[Whitigir]

Clean works! You will love it after everything done

 

[Paul Graham]

I really hope so.
I'm planning to make these detachable but those two exit holes are on a bitch of an angle

 

[purk]

Nice work but the HD600 wire is of inferior quality compared to the stock wire. It may not be an improvement for an interim solution.

 

[Paul Graham]

Nice work but the HD600 wire is of inferior quality compared to the stock wire. It may not be an improvement for an interim solution.

The original owner soldered that in for whatever reason.
I'm REMOVING it and replacing with something far better.

 

[Paul Graham]

Here we go.
Ended up using some MMCX connectors for now on short pigtails until I can find a better solution.
Wasn’t too hard, more of a pain than anything lol.

 

[Paul Graham]

Ear Pads were due an overhaul.
Plus MMCX Connectors are out. Connection went bad.
Going to do a complete recable but I think I'm going to hard wire these as they were originally.

 

[HifiholicGreg]

So I have an opportunity to purchase these cheap from a local listing. What is the general consensus as far as sound quality goes? What modern headphone would these most compare to?
What type of amp would these best be matched with? I have a Klipsch Heritage, Darkvoice 336se, Aune T1se, objective 2 and a bravo audio ocean. Which of those do you think would be the best fit for them?

Are they still relevant or are they more of a collector piece?

Also why did these not seem to take off like other popular headphones? They seem to have a small following but not as popular I think they could be.

 

[Roderick]

So I have an opportunity to purchase these cheap from a local listing. What is the general consensus as far as sound quality goes? What modern headphone would these most compare to?
What type of amp would these best be matched with? I have a Klipsch Heritage, Darkvoice 336se, Aune T1se, objective 2 and a bravo audio ocean. Which of those do you think would be the best fit for them?

Are they still relevant or are they more of a collector piece?

Also why did these not seem to take off like other popular headphones? They seem to have a small following but not as popular I think they could be.

Sound quality wise I think sa5000 is somewhere in between the classic three k701/dt880/hd600 and more modern flagships such as t1 and hd800. Ymmv of course. Since hd600 as still relevant so is sa5000 It is IS a very good headphone and I really regret selling mine.

Depending on your preferences you can find sa5000 to be clear,detailed,analytical or shrill, clinical, lifeless and lacking bass. To me It sounds a bit like 1gen T1(without large soundstage) and quite a bit like grados without punchy bass but with more details.

Sony's were released when headphone prices were still sane. $699 msrp (correct If I remember wrong) was a lot more than rivalling akg/beyerdynamic/sennheiser were charging.

Also sa5000 is not as good as sony's previous consumer grade flagship cd3000.

So there were many reasons to dislike sa5000.

I definatelly recommend buying them If they're cheap. Those are extremely easy to sell If you don't like them.

I don't recall sa5000 being very amp picky. Just make sure it is not a artificially bright one.

 

[purk]

^ Great post!

The SA5k can be a good bit better by upgraded the original cable with thicker gauge cable. The upgrade will yield much better bass and tame the treble. It is still bright much very much istenable. It is fast and very revealing headphoens. Soundstage is no HD800 but still better than the smallish headstage of the Utopia. Easy to power out of even an iPhones

 

[franci2105]

I have the SA5000 recabled in balanced xlr and listening to it through the Pro iCAN balanced connection. It sound fantastic.

 

[purk]

I have the SA5000 recabled in balanced xlr and listening to it through the Pro iCAN balanced connection. It sound fantastic.

Mine is terminated with mini 4 pin male XLR. I made several adapters with 1/4", 1/8" TRS, 1/8" TRRS, 4 pin XLR, and Sony Pennatcon ends.

 

[Paul Graham]

At last... A Decent update for you all.
One pair of SA5000's brought back from the clutches of neglect of a previous owner...
Huge thanks to Brandon @PETEREK for the lovely new cable and pigtail!!

 

[Paul Graham]

Mine is terminated with mini 4 pin male XLR. I made several adapters with 1/4", 1/8" TRS, 1/8" TRRS, 4 pin XLR, and Sony Pennatcon ends.

Get some photos up

 

[ebjarrell]

So I have an opportunity to purchase these cheap from a local listing. What is the general consensus as far as sound quality goes? What modern headphone would these most compare to?
What type of amp would these best be matched with? I have a Klipsch Heritage, Darkvoice 336se, Aune T1se, objective 2 and a bravo audio ocean. Which of those do you think would be the best fit for them?

Are they still relevant or are they more of a collector piece?

Also why did these not seem to take off like other popular headphones? They seem to have a small following but not as popular I think they could be.

LMAO, opportunity to purchase!! You mean you fraudulently traded another member for them.

 

[ebjarrell]

Since this is a thread for the SA5000, everyone please keep an eye out for a silver set with red cables and red earpads. That POS HiFiholicGreg/DanB/etc, etc. conducted a fraudulent trade with another HF member and stole them from him. This jack-ass lives in the Philly/South New Jersey area.