[jerg]

Quote:

I'd be worried about dust causing long-term issues with the drivers after having that dust protection out for a while.

Apparently Dr Fang himself did this mod to his own HE5LE several years ago and it's still working fine now. It's a Hifiman-original mod.
 
I would say this little mod is recommended but with discretion - if you use the cans exclusively in a clean, low air-flow, low-dust home or work environment, there is probably nothing to worry about. If the environment has some attributes that seem a bit icky (dusty, gusty, big temperature/humidity swings, sharp debris in air, etc) then just don't.

 

[koiloco]

Quote:

I see u removed the backside the original dust protectors.(if i see it correctly) .why did u do that? Change in sound?

For my ears, removing the cloth did result in a more airy, open sound overall.  Not a huge difference but more than enough to satisfy my listening taste, especially coming from the Q701.

 

[modulor]

Quote:

For my ears, removing the cloth did result in a more airy, open sound overall.  Not a huge difference but more than enough to satisfy my listening taste, especially coming from the Q701.

Well, I guess it's worth a try.  I do keep it either in the velour bag or the box when I'm not wearing it, plus my office is pretty clean so dust really shouldn't be an issue.

 

[koiloco]

Quote:

Well, I guess it's worth a try.  I do keep it either in the velour bag or the box when I'm not wearing it, plus my office is pretty clean so dust really shouldn't be an issue.

Do it modulor and let us know what you think.  I am interested to hear from others who have done this mod. 
The other day, I was playing with small round temp stickers(0.5" diameter).  I put them in different locations on the grill starting with 1 from the center.  It was great fun to experience how the sound changed.  I didn't actually leave them on afterward but it was a cool trial.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Do it modulor and let us know what you think.  I am interested to hear from others who have done this mod. 
The other day, I was playing with small round temp stickers(0.5" diameter).  I put them in different locations on the grill starting with 1 from the center.  It was great fun to experience how the sound changed.  I didn't actually leave them on afterward but it was a cool trial.

All the Hifiman planar magnetics are fully open undamped in design, so they are really sensitive to whatever's on the outer faces of the drivers that introduce reverb / distortions, or damp the sound. Even having a finger held across near the grills changes the sound.
 
I notice the biggest difference (grill fabric vs no fabric) with HE400 most likely because it is very emphasized in upper treble already, so any change is very sweeping. HE500 is less so but still significant.
 
Ideally you want nothing at all on the outer faces of the drivers for that fully open sound, but that is not practical. Hence my regrilling mod.

 

[bce22]

So i am in the process of putting together a new pc build and have been sleeving my cables. i decided since i have extra MDPC sleeving and heathsrink to sleeve the semi-crappy stock silver cable.

i think it came out pretty good if i may say so myself. The sleeving definitely adds some rigidty and protects it. im not going to say it reduces microphonics yet as i have just started listening to it.

i did run into an issue that simplwhile simply trying to work the heatshrink over the connector the ground disconnected and i had to solder it back. This thing is so chincy.

anyways i think its more secure now than ever. i have attached some pic. including my 24 pin psu cable i sleeved. By the way MDPC sleeving and heatshrink are top notch!

Edit: cant seen to add images from my phone, gonna try tapatalk.

 

[bce22]

HE-500 stock silver cable sleeved:

And for giggles my 24 pin:

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[koiloco]

Holy cow, i love the colors on your 24 pin connectors.  Hard core. 

 
Btw, since I just made my new cable yesterday.  Today, I am going to cut off the 1/4 plug from the stock cable, unbraid the cable all the way to the "Y", sleeve the L/R cable portion, rebraid the main section, sleeve it and resolder onto a new 1/4 TRS.  Your sleeved stock cable looks great, btw.

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

Holy cow, i love the colors on your 24 pin connectors.  Hard core. 

 
Btw, since I just made my new cable yesterday.  Today, I am going to cut off the 1/4 plug from the stock cable, unbraid the cable all the way to the "Y", sleeve the L/R cable portion, rebraid the main section, sleeve it and resolder onto a new 1/4 TRS.  Your sleeved stock cable looks great, btw.

 
I'm thinking about doing something similar. It's a good cable aside from the microphonics. One question, why unbraid and rebraid? 4 leads can be a little bit annoying to braid. 
 
I've got enough cloth sleeving to do this. I think I would snip the 1/4" TRS, sleeve it and put a 4 pin male XLR 12" from the end and make the last 12" a 4 pin female XLR adapter. Would make a nifty cable for just about anything. 

 

[bce22]

Thanks so much! Your sleeving job sounds like it will be awesome. I cant wait to see it. i just noticed Siemens spelled wrong on my tube box. LOL, how embarrassing.

 

[LCfiner]

More power isnt necessarely the reason for bigger soundstage..its probably the higher rated /higher quality components inside the soloist compared to the 160D which determine the better soundquality..not because its only more powerful...it does help in the bass department though..but only in the lower octaves of the bass....

That’s true. I was oversimplifying when talking only about amplifier power. Overall amp and DAC quality is important. Regardless, the sound is some of the best I have ever heard even when compared to more expensive headphones and amps (it’s been a while but my old Soloist and LCD3 combo wasn’t leagues better than this). The old Burson does a nice job with the HE-500.

After some more listening I’m getting a better feel for the soundstage. It is not wide and out-of-your-head as the HD800 soundstage. it’s a bit more intimate but still not as closed in as the Audeze orthos - I think the extra energy in the upper treble is at work here. It has some excellent depth and precision with the imaging. I can pinpoint stuff in space and there’s layers to the sound that I have found to be hard for most headphones to do.

When it comes to frequency response, the HE-500 hits my personal sweet spot. The slight treble spike on the HD800 can be a problem for me on some songs (or requires a smooth amp or mods or EQ to tame). the darker LCD2 (or 3) can seem to lack excitement on other songs. For my taste, the HE-500 threads the needle and hits a nice balance between the two. I’ve had other headphones with similar FR, but not with this quality bass and this precise imaging.

Great headphone.

 

[Zoom25]

Has anyone here tried the LCD-2 or LCD-3 vegan/leather pads here with the HE-500?

 

[davidsh]

Jerg has

 

[jerg]

 

 

[davidsh]

^Finally!