you!

I'm considering going for the he-400 or he-500 at some point in the future. I'm going to make sure I actually get to see a current model before making a purchase, so I can ensure I'm happy with the build quality and noggin-comfort.

Thanks for that Rich, I'll watch out for the next Whittlebury Hall one when it comes around - it's not too far away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedlam inside 

Hi,

Quote:

How do I do that?

Cheers Rich

I'm not sure, but I have read about it. There is a thread about using some emotiva amp with the HE-6/500 here on head-fi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedlam inside 

Hi,

Ok, I'll have a butchers. I can always ask for them HE-500 back for another round...

Cheers Rich

If you have a good speaker amp - then why not? 

If you fear damaging the headphone, just get an attenuator/resistor.

From my logical perspective I'd say a speaker amp is exactly what a low impedance insensitive planar will need. Most speaker amps are designed to deliver a lot of current because of the speakers tending to be very low impedance compared to headphones. The HE-500 is relatively low impedance, and people keep talking about them needing a lot of juice and current.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedlam inside 

Hi,

 

I had a butchers. The thread about running the HE-500 from a speaker amp is here:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/629352/hifiman-he-500-on-a-speaker-amp-emotiva-mini-x-a-100-project

 

If I twig this, a quite special adapter is needed and the headphones need a different cable than normal as well:

 

My Amp's are audio innovation tube monoblocks. They look pretty much like these (just different tubes and 50W class A output). I think they are very good for speakers.

What may be more of an issue, they are on floor over 2m apart between each speaker and the rack and I sit maybe 3m back from the rack, needs lots of wires that.

 

This is an issue, as these headphones are borrowed and not mine. So who is going to fork out for them cables? Not me, I doubt Gazza will.

 

 

This may be so, but I remember reading the HE-500 were made to run from portable players. It seems these are okay to run on normal headphone outputs.

Cheers Rich

They were never made to run from portable players like iDevices, neither is the HE-400 made for it, but it can be run through portable players. 

Of course if you need special cables and such, it isn't worth it.