Finally got me a pair of these cans! I'm so stoked. I have always thought these were one of the most beautiful headsets made (with the Qualia being my true love that I'll never be able to afford), and so I took the plunge on what was probably an overpriced used set.
I got them, and of course, despite the listing, there was a dead side. I inspected the cable and Y connector and no dice... THE DRIVER WAS DEAD.
Sooooo... I looked, and searched and couldn't find anything. Read on the forums here that the SA-3000 was the same driver essentially. Went online to the Sony parts listing and lo and behold it lists the same part number for the driver in both.
I went on eBay, and, being out of my mind, bought a perfectly good pair of SA-3000s for 150.00 and did a driver transplant. Haven't soldered in years, so was of course terrified I'd burn up the voice coil. I tested my skills on the damaged driver a few times and took the plunge.
Boom! Perfectly functioning SA-5000s. I've so stoked I can't stand it.
I've got them hooked up to my Mojo and I'm running them from my Mac at the moment using Tidal.
Fairly flat on the bass, I tried EQing them a bit. Holy crap. They can go from studio flat to nearly sounding like my old massive XBR-700s. It can get a little boomy at that level, but backing it down can still have the tightness while giving you some punch.
They definitely have that stage and crazy high end though. Holy crap. Love the details.
I did the "wash off" someone gave an example of on the pleather part of the original pads. It was fine, but I wasn't nuts about the look. I swapped them for a pair of brainwavz sheepskins. They feel great but tweak the sound a little too much. I need something more shallow. I'm considering sewing myself a pair.
Lucky me, I went onto the 3rd party parts distributor that Sony uses and was able to order two drivers from them due to ship from japan in 15 days. I'll let you know if everything is good to go when I get them. I'm happy because now I can fix the SA3K too and I'm going to sew a leather headband cover for those. I'm going to mod the 3ks with Sugru to seal them up.
My headband on my 5ks is a little "wobbly" like it has been bent around a bit by someone. If anyone has a spare band or even a busted set of these cans they want to sell, definitely let me know.
The treble, after extended listening can definitely fatigue a little. Although I definitely love having some detail listening sessions for a couple hours.
My gotos for long listening are still my 99 Classics for now, but I'm super happy to have these awesome 5ks finally.
Thanks for everyone's contributions on these threads, the forum really helped me not only decide to finally get a pair of these, but there was plenty of info for me about repairs, modding, etc. Really amazing resource.
Thanks all!