From my experience with the blue LEDs, the power one is always visible but in bright light the LEDs on the volume knob are recessed/invisible.

Looks great! Glad I'm not seeing any LEDs, it says not to stack them.

  Thanks conquerator, it is very hard to find a very on the ear pads. I think I will end up getting the Focus-A pads. Thanks again!

  Since the velours don't seal around my head, will the Focus-A pads have a better soundstage than the velours? Sorry for the questions but what exactly do you mean by it will be more accurate than musical?

  Never mind, I took "new" out of the link and it brought me to the Focus-A pad. Is that what you meant to link? If so, have you tried these before? They seem like production versions of your Jergpads, will they have similar properties and fit well? I couldn't find any reviews on these ear...

Could you re-link that, it doesn't work. Thanks though.

I have heard that the HFM velours are better acoustically than the leathers. I also like the "openess" of the velours but the velours do not seal behind or below my ear. Does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement velour pad for my HE-500s?

That may be the case with these tubes, they may be a little old. Some time soon I'll look for a matched pair of 5687s. I guess it depends on the music but it doesn't get that loud until I am past noon on the Raptor. I'd like to know what people think of this amp with the Senn HD800s, my next...

Just got my Genalex Gold Lions in the mail an hour ago. The music sounds a bit better. The instruments and vocals are more inviting and musical. And man oh man the bass guitar sounds fantastic with this. I will doing some more listening with other genres like rap/hip-hop and strings soon.   I...

I sure hope it is the tubes, and the Gold Lion puts my ears to rest. I'm around 100 hours of break-in on the cans and they definitely are sounding better but the soundstage is not wicked yet.   I'm using the stock velour pads, I heard the soundstage is better with them. Maybe I should use the...

For future reference, does anyone know if these will drive the Audeze LCD2s?

  All of the music that I have (~99%) is FLAC. It is mostly all 16/44.1 but stills FLAC nonetheless. The DAC that I have is good (measurements wise) along with my amp, headphones, and audio files. The only thing left in my chain is cables/tubes/fuses.    That's why I've been looking at cables...

That's good to know about DACs. I won't be upgrading anytime soon, I bought my ODAC less than 2 weeks ago. Thanks, for the heads up one the Shunyata AC cable, hopefully I can convince my brother to buy me that for my birthday (4 days ago). We'll see.   Something is my audio chain is weaker...

Good thing you told me that. What would be your recommendation then for a AC power cable? Price must be less than $250.   Also, would a DAC affect the soundstage? I have heard mixed reviews about the ODAC and it's making me curious.

Good news! Both LEDs are on now, not sure if it had to heat up again but it's back to normal. I was thinking about grabbing a PS Audio AC-3 cable for The Raptor or one from The CablePro.    As for the fuse, I was looking at changing mine as well. They are relatively cheap too. I was looking at...

Genalex Gold Lion 12AU7 on its way now. Should be here by the 9th.   Power supply:   Almost the same look as the one on Ray's site. About those blue LEDs, there are two on the amp volume knob one on the left and one on the right. Today I took off the top plate and but it back on, I didn't...

I'm tempted to snag one of those Genalex 12AU7s now. I will likely buy it tomorrow, but I'm going to call Ray tomorrow and ask him for recommendations first.

Hey, your link lead me to a Google search with led me to finding the 12AU7 tubes that are in my Raptor. http://www.thetubestore.com/Tubes/12AU7-ECC82-Tube-Types/JAN-Philips-ECG-5814A-12AU7

  So what do you mean about better dynamics? For $31 I could justify that purchase. Does it have a better soundstage? I like the HE-500s but it's not what I imagined for the reviews of these bad boys.   These are my first audiophile headphones, so I may just have had high expectations.

Evidently these are Philips tubes, I checked his FS post and that's what it said. The gain 12AU7 also has it branded on but the 5687s have nothing.   Edit: looks like I'm blind, the 5687s say 5687 WB, but the brand has worn off. Amd 12AU7 says Jan Philips ECG 5814A

Haha, I knew the avatar picture looked familiar! Yeah I was second in line, but the first guy took forever to respond and I ended up with it. I was actually thinking of switching the LEDs but not sure, it's unique.   Sure, I'll open it up tomorrow. It's not like I will be voiding the 9 year...

  Let's! I'm just over 70 hours into the HE-500s. I have both the copper and silver cables, and I prefer the copper one over the silver, the soundstage and instrument separation is a tad bit better IMO. Have you tried upgrading the headphone cable before? If so, how much does it change in SQ...

Hey SoundApprentice, it looks like we are in the same boat. I just bought a used Raptor (I'm the second owner though) from a moderator here at Head-Fi. I also bought a pair of HE-500s to go with it and it all sounds amazing. Still breaking in though.   Anyways, I only have the "upgraded" tubes...

And to top it off, the HiFiMAN HE-500s got a 56? And how does the HE-4 get a better rating than the HE-6? Sound quality was definitely not a factor in their ranking system.

I won't be getting mine for another three weeks so let me know how it goes. Especially since your combo is similar to mine. I'd like to get a better amp/dac or even better cans but the "sorry about your wallet" just cannot apply to me right now. Harath, what genres do you mostly listen to, and...