[Sanlitun]

Quote:

I really want to recommend Alice in Chains' Unplugged with the HE-500. With the lcd-2 it sounded great, with the HE-500 I was rocking, I consider the 'music synergy' even better than with DSotM.
 
Any other really good recommendations?

 
 
Massive Attack's Mezzanine. 
 
I never was interested in them until I heard them through HE-500 and Lyr. I can finally hear the subtleties and it's all fallen into place.

 

[disastermouse]

 

[davidsh]

Evaluating music takes time... Aerospace - Shocking was actually quite impressive despite that I don't like EDM in general. Often it is so fatiguing.

 

[OldSkool]

For fellow fans of AIC (MTV unplugged), try Seether, One Cold Night (Live acoustic)

 

[Jesterphile]

Has anyone tried the Alpha Pads on their HE500's? I was contemplating getting some for a comfort upgrade.

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

Has anyone tried the Alpha Pads on their HE500's? I was contemplating getting some for a comfort upgrade.

 
Sadly, I never got to try them on my (departed) HE-500.
I tried with HE-4 and 5LE with excellent result.
 
My only concern with the 500s is that the Pads will add weight to an already pretty heavy set of cans...

 

[Jesterphile]

Sadly, I never got to try them on my (departed) HE-500.
I tried with HE-4 and 5LE with excellent result.

My only concern with the 500s is that the Pads will add weight to an already pretty heavy set of cans...

That's my fear as well. I'm planning on buying a pair of balanced mad dogs so I might use the pads from that to test

 

[Jesterphile]

So I got my balanced cable today. Initial impressions (other than the huge amount more power available to me from the NFB10SE) were "There's no difference..." but I persevered and gave it a good run tonight; I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, or wanting to hear differences, but I think it has opened up the sound stage a bit more and improved dynamics and imaging slightly? More listening is required. I also think the sound from the balanced output is warmer... which is against what I've heard from others impressions.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

So I got my balanced cable today. Initial impressions (other than the huge amount more power available to me from the NFB10SE) were "There's no difference..." but I persevered and gave it a good run tonight; I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, or wanting to hear differences, but I think it has opened up the sound stage a bit more and improved dynamics and imaging slightly? More listening is required. I also think the sound from the balanced output is warmer... which is against what I've heard from others impressions.

Unfortunately the very fact that you couldn't hear any difference straight off means that even if there are any tangible differences, they would be extremely minute and perhaps only slightly above the threshold of detection.

 

[Jesterphile]

Quote:

Unfortunately the very fact that you couldn't hear any difference straight off means that even if there are any tangible differences, they would be extremely minute and perhaps only slightly above the threshold of detection.

Normally I'd agree, but it takes me ages to swap cables over on the HE500's so it's hard to compare, and I'm still getting used to the sound of the HE500's as they're relatively new to me. I'm not fussed either way - my single ended canare cable keeps falling apart so it needed a replacement anyway
 
Music sounds good through it, that's all that matters 

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

So I got my balanced cable today. Initial impressions (other than the huge amount more power available to me from the NFB10SE) were "There's no difference..." but I persevered and gave it a good run tonight; I'm not sure if I'm imagining things, or wanting to hear differences, but I think it has opened up the sound stage a bit more and improved dynamics and imaging slightly? More listening is required. I also think the sound from the balanced output is warmer... which is against what I've heard from others impressions.

 
Is it really warmer or just darker?
 
Darker sound might be a result of an improved quality sound (less digital nastiness) by indirect modifications. It is true when you keep your setup but improve what's around it (for those who believe it: power supply, cables, ...).
In your case, going balanced might have reduced the distortion level (intrinsic to the amp's design) and, as a result, you hear a slightly darker sound with no loss in clarity or detail retrieval.

 

[GREQ]

Just got my HE-500 today.
I'm still in the first hour of listening, but I feel like I'm listening to music for the first time in my life, and not a headphone.
This might be 'game over' for me, but I honestly don't care. I honestly didn't think headphones could ever be this engaging and emotive. 
 
I quite extensively auditioned other high end headphones, but bought these based on a audition that lasted less than half a minute - because it was enough for me to make a decision.
 
No regrets.

 

[Jesterphile]

Quote:

 
Is it really warmer or just darker?
 
Darker sound might be a result of an improved quality sound (less digital nastiness) by indirect modifications. It is true when you keep your setup but improve what's around it (for those who believe it: power supply, cables, ...).
In your case, going balanced might have reduced the distortion level (intrinsic to the amp's design) and, as a result, you hear a slightly darker sound with no loss in clarity or detail retrieval.

You may be on to something. Getting new cans, dac/amp and cable in quick succession hasn't done much for my ability to detect any difference caused by each part of the chain

 

[OICWUTUDIDTHAR]

In my personal opinion going any "higher end" then the HE-500 gets into the grey area of audio where it REALLY is subjective depending on the persons sound preferences.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

In my personal opinion going any "higher end" then the HE-500 gets into the grey area of audio where it REALLY is subjective depending on the persons sound preferences.

 
Hmmm....maybe. I still think the bar can be higher and in fact should be higher. Let's see what good stuff comes out in the next couple of years. 

 More planars and affordable electrostats is what I am hoping for. Along with radiator style driver headphones similar to HD800 at a cheaper price...also I realize that might be something like HD700, but perhaps from other brands or other models at cheaper prices.