I own them, also the HE-6 and the HD-800. Used to own a DT-880 but sold it on because there's something in the Beyer cans' treble that sounds harsh to me. Liked your review, however, I find the HE-500 to be a bit on the warm side. If you have the opportunity to compare with a HD-800 or the HE-6 you'll see that the treble of those is a bit better and they're more transparent and detailed sounding with a larger soundstage (especially the Senn). Note: I listen almost exclusively to classical, mainly instrumental. But I do agree that price/quality wise it's hard to do better, especially if you can't or don't want to invest heavily in amplification. For certain genres such as jazz and small ensemble instrumental music I personally feel the 500 is on par with the HE-6. Mainly a matter of taste; enjoy!
nice review! i actually enjoyed them while i had them, just couldn't get used to how heavy they are - at least compared to the h800, th900, and other headphones i routinely use...i haven't yet had a chance to listen to the he6 or the newer hifiman offerings...if the he6 is as good as people say, i'd be willing to forgive the weight. but i agree that the he500 is a pretty good for the price. nice value proposition...
Sounds nice, thanks for the review. I would love to hear more comparisons of these to other cans in their price point...it is funny how many times you see people responding to reviews of various cans with "...sure they're alright but not as good as the HD800...yada yada..." Seriously, this has no place in a review of $500 cans, after one buys HD800 along with the amp worthy of those power-thirsty cans they'll have spent 4-5X more than is relevant to the discussion.
Great review thanks - Owning both the HD800 and the HE500 I would say that these both play in the same league (as Tyll Hertsens alluded to strongly), I have a few amps worthy of driving the HD800 well (WA6SE and Metrum Aurix) and the HE500 also sounds pretty damn good on both - I wouldn't like to pick a favourite - all depends on the genre and what mood I am in as to which pair I would listen to.
My first purchase into the world of hifi was the HE-500 about 2 years ago, since then I've been on a roller coaster of flagship headphone purchases. I've since sold everything from the stable and repurchased a pair of HE-500s for $275 and couldn't be happier that my journey is over, for a long time to come. The price to performance ratio is simply unmatched, even at $500, hell even at their original selling price of $900.
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