[captouch]

Quote:

 
 
No way man.  I still have all three.  Now thinking hard about the HE-400s.  I just don't need all the bass I'm hearing they have.
 
What did you like about the 5LEs that you didn't like about the 500s?
 
For me on most of my headphone amp the 500s are a better choice.  On my B22 and speaker amps the 5LEs are better.  I love amps.  So I have the new GS-X coming and trying to get a Dynahi built by someone.

 
There's really nothing I didn't like about the HE-500's - I thought that they had extremely smooth mids, nice bass, and very non-fatiguing.  They were, to me, an enhanced HD650 with more detail and air.  But they were very similar to my HD650's, so with my recent exploration and purchases of vintage receivers, speakers, and turntables, I was listening less to headphones and had a hard time justifying keeping both (HD650 and HE-500).  I had built a Bottlehead Crack for the HD650's and have a small tube collection to go with it, so selling the HD650 would have meant selling the Crack and tubes - and having soldered, stained, and painted the Crack, I have some attachment to it. . .as well as the fact that it's more of a pain to sell multiple items versus just one.
 
As far as HE-500 vs HE-5LE, I thought the HE-5LE had more sizzle (more prominent treble and therefore detail at high frequencies), tighter bass, and were just more complementary (versus similar) to the HD650's - though the mids were admittedly not as velvety/smooth and they are less forgiving for suboptimal recordings.

If I didn't have the HD650's - or I didn't get into vintage electronics - I likely would have kept all three cans.  
 
I can drive my 5LE's with a Hifiman EF5, Audio GD NFB-12, or via HP out or speaker taps from various vintage receivers.  So sufficient power and having them sound close to their full potential isn't a problem.

 

[MaJoMax]

Just got my He-500, currently pairing with Bifrost and Lyr with stock tubes.. 
 
there is some white noise on its right side ear cup...left side is completely silence....when there is no music playing, or even soft musics with intro, i can hear those white noise...kinda noticeable... i can still hear it even i turn up the knob to 10 o'clock....is that normal?
 
or i need to return my HE-500...anyone experience that? or it just need more burn in time?

 

[ultrabike]

Quote:

Just got my He-500, currently pairing with Bifrost and Lyr with stock tubes.. 
 
there is some white noise on its right side ear cup...left side is completely silence....when there is no music playing, or even soft musics with intro, i can hear those white noise...kinda noticeable... i can still hear it even i turn up the knob to 10 o'clock....is that normal?
 
or i need to return my HE-500...anyone experience that? or it just need more burn in time?

 
Can't say I've experienced this from the HE500 with the portables I have, and would not expect it from a Bifrost + Lyr. Are you certain this is a headphone and not an amp or source defect? Have you tried other sources? If you can narrow it down to the headphone, then more than likely you have a defective HE500 and should make every effort to get a replacement.

 

[FLee5]

Try swapping the tubes to the opposite channels and see if the noise follows it could be that you have a noisy/microphonic tube. If the sound swaps channels at least you know its not the headphones and you can start thinking about upgrading the tubes in the lyr. Personally I have only listened tot he stock tubes for about 10 minutes before I changed them for something better.

 

[zeinharis]

Quote:

Just got my He-500, currently pairing with Bifrost and Lyr with stock tubes.. 
 
there is some white noise on its right side ear cup...left side is completely silence....when there is no music playing, or even soft musics with intro, i can hear those white noise...kinda noticeable... i can still hear it even i turn up the knob to 10 o'clock....is that normal?
 
or i need to return my HE-500...anyone experience that? or it just need more burn in time?

 
Well mine is worst than you, if i nudge my head a bit then the right driver will end up dead no sound, i need to plug unplug the cable to make the right driver works again. By that time i want to sent the HE-500 back, but i instead break in the HE-500 for about 8hour straight and the problem is gone, no more dead driver, give it time to break in for about a day or two, if the problem persist then you should sent it back, btw where did you purchase your HE-500?

 

[asmoday]

Quote:

Just got my He-500, currently pairing with Bifrost and Lyr with stock tubes.. 
 
there is some white noise on its right side ear cup...left side is completely silence....when there is no music playing, or even soft musics with intro, i can hear those white noise...kinda noticeable... i can still hear it even i turn up the knob to 10 o'clock....is that normal?
 
or i need to return my HE-500...anyone experience that? or it just need more burn in time?

I am running the same combo MaJoMax and I have no noise in the drivers at all. Dead silence when there is no music playing. 

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Just got my He-500, currently pairing with Bifrost and Lyr with stock tubes.. 
 
there is some white noise on its right side ear cup...left side is completely silence....when there is no music playing, or even soft musics with intro, i can hear those white noise...kinda noticeable... i can still hear it even i turn up the knob to 10 o'clock....is that normal?
 
or i need to return my HE-500...anyone experience that? or it just need more burn in time?

Yeah that defo sounds like a bad tube.

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Both sound great, I'm ready to pull the trigger I think.  Can anyone vouch for one of the above sites?  I just want to know I can safely return them if there are problems, and that customer service is good overall.
 
Thanks for the fast replies, you all have been really helpful.

I used Head-direct and they have great customer service. Keeping you informed all the way. I've never had to return them so don't know thier policies regarding this.

 

[Smoke Signals]

Well I couldn't find anything on Head-Direct about return policies, and Crutchfield has a lot of mixed reviews regarding their customer service.  I did however find that Audio Advisor is selling HE-500s.  I haven't found a single negative review of Audio Advisor, so I think I will go with them unless someone here has a horror story about them.
 
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMHE500

 

[WestLander]

Any reason you're not going with Amazon, Smoke Signals? They have a no-questions asked returns policy..
 
EDIT: Never mind, the phones are actually sold by Audio Advisor

 

[Smoke Signals]

Does Amazon handle the returns then, or does Audio Advisor?

 

[WestLander]

Looks like returns go through Amazon - 30 days to return, with original packaging and accessories

 

[MaJoMax]

Quote:

Well I couldn't find anything on Head-Direct about return policies, and Crutchfield has a lot of mixed reviews regarding their customer service.  I did however find that Audio Advisor is selling HE-500s.  I haven't found a single negative review of Audio Advisor, so I think I will go with them unless someone here has a horror story about them.
 
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMHE500

+1 on head-direct, you can buy it from their ebay store, fast respond and great customer service!
 
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/260877433502?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[MaJoMax]

Quote:

Yeah that defo sounds like a bad tube.

Yea, just change the position of the tubes, and now all the white noise gone! 

 

[MaJoMax]

Quote:

Try swapping the tubes to the opposite channels and see if the noise follows it could be that you have a noisy/microphonic tube. If the sound swaps channels at least you know its not the headphones and you can start thinking about upgrading the tubes in the lyr. Personally I have only listened tot he stock tubes for about 10 minutes before I changed them for something better.

 
Any better tubes recommendation would be appreciated~
 
i am a happy camper now, all white noise gone after swapping the tubes to opposite channels~
 
btw, i am using the stock tubes, 6BZ7