I first ventured into the Hifiman world about a months ago and splurged on the HE-500, Schiit Lyr 2 and Bifrost Uber. I also wanted to have a closed set of headphones, so after a lot of research, and not being able to find the denon d5000 at a reasonable price, I settled for the Denon D600. I got all my gear, set it up, and was greeted with utter disappointment. My D600 sounded way better than my he500!!!???? I couldn't believe my ears. My he500 was just dull, lacked clarity, punch and bass.
I went on to try to fix the issue thinking that maybe the problem was the lyr 2 tubes. So once again, I went ahead and splurged on some nos tubes ( 1959 bugle boy d getters, Ediswan 6922, and Telefunken e288cc). To my disappointment, none of these made a difference for my HE-500. It still sounded dull and lifeless. I was crushed. My Denon D600 sounded really decent with the original tubes and nos tubes, but I still felt something was missing.
Out of anger and regret, I decided to return all the gear and tubes, but kept only the D600, which I drove off my iPad air 2, because it sounded awesome off the ipad. fast forward about a month, and I kept reading reviews of how awesome the he500 are, so I decided to give it another try, figuring either my Lyr 2 or original HE-500 was defective. This time around, I decided to go modest and ordered another HE-500 from a different seller on Amazon, and a Fiio E12, and boy am I glad I decided to give the HE-500 another chance.
My new HE-500 is way way better than my D600 now, that I hardly use the D600 anymore, except when my wife complains about noise or late at night. Terrific bass, awesome clarity, luscious midrange, it's like a night and day difference from my original HE-500, and this is all run off my Fiio E12 with no fancy DAC, just the headphone out of my laptop and analog out of my hdtv. Now I am contemplating if I should get another lyr 2 /bifrost combo or go a different direction with Violectric V200/emotive stealth dc1, but I sure can say I am in audio heaven now with my new he500/e12 combo, and can't imagine the improvements in store when I get a better amp and dac. Below are my overall rating of the he500 with fiio e12
Bass-9.75/10 (Velour pads) 10/10 (Pleather pads)
Midrange- 10/10
Treble- 9/10
Comfort-7/10
Isolation-2/10 (my wife complains when I blast my headphones...lol)
Comparison to my d600
Bass-9.25/10
Midrange-7.5/10
Treble-8.25/10
Comfort-10/10
Isolation 6/10
I tried the focus pads with my he500, and even though it's more comfortable, I still prefer the velour pads. The pleather are also good and provides better bass and punch. Overall I am very happy with my new he500, and I am not even using it to its full potential. I can't wait till I get the v200 and dc-1 to really see what this baby can do!
I went on to try to fix the issue thinking that maybe the problem was the lyr 2 tubes. So once again, I went ahead and splurged on some nos tubes ( 1959 bugle boy d getters, Ediswan 6922, and Telefunken e288cc). To my disappointment, none of these made a difference for my HE-500. It still sounded dull and lifeless. I was crushed. My Denon D600 sounded really decent with the original tubes and nos tubes, but I still felt something was missing.
Out of anger and regret, I decided to return all the gear and tubes, but kept only the D600, which I drove off my iPad air 2, because it sounded awesome off the ipad. fast forward about a month, and I kept reading reviews of how awesome the he500 are, so I decided to give it another try, figuring either my Lyr 2 or original HE-500 was defective. This time around, I decided to go modest and ordered another HE-500 from a different seller on Amazon, and a Fiio E12, and boy am I glad I decided to give the HE-500 another chance.
My new HE-500 is way way better than my D600 now, that I hardly use the D600 anymore, except when my wife complains about noise or late at night. Terrific bass, awesome clarity, luscious midrange, it's like a night and day difference from my original HE-500, and this is all run off my Fiio E12 with no fancy DAC, just the headphone out of my laptop and analog out of my hdtv. Now I am contemplating if I should get another lyr 2 /bifrost combo or go a different direction with Violectric V200/emotive stealth dc1, but I sure can say I am in audio heaven now with my new he500/e12 combo, and can't imagine the improvements in store when I get a better amp and dac. Below are my overall rating of the he500 with fiio e12
Bass-9.75/10 (Velour pads) 10/10 (Pleather pads)
Midrange- 10/10
Treble- 9/10
Comfort-7/10
Isolation-2/10 (my wife complains when I blast my headphones...lol)
Comparison to my d600
Bass-9.25/10
Midrange-7.5/10
Treble-8.25/10
Comfort-10/10
Isolation 6/10
I tried the focus pads with my he500, and even though it's more comfortable, I still prefer the velour pads. The pleather are also good and provides better bass and punch. Overall I am very happy with my new he500, and I am not even using it to its full potential. I can't wait till I get the v200 and dc-1 to really see what this baby can do!
