[Okamoto]

Could it be that I'm the only person on earth that found the HE-500 to be extremely smooth from the very first moment I put my hands(ears) on it? Really, burn-in didn't affect it at all to me. Maybe my pair was already burnt-in?

 

[elwappo99]

  Could it be that I'm the only person on earth that found the HE-500 to be extremely smooth from the very first moment I put my hands(ears) on it? Really, burn-in didn't affect it at all to me. Maybe my pair was already burnt-in?

 
 
I never really thought orthodynamics had much of a burn in. I have never found much change in orthos over time. 

 

[spurxiii]

No burn in for me either. It sounded great out of the box

 

[Okamoto]

   
 
I never really thought orthodynamics had much of a burn in. I have never found much change in orthos over time. 

To tell you the truth I'm not much of an equipment burn-in believer. I do believe in "brain" burn-in though, and in HE-500's case I found that after I got used to its sound signature I started noticing its mids and instrument separation more and found them to be indeed stellar. But sibilant, harsh or fatiguing, honestly, it never was, IMO. Maybe it's a source thing, but with both my amps (Burson HA-160 and the brighter Mjolnir) it kept pretty smooth to me.

 

[elwappo99]

 

   
 
I never really thought orthodynamics had much of a burn in. I have never found much change in orthos over time. 

To tell you the truth I'm not much of an equipment burn-in believer. I do believe in "brain" burn-in though, and in HE-500's case I found that after I got used to its sound signature I started noticing its mids and instrument separation more and found them to be indeed stellar. But sibilant, harsh or fatiguing, honestly, it never was, IMO.

 
 
Yea, I really don't think much of it either, especially in orthos. Brain? Definitely. At one point I was listening to the Beyerdynamic T1s and thought they were great. After listening to my HE-500 for a few hours and swtiching? Painfully bright. 
 
Somewhat unrelated, someone in the Ultrasone edition 8 just a few days ago said "the headphones are neutral, you just have to get used to them". Got a good chuckle out of that. 

 

[Zoom25]

There's definitely a burn-in. Most new owners won't be able to tell it because it still sounds good. Me on the other hand, I bought mines used and fully burned in. They sounded amazing. Unfortunately they had driver problems so I got a brand new HE-500. It sounded like **** on day 1. It took me about a week to get it back to that sound that I was used to originally. It sounded so incoherent and shrill. 

 

[nk77]

  Got my HE-500 and here are my first impressions..

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 
Looks - 
 
Smell - What, Smell? Yes you hear it right. . Well I don't know why, but you open the box and it smells cheap. I don't know. This is the smell that I associate with cheap toys and other cheap packaging. May be it is the foam pads. Not sure. The leather box looks tacky too.
Appearance - Well, this won't be China's official entry to beauty pageants. Still the headphone is more than presentable. Seem to be well made, but don't fancy the cable connections much.
 
Comfort -
 
Initial response was, well these are heavy but they are not uncomfortable. I wear glasses and it is not posing me any problems. At the end of my 4 hours listening, I feel the clamping to be a problem and the glasses do cause a problem. I need to something about the clamping.
 
Sound -
 
Well my current system is a speaker based system. I have Focal 826W and PSB Image T2 driven by a Denon 3312 and fed off PS3 and Dune HD D1. My audio sources are BD movies/concerts mainly followed by WAV/FLAC HD music etc. I am using the headphone jack on the Denon receiver, which may not be the ideal way to listen to this cns. I have no problem attaining high volumes though, but I have to dial up the volume more than I do for the speakers.
 
I listened to the first BD disk and I am disappointed. Well, my Focals can really sing. HE-500 is no slouch, but it sound less involving. I start going through my concert disks which ranges from rock concerts, Jazz, Musicals, classicals, Bollywood musicals, Flamego, Vocals etc.  
 
Bass.....The bass is not going to touch the 12" SVS woofer. I was not expecting it either. There is something to the visceral feeling of the bass from woofer compared to the honest imitations from a headphone. Unrealistic expectations, really. Subjectively, the mid bass has the slam that I have not heard in other headphones. So realistically speaking these phones make the bass sound, but they cannot do the bass feel the woofers are capable of. Again no one expects them to, right? LFE channel is going to show any headphone is poor light. I accept it. Still as the listening sessions progressed, I am amazed by the bass. The Focal sans the woofer might still still trump the HE-500 for bass, but HE-500 looks quite capable and has better separation and is more resolving. 
 
The treble...well these seems sibilant than the speakers on source bordering on sibilant. Often harshly so. Need to see how they fare with a matching amp. The Focal themselves get the tag or being bright, but their brightness is something I have come to accept and enjoy. They make some really nice tweeters. These cans perhaps need a warm amp. 
 
Mids - I was expecting to be blown off by the mids. Nothing wrong there. Nothing exciting there either. The speakers in full volume still sound a lot better. 
 
So whats good? Well the separation is really excellent. I can hear each and every instrument more clearly than I can with the speakers. With the classical music on 24/192 sources, the HE-500 clearly shows the advantage. In fact with classical BD, HE-500 is the clear winner. So not all is lost. HE-500 also conveys the atmosphere (concert hall etc.) far better than the speakers.
 
I give the BDs a break now. Probably the 2.1/5.1/7.1 sources are never mastered with a headphone in mind. I go to stereo sources now. I start listening the WAV/FLAC music inventory that has some 24/192 files.  Wow, the music that I could barely listen for more than 5 minutes now seems more intimate and immensely listenable. The bass is tight, mids flows like honey and treble so nice. Hmm. It is nearly 4 hours since I began and I am coming to like the sound. I wont call it that the cans have broken in, just that I am getting used to the cans. On the downside, the can feels uncomfortable now. The glass has started to pain and the vice like grip of the headphone clamping is getting a bit suffocating. I need to adjust the cans somehow. May be tomorrow. 
 
So all in all a mixed feeling review that ended in a positive note. 
 
I do wonder if the Denon can drive them loud enough, a dedicated DAC/AMP like Audio GD is going to sound hugely better.
 
More comments later. 

 

 
Hey mate
 
Are you using MultiEQ? Try turning 'Dynamic EQ' off as per this review here: http://www.avhub.com.au/index.php/Product-Reviews/Sound+Image/networked-av-receiver/Page-3.html (read and check conclusions). 
 
As for amp/dac - perhaps see if you can borrow a simple amp/dac combo for a quick comparison. Shouldn't think the decoders on the receiver are affecting you if the Focals sound great to you but a 2channel DAC/AMP may be worth a try. Are you using the headphone out on the receiver or speaker jacks? Is there much volume control?
 
 
nk77

 

[kothganesh]

Ah, would you say that the LCD-2 has that impact that I'm looking for which the HE-500 is missing?

For me, the short answer is yes. I listen to rock and no other genre. The 2.2 moves me like no other headphone except the LCD 3.
Here's a point to ponder though. I would recommend you try the 500 with the jergpads by modulor. That's what I have and use them with the Mojo. It was quite a revelation for me since everything opened up on the 500 after the pads. I can go non-stop for 3 hours to have a great musical experience.

 

[bearFNF]

 
 
anyways, u should of seen my first posts when i got HE-500, i thought i was gonna return them. they where very bright and the mids where sucked out. but out of all my headphones, burn-in was very noticeable on the hifimans. the treble will smoothen out soon and there shouldn't be any sibilance.

Ditto here, but due to the clamp on my big noggin not the sound, Only reason I kept them was that I REALLY liked how they sounded.  I formed the headband to my head and added the thicker padding to it and then All was good.
 

  Could it be that I'm the only person on earth that found the HE-500 to be extremely smooth from the very first moment I put my hands(ears) on it? Really, burn-in didn't affect it at all to me. Maybe my pair was already burnt-in?

I liked them out of the box also, they have gotten better with time, either brain burn-in or headphone, does not matter, as I like them more and more as time goes on.

 

[hifimanrookie]

For me, the short answer is yes. I listen to rock and no other genre. The 2.2 moves me like no other headphone except the LCD 3.
Here's a point to ponder though. I would recommend you try the 500 with the jergpads by modulor. That's what I have and use them with the Mojo. It was quite a revelation for me since everything opened up on the 500 after the pads. I can go non-stop for 3 hours to have a great musical experience.

I agree totally about the jergmod... Especially with veryhigh quality lossless material u hear a big difference if u have quality equipment... And if u wanna go a step higher..do the grill mod..soundstage opens up considerably..for some more then others..some even said nothing changed..for me..with the rig i have it was very recognizable..but my grill mod is very extreme! Andno dust screen! Try it..grills are easily taken off..and put on again..if u dont like it..or dont hear difference..put them back on..mine are in a box.. And i have my hg500 running for more then 2 months now without dustscreen...no problems..and no dust on thedrivers! I do keep the he500 in a plastic bag when not used..very ugly looking..but until now it does it job perfectly..and thats what counts!

 

[koiloco]

For me, the short answer is yes. I listen to rock and no other genre. The 2.2 moves me like no other headphone except the LCD 3.
Here's a point to ponder though. I would recommend you try the 500 with the jergpads by modulor. That's what I have and use them with the Mojo. It was quite a revelation for me since everything opened up on the 500 after the pads. I can go non-stop for 3 hours to have a great musical experience.

 
Your preference must click perfectly with Audeze cuz in my case, it's the exact opposite even though, I don't listen to rock exclusively.  Audeze sound signature just doesn't move me.  We are indeed wired so differently.  

 

 

[kothganesh]

   
Your preference must click perfectly with Audeze cuz in my case, it's the exact opposite even though, I don't listen to rock exclusively.  Audeze sound signature just doesn't move me.  We are indeed wired so differently.  

 

Indeed ! Now don't get me wrong. I do like the HE 500 very, very much. When I need to mellow out a bit (although I"m not sure about mellowing out with rock 

), the HE 500 are my go-to HPs. The jergpads by modulor have made that much of a difference. FWIW, I used to listen to the 500 only through my Soloist and one day, I said what the heck and switched over to the Mojo. That's made a heck of a difference too.

 

[VTV]

   
try pleathers if the velours are a little bright.
 
anyways, u should of seen my first posts when i got HE-500, i thought i was gonna return them. they where very bright and the mids where sucked out. but out of all my headphones, burn-in was very noticeable on the hifimans. the treble will smoothen out soon and there shouldn't be any sibilance.

 
Thanks, yes I have to hear them with the pleathers...
 
I do not know if burn in actually happens, but the booklet inside advised 150 hours of burn in. Let's see.

 

[VTV]

   
+1 and I wanna mention that I also couldn't stand the sibilant highs of the HE-500's with the stock 6BZ7 tubes in the Lyr, but it really tamed the highs with different tubes making the sound overall warmer and more laid back. The HE500 seems to sound quite dramatically different with different Amp/Source's signature. 

 
Thanks, yes toying with the amp decision now. Hopefully a combination of change to pleather, burn-in and the amp can make a difference.

 

[VTV]

   
Hey mate
 
Are you using MultiEQ? Try turning 'Dynamic EQ' off as per this review here: http://www.avhub.com.au/index.php/Product-Reviews/Sound+Image/networked-av-receiver/Page-3.html (read and check conclusions). 
 
As for amp/dac - perhaps see if you can borrow a simple amp/dac combo for a quick comparison. Shouldn't think the decoders on the receiver are affecting you if the Focals sound great to you but a 2channel DAC/AMP may be worth a try. Are you using the headphone out on the receiver or speaker jacks? Is there much volume control?
 
 
nk77

 
Thanks. No I am not using any EQ, unless of course it is activated by Audyssey calibration. I am using the built in headphone jack of the receiver. The volume control works for the headphone too..
 
I do not have the option to borrow an AMP/DAC, but may be I can take it to the local shop where they have Shiit Lyr and Sennheiser amps. I can't carry my sources though because I feel they will be having stereo setup.