I have a HE-500 and magni. In my opinion, the magni will be good enough for what you're looking for. The sound is good and you'll notice an improvement over your current setup. With that being said, the headphones transition really well to a better amp/source. You won't be disappointed at all...

I have an elaborate mess of cables behind my desk. Out of sight, out of mind!

Quote:   The only thing that matters is how you feel about them. A lot of the comments here are trying to tell you that your sense of style is wrong, which is idiotic. You already like the way they look, and I guarantee you won't have any issues with the sound. You don't need approval...

Quote:   This is a joke, right?

As I said before, just get them. You won't be disappointed with the sound, and they hang quite nicely around your neck. They are small enough to fit under your jaw without any discomfort, which is more than I can say for some other headphone brands. Style is subjective, so if you like the look...

Get them.

My solution was to stay away from clothes with zippers!

Quote:   Every headphone I've bought has disappointed me on my very first impressions. It's definitely a result of not being able to test them first, and being so used to other headphones that the first impression is jarring. With that being said, after spending some time with them I...

Pink noise overnight if you want, but personally I don't see any issue with just using them normally. They sound great out of the box.

I'll just say that you won't be disappointed with the bass on the HE-500s. It's very nice. I can't speak for the Lyr as I haven't used it, but I would be confident enough to give it a go.

You don't buy an amp solely for volume, rather you get one so the headphones can be properly driven.

Quote:   I'll be interested to hear your impressions.

The white twisted cable is (I'm pretty sure) silver. It's annoying because you can hear it as it rubs against itself or against other things e.g. the zipper on your jumper. I'm not sure if there's a proper term for it. It doesn't affect the music but it is a big enough issue for people to change...

Quote:   I have no experience with them, but I expect they would be good. Probably a bit expensive if you're not going to do much with them.

Quote:   Then you'll have to hope you can get one that rips well. The turntable I have cost $100AUD and rips to 128 kbps MP3. The sound of the rip is worse than any Youtube rip. This is the only experience I have with converting vinyl to digital and it has not been good. The tonearm...

Quote:   I have a very cheap one and it is seriously the worst thing ever. In all likeliness it would be cheaper to get the CD, and probably sound better too (unless you spent a lot on a turntable).

PS1s are very cheap these days. There's a bit of a buzz about how the original run PS1s can put out sound worthy of a $6000 CD player. Now I have no idea if that's actually true, but for the price you can get them on Ebay, why not? So far I'm very happy.  ...

Quote:   It's in my sig. Right now I'm using a Playstation 1 as a CD player (surprisingly good!) to a Denon speaker amp, then output to the headphones. It's like nothing I've heard before.

"So this is what music sounds like."

Not many people I know are supportive of my headphone purchasing, but so far everyone who's listened to my HE-500 is convinced that they're worth the money. I'm actually quite surprised at the positive reactions people give.

Quote:   The main reason I bought a pair of HE-500s is because I had a speaker amp sitting around so I didn't have to worry about what amp to get.

Quote:   So she's your fiancee. If you were dating someone for years but weren't engaged would you call them your fiancee(ish)?

I think they are super ugly. I wouldn't wear them out in public, but I wouldn't wear open headphones out in public anyway.

Quote:   Thanks, this will help a lot.

Just got these and mmm they are good. Thinking about trying the velour pads, but I've never changed ear pads before and quite frankly I'm terrified. Any advice?