[Heartsmart]

For portable use the Headstage Arrow 4g is my go to amp. The Arrow drives the HE 500 with more authority than the amp in the DX 100 IMO, especially with bass extension.

Thanks!

That sonds exiting. I am going to Listen to HE-500 with the Arrow some time in june when I am visiting Stockholm. There is no dealer where i live.

I have read a lot about diferent headphones for a while now, and it seams like HE-500 is the one for me

 

[hifimanrookie]

I think a rule of thumb for doing/not doing the jergpad modding is, if you can't hear a difference between stock pleathers vs velour pads, don't even bother doing any mods.

To the inquisitive ear that is familiar with how the HE500s sound, the two pad types have fundamentally different sound signatures.

And am still waiting for my jerg modded pads

 

[rgs9200m]

I just want to reiterate that the HE500s seem to me to be the greatest bargain ever in the headphone world. 
They are not just "good for the money." I have/had many of the flagships and I still love and give lots of headtime to these
on my Rudistor RP010B; they're so musical, so full of life but just let me listen for a long time w/o thinking of any sonic issue.
Other phones may have some wow-factor in some area, but when I have these on, I just don't think about anything but the music falling out of these beauties.
(Edit: they were also very fine with my little 1st-generation Headroom Max, but the Rudistor really makes them shine with great imaging and very solid bass and sweet highs.
So they do scale with a better amp and source, but they don't seem to require the best input to sound very decent.)
I feel they are right up there with LCD3s and HD800s and TH900s in terms of an engaging compelling sound. Under $1K ? Unbelievable.
(I tried and sold Beyer T1s, Ultrasone Ed8s, Denon 7000s, Senn HD650s, HD600s, all of which had some sonic issues and none of which ever gave me the enjoyment I have with the HE500s.
I really thank Fang and Hifman for these.)

 

[alota]

Quote:

I just want to reiterate that the HE500s seem to me to be the greatest bargain ever in the headphone world. 
They are not just "good for the money." I have/had many of the flagships and I still love and give lots of headtime to these
on my Rudistor RP010B; they're so musical, so full of life but just let me listen for a long time w/o thinking of any sonic issue.
Other phones may have some wow-factor in some area, but when I have these on, I just don't think about anything but the music falling out of these beauties.
(Edit: they were also very fine with my little 1st-generation Headroom Max, but the Rudistor really makes them shine with great imaging and very solid bass and sweet highs.
So they do scale with a better amp and source, but they don't seem to require the best input to sound very decent.)

i agree with you.
you use some aftermarket cable?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

And am still waiting for my jerg modded pads

Yeah whatever happened to that guy?

 

[hifimanrookie]

Yeah whatever happened to that guy?

Gone with the wind? I still wanna try jergmodded pads..but as i once said..i am very bad in making things

 

[davidsh]

Quote:

Gone with the wind? I still wanna try jergmodded pads..but as i once said..i am very bad in making things

dissappointing, especially if you have already paid.

 

[rgs9200m]

I use Drew's Silver Dragons (balanced). But I like the stock cables also. 
One more note on the sonics is that vocals avoid sounding at all raspy (digital?) on recordings prone to this. LCD3s do this too (maybe it's a planar-magnetic thing...).

 

[alota]

Quote:

I use Drew's Silver Dragons (balanced). But I like the stock cables also.

never tried thew hifiman balanced cable?
io never tried silver cable on the he-500, only occ copper

 

[rgs9200m]

Quote:

never tried thew hifiman balanced cable?
io never tried silver cable on the he-500, only occ copper

No, never did. Drew said the Silver was absolutely the best match, and my ears agree and I left things at that as a happy camper.

 

[davidsh]

I have also got pure silver cable (with a touch of gold

). Seems very nice. It is also with adapters so I can go balanced, TRS and banana

 

[hifimanrookie]

dissappointing, especially if you have already paid.

Luckily for me i didnt pay yet

 

[alota]

Quote:

No, never did. Drew said the Silver was absolutely the best match, and my ears agree and I left things at that as a happy camper.

understood
thank you!

 

[roadcykler]

Quote:

How long have you had the he-500? I barely heard the difference in the beginning

I've had them 5+ months. 

 

[Stalker81598]

Prototype 2: (and possibly the final design)
This idea came to me last night after thinking about vintage AKG studio model headbands - I know it's not the same, but they're one of the most complex headbands ever and simultaneously seem to present a set of solutions to problems they naturally create by their own flaws, which increases the number of parts (which means more things can go wrong).
I concluded that my first design was connecting to the headband in the wrong place.




With this design, the adjustment is done by the Hifiman headband (the headband never changes size - just the position of the earcups on the head changes) which naturally serves a wider range of head sizes, increases design simplicity and therefore keeps costs down. (these high quality pop-fasteners aren't exactly cheap for what they are)
The only possible weak link is the effects of weight on leather over time, although only the small pop-fastener part would need to be replaced in the event of material failure. I think if I produce any more, it will include a layer of fabric underneath to increase long-term durability. 

A natural bi-product of this design is that the suede-like underside of the leather grips quite well - this is good if you want it; I know some people have complained in the past about the headphones wobbling on the head - this headband helps reduce that effect considerably.

This looks very nice but I am concerned about placing the entire weight of the headphone directly on the plastic adjustors. They seem to be a weak point in the headphone's design. I have never experienced problems with them but I have heard others say they have.