[khaine1711]

Quote:

Most people (myself included) with Hifiman headphones have not had the privilege to test all possible earpad selections, so these opinions are often just due to a set of earpads sounding nice and the owner abiding by it, not from strict comparisons with 5 other sets.
 
Thus far I've only personally tested the Hifiman stock pl and vel pads, JMoney Beyer pads, and Audeze pads. My perception of other earpads e.g. stock Denon pads / O2 pads / Alpha pads are all still just extrapolation from others' opinions of them.
 
What is certain is that the HFM pleathers offer some unique characteristics that almost all other compatible pads do not have; the pleathers being shallow offer more gentle clamping, as well as a smoother midrange~treble transition, than other pads which are almost always thicker. Now this you can't mod to compensate for.

I know a guy who did extensive pad rolling here on head-fi, and ended up prefer the O2 pad to all other (but back then Jerg pad wasn't born yet). But then as you said, it's just second opinions. The only conclusion is that if there's a pair of O2 or Lcd3 pad for cheap around the UK, I'll get one to try myself.
 
I dislike the stock pleather pad, it's smoother but you lose some clarity and the sound become kinda muffled. I would love to see an FR chart of Jerg vs Velour vs Stock pleather for the He-6, similar to what we have with the He500.

 

[spurxiii]

Tripath amps are stellar with headphones, and good values in general. The only thing to be absolutely certain of is that the headphones are balanced. I believe there's no shared ground in these headphones. 

Thanks for the quick response. It puts me at ease to know this will work. I've been using the TP60 to drive my B&W 602s at the moment and they've never sounded better. I'm hearing things I haven't heard in the music. I'm hoping to get good results with the HE500 also.

 

[khaine1711]

Quote:

Thanks for the quick response. It puts me at ease to know this will work. I've been using the TP60 to drive my B&W 602s at the moment and they've never sounded better. I'm hearing things I haven't heard in the music. I'm hoping to get good results with the HE500 also.

That Topping is very nice! I used one for a long time before moving to the heavy hitters. 

 

[spurxiii]

We should make you the poster boy for newbie Head-Fi'ers! lol that's quite an accomplishment. Welcome, and I guess we don't have to say "sorry about your wallet."

I though I could save $$$ by going straight to the HE500 and bypass the midfi cans but I can already see myself upgrading these sometime in future and trying out all sorts of amps and says.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Quote:

I though I could save $$$ by going straight to the HE500 and bypass the midfi cans but I can already see myself upgrading these sometime in future and trying out all sorts of amps and says.

he500 is midfi

 
he6/lcd3/hd800/th900/sr007/009 are considered high(er)-fi on this forum
 
but i agree..i have a he500..and i never ever heard my music better then with this headphone..that is until i get my new amp and the he6 (or HE7 if it comes out before july 2014..mr. FANG???)..

 

[spurxiii]

he500 is midfi :blink: he6/lcd3/hd800/th900/sr007/009 are high-fi on this forum

I know that now. It's what I thought was midfi when I bought the HE500 so now I've been enlightened. I can already see myself upgrading to HD800s and HE6s and Stax Rigs

 

[hifimanrookie]

Quote:

I know that now. It's what I thought was midfi when I bought the HE500 so now I've been enlightened. I can already see myself upgrading to HD800s and HE6s and Stax Rigs

 the he500 is much closer to high-fi then any other headphone under the 1000usd mark IMHO..some even say its better then the hd800..and i read some even prefer the he500 over the he6!
its a very good phone!! much better then the price they ask for it....in the past the he500 costed 899usd if i am not mistaken...and even then it was considered a steal!

 

[spurxiii]

Quote:

 the he500 is much closer to high-fi then any other headphone under the 1000usd mark IMHO..some even say its better then the hd800..and i read some even prefer the he500 over the he6!
its a very good phone!! much better then the price they ask for it....in the past the he500 costed 899usd if i am not mistaken...and even then it was considered a steal!

It feels good to know I paid midfi prices (paid $699AUD) for hifi sound and to be honest although at first it seemed excessive (coming from $50 UE700s), I now think they were the best $700 bucks or so I've ever spent in my life. I use it everyday and it brings me joy everyday which makes it a steal in my eyes. Reading reviews from the likes of yourself had driven me to buy these and I thank you for that.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

 the he500 is much closer to high-fi then any other headphone under the 1000usd mark IMHO..some even say its better then the hd800..and i read some even prefer the he500 over the he6!
its a very good phone!! much better then the price they ask for it....in the past the he500 costed 899usd if i am not mistaken...and even then it was considered a steal!

 
Audeze probably has something to say about that.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Quote:

 
Audeze probably has something to say about that.

audeze is over 1000usd in our part of the world.. i know in the us its 999usd u lucky basterds! 

 
i just checked the audeze lcd2.2: 1.045 euro here in the netherlands..thats 1.391 USD!!! OMG!
 
so that phone is much more expensive then the price of a he500 being 699euro! (and in france 649 euro!)
 
so for me...i would go for the he500..no question about it..the price difference is to steep for headphones who are almost in same category! in my country that is..i would only upgrade to the lcd3 if i wanted.
 
jeesh!! i hate u guys!! we pay almost 400 usd more then u guys!
 
update: out of curiosity i just checked the recent prices of a he6...i was stunned...its was 'only' 1199euro...so the he6 is almost same price as the lcd 2.2 bamboo here in the netherlands!
well i guess i will never ever buy a lcd 2.2 bamboo ever..not for the pricing they sell it for here in the netherlands!
 
wow..in same shop i just saw a bayer T1 going for only 799euro (dubstepgirl loves this headphone)..i guess thats a steal also.

 

[spurxiii]

LCD 2.2 Bamboos are $1185AUD and LCD 2.2 (regular) are $1330AUD is similar in price to the HE6 which is $1399AUD here in OZ and almost twice the price of the HE500s

 

[khaine1711]

Quote:

LCD 2.2 Bamboos are $1185AUD and LCD 2.2 (regular) are $1330AUD is similar in price to the HE6 which is $1399AUD here in OZ and almost twice the price of the HE500s

On the brighter side of thing, stuff under 1k doesn't get taxed by import duties in Aussie. So you could easily get an used Lcd2 with fully-insured shipping.
 
Doing that here in the EU will cost you 20% VAT together with handling fee  

. Still I got my He-6 cheaper than either the He500 or Lcd2 retail price (700 and 875 GBP respectively)

 

[hifimanrookie]

Quote:

On the brighter side of thing, stuff under 1k doesn't get taxed by import duties in Aussie. So you could easily get an used Lcd2 with fully-insured shipping.
 
Doing that here in the EU will cost you 20% VAT together with handling fee  

. Still I got my He-6 cheaper than either the He500 or Lcd2 retail price (700 and 875 GBP respectively)

little correction: ..here in the netherlands when importing stuff from out of europe (especially USA!) we pay 35% VAT together with handling fee on top of the price WITH postage!
and that for every product having a worth more then 35 euros!

 

[jerg]

Quote:

ur in luck then also mate...here in the netherlands we pay 35% VAT together with handling fee on top of the price WITH postage!
and that for every product having a worth more then 35 euros!

All that extra tax (in theory) goes toward healthcare, education, and infrastructure though.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

audeze is over 1000usd in our part of the world.. i know in the us its 999usd u lucky basterds! 

 
i just checked the audeze lcd2.2: 1.045 euro here in the netherlands..thats 1.391 USD!!! OMG!
 
so that phone is much more expensive then the price of a he500 being 699euro! (and in france 649 euro!)
 
so for me...i would go for the he500..no question about it..the price difference is to steep for headphones who are almost in same category! in my country that is..i would only upgrade to the lcd3 if i wanted.
 
jeesh!! i hate u guys!! we pay almost 400 usd more then u guys!
 
update: out of curiosity i just checked the recent prices of a he6...i was stunned...its was 'only' 1199euro...so the he6 is almost same price as the lcd 2.2 bamboo here in the netherlands!
well i guess i will never ever buy a lcd 2.2 bamboo ever..not for the pricing they sell it for here in the netherlands!
 
wow..in same shop i just saw a bayer T1 going for only 799euro (dubstepgirl loves this headphone)..i guess thats a steal also.

 
lol not everything revolves around Europe though. If you go with retail prices, actually, forget about the price altogether, the LCD-2 is still a contender in terms of sound with HE-500 and for me actually beat it in most categories. LCD-2 for one has the best bass quantity to quality to control ratio. Even more so than LCD-3. Although LCD-3 is more lively all around.
 
For you I'd highly recommend if you ever go Audeze, to try one out in your own home. If you must audition it, make sure you get at least an hour with it. The Audeze's have a much higher learning curve than the Hifiman's to me. With Hifiman, you can plug them into a toaster and you'll get floored with it's performance. Audeze (for me at least) required a lot longer to get used to the sound. I found this to be the case with both LCD-2 and LCD-3. Even though I had the LCD-2 for 5 months, it took me (and still is) a +month to get a handle on the LCD-3, despite how similar the sound is between the two according to many people.
 
BTW Have you ever heard any of the Audeze's? Also, if yes, for how long and in what conditions?
 
Now the T1 for 799 seems like a good deal. Would've considered it, if it wasn't for the TH-900.