I received my HE-5 just before Christmas and have burned them in using a Dynahi Veda Audio head amp (purchased from fellow Head-fier Iron Dreamer in 2007) that was later modified by Mr. Gardner. This is a 15 watt per channel solid state amp. As a source I use an Ibiza Rhapsody player streaming wirelessly from the Rhapsody music service. I am a trumpet player that has played live music for 40 years. For me, my reference sound when judging a headphone is what I recall the instrument sounded like when I was standing next to someone playing it. In comparison to this headphone I also have an HD 580 with Clous Blue cable, UE Triple fi.10 pro, Shure 3C, and the Allesandro MS-1. I give this background so that the reader can assess where I am coming from in offering my impressions.
At the top I had trouble with a crackling sound coming from one of the sides of the headphone. This was determined to be due to a poor connection between the phone and the cable (which needs to be attached to the headphone initially). Take your time and re-insert the cable a couple of times until you are sure you got a good contact between cable and can for each ear. The silver cable is short which may restrict how you listen. The cable itself is light and pliable (unlike the Clous Blue cable for the HD 580's.). The phones themselves have a bit of weight to them. This is due to the number of magnets inside the cans.
I am not a big believer in the concept of "burn in." With that said, I probably have about 50 hours of use of these phones at this writing. In short, they capture the full overtone series of each instrument better than my other headphones. Don't get me wrong the UE Triple.fi 10's are fantastic canal phones, but they do not have the depth, speed, sound stage and degree of "air" around each note that these cans deliver. These cans are fast, precise, but also have a degree of "sizzle" with the ride cymbal of the drum set. I was able to hear the difference between each of the drummers 2 ride cymbals with these headphones. I have never been able to do that before. Indeed, because each instruments full overtone series is delivered to you, the sound in your head is very "big." This took me a little getting used to. I find these cans very revealing. I can hear the imperfections of recordings that I did not appreciate using my other cans. This effect can be heard even between the Rhapsody music choices. Streaming from their "radio stations," provides a big clear sound. In contrast, playing a play list posted by a listener on the Rhapsody service is more likely to contain sound artifacts. My ability to hear these differences was only heard by me using these cans. My other headphones are not exacting enough to have conveyed this difference to me. I do not have a tube amp to make any comparisons. I did use my Benchmark DAC1 HDR and the HE-5's sounded similar to the Dynahi. I can see why people feel so blessed to have a pair of these headphones. I give these cans a 4.5 out of 5.
