HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) Proving to be an enjoyable experience in listening.
Dec 26, 2014 at 9:47 PM Post #15,271 of 20,414
Can the O2 drive the he-500 to its full potential? Wanna upgrade my he-400..

I love the O2, but it's not enough power for the HE500. Get a Schiit Lyr upgraded with some cherry NOS tubes and enter audio heaven.
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 6:01 PM Post #15,272 of 20,414
Congrats! Check out Jerg's Fuzzor mod once you've made your initial impressions. For about $10 you can upgrade the sound as much or more than any cable or pad swap.

Yeah, I've been looking at that, and I've never done anything like that to headphones, because I'm afraid of damaging something. Hopefully I'll work up the courage to get it done though!
 
What exactly is it supposed to do to the sound?
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 6:08 PM Post #15,273 of 20,414
Congrats! Check out Jerg's Fuzzor mod once you've made your initial impressions. For about $10 you can upgrade the sound as much or more than any cable or pad swap.

Yeah, I've been looking at that, and I've never done anything like that to headphones, because I'm afraid of damaging something. Hopefully I'll work up the courage to get it done though!

What exactly is it supposed to do to the sound?

If you damaged the headphone, I would be shocked... I mean it would be SERIOUSLY difficult. It eliminates a lot of back wave distortion, which makes the headphone WAY WAY more detailed, clean, articulate and non-fatiguing. It's THE best mod I've ever tried.
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 6:54 PM Post #15,274 of 20,414
If you damaged the headphone, I would be shocked... I mean it would be SERIOUSLY difficult. It eliminates a lot of back wave distortion, which makes the headphone WAY WAY more detailed, clean, articulate and non-fatiguing. It's THE best mod I've ever tried.

More detailed hm? Doesn't do anything to the frequency response at all, does it? I'd like to keep that amazing response as flat as it normally is.
 
And that means, with the fuzzor mod, better cables, and the focus pads, I should have a headphone that sounds even better due to all three helping the cans out! 
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 7:29 PM Post #15,275 of 20,414
Fuzzor + grill mods are reversible and taken together do good things to the HE-500s.  They're not particularly labor-intensive, esp. if you have other cans to listen to while your cutting and applying the felt for the Fuzzor.
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 8:47 PM Post #15,276 of 20,414
More detailed hm? Doesn't do anything to the frequency response at all, does it? I'd like to keep that amazing response as flat as it normally is.

And that means, with the fuzzor mod, better cables, and the focus pads, I should have a headphone that sounds even better due to all three helping the cans out! 


The stock cable is **** build quality, but a new one won't improve the sound
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 9:12 PM Post #15,277 of 20,414
The stock cable is **** build quality, but a new one won't improve the sound

I heard something about microphonics in the stock cable, and maybe even poor connections with the headphones, so I'm hoping an inexpensive replacement from toxic cables will make a difference, but then again, it's all just a path electricity is going through. I'll have to make a judgement on the sound difference myself in the future.
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 11:05 PM Post #15,278 of 20,414
If you damaged the headphone, I would be shocked... I mean it would be SERIOUSLY difficult. It eliminates a lot of back wave distortion, which makes the headphone WAY WAY more detailed, clean, articulate and non-fatiguing. It's THE best mod I've ever tried.

More detailed hm? Doesn't do anything to the frequency response at all, does it? I'd like to keep that amazing response as flat as it normally is.

And that means, with the fuzzor mod, better cables, and the focus pads, I should have a headphone that sounds even better due to all three helping the cans out! 

Fuzzor mod won't affect the frequency response at all. But I highly recommend the FocusPad-A over the FocusPad, if you want to keep the frequency response intact. I also discovered a nice mod to improve soundstage with the FocusPad-A, which I touched on briefly in the JergPad thread. I should probably stop being lazy and post a tutorial with pics, but it led to a very nice improvement with minimal effort (for future modders.... not me, I ruined a bunch of pads figuring it out).
 
Dec 27, 2014 at 11:13 PM Post #15,279 of 20,414
Fuzzor mod won't affect the frequency response at all. But I highly recommend the FocusPad-A over the FocusPad, if you want to keep the frequency response intact. I also discovered a nice mod to improve soundstage with the FocusPad-A, which I touched on briefly in the JergPad thread. I should probably stop being lazy and post a tutorial with pics, but it led to a very nice improvement with minimal effort (for future modders.... not me, I ruined a bunch of pads figuring it out).

It would be really helpful to photographic people like me. If real life could be figured out like a LEGO set, I'd be a millionaire. Go ahead and do it if you want, I'd be grateful! 
 
Dec 28, 2014 at 10:49 AM Post #15,280 of 20,414
It would be really helpful to photographic people like me. If real life could be figured out like a LEGO set, I'd be a millionaire. Go ahead and do it if you want, I'd be grateful! 

Sure! I will have them at home for a couple of days over New Year's to demo for a friend, so I will take some pics then and post something later this week. :)
 
Dec 28, 2014 at 1:29 PM Post #15,281 of 20,414
Sure! I will have them at home for a couple of days over New Year's to demo for a friend, so I will take some pics then and post something later this week.
smily_headphones1.gif

Thanks a whole bunch! I'll be eagerly awaiting them!
 
Dec 29, 2014 at 2:15 AM Post #15,284 of 20,414
Wonderful. How are you finding the Meiers with these headphones?

 
I really love it. The Meier is a powerful little thing (you can see in the photo the listening position of the volume nob - at about 1 oclock, on low gain). The DAC here is not a Meier but Essensio from North Star Design. I absolutely love the sound of it. The combo provides a very clean and detailed sound, very dynamic sound. Only after getting this DAC I realised how much difference can a proper DAC make!! Also, playing with the crossfeed on the Meier shows two very different soundstage images. The changes in sound with the crossfeed option are much more significant with the a proper DAC compared with lesser sources.
 

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