[robrob]

The black-out anodizing looks great. I read through your how-to you linked to and you did a great job. I especially liked the excellent macro photography to detail your mods.
 
Thanks for sharing. 

 

[ben_r_]

  The black-out anodizing looks great. I read through your how-to you linked to and you did a great job. I especially liked the excellent macro photography to detail your mods.
 
Thanks for sharing. 

Thanks robrob, you were a big help and I made sure to reference you in the thread. Thanks.
 
Thats funny you should mention the "macro" shots. I actually have some very serious macro photography equipment, but all those shots were just taken with my iPhone 5S.

 

[robrob]

 all those shots were just taken with my iPhone 5S.

Wow, that's impressive. You must have had pretty good light. I too have a nice digital SLR camera with multiple lenses but almost never use it because of the great quality from cheap, easy-to-use digital cameras.

 

[ben_r_]

  Wow, that's impressive. You must have had pretty good light. I too have a nice digital SLR camera with multiple lenses but almost never use it because of the great quality from cheap, easy-to-use digital cameras.

Good light is the key, but most of these were just a 4FT fluorescent on the ceiling in the garage. iPhones just have always had great cameras in them. The 5S is pretty impressive. And yea for something like this Im looking for the fastest way to upload, most of the time my professional gear takes more time to work with than I want to put into it for a given project.

 

[davidsh]

  My finished Emotiva mini-X a-100:
 

 
You can read my DIY thread on this build here: LINK

That looks really SWEET. It would be very, very cool if Emotiva would make such a mini-x with attenuator network or something.. Or just gain switch perhaps..

 

[Nimzerz]

  That looks really SWEET. It would be very, very cool if Emotiva would make such a mini-x with attenuator network or something.. Or just gain switch perhaps..

What they need is an autotransformer built into their amps.

 

[davidsh]

 

  That looks really SWEET. It would be very, very cool if Emotiva would make such a mini-x with attenuator network or something.. Or just gain switch perhaps..

What they need is an autotransformer built into their amps.

Hmm, for the audio signal? That doesn't sound like a very clean way to do it..

 

[Nimzerz]

  Hmm, for the audio signal? That doesn't sound like a very clean way to do it..

Eh what do I know, I'm just a 17 year old lol. But my cousin's vintage McIntosh amp did have that built into it and it was very useful for different applications. I don't really know the downside to it so yeah

 

[davidsh]

 

  Hmm, for the audio signal? That doesn't sound like a very clean way to do it..

Eh what do I know, I'm just a 17 year old lol. But my cousin's vintage McIntosh amp did have that built into it and it was very useful for different applications. I don't really know the downside to it so yeah

I do know that the Stax adapters, which are essentially transformers, are seen as inferior to the dedicated amps.. I'm 18 and don't know much about it either, it just doesn't seem to be the best sounding solution to me.

 

[Nimzerz]

I do know that the Stax adapters, which are essentially transformers, are seen as inferior to the dedicated amps.. I'm 18 and don't know much about it either, it just doesn't seem to be the best sounding solution to me.

So after all this time to compare again, do you like the he-500 or he-5le more?

 

[davidsh]

 
So after all this time to compare again, do you like the he-500 or he-5le more?

Still not settled.. Generally I'd say I prefer my HE-500 more, at least the tonal balance.. But still, the HE-5le has that openness and slightly rough sound to it, sounds great with jazz, classical and metal compared to HE-500.. But it's borderline sibilant (very dependant on equipment used) and the treble/high mids just throws me off for some music. It's really a very tough one, pros and cons for both.

 

[Nimzerz]

  Still not settled.. Generally I'd say I prefer my HE-500 more, at least the tonal balance.. But still, the HE-5le has that openness and slightly rough sound to it, sounds great with jazz, classical and metal compared to HE-500.. But it's borderline sibilant (very dependant on equipment used) and the treble/high mids just throws me off for some music. It's really a very tough one, pros and cons for both.

Based on your description and what I listen to and prefer, I'd say HE-500 suits me better :3
Glad I chose these in the end. I began with the DT880 and disliked them a lot, then I looked into the he-400 and due to my budget almost chose them because I could fit the M&M stack with it rather than the HE-500 on its own being driven off integrated dac and amp. So. Glad. I. Didn't. Buy. Them.
 
HE-500 is pretty much the perfect headphone so far to me... I cannot name one thing that I don't like about them tbh. Weight and comfort is fine to me, design is fine, sound is pretty much perfect IMO. What else can I ask for?

 

[davidsh]

Based on your description and what I listen to and prefer, I'd say HE-500 suits me better :3
Glad I chose these in the end. I began with the DT880 and disliked them a lot, then I looked into the he-400 and due to my budget almost chose them because I could fit the M&M stack with it rather than the HE-500 on its own being driven off integrated dac and amp. So. Glad. I. Didn't. Buy. Them.
 
HE-500 is pretty much the perfect headphone so far to me... I cannot name one thing that I don't like about them tbh. Weight and comfort is fine to me, design is fine, sound is pretty much perfect IMO. What else can I ask for?

That is until you hear something better.. My thought on the HE-500 in the beginning was something like 'this is the first headphone I have heard with no annoying flaws, I'm settled'. 
 
Lol, I also began with the dt880, never really liked them too much. Not for me, sold them within a month after getting HE-500. I was actually slightly dissappointed when I got them, upgrading from my ety hf2, as they weren't hands down better in every way as I initially had expected.

 

[Nimzerz]

Do you enjoy the lambda as much as the HE series?

 

[davidsh]

  Do you enjoy the lambda as much as the HE series?

Only have the Sigmas up running, and generally I prefer the HE's to them, mostly for the more impactful bass and ease of use. Stax can actually be a hard listen because they sound so life-like amd clean, kinda hard to describe.