I don't know, perhaps they reworked resampling? Mac is the source for DAC, and if the quality of a source is better, it's going to sound better.

I have stock tubes that came with it. I think the large ones are Russian. It sounds great w/o LD too.

I'd like to report sound quality change from average to mind-blowing. TLDR: I upgraded to MacOS High Sierra, and that's when it all changed. I've had HE-500 for a while, and it sounded muddy and underwhelming most of the time with NFB-11 and MacBook Pro. High gain reduced muddiness somewhat...

Sorry, I can't explain it in those terms, I'm not familiar with them. It's a perk of HD650 over other headphones, not only HE500 are lacking.

Last year's meet gathered only 3 members, though more expressed interest. I'm considering spending winter out of the country, so I'm likely out.

I have a question. HD650 I have bring all that's interesting about the song forward, no effort required. Guitar starts, here it is, prominent, then piano, well, whatever else. Whereas HE500 don't do that, and you're on your own to pick what you like about the song. Is there a word for that?

Sure, we can try those pads on Audio Technica, Alex.

I'd be interested, Alex. I've modded my HE-500 with a cable and recently bought ZMF lambskin pads, so I can contribute something new :)

The right part of my HE500 fell off the headband. Small screws and plastic, and I usually grab them by the left or right part. So, are there HE500 parts for sale? I quickly looked at Google and Ebay, and came up with nothing.

I also heard about Grados being uncomfortable, but decided to disregard. That's how RS2 became my worst headphones. Comfort-wise, they were horrible.

You need to listen to them first. I had a chance to listen to LCD, and while vocals sound very very interesting, I found out that LCDs are not for me.

  You can't see that, you have to listen :)

  Did you mean this store? http://www.ebay.com/usr/venus_audio?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Reporting back. A friend made a makeshift cable for me, and it doesn't have the outrageous bass of the stock cable. Which is great. Gotta buy a good cable I guess.   As for my original complaints, can't reproduce them now. "Runaway" sounds ok with the stock cable too.

Sorry, I've misread you that the cable won't be the solution.   I've put HE-500 into storage and got them back to listen to them on iPad, and they sounded ok with "Runaway". Then I tried Little Dot MKIII with "Runaway", and they sounded ok too. I feel that AKG sound much clearer, but still, it...

  I used to have a Fubar 3, and I ordered NFB-11, because HE-500 sounded unimpressive. I went to a local meet last year, and one person said it sounded great on another person's great rig. I also have Little Dot MKIII connected to the NFB, and, well, soundstage is a bit better, but not the...

Much less than HD650 and AKG. That's a song that sounds really veiled on HE-500 "Little Talks" by Julia Sheer.   Another song that's horrible on HE-500 is Avril Lavigne's "Runaway".

Yes, it's a stock cable. I can't call the sound bright though, I rather feel sometimes that there's no highs at all (depending on the record, perhaps). For example, this song sounds really muffled: https://play.spotify.com/track/1ulDt6ySVbMbzZCBO6hSfb. And on AKG it sounds ok.   I have to say...

I pair HE-500 with NFB-11 and I find that the sound is forward and the stage is small. I feel that I'm sitting in the first row or closer to the stage. Even more so when high gain is on. I'm comparing to HD650, when I wear those, I feel that I'm far from the stage, and can pinpoint instrument...

Got my NFB-11 today, and I was underwhelmed by how usual its sound was. I've tried HE-500, HD650 and AKG k701, and wasn't impressed.   Sound got interesting after I added Little Dot MKIII to the mix, using HE-500. Now I can hear new things in my music.   Audio-gd says they burn-in units...

I've had my HE-500 for some time now, and they don't sound well when paired with Fubar III. I tried adding Little Dot MKIII to the mix yesterday, and it still sounded like crap.   But iPad Air + HE-500 sounds epic! All instruments are separate, sound is punchy with great bass. I plan to get...