[disastermouse]

500's are super narrow? Well I cheat but with Ether Angled pads and no screens I get a regular rectangle much like a good speaker that for top recordings is about 135 degrees wide.

The HE-500 is top 10 if not top 5 on favorites lists here from 2010-2021. It wouldn't be there if it is as narrow as you say.

Do you remember what they were like before you modified them? “Intimate” is definitely part of their presentation—enough so that the actual recording/mix being narrow isn’t as obvious with HE-500 as it is with the Edition XS. The XS makes some recordings much more spatially dynamic, especially with the bass. There’s far more sense of left right difference with the bass with the XS.

 

[bagwell359]

OK. Does anyone have detailed pictures of the innards of the XS? FR chart? Waterfall plot?

Just as a general aside I'm starting to see this thread fed by hope and expectations as much or more than by careful listening.

I have heard the opinion that HFM releases well built/tested cans first thing to prime the pump. Silly? Dunno but I'm fairly sure the average XS is not better than all planars under $2k.

 

[disastermouse]

OK. Does anyone have detailed pictures of the innards of the XS? FR chart? Waterfall plot?

Just as a general aside I'm starting to see this thread fed by hope and expectations as much or more than by careful listening.

I have heard the opinion that HFM releases well built/tested cans first thing to prime the pump. Silly? Dunno but I'm fairly sure the average XS is not better than all planars under $2k.

Have you heard it yet? I haven’t heard enough other planar headphones besides the HE-500 and Oppo PM-3 (a nice but flawed set even in it’s time) to know.

What I can say is they’re a totally different level than anything I’ve had prior.

 

[bagwell359]

Do you remember what they were like before you modified them? “Intimate” is definitely part of their presentation—enough so that the actual recording/mix being narrow isn’t as obvious with HE-500 as it is with the Edition XS. The XS makes some recordings much more spatially dynamic, especially with the bass. There’s far more sense of left right difference with the bass with the XS.

They were narrower but not outstandingly so.

My best 4 cans:

6se v1
500
HEX v2
Hd-600 on bhcs

If the XS is the nuts it's going to cut through that list.. But I'm from Missouri on the XS for now.

 

[bagwell359]

Have you heard it yet? I haven’t heard enough other planar headphones besides the HE-500 and Oppo PM-3 (a nice but flawed set even in it’s time) to know.

What I can say is they’re a totally different level than anything I’ve had prior.

Nope. Certainly would like to.

 

[disastermouse]

Nope. Certainly would like to.

I’m in Arizona. Not a lot of folks here in the states have these yet.

 

[bagwell359]

I dunno. Seems like if these are going to mangle the headphone market they'd be selling in Europe and NA. HFM certainly likes money and market share.

 

[jasswolf]

I dunno. Seems like if these are going to mangle the headphone market they'd be selling in Europe and NA. HFM certainly likes money and market share.

That's what happened with the HE400SE, which was iterated slightly differently when it hit the international market.

 

[bagwell359]

Hmmm...

 

[disastermouse]

I dunno. Seems like if these are going to mangle the headphone market they'd be selling in Europe and NA. HFM certainly likes money and market share.

I get the skepticism. For me, from my LittleDot MkII SE, there’s no comparison between the HE-500 and the Edition XS. There’s the planar sound and some bit of family resemblance, but I have zero temptation to break out the HE-500.

 

[bagwell359]

I get the skepticism. For me, from my LittleDot MkII SE, there’s no comparison between the HE-500 and the Edition XS. There’s the planar sound and some bit of family resemblance, but I have zero temptation to break out the HE-500.

Specially produced XS? Defective 500?

Who knows? I've got to hear one first.

 

[disastermouse]

Specially produced XS? Defective 500?

Who knows? I've got to hear one first.

I should look into modding my HE-500. It requires more power than the XS, too.

 

[bagwell359]

I should look into modding my HE-500. It requires more power than the XS, too.

Well more per XS description. 2 wpc @ 50 ohms. 3 probably better for 500.

See my postings on 500 modding. In main 500 thread. They go a long way from stock.

 

[FullBright1]

One of the issues with Head-Fi ever evolving gear, is that...... it has reached a zeneth where upper tier headphones and nearly all Tot'l headphones are creating more resolution and details then the music...... as recorded,....... actually provides.

The problem with the Headphone Tech industry, is that each year, for the business to survive, they have to come up with the next new thing......and once they have dialed in the comfort and the perfect weight and the perfect ear pads, they then have to keep etching the detail retrieval and the micro dynamics, so that....they can market that next product to sell you so that they can keep the lights on and the family fed and the employees paid.
Expensive headphones, these days, are like detail seeking missiles that just keep firing more and more resolution that isn't naturally in the music.
Which leads me to point out one of the great features of the Hifiman Edition XS.
It does not create what isn't there......it only reveals what is available.
Its really a very fine listening apparatus.

 

[disastermouse]

One of the issues with Head-Fi ever evolving gear, is that...... it has reached a zeneth where upper tier headphones and nearly all Tot'l headphones are creating more resolution and details then the music...... as recorded,....... actually provides.

The problem with the Headphone Tech industry, is that each year, for the business to survive, they have to come up with the next new thing......and once they have dialed in the comfort and the perfect weight and the perfect ear pads, they then have to keep etching the detail retrieval and the micro dynamics, so that....they can market that next product to sell you so that they can keep the lights on and the family fed and the employees paid.
Expensive headphones, these days, are like detail seeking missiles that just keep firing more and more resolution that isn't naturally in the music.
Which leads me to point out one of the great features of the Hifiman Edition XS.
It does not create what isn't there......it only reveals what is available.
Its really a very fine listening apparatus.

The biggest change I hear is directionality and layering. Positioning, etc., are simply sublime.