[FastAndClean]

my he500 sound better direct from the dac in comparison with the dac and magni 2, with the magni there is some sort of a grain in the upper mids, with the dac alone the sound is clean and smooth

 

[Fegefeuer]

I have a stock HE-500 now and haven't done any mods to it. Attached to it were the original pleather and the owner added never used stock velours. The condition is pristine, really handled well, like a
new born baby. Now I remember what I missed in all those years. The HE-500 was my first high end headphone love years ago and it wasn't magical because it was the most expensive,
it was magical because it had a romantic, dreamy character with weightyness and tactility that my ears could physicall feel from the first song on.

Ordered the Velpads cskippy recommend for around 13€ and put them on. Now I need to get a balanced cable.

 

[Zoide]

Ordered the Velpads cskippy recommend for around 13€ and put them on. Now I need to get a balanced cable.

Where did you order them from in Europe and how fast was the shipping?

I'm wondering if they'd be an improvement over my Brainwavz HM5 velour memory foam pads.

 

[Fegefeuer]

amazon.de https://www.amazon.de/velpad-HiFiMA...e=UTF8&qid=1539599756&sr=8-1&keywords=velpads
FR, IT, UK and ES have them too, under the same name.

I can't say anything about the HM5 but this cskippy fellow measured a huge amount of various pads and I trust him.
Only other pads I'd be curious to listen to would be the Mrspeakers Ether Flow Angled, but getting them in Europe is kinda hard and expensive. Half the price of a very well made cable.

 

[FastAndClean]

i will buy Lehmann Audio Linear for around 300 $ for my HE500, is it a good amp?
better than magni 2, it has less power?
is that a good price?
thanks

 

[SilverEars]

I got some pads that do not have Hifiman adapters. Do you just attach the pads to a Hifiman adapter? Looks like the stock pads are glue'd on to the adapters. Where can I get a set of those adapters for cheap?

I think my Sennheisers are throwing off my impressions of the HE-500. I got the velpads, but initially, wasn't that impressed. Perhaps due to my ears getting used to upper-mids raised HD6XX, and HE-500 sounds not as mid-ey due to this. It's of course way more comfortable than the stock velours though.

 

[bagwell359]

I got some pads that do not have Hifiman adapters. Do you just attach the pads to a Hifiman adapter? Looks like the stock pads are glue'd on to the adapters. Where can I get a set of those adapters for cheap?

I think my Sennheisers are throwing off my impressions of the HE-500. I got the velpads, but initially, wasn't that impressed. Perhaps due to my ears getting used to upper-mids raised HD6XX, and HE-500 sounds not as mid-ey due to this. It's of course way more comfortable than the stock velours though.

What are you driving the HE-500's with? Changing from the SE to balanced to basically double my power helped across the board. You could try the screen off if you haven't done it (wood blocks, finger snaps, and resonant sound stages still sound wrong to me with them off). I got tied up with stuff so I'm ready to try my "industrial" screen on my 4XX's and if that seems helpful, I'll try them on the 500's.

In order to see the 500 > 6** try the 3 obvious areas: cymbals/percussion, low bass getting modulated athletically, and of course female vocals.

 

[SilverEars]

What are you driving the HE-500's with? Changing from the SE to balanced to basically double my power helped across the board. You could try the screen off if you haven't done it (wood blocks, finger snaps, and resonant sound stages still sound wrong to me with them off). I got tied up with stuff so I'm ready to try my "industrial" screen on my 4XX's and if that seems helpful, I'll try them on the 500's.

In order to see the 500 > 6** try the 3 obvious areas: cymbals/percussion, low bass getting modulated athletically, and of course female vocals.

I drive it with BHA-1. I want to try balanced with it, and I think BHA-1 balanced pushes out mids more.

It desfinately has that planar highs with the shimmer, but HD6XX sounds upper mids lifted probably due to the roll-off at the higher frequencies, but I think it does have a more mids fill than the HE500. HD6XX does throw off perception of if something sounds linear or not due to it's mids push. This mids push is actually musical sounding. Creates music to pop out. Like for example, some recordings can sound bit flat and boring, and mids push, enhances the music.

 

[bagwell359]

I drive it with BHA-1. I want to try balanced with it, and I think BHA-1 balanced pushes out mids more.

It desfinately has that planar highs with the shimmer, but HD6XX sounds upper mids lifted probably due to the roll-off at the higher frequencies, but I think it does have a more mids fill than the HE500. HD6XX does throw off perception of if something sounds linear or not due to it's mids push. This mids push is actually musical sounding. Creates music to pop out. Like for example, some recordings can sound bit flat and boring, and mids push, enhances the music.

I'll have to hear the 6XX to believe a can with more mids than the HE-500 wouldn't sound too midrange dominant. Now to me, the upper midrange is its own animal - 1.8KHz-3.6KHz. Mids 600-1.8KHz, Lower Mids 300-600. While irritation can be found in the upper mids and lower treble where the ear is very sensitive, the actual output of fundamentals and overtones from 300-1.8KHz way over powers whats in the upper mids on most music.

HE-500's seem to be fairly flat up to 1.5KHz. The dip often measured from there to close to 4 KHz is more of a measurement bias, than it is a big hole. I think the 500's do dip a bit in this area, giving lots of female vocals more of a sense of depth, I think true with contraltos that have a big range and use it. And I know the HD-600 doesn't sag in the upper mids, it actually has a slight rise in that range.

The HE-500 also has a lot more bass under 80 Hz than the 600, I know the 650 goes deeper so I assume the 6XX does so as well. The 500's bass along with a strong treble tucks in the low and mid mids of the 500 into a balance that they wouldn't have if the treble and bass both rolled off. The 650 has too much mid bass energy too - not sure if that was solved in the 6XX. The 4XX has a prominent mid bass and mid treble, and that does push the mids back a might but the 500's mid bass and mid treble are not nearly as overpowering.

I believe we may meet soon, and we can listen to each others stuff then...

 

[SilverEars]

I just find the Sennheisers sound more accurate with string instruments. HE500 has more of a tinge sound to the strings, and also more sparkle or shimmeriness to the mid treble (7k+).

It sounds warmer than the HD6XX interestingly. I think it's due to perhaps upper-mids not popped out as much, and HE500 has the soft reverb type warmth with the velpads. Up high, it does sound to have more resolve due the shimmer and I usually experience this with planars, but the mids a little out of focus. The cymbals, and metal sounds do crunch a bit more and shimmer, sparkle, but that stands out more than how HD6XX mids stands out. HE500 does sound more flat in a way with warmth and shimmer up top.

The bass on the HD6XX does sound more impactful, and clearer at times without the lingering warmth that HE500 has with it's bass. HD6XX is more forward and maybe more mids aggressive, and HE500 a bit laid back in comparison with shimmer up top.

I should add that listening to Jazz at the pawnshop, the shimmer with the HE500 is more realistic. HD6XX has more of smeared cymbal definition, but HE500 cymbals sound defined.

 

[FastAndClean]

The bass on the HD6XX does sound more impactful, and clearer at times without the lingering warmth that HE500 has with it's bass. HD6XX is more forward and maybe more mids aggressive, and HE500 a bit laid back in comparison with shimmer up top.

HE500 have cleaner in the bass and faster as well than HD6XX, for impact, HD6XX has more mid bass but the HE500 has more sub bass, the bass on HE500 has no lingering on my setup, its fast and clean

 

[Slim1970]

I just find the Sennheisers sound more accurate with string instruments. HE500 has more of a tinge sound to the strings, and also more sparkle or shimmeriness to the mid treble (7k+).

It sounds warmer than the HD6XX interestingly. I think it's due to perhaps upper-mids not popped out as much, and HE500 has the soft reverb type warmth with the velpads. Up high, it does sound to have more resolve due the shimmer and I usually experience this with planars, but the mids a little out of focus. The cymbals, and metal sounds do crunch a bit more and shimmer, sparkle, but that stands out more than how HD6XX mids stands out. HE500 does sound more flat in a way with warmth and shimmer up top.

The bass on the HD6XX does sound more impactful, and clearer at times without the lingering warmth that HE500 has with it's bass. HD6XX is more forward and maybe more mids aggressive, and HE500 a bit laid back in comparison with shimmer up top.

I should add that listening to Jazz at the pawnshop, the shimmer with the HE500 is more realistic. HD6XX has more of smeared cymbal definition, but HE500 cymbals sound defined.

@SilverEars what amp are you using? I owned the HD650's and the HD660S's at one point. I thought they both lacked the impactful bass of the HE500's but they both had a pretty good bass response overall. Niether HD6xx headphone had that thumping bass like the HE500's can have with certain music genres. The HD660S's I thought was more dynamic and livelier than the HD650's. But I choose to keep the HE500's over both of them.

The HD650's do scale well, as I drove them balanced out of the Pro iCan and single ended out of the Woo Audio WA6se. Even then they were just to laid back for my ears. The HD660S's was amp picky and sounded the best out of my DACportable. The HE500's in comparison are a little harder to drive than the HD660S's. But at optimal sound level they sound more balanced, open and musical to my ears. But in the end it's going to come down to preference as to which headphone sounds the best to their ears.

 

[kid vic]

@SilverEars what amp are you using? I owned the HD650's and the HD660S's at one point. I thought they both lacked the impactful bass of the HE500's but they both had a pretty good bass response overall. Niether HD6xx headphone had that thumping bass like the HE500's can have with certain music genres. The HD660S's I thought was more dynamic and livelier than the HD650's. But I choose to keep the HE500's over both of them.

The HD650's do scale well, as I drove them balanced out of the Pro iCan and single ended out of the Woo Audio WA6se. Even then they were just to laid back for my ears. The HD660S's was amp picky and sounded the best out of my DACportable. The HE500's in comparison are a little harder to drive than the HD660S's. But at optimal sound level they sound more balanced, open and musical to my ears. But in the end it's going to come down to preference as to which headphone sounds the best to their ears.

Agreed, sounds like the their HE500s are being under driven

 

[bagwell359]

I just find the Sennheisers sound more accurate with string instruments. HE500 has more of a tinge sound to the strings, and also more sparkle or shimmeriness to the mid treble (7k+).

It sounds warmer than the HD6XX interestingly. I think it's due to perhaps upper-mids not popped out as much, and HE500 has the soft reverb type warmth with the velpads. Up high, it does sound to have more resolve due the shimmer and I usually experience this with planars, but the mids a little out of focus. The cymbals, and metal sounds do crunch a bit more and shimmer, sparkle, but that stands out more than how HD6XX mids stands out. HE500 does sound more flat in a way with warmth and shimmer up top.

The bass on the HD6XX does sound more impactful, and clearer at times without the lingering warmth that HE500 has with it's bass. HD6XX is more forward and maybe more mids aggressive, and HE500 a bit laid back in comparison with shimmer up top.

The HD6XX bass is more impactful than the HE-500? Impact from speed or impact from sustain? Upper bass? Mid bass? Low Bass? Or all of them? I have heard that the 6XX is a blend of the 600 & 650 bass. Hard to imagine that. 600 is taut and fast (over damped), but doesn't move enough air, and slopes down quickly under 60 Hz. 650 moves air in the midbass and upper bass - too much air, and its fast compared to some but not compared to the 600. The 650 goes lower - but it slopes down under about 45 Hz if I recall correctly. A perfect blend of the two would be better than the HE-500 over 45 Hz, but I'm from Missouri on this issue.

In any case - we've got different stacks and different ear pads, let's compare 11/18. BTW, thanks for the tip on the Thurman Green on Mapleshade, very impressive recording and good music.

 

[SilverEars]

@SilverEars what amp are you using? I owned the HD650's and the HD660S's at one point. I thought they both lacked the impactful bass of the HE500's but they both had a pretty good bass response overall. Niether HD6xx headphone had that thumping bass like the HE500's can have with certain music genres. The HD660S's I thought was more dynamic and livelier than the HD650's. But I choose to keep the HE500's over both of them.

The HD650's do scale well, as I drove them balanced out of the Pro iCan and single ended out of the Woo Audio WA6se. Even then they were just to laid back for my ears. The HD660S's was amp picky and sounded the best out of my DACportable. The HE500's in comparison are a little harder to drive than the HD660S's. But at optimal sound level they sound more balanced, open and musical to my ears. But in the end it's going to come down to preference as to which headphone sounds the best to their ears.

HD660S not all that dynamic. You got that reversed. Also, I have HD6XX which is supposedly the same as HD650, but the sound out of my BHA-1 (which is a solid-state) surprised me as I used to have an HD650 almost 10 yrs ago. I don't know if there was any changes to the driver over the years, and HD6XX was the result. It's not like what I recall of my old HD650.

I now question, if it's the amp that makes such a significant difference in what I'm hearing out of the HD6XX and no changes has been made of the yrs for the drivers, or there has been changes with the drivers over the years. Another question, is HD6XX really the HD650?