HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) Proving to be an enjoyable experience in listening.
- Thread starter jamato8
- Start date
@faultfracture sold me his spare drivers. <Thanks again!>more details plz
He said they became spares because he didnt like the stock HE500 headband. He disassembled them some years ago but never completed the headband mod.
The last time I heard an HE500 was approximately 10years ago. Loved them then even with stock velour pads. I dont have stock pads here but plan to padroll starting with Dekoni elite hybrids.
arielext
Headphoneus Supremus
I just sold my HE-500 today. They are special!
Looks like a fun project to do
This side had some excess glue. Peeling away pulled off the felt. Felt is still intact so can still use no problem, plus the felt rungs on 400i appear to be the same so could use those as backups anyway. The felt is adhered to the driver using double sided tape and then is clamped down with mounting rings.
Attachments
I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to get the pad mounting rings to sit flush with cups so as not to cause air leaks. I eventually gave up and just decided not to install the HFM pad mounting rings and instead will be using very thin double sided sticky tape to mount pads. Its fine, I use this method with some of my other headphones. Advantage is I will have good seals and I wont have to deal with HFM adapter rings. Bad news is that the few HFM earpads I have around wont install properly which is fine because this broadens my choices for cheap padrolling.
Attachments
Geekria ATH velour pads, these pads are thin and porous. From what I remember, quite a bit thinner and softer than stock HE500 velours.
First impressions line up with measurements: mostly neutral, forward upper mids / lower treble (vocals are too forward) but not ear-splitting (so far), good bass extension and inoffensive highs. Driver sounds big in the way it stages and quality of bass. From memory, detail retrieval is on par with my other headphones, would need time and direct a/b comparisons to get a better feel.
From memory, these are how I remember HE500 (from ten years ago). The forward upper mids reminded me most of Grado (i enjoyed modding Grado). After HE500 I bought an HE4 which to me was sorta the opposite in terms of upper mids and weightiness of bass. Back then I preferred 500 by a lot. Today, I prefer laid back upper mids.
Up next, padrolling on a budget for more bass and less upper mids.
First impressions line up with measurements: mostly neutral, forward upper mids / lower treble (vocals are too forward) but not ear-splitting (so far), good bass extension and inoffensive highs. Driver sounds big in the way it stages and quality of bass. From memory, detail retrieval is on par with my other headphones, would need time and direct a/b comparisons to get a better feel.
From memory, these are how I remember HE500 (from ten years ago). The forward upper mids reminded me most of Grado (i enjoyed modding Grado). After HE500 I bought an HE4 which to me was sorta the opposite in terms of upper mids and weightiness of bass. Back then I preferred 500 by a lot. Today, I prefer laid back upper mids.
Up next, padrolling on a budget for more bass and less upper mids.
Attachments
Last edited:
To be more clear, I meant overall in terms of resolution. From memory, HE500 from top to bottom is on level of T30, RP18, and BP800. And none of the latter are quite as good overall.
With (GathV pads) and some EQ for that upper mids / lower treble area, these headphones are pretty perfect.
Ordered some pads. For now, aimed for cheap pads with fast shipping that are porous nor covering too much of driver surface.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09G6LZCNY?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07ZYWD3ZL/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Last edited:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G6LZCNY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
These were a little too small in diameter, maybe 90mm instead of 100mm (HFM). This caused a tiny air gap where driver baffle meets cup edge. This gap will need to be sealed up in order for the TaiZiChangQin pads to work properly. Not sure yet on what I'll use to shore up the driver baffle. Either Ill cut a sticker out to shape to place over that gap or I will fill in using Butyl.
I've adjusted to using the GathV (Geekria Audio Technica Velour) pads. The extra energy in the 4kHz presence region is okay, even sometimes appreciated with electric guitar. Wish there was just a smidge more warmth or sub bass but as-is a nice compliment in the collection. The shallow velour GathV pads have their own benefits though that could be lost by going to deeper + less porous pads... I could live with these GathV pads.
Here is my 500 vs my other driver transplant HFM.
These were a little too small in diameter, maybe 90mm instead of 100mm (HFM). This caused a tiny air gap where driver baffle meets cup edge. This gap will need to be sealed up in order for the TaiZiChangQin pads to work properly. Not sure yet on what I'll use to shore up the driver baffle. Either Ill cut a sticker out to shape to place over that gap or I will fill in using Butyl.
I've adjusted to using the GathV (Geekria Audio Technica Velour) pads. The extra energy in the 4kHz presence region is okay, even sometimes appreciated with electric guitar. Wish there was just a smidge more warmth or sub bass but as-is a nice compliment in the collection. The shallow velour GathV pads have their own benefits though that could be lost by going to deeper + less porous pads... I could live with these GathV pads.
Here is my 500 vs my other driver transplant HFM.
Attachments
Last edited:
m1 = mod1 = red seal sticker installed
m0 = mod0 = before red seal sticker installed / "stock"
Looks like the difference is ... NIL! I guess the headphone is less leaky or less susceptible to effects of leaks on the front side than I imagined.
edit: There are tiny differences in frequency response but its hard to gauge if they are due to the mod or varied positioning of the headphone upon coupler which could probably account for the differences in highs... Some subjective listening tests might say there is a difference but I'm not interested in testing atm. Ill wait until I narrow down my pad choice before I start getting hyper critical / paranoid / ocd / audiophile.
m0 = mod0 = before red seal sticker installed / "stock"
Looks like the difference is ... NIL! I guess the headphone is less leaky or less susceptible to effects of leaks on the front side than I imagined.
edit: There are tiny differences in frequency response but its hard to gauge if they are due to the mod or varied positioning of the headphone upon coupler which could probably account for the differences in highs... Some subjective listening tests might say there is a difference but I'm not interested in testing atm. Ill wait until I narrow down my pad choice before I start getting hyper critical / paranoid / ocd / audiophile.
Attachments
Last edited:
mod2 = grill removed (red sticker felt kept in place)
GathV = Geekria ATH velour pads
These m2 measurements were done without repositioning the headphones from m1 trial. I just carefully slipped the grills off and took several measurements.
edit: I may have to rebuild my fpc rig so I can get better idea of how acoustic impedance mods or reverb might be effecting distortion or CSD. atm I dont care that much yet to rebuild.
GathV = Geekria ATH velour pads
These m2 measurements were done without repositioning the headphones from m1 trial. I just carefully slipped the grills off and took several measurements.
edit: I may have to rebuild my fpc rig so I can get better idea of how acoustic impedance mods or reverb might be effecting distortion or CSD. atm I dont care that much yet to rebuild.
Attachments
Last edited:
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
On the 4 letter site I've seen the diff between screen and no screen. It was more than this shows but not a huge difference - but that is because not all the changes can be captured in frequency domain only.
What red felt? Oh that red felt.
I find all felt and glue pads and plastic piping to decrease bass loss to add an unfortunate amount of "one note bass". I think the ear resisting the tension of the pads to produce a working seal with a bit of leakage to sound fine.
Last edited:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L9BS1H3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is what I used as a sticker because its all I have atm. The felt layer is super thin. Once a leather pad is stickied and headband clamp applied its not going to be leaky.
(shoutout @E_Schaaf for linking to me the sticker felt)
edit: edited my previous post for clarity.
There is a full sheet layer that is the adhesive, then a second layer on top which is super thin and dense felt, like the surface of a pool table.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
