[FlySweep]

I've had the HE-500 for close to a month.. it's a marvelous phone.  I listen to everything from classical, jazz/funk, fusion, and world music.. to liquid drum & bass, breakbeat, prog rock, hip hop, blues, and latin/flamenco.. it handles it all beautifully & in a highly engaging manner, to boot.
 
I primarily use it with my TubeDAC-11 (a wonderful tube buffered DAC/pre-amp/headphone amp made by the Yulong & re-badged/serviced by the fine folks at Grant Fidelity).. it sounds so lush & multidimensional (whether it be from the DAC or the Tube Out.. which adds a touch of warmth and expands the soundstage).
 
It's truly an end game can for me.. I simply have no desire to get anything else as far as full sized headphones go.

 

[Magick Man]

I guess I'll decide after CanFEST, so many headphones I want to sample there.

 

[Kanashimu]

Quote:

I've had the HE-500 for close to a month.. it's a marvelous phone.  I listen to everything from classical, jazz/funk, fusion, and world music.. to liquid drum & bass, breakbeat, prog rock, hip hop, blues, and latin/flamenco.. it handles it all beautifully & in a highly engaging manner, to boot.
 
I primarily use it with my TubeDAC-11 (a wonderful tube buffered DAC/pre-amp/headphone amp made by the Yulong & re-badged/serviced by the fine folks at Grant Fidelity).. it sounds so lush & multidimensional (whether it be from the DAC or the Tube Out.. which adds a touch of warmth and expands the soundstage).
 
It's truly an end game can for me.. I simply have no desire to get anything else as far as full sized headphones go.

How would you compare it to your Miracles? Please be as unbiased as possible (I want to know the weaknesses of both!)

Thanks

 

[scottv50]

How does the HE-500 pair with both the DACport and DACmini?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

How does the HE-500 pair with both the DACport and DACmini?

Well, I just posted yesterday that it pairs well with my DACmini.  That was the analog rig that I brought to RMAF to share with others, and my KGSS amp with LNS, SR-007 and HE-60 were right next to it.  The DACmini/HE-500 rig held up very well next to stronger competition, although I still prefer my stats.  I also had my LCD-2 r1 with silver dragon cable at RMAF and people didn't like it quite as much, although they are a very good match with DACmini as well.
 
As for DACport, it also pairs very well with HE-500 and is a bit better combo than DACport/LCD-2 combo (with LCD-2 I prefer to use the uDAC-2 or Audioengine D1 if I need a small USB powered amp).

 

[FlySweep]

How would you compare it to your Miracles? Please be as unbiased as possible (I want to know the weaknesses of both!)

Thanks

 
That's a loaded question.. you'll have to be more specific.

In terms of pure technicalities, I'd place them on par with each other.  The HE-500 might be a tad more refined but I'm being quite trivial in that assessment.  When observing the overall coherence the two phones possess, there's not a lot of weaknesses, frankly.. it would be much more about personal taste than any kind of real technical shortcoming, IMO.  Yes, they're both that good, IME.
 
The Miracle, by design, is incredibly inoffensive.  It reminds me of listening to a really nice, neutral can through the Burson HA160D.. it walks the line between being crisp & smooth with frightening precision.. the edges of notes are accentuated with a very slight, sophisticated touch of warmth.  It's a phone that's simply bursting with details, natural balance, and clarity.. but presents them in such an unassuming yet confident manner that they're lively & quite non-fatiguing at the same time.  The technicalities are so impressive, I'm much more absorbed by the mood the Miracles create.  The soundstage is incredible in every direction.  One does not get the sense they're listening to IEMs with these phones.
 
The HE-500 is every bit as impressive.  Comparatively brighter in the treble region, and perhaps a little more forward (but certianly not mid forward in an absolute sense), the HE-500 offer that refined, balanced, elegant, liquid, ortho sound.  It takesa moment for your ears to adjust, but once you do.. going back to any other DD or BA sounds flat wrong.. LOL.  It's just as immersive and absorbing as the Miracle.
 
This all might not help much since I'm essentially heaping a ton of praise on both phones.. but I haven't spent a ton of time with either one and like I said, you'd have to be more specific in what you want to know.
 
Bottom line, they're the two finest phones I own.. ad I'd be perfectly happy if they were the onIy two phones I owned.

 

[Ahzari]

Quote:

 
Care to elaborate on the sound of the he500 + wa6?  I've only seen a few posts, but most were brief.  It's pretty much lined up for my next buy.  Either that or the taboo.

WA6 is a little underpowered for the HE500, thats one of the reasons I sent it back and ordered the WA6SE instead.. the SE is much more powerful and pretty much future proof (I hope).
 
 
 
A lot of what I read (and I did my research) about the HE500s was that you really need to be feeding it at least 1-1.5W to get it to drive to its "potential." As you can see the SE has more than enough power to pump into your cans.. With that said, I wasn't a big fan of the HE500s with my setup. Soundstage/3D imaging is important to me and even though tube amps help, the 500s were lacking compared to my other phones.

 

[Llloyd]

Yeah I'm using the asgard right now which is 1W and it's plenty of power it seems.
 
I've tried the HE500 out of a lot of sources though and it gets plenty loud even through my zune just with less detail than with a nice source, obviously the most clarity being out of my Asgard.  There's honestly not a very noticeable difference at all between my little dot mkii and the asgard, which leads me to believe that the components are much more important than the actual power being put into the headphone.  I really really doubt i'd be able to tell the difference between the two in a blind test.  
 
This is why I was considering the WA6 to begin with because power seems to not be the most important thing, or at least not nearly as important as some have led me to believe.  Maybe it makes a bigger difference when higher quality parts are involved, but it seems to make such a small difference between 200mw and 1w, which is the LD vs Asgard.

 

[dleblanc343]

I'd very much like to hear your impression on the two other sets of pads. Do the stax earpads make the hifiman sound better, somewhat or not?
 
Quote:

 
I still don't think industrial design is a strong point for HifiMan orthos - SMC connectors are a paint to use or buy or solder, the gimbal mounting is both fragile and sometimes squeeky on older models and the earpads are still letting the sound and comfort of the HE- series down IME, but at least they are cheap.
 
I will soon have some Audez'e pads to test on my HE-6 to try and improve the imaging.  No doubt it will look ridiculous but I already had good results using 007 mkii earpads, so these too are worth trying IMO if purely for being thorough.

 
 

 

[drez]

Quote:

I'd very much like to hear your impression on the two other sets of pads. Do the stax earpads make the hifiman sound better, somewhat or not?

IME the STAX earpads give a more laid back treble and greater depth to the soundstage as well as a tad more lower midrange bloom.  For the HE-500 the effect on treble might be too much and make them sound too much like LCD-2 - on HE-6 it just takes them back to neutral IMO.
 
I'm hoping the vegan LCD-2 pads will leave the treble unaffected and just improve soundstage depth and imaging.  I do wish there was angled velour pads available as these would be perfect for those who do not want to shelve back the treble.
 
Hopefully I can get access to a HE-500 soon to test the earpads on this headphone also.  For now though I probably wouldn't suggest the SR-007 mkii pads yet as they may make HE-500 too dark.

 

[plin]

Quote:

WA6 is a little underpowered for the HE500, thats one of the reasons I sent it back and ordered the WA6SE instead.. t
A lot of what I read (and I did my research) about the HE500s was that you really need to be feeding it at least 1-1.5W to get it to drive to its "potential." As you can see the SE has more than enough power to pump into your cans.. 

When you happily receive WA6SE please do post your impressions with HE500, especially compared to the WA6. Thank you.
 

 

[scottv50]

Well, I just posted yesterday that it pairs well with my DACmini./p>

Thanks. I have read your posts now.

 

[Pianist]

Those of you who own HE-500 and DT880 600 Ohm, do you feel the HE-500 is clearly superior? As I keep on ABing the two, I feel that DT880 is actually able to hold it's own very well against the HE-500. Both sound awesome. HE-500 is clearly smoother sounding, although I can't say that it is more natural sounding. I think DT880 is also very natural sounding. Sometimes I do feel HE-500 is clearly more natural, but there were also a few times when I actually thought DT880 was the better can. This is when compared out of my HM-601. I also feel that UE600 keeps up well too. Don't get me wrong - I am not trying to bash HE-500 here. Like I said, they are awesome. It's just that sometimes I don't feel that they are better than the DT880 or UE600. Just shows the law of diminishing returns I guess. Your thoughts?

 

[rhythmdevils]

I think the HE500 is vastly superior to anything Beyer has ever made

 

[Tilpo]

I think the HE500 is vastly superior to anything Beyer has ever made

Even the T1? That surprises me to be honest, as it is still a fairly popular flagship easily costing twice as much.