[Frank I]

Quote:

I also found the HE500 better than the HD650 overall. As to which of the 2 is warmer, we can agree to disagree

the hd650 is more toward the lcd2.2. tone IMO

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

 
Frank.  If you ever get a chance.  Try the AKG 702 65th Anniversary Edition. 

wiil do

 

[BobJS]

HE-500 sounds a little bright after listening to the Mad Dogs.  They don't sound bright at all after listening to the Beyer T1s.  I think they have the perfect brightness to let you hear all the detail without accosting your ears from a less than stellar recording.

 

[jerg]

HE500s are definitely a tad bright(er than perfectly natural to me) with velour pads, yet a tad too dark / "dim" with stock pleather pads.

 

[tuna47]

After the Akg 702 they are not bright also much brighter than 650 which is good

 

[pataburd]

The HD-650, when driven properly, can sound wonderful.  Detailed, musical and balanced.  Not dark at all.  
 
Ironically, I discovered this when driving them with the Darkvoice 337!  : )

 

[disastermouse]

HE-500 sounds a little bright after listening to the Mad Dogs.  They don't sound bright at all after listening to the Beyer T1s.  I think they have the perfect brightness to let you hear all the detail without accosting your ears from a less than stellar recording.

This. Less foggy than the HD650, better decays, narrower but more precise imaging. IMHO.

 

[kiikasi]

Luckily for me I really don't like a lot of bass! I have passed over the bass-loving phase and now I just want something that emphasizes the mids and treble, so brighter headphones are what I'm after (NOT Grado bright. I can't listen to those damn things for 15 minutes without fatiguing. I had the RS2i). I do admit that my ears get tired of them after around 3 hours because of the extra brightness, so I use my DT 770 PRO 250 ohm mostly and switch to the T70 when I want a "treble treat" if you may The HE-500 are my go-to headphones when I want a complete, in-home, low-distortion sort of listening experience. I use a tube-amp with them and would prefer a solid-state to bring out the details a bit more, but I'm not made of money!
 
I don't find the HE-500 that bright OR that dark. They kinda sit right in the middle for me and therefore are not dark enough to be boring and not bright enough to be fatiguing. Truly a nice experience. The only problem is I am out of the house 90% of the time, so I can't very well bring them around town, so I stick with the T70 and DT770 mostly. I'm moving up to the T5p in the next few months because I'm a BIG Beyerdynamic fan, so that will be a treat. The T5ps are still brighter than some are used to (Especially those HD650 and LCD-2 lovers) but their "Beyer peak" is nowhere near as formidable than the T70s, so I should be able to use them for hours without discomfort.
 
Just goes to show how incredible subjective Hi-Fi is! Cheers! 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Luckily for me I really don't like a lot of bass! I have passed over the bass-loving phase and now I just want something that emphasizes the mids and treble, so brighter headphones are what I'm after (NOT Grado bright. I can't listen to those damn things for 15 minutes without fatiguing. I had the RS2i). I do admit that my ears get tired of them after around 3 hours because of the extra brightness, so I use my DT 770 PRO 250 ohm mostly and switch to the T70 when I want a "treble treat" if you may The HE-500 are my go-to headphones when I want a complete, in-home, low-distortion sort of listening experience. I use a tube-amp with them and would prefer a solid-state to bring out the details a bit more, but I'm not made of money!
 
I don't find the HE-500 that bright OR that dark. They kinda sit right in the middle for me and therefore are not dark enough to be boring and not bright enough to be fatiguing. Truly a nice experience. The only problem is I am out of the house 90% of the time, so I can't very well bring them around town, so I stick with the T70 and DT770 mostly. I'm moving up to the T5p in the next few months because I'm a BIG Beyerdynamic fan, so that will be a treat. The T5ps are still brighter than some are used to (Especially those HD650 and LCD-2 lovers) but their "Beyer peak" is nowhere near as formidable than the T70s, so I should be able to use them for hours without discomfort.
 
Just goes to show how incredible subjective Hi-Fi is! Cheers! 

T5ps don't measure too good though, hope your subjective impression will be better.

 
 
 
 
 
(HE500's measurement, by comparison)

 

[jono454]

Quote:

I I have this cable and it pairs nicely with HE500. It is much better build than the default silver coated HE500 cable.
Do not expect it to tame the HE500 brightness. Instead go for equalizing or for warmer upstream gear.

 
Is there any noticeable difference between the stock and the toxic cable?
 
I don't really mind the brightness so much but i think it would sound better if it was mellowed out just a little bit. 

 

[VortexBlast]

Quote:

T5ps don't measure too good though, hope your subjective impression will be better.

 
 
 
 
 
(HE500's measurement, by comparison)

I auditioned the T5p once and my subjective listening quite matched the waterfall plots there. Lots of resonance and ringing across the whole spectrum although I didn't expected to be that bad on the graphs. It sounded like you were listening music in a reverberating hall. Not my cup of tea and for $1300, absolutely no way will I consider a T5p.

 

[kiikasi]

My main goal is to get something that sounds really excellent and is totally portable. Sitting at home and listening is all well and good, but I'm rarely at home and I want that amazing sound everywhere. I'm mainly looking for an absolutely huge soundstage so I can just feel like I'm in my own little music-realm when I close my eyes. To be honest, the HE-500 doesn't have all that much of an expansive soundstage. It sounds like it should have an expansive soundstage, but you can still clearly tell that you are listening to headphones. Despite that rocky-road frequency response (Which I am aware of), I'm sure they can help deliver that. Beyerdyanmic wouldn't release such a high-price item if they didn't think it sounded good. 
 
By the way, just look at Grado. Many people like their products and they are voiced totally by ear to the "house sound". I figure these were voiced the same way in order to achieve the effect of having a much larger soundstage than what you would expect on a portable, closed headphone, thus the reverberation effect. Again, exactly what I'm looking for.
 
If you have any better recommendations, I am welcome to them!

 

[jerg]

Quote:

My main goal is to get something that sounds really excellent and is totally portable. Sitting at home and listening is all well and good, but I'm rarely at home and I want that amazing sound everywhere. I'm mainly looking for an absolutely huge soundstage so I can just feel like I'm in my own little music-realm when I close my eyes. To be honest, the HE-500 doesn't have all that much of an expansive soundstage. It sounds like it should have an expansive soundstage, but you can still clearly tell that you are listening to headphones. Despite that rocky-road frequency response (Which I am aware of), I'm sure they can help deliver that. Beyerdyanmic wouldn't release such a high-price item if they didn't think it sounded good.
 
By the way, just look at Grado. Many people like their products and they are voiced totally by ear to the "house sound". I figure these were voiced the same way in order to achieve the effect of having a much larger soundstage than what you would expect on a portable, closed headphone, thus the reverberation effect. Again, exactly what I'm looking for.
 
If you have any better recommendations, I am welcome to them!

Dude that is a terrible philosophy to follow through. I understand that these particular cans might fit what you are looking for, but it's sheepish to assume that commercial headphone brands price based on fidelity.
 
There's a reason why audiophiles flock to head-fi and ask for community suggestions of headphones, rather than just picking a brand they like and dump $$$ into fire.

 

[preproman]

Got a graph of the Ultrasone Sig Pro's?

 

[preproman]

I was just asking if you had one to compare.  Not a big deal.