[Zoom25]

Quote:

I've tried them with my Quickstep I used to have and that easily drove them well. I have used the O2 with other headphones and it was definitely more powerful than the Quickstep so I am extrapolating. 

 
Ah, okay, I see. I personally hated the LCD-2 with O2. The bass was so thin. Felt so lacking. Surprisingly, the HE-500 was okay with them. The bass on LCD-2 through O2 vs. Emotiva was a night and day difference for me. I listen primarily to electronic music and it was disappointing. I have had the O2 for 8 months. I gave the combo about 2-3 weeks but it was flat out terrible with electronic music. Acoustic stuff was okay though, especially with O2's transparency. The Emotiva on the other hand was pumping out serious bass. The mids also improved.  
 
I know theoretically it makes sense for the LCD-2 to work good with O2 especially if the HE-500 are a bit okay with it, but damn it sucked really bad. I really wanted it to work as I previously read positive reviews on it, but there was no hope even trying it out further. I took out the O2 after a few months to see if results changed...same result sadly.
 
You will rarely see me give out those night and day hyperboles, but the LCD-2 case with O2 and Emotiva, especially the bass section deserves one. IMO, of course 

 
 
 
 
Haters coming in 3, 2, 1....

 

[krussster]

hey random internet friend, just wondering which sort of music do you listen with the he500+sunrise amp combo?
 
checked the amp out and it seems a pretty safe option for a beginner like me
Quote:

For folks looking for an affordable amplifier with the Hifiman HE-500 I can definitely recommend the Project Sunrise ii kit. There is definitely some good synergy going with this amp and I'm enjoying mine quite a bit. It has good power and drive and lovely sound staging. It drives the HE-500 better than my Lehmann Black Cube Linear and Audiolab M-DAC ever did and without the tizz in the treble as well.
 
The newly launched Project Ember amplifier has even more grunt so it should be an even better match though I don't how anyone would want any additional power over what the Sunrise provides, mine never goes over 11 o'clock on the volume pot unless I'm in the mood for a bit of ringing in the ears, where I had to crank up the M-DAC close to its volume limit to get acceptable output. The Lehmann BCL also seldom went over 12 o'clock, but I think its current delivery is probably limited and not well suited to the demands of orthodynamic headphones.

 

[nicholars]

Has anyone used a NAD amplifier speaker taps to power a HE-500 or LCD-2?
 
Wouldn't this be a bit dangerous and risk blowing the headphones?

 

[daerron]

Quote:

hey random internet friend, just wondering which sort of music do you listen with the he500+sunrise amp combo?
 
checked the amp out and it seems a pretty safe option for a beginner like me

 
I definitely think it well worth checking out for starting out. The sound quality is definitely pretty good for the price asked.
I listen to everything except rap and R&B music. Rock, classic rock, alternative, jazz, electronic, pop, classical, instrumental and soundtracks. Don't think that helps you much, but does explain why I like the HE-500 so much, its a brilliant all-rounder!  

 

[Kendoji]

I might be remembering completely wrong here, but I think it was Loevhagen who said he found the Project Sunrise II amp to be one of the best with his HE-500 (and he has several much more expensive and more powerful amps).
 
Edit:  Ah yep, here we go:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/551345/hifiman-he-500-he-as-in-high-end-please-post-your-impressions-proving-to-be-a-great-headphone-and-standing-the-test-of-time/1590#post_8494112
 
Makes me curious to order one too.

 

[davidsh]

How much output does the NAD have?

EDIT: I guess you would be surprised how much beating the HE-500 can take. It isn't a dynamic can, and it can go very very loud. But if you want to, you can blow it. I doubt you will even if you switch directly from the speakers to the headphone. Not that I know...

 

[Llloyd]

Regarding soundstage, I would say the HE-500 isn't super spacious or anything. It's in the middle of the road. You can pick instruments out and there's great detail and layering, but I wouldn't describe it as an all around you feeling. The HE-500 has a subtle mastery of music reproduction. It's not always obvious. The LCD has interesting staging qualities and I guess the LCD has a more "realistic" stage from what I'm remembering at least with jazz since the extended audition I did was on a jazz enthusiast's rig. On well mixed recordings the HE-500 sounds perfect though so no complaints. I love the staging of the HE-500 with electronic music. Sounds so very right 

 
 

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Regarding soundstage, I would say the HE-500 isn't super spacious or anything. It's in the middle of the road. You can pick instruments out and there's great detail and layering, but I wouldn't describe it as an all around you feeling. The HE-500 has a subtle mastery of music reproduction. It's not always obvious. The LCD has interesting staging qualities and I guess the LCD has a more "realistic" stage from what I'm remembering at least with jazz since the extended audition I did was on a jazz enthusiast's rig. On well mixed recordings the HE-500 sounds perfect though so no complaints. I love the staging of the HE-500 with electronic music. Sounds so very right 

 
 

 
Agreed and +1 for the music share. Just listening off of computer speakers and still sounds good.

 

[Andolink]

Quote:

 I love the staging of the HE-500 with electronic music. Sounds so very right 

 
 
 

 
I find this comment very curious unless the term "staging" is being used in a metaphorical sense and even then it seems problematic.
 
With recorded electronic music, the  "location" of every sound heard in the "space" of the musical presentation is entirely dictated by the individual who puts the sounds
together at the mixing desk, right?  So, who, other than that individual, can judge the "rightness" of the "staging" of a given playback of that recording?

 

[Llloyd]

Quote:

 
I find this comment very curious unless the term "staging" is being used in a metaphorical sense and even then it seems problematic.
 
With recorded electronic music, the  "location" of every sound heard in the "space" of the musical presentation is entirely dictated by the individual who puts the sounds
together at the mixing desk, right?  So, who, other than that individual, can judge the "rightness" of the "staging" of a given playback of that recording?

 
I see your point, but generally speaking it sounds right to me so that combined with the speed makes things very enjoyable for me.
 
I'm being very subjective here, I'm not saying the he-500 is extremely accurate in objective sense, it just sounds very good. My expectations are met. I think you can make the same argument with any recording though, what do we expect things to sound like compared to what the engineer was doing. It's kind of a grey area for recorded music. I mean music is typically mixed in a certain way so we've come to expect that, but some albums are mixed very together and others are mixed very out on the ears. The HE-500 is not fantastic in showing the direction in albums that are super panned out. This is not to say it's bad, it's a middle of the road kind of thing from my experience with albums that I am familiar with.
 
I would describe it like this: where speakers are kind of like 210 degrees around you(in an average, untreated room), the HE-500 is a little under 180 degrees, or maybe it stops around 180. It can also be a little hard at times to pinpoint the direction a sound is coming from on the HE-500 when compared to my RE0 IEM for example, but the RE0 while I really enjoy it does not have such a lush sound so things stand out more. Some electronic albums do a lot of cool stuff with panning, but the sample song I included above sounds really, really good to me is all I'm saying. It's an example of where I find the HE-500 does things best, and everything seems to be in the right place. Whether or not that is true, it appears that way to me. So maybe you are saccing a little bit of one thing for another thing. I love the sound of the HE-500, it's not extremely accurate in some categories, but I still find it to capture the emotion of most music quite well. There's plenty of reviews floating around if you want more objective information. I've found that people with similar tastes as me very much enjoy the HE-500 and agree with me about its qualities as well as what we enjoy in a headphone.
 
I think I stepped out a little there but maybe that's a better explanation. I don't really take myself very seriously here most of the time So because of that I just assume people just know I'm not trying to be super scientific, objective, or critical. I just love music and the HE-500 to me is a great aid to me.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
I see your point, but generally speaking it sounds right to me so that combined with the speed makes things very enjoyable for me.
 
I'm being very subjective here, I'm not saying the he-500 is extremely accurate in objective sense, it just sounds very good. My expectations are met. I think you can make the same argument with any recording though, what do we expect things to sound like compared to what the engineer was doing. It's kind of a grey area for recorded music. I mean music is typically mixed in a certain way so we've come to expect that, but some albums are mixed very together and others are mixed very out on the ears. The HE-500 is not fantastic in showing the direction in albums that are super panned out. This is not to say it's bad, it's a middle of the road kind of thing from my experience with albums that I am familiar with.
 
I would describe it like this: where speakers are kind of like 210 degrees around you(in an average, untreated room), the HE-500 is a little under 180 degrees, or maybe it stops around 180. It can also be a little hard at times to pinpoint the direction a sound is coming from on the HE-500 when compared to my RE0 IEM for example, but the RE0 while I really enjoy it does not have such a lush sound so things stand out more. Some electronic albums do a lot of cool stuff with panning, but the sample song I included above sounds really, really good to me is all I'm saying. It's an example of where I find the HE-500 does things best, and everything seems to be in the right place. Whether or not that is true, it appears that way to me. So maybe you are saccing a little bit of one thing for another thing. I love the sound of the HE-500, it's not extremely accurate in some categories, but I still find it to capture the emotion of most music quite well. There's plenty of reviews floating around if you want more objective information. I've found that people with similar tastes as me very much enjoy the HE-500 and agree with me about its qualities as well as what we enjoy in a headphone.
 
I think I stepped out a little there but maybe that's a better explanation. I don't really take myself very seriously here most of the time So because of that I just assume people just know I'm not trying to be super scientific, objective, or critical. I just love music and the HE-500 to me is a great aid to me.

In other words, the HE500s present electronic music in a very pleasing way.
 
I tend to agree to that, to my ears the way the HE500's headstage works (slightly wider than deeper, average-sized, but incredibly convincing and layered within the overall headstage space) synergizes really well with such genres. It's like a "personal miniature theatre" kind of headstage, where you can close your eyes, and pick out every little detail in terms of their distance and angle all around your head.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 
I find this comment very curious unless the term "staging" is being used in a metaphorical sense and even then it seems problematic.
 
With recorded electronic music, the  "location" of every sound heard in the "space" of the musical presentation is entirely dictated by the individual who puts the sounds
together at the mixing desk, right?  So, who, other than that individual, can judge the "rightness" of the "staging" of a given playback of that recording?

 
I would say that this goes for pretty much any genre. Even with classical music, the location of instruments is determined by the conductor. Even with orchestras, there is still wiggle room for placement, however the majority of the times, the patter of the strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion are relatively pre-determined and thus audience as well as the musicians are somewhat habitualized to this format and expect for certain sounds to come from certain places. For example, with orchestra music, if you were to accidentally switch the left and the right sides of the track, you would start feeling some uneasiness as to why something sounds odd or out of place. Eventually (and hopefully), you will notice the accidental change.
 
So going back to your question, "who, other than that individual, can judge the "rightness" of the "staging" of a given playback of that recording?".......I would say, us, the listeners. After being accustomed to a typical format, we can indeed notice when things fall out of place.
 
Now regarding electronic music, the amount of wiggle room in placement is definitely more than in classical music, however there is still a overall general pattern that you would notice between different genres of electronic music. For example with DNB: the bass in the middle, with the snares, cymbals and other percussion elements panned to the side. The effects and synths are definitely more flexible and you would notice that from recording to recording, however it won't seem odd because you there isn't a certain pattern that you are used to. In fact, you will probably notice the synths and effects the most, because the other stuff that you are used to are the most salient aspects in the recording due to your habitualness. This is why most people, notice the melody of songs first as an attractor and then the percussion elements.
 
So I would say that the listeners AND the artists/musicians of a genre over time will come to develop a layout of music that both parties are going to follow and get used to. Just my Canadian $0.05 

  

 

[Andolink]

Ok, fair enough.  Not being at all familiar with the genre of electronic music being referred to here, I didn't realize that there were more or less universally accepted conventions regarding placement of different categories of sounds in the spatial mix.  The electronic music I listen to is a whole different ball game entirely where anything goes and any kind of sound can come at you from any direction.
 
Thanks for explaining this to me.

 

[davidsh]

So, now that I am a Stax owner I'll see how they compare to my HE-500 when I get home again. I'm almost scared to do so...

 

[Stalker81598]

Has anyone ever A/B'ed Lyr and Emotiva mini with the HE-500? I searched and couldn't find anything.