Hyjacked
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Posts
- 26
- Likes
- 11
I recently purchased the HE-500's and they sound great, but not really "airy" or "open" as one would expect from an open-back headphone. Now, I am no audiophile and these are my first planar magnetic open-back headphones I have purchased, but I cannot help but think that they sound remarkably similar to my PSB M4U 1's. I know the HE-500's are said to need 150 hours of burn in, but I don't think that would drastically change them, or would it? They sound quite a bit more up front than I expected. Is that just the style of these particular open headphones? Well, besides that, there are also a number of somewhat limiting factors of mine that I will go over.
First of all, I am not using the best amp, but from what I've read and just glancing at the specs, the Schiit Magni is adequate to power the 'phones, maybe not the best match but a good bang for the buck. Coupled with that, you guessed it, I have the Schiit Modi.
My source of audio is iTunes, because I never know where to get popular or even true 320kbps songs (obviously many people take lower resolution files and scale them up to 320kbps and mark it off as that, even though the quality is not the same as an original 320kbps file). iTunes bitrate is 256kbps, so I can't see there being a huge difference in quality. The device hooked up to my DAC is my laptop.
Summary:
1. Do I need to fully break in the HE-500's in order for them to sound "open" and "airy" or am I doing something wrong or do I need to adjust settings on my computer?
2. Is my amp/DAC combination sufficient for the HE-500's or do I need a better set-up and is that why the headphones don't sound very open?
3. Where is a good place to get true 320kbps songs, including modern pop songs, cheap/free or is iTunes' 256kbps a sufficient option?
Other than those questions, please feel free to leave any suggestions you have for a first timer.
First of all, I am not using the best amp, but from what I've read and just glancing at the specs, the Schiit Magni is adequate to power the 'phones, maybe not the best match but a good bang for the buck. Coupled with that, you guessed it, I have the Schiit Modi.
My source of audio is iTunes, because I never know where to get popular or even true 320kbps songs (obviously many people take lower resolution files and scale them up to 320kbps and mark it off as that, even though the quality is not the same as an original 320kbps file). iTunes bitrate is 256kbps, so I can't see there being a huge difference in quality. The device hooked up to my DAC is my laptop.
Summary:
1. Do I need to fully break in the HE-500's in order for them to sound "open" and "airy" or am I doing something wrong or do I need to adjust settings on my computer?
2. Is my amp/DAC combination sufficient for the HE-500's or do I need a better set-up and is that why the headphones don't sound very open?
3. Where is a good place to get true 320kbps songs, including modern pop songs, cheap/free or is iTunes' 256kbps a sufficient option?
Other than those questions, please feel free to leave any suggestions you have for a first timer.