[Tony1110]

Yep, he500 with the right set-up is pretty epic to listen to. One of my favourite songs is 'One of these nights' by The Eagles. I decided to try out the hd800 plugged into a v200 and listen to this song and it sounded terrible! The hd800s were doing what they are suppose to do which is showing the quality of the recording with a microscope. But on the he500, it sounded spectacular. And that's what good about these headphones, you don't have to sacrifice listening to crappy recordings with them.

The HD-800 never appealed to me. No doubt they're excellent at what they do, but I see no point in spending a small fortune on headphones which are so accurate and so revealing that they don't actually allow you to enjoy music. Then there's the matter of how picky they are with regards to ancillary equipment and their reputedly narrow (extremely narrow) genre bandwidth.

If I only listened to well recorded classical music and had the time, money and patience to assemble the right setup for them I may have felt differently about the HD-800.

 

[davidsh]

I don't think he-500 belongs in summit-fi. More for practical reasons than performance

 

[Tony1110]

I don't think he-500 belongs in summit-fi. More for practical reasons than performance

:eek:

 

[preproman]

Why is there some much concern that these headphones be put in summit fi?  What will it change about the headphones?  These headphones are good period, being in summit fi won't make them better.

 

[davidsh]

 

I don't think he-500 belongs in summit-fi. More for practical reasons than performance

Many people buy these to get a taste of hi-fi, mostly coming from what we call mid-fi. Some progress to bigger models, some find out they'd rather want to stay with mid-fi. Then there are some happy campers of course. Yet, fairly few seem to build a summit-fi rig around these headphones as I see it. We don't want to restrict/lose new owners wanting their first taste of hi-fi by moving this thread to summit-fi, right? Moving it to summit-fi will result in more focus on expensive dacs/amps and more serious discussions, I suppose. Not as many budget solutions and layman's terms, not as accesible to newcomers.

 

[StanD]

Yep, he500 with the right set-up is pretty epic to listen to. One of my favourite songs is 'One of these nights' by The Eagles. I decided to try out the hd800 plugged into a v200 and listen to this song and it sounded terrible! The hd800s were doing what they are suppose to do which is showing the quality of the recording with a microscope. But on the he500, it sounded spectacular. And that's what good about these headphones, you don't have to sacrifice listening to crappy recordings with them.

How does a headphone that has excellent FR, low distortion and sound great change the sound of a crappy recording and make it sound good? I don't think that the HE-500 colors sound, if it did I don't think it wouldn't be so popular.

 

[Okamoto]

I agree with David and prepoman. I don't give a **** if people consider HE-500 summit-fi or not. You guys should stop worrying about this stupid "labeling"

 

[hifimanrookie]

I agree with David and prepoman. I don't give a **** if people consider HE-500 summit-fi or not. You guys should stop worrying about this stupid "labeling"

+1 i agree

 

[Contrails]

 How does a headphone that has excellent FR, low distortion and sound great change the sound of a crappy recording and make it sound good? I don't think that the HE-500 colors sound, if it did I don't think it wouldn't be so popular

 
 
Yes, but it's not a detail extracting freak like the HD800.  Average recordings will sound bad on the Hd800, average recordings with a good amp will sound good on the He500.  

 

[Textfeud]

+1 i agree

+2 I agree. 

 

[StanD]

  How does a headphone that has excellent FR, low distortion and sound great change the sound of a crappy recording and make it sound good? I don't think that the HE-500 colors sound, if it did I don't think it wouldn't be so popular.

 
 

   
 
Yes, but it's not a detail extracting freak like the HD800.  Average recordings will sound bad on the Hd800, average recordings with a good amp will sound good on the He500.  

That's a bit extreme. Have you spent much time listening to the HD800? I have. It will point out the weaknesses any recording but not obliterate an average recording.

 

[Austin Morrow]

Average recordings don't sound that great with the HE-500 on a speaker amp, IMHO.

 

[StanD]

  Average recordings don't sound that great with the HE-500 on a speaker amp, IMHO.

That's because they sound average and we can tell the difference. That doesn't mean they sound bad.
Edit: Last night, I briefly hooked up my HE-500's to a vintage Technics SA-5470 and it sounded promising. I'll have to make a better permanent connection to the Aux. Speakers tap rather than the juryrig that I did. I think that 65W RMS per channel is more than enough. 

 

[ThurstonX]

I'm sure I'm a relative noob compared to most when it comes to comparing cans, but I've got a lot of music under my belt.  This concept of detail "extraction" (paging the Death Dentist is interesting.  One of my fav songwriters/guitarists/sometimes-one-man-bands is Nick Saloman (AKA, The Bevis Frond).  Great English psychedelic rock with occasional fits of trad. folkiness thrown in for good measure.  A lot of his stuff is self-recorded (and self-released), but his catalog is extensive.  Some of it has fine production values, while others are a bit on the thin, self-produced side.  North Circular is one in the latter category.  Some brilliant songs, but on certain cans it's... difficult to listen to.
 
I was comparing that album between Q701s (forget that schiit!), HE-500s (not bad, but lack of low-end in the recording is exposed; still, not as harsh as with the Qs), and the HD 650s.  The Senns tamed it a bit and give it a little oomph.  I think I was using '67 Orange Globes in my Lyr.
 
Now there are albums that lose the upper mids and overall energy with HD 650s, whereas they shine on HE-500s.  And to me, between those three cans, the HE-500s tend to find the happy middle ground between energy, detail and accuracy.  But in the end, they all have a place, even the 650s, about which I'm still on the fence, though sliding off onto the side of keeping them.
 
Haven't heard the HD 800s.  I'd be willing to test someone's out 

 

[jerg]

  I'm sure I'm a relative noob compared to most when it comes to comparing cans, but I've got a lot of music under my belt.  This concept of detail "extraction" (paging the Death Dentist is interesting.  One of my fav songwriters/guitarists/sometimes-one-man-bands is Nick Saloman (AKA, The Bevis Frond).  Great English psychedelic rock with occasional fits of trad. folkiness thrown in for good measure.  A lot of his stuff is self-recorded (and self-released), but his catalog is extensive.  Some of it has fine production values, while others are a bit on the thin, self-produced side.  North Circular is one in the latter category.  Some brilliant songs, but on certain cans it's... difficult to listen to.
 
I was comparing that album between Q701s (forget that schiit!), HE-500s (not bad, but lack of low-end in the recording is exposed; still, not as harsh as with the Qs), and the HD 650s.  The Senns tamed it a bit and give it a little oomph.  I think I was using '67 Orange Globes in my Lyr.
 
Now there are albums that lose the upper mids and overall energy with HD 650s, whereas they shine on HE-500s.  And to me, between those three cans, the HE-500s tend to find the happy middle ground between energy, detail and accuracy.  But in the end, they all have a place, even the 650s, about which I'm still on the fence, though sliding off onto the side of keeping them.
 
Haven't heard the HD 800s.  I'd be willing to test someone's out 

Back when I auditioned the HD800s, it just sounded like 50% treble, 30% mids, and 20% bass. It was very jarring next to all the Hifimans and Audezes at that session. I think HD800s really need modding or aggressive EQ to remove that treble emphasis.