[daltonlanny]

Opinions please:
This question is for those of you who have purchased and compared the newer Focus and Focus A pads on your HE-500:
Do most of you prefer the sound of the HE-500 more with the Focus pads or the Focus A Pads, and why?
Thanks.

 

[Tobes]

Opinions please:
This question is for those of you who have purchased and compared the newer Focus and Focus A pads on your HE-500:
Do most of you prefer the sound of the HE-500 more with the Focus pads or the Focus A Pads, and why?
Thanks.

 
I bought the newer focus pads - the ones with the perforated pleather inside ring.
They appear better made, look much nicer and have softer velour ear pads than the stock he-500 velour - which look cheap and nasty by comparison. They cost me $50 here in Australia and I was predisposed to having a positive opinion.
Unfortunately I don't like their sound at all.
To me the Focus pads obscure textural/timbral detail and some lower midrange 'weight' - seriously compromising the realism of voices and acoustic instruments. With my equipment (Mac mini > ifi usb power/Gemini cable > Grace m903 dac > Violectric v281) the result with the focus pads is far less musically engaging (than stock velour).
I've swapped the focus pads in on a number of different occasions - as I did again before posting this reply - and its always the same result.
Note: my he-500's are un-modded - except for reterminating the stock cable with a  Neutrik xlr to allow balanced use. FWIW I get the same result from the M903's TRS HF output when using the focus pads.
 
Obviously there are people who prefer the Focus pads - but it's a complete mystery to me.

Not sure if the Focus A pads are still available (?) and I haven't heard them, so can't comment on their sound.

 

[borrego]

I bought the newer focus pads - the ones with the perforated pleather inside ring.
They appear better made, look much nicer and have softer velour ear pads than the stock he-500 velour - which look cheap and nasty by comparison. They cost me $50 here in Australia and I was predisposed to having a positive opinion.
Unfortunately I don't like their sound at all.
To me the Focus pads obscure textural/timbral detail and some lower midrange 'weight' - seriously compromising the realism of voices and acoustic instruments. With my equipment (Mac mini > ifi usb power/Gemini cable > Grace m903 dac > Violectric v281) the result with the focus pads is far less musically engaging (than stock velour).
I've swapped the focus pads in on a number of different occasions - as I did again before posting this reply - and its always the same result.
Note: my he-500's are un-modded - except for reterminating the stock cable with a  Neutrik xlr to allow balanced use. FWIW I get the same result from the M903's TRS HF output when using the focus pads.

Obviously there are people who prefer the Focus pads - but it's a complete mystery to me.
Not sure if the Focus A pads are still available (?) and I haven't heard them, so can't comment on their sound.

It's sad to learn just another fellow has gone through my previous money wasting path buying the Focus pads.

Go get the Audeze Vegan pads and be done.

 

[Tobes]

It's sad to learn just another fellow has gone through my previous money wasting path buying the Focus pads.

Go get the Audeze Vegan pads and be done.

 
Those Audeze pads cost $158 here in Australia!
I think I'd have to take my HF's into a store and try the pads out prior to purchase.
I may well do that down the track, though to be honest I find nothing really wrong with the sound of the stock velour pads. 
Actually I'm thinking of getting a spare set of the old velour pads before Hifiman stops producing them.

 

[Terja]

Opinions please:
This question is for those of you who have purchased and compared the newer Focus and Focus A pads on your HE-500:
Do most of you prefer the sound of the HE-500 more with the Focus pads or the Focus A Pads, and why?
Thanks.

 
I did ... when I was doing a comparative review of the HE-500 and the HE-560 tour set. Review is posted here. See specifically the section on "Pad Switching Conclusions." Cheers ...

 

[daerron]

The Focus Pads aren't really high quality but they do the job, bit a expensive for what they are. They are a decent improvement on the stock velour pads, basically exactly what the name says, the sound is more focussed and less dips in the mids and lower treble. Having listened for a long period of time exclusively to my speaker rig, coming back to the headphone I do find the treble presence on the Hifiman HE-500 a bit bothersome which I remember was one of my initial thoughts when I got the Focus Pads for the first time, eventually my ears got used to the sound signature. I do think the combination of the Violectric V100 and RL Concero definitely doesn't tame bright recordings either. The Lake People G109 would be a very nice amp, but its really pretty transparent and doesn't hide anything, which can be either a good thing or bad. Sometimes I wish for a bit of forgiving sound to mask some of the issues with my poorer recordings. Often I find myself reaching for the Philips Fidelio L1 when that happens.

 

[Hansotek]

If you're looking into a solid state, you might want to take a look at the Burson HA-160 as well. The Burson flat-out destroys my Lyr, even with my precious vintage Telefunken tubes. Not sure if I should put a happy face or a sad face after that... It's the truth though. Best match I've heard for the HE500 yet.

The output power of amp is 0,8w. As far as I know, he500 require at least 1w. That is enough to shake these the cans well? Or 0,2w is not so big difference afterall

The amp has two seperate output channels. I believe the 0.8w measurement is the output for the low gain channel only. I'm no engineer, but unless it has a dynamically adaptive output stage, I believe the high gain output channel is 14V, which would translate to roughly 5W at 38 ohms.

 

[elwappo99]

 

If you're looking into a solid state, you might want to take a look at the Burson HA-160 as well. The Burson flat-out destroys my Lyr, even with my precious vintage Telefunken tubes. Not sure if I should put a happy face or a sad face after that... It's the truth though. Best match I've heard for the HE500 yet.

The output power of amp is 0,8w. As far as I know, he500 require at least 1w. That is enough to shake these the cans well? Or 0,2w is not so big difference afterall

 
I wouldn't recommend the HA160. The power output is pretty low overall, especially for ortho headphones. It was designed before the ortho market really opened up. 
 
I'd aim for a Soloist or Soloist SL, or look at other amp options as well.

 

[Acapella11]

Thank you. I shall research this one as I know nothing about it. Eyes are currently affixed most strongly on Lake People G109.

 
The Questyle CMA800 earned its good reputation with the HD800 and I am finding it excellent with the HE-500 too. It is lively agile but not bright, fast and very detailed with a large stage.

 

[Hansotek]

 

If you're looking into a solid state, you might want to take a look at the Burson HA-160 as well. The Burson flat-out destroys my Lyr, even with my precious vintage Telefunken tubes. Not sure if I should put a happy face or a sad face after that... It's the truth though. Best match I've heard for the HE500 yet.

The output power of amp is 0,8w. As far as I know, he500 require at least 1w. That is enough to shake these the cans well? Or 0,2w is not so big difference afterall

I wouldn't recommend the HA160. The power output is pretty low overall, especially for ortho headphones. It was designed before the ortho market really opened up. 

I'd aim for a Soloist or Soloist SL, or look at other amp options as well.

There's not much power from the low gain channel, that's for sure, but the high gain channel packs a heck of a punch with the HE500. I don't think I've ever had to turn it past the 10 o'clock position. Again, I believe the high gain channel on the HA160 should be pushing 5.15 watts into 38ohms.

 

[StanD]

There's not much power from the low gain channel, that's for sure, but the high gain channel packs a heck of a punch with the HE500. I don't think I've ever had to turn it past the 10 o'clock position. Again, I believe the high gain channel on the HA160 should be pushing 5.15 watts into 38ohms.

More like 3.8 W as they spec the output at 12 VRMS. That's still plenty more than one needs for the HE-500's. I'm not sure if the 6 dB of gain that is spec'd can get you all the way there.
I thought the two channels were for impedance ranges and a high impedance channel would need more gain to get a higher voltage swing which is not for an HE-500.

 

[elwappo99]

 
There's not much power from the low gain channel, that's for sure, but the high gain channel packs a heck of a punch with the HE500. I don't think I've ever had to turn it past the 10 o'clock position. Again, I believe the high gain channel on the HA160 should be pushing 5.15 watts into 38ohms.

 
Where did you get 5W for the HA160 @38ohms? That's a really high number, and from the times I've heard the HA160 I didn't think it had nearly that much power. IIRC it was designed for higher impedance cans, not the low ohm ortho. 

 

[Tobes]

   
I did ... when I was doing a comparative review of the HE-500 and the HE-560 tour set. Review is posted here. See specifically the section on "Pad Switching Conclusions." Cheers ...

 
Terja, we'll have to agree to disagree on the sound of the Focus pads.
 
I scanned through your lengthy comparison of the 500/560 and found you measured the resistance of your 500's at "35.1/35.2ohms" - which is pretty close to the Hifiman initial production spec of 38ohms.
My he-500's measure about 45.3 ohms at the headphone, 45.7 ohms at the cable xlr connector. I recall measuring 46.9 at the TRS connector of the stock cable prior to re-terminating.
That's a pretty big difference and I wonder if there were some changes made by Hifiman during production  - I bought my 500's about a year ago - and what effect this would have on the sound?
I'll also note that Tyll at Inner-fidelity measured his sample at 47ohms - flat resistive impedance, so fairly consistent with my dc measurement.

 

[prez]

I just received my He-500s today.  I am currently running them through an e17/E09k combo while I wait for my Magni 2 Uber setup to arrive.  I've heard that these need to burn in, but dang, they sound awesome right out of the box.  I can't wait to hear the difference of a better amp.

 

[Hansotek]

There's not much power from the low gain channel, that's for sure, but the high gain channel packs a heck of a punch with the HE500. I don't think I've ever had to turn it past the 10 o'clock position. Again, I believe the high gain channel on the HA160 should be pushing 5.15 watts into 38ohms.

More like 3.8 W as they spec the output at 12 VRMS. That's still plenty more than one needs for the HE-500's. I'm not sure if the 6 dB of gain that is spec'd can get you all the way there.
I thought the two channels were for impedance ranges and a high impedance channel would need more gain to get a higher voltage swing which is not for an HE-500.

You are probably right, the manual says 12v. I reversed out the math from that 300 ohm spec listed earlier and got 14v. Whatever, 3.8w is still nothing to sneeze at.

The high impedance output has more gain. I probably don't go past 10 o'clock on the dial. The low impedance output needs to be dialed to 12:30 or 1:00 to get the same output and it is lacking in bass and dynamics - classic symptoms of underpowering. The high impedance output delivers those things in droves.