[BrainFood]

Quote:

The secret?  I tTook the headband from my T50RP Paradox (thanks LFF!) & slapped it on the HE-500.. supreme comfort that perfectly balances the HE-500 on my ears and distributes the weight across the top of my head evenly.  That''s how you get away with wearing these beasts for ten hours (and going).

 

Any pics of that?

 
+1. Is the headband available to buy anywhere? I was planning on getting the Sennheiser HD650 foam inlay from Thomann's and sticking it on the inside of the existing one with double-sided tape.

 

[dleblanc343]

The paradox headband is a suspension band just like the k70x/q701. It's DIY and now that flysweep mentioned it; I'm gonna try it as well.
 
Also Flysweep, I own the he500 and paradox (#5) as well

 

[LFF]

Here is a pic of the suspension band on a Paradox
 

 

[Llloyd]

Quote:

I think he was talking about not liking the pairing with the Asgard, not the O2. I am still on the fence about going either an OTL tube amp or O2 being able to drive them "really" well.

 
Well, I'm not saying it drives the he-500 really well.  I do keep the pot at about 10 o'clock.  The asgard maybe had a slightly "airier" sound to it, but it lost out imo.  The LD sounds more real, more impactful, smoother mids and highs  that bring you into the music.  Anyway at that price point I didn't really feel any of the extra power even though its 1W vs like 250 mw or something like that.  Still prefer my LD for that price point.  The asgard never made the he-500 sound any more well driven is what I'm saying.  If you prefer its sound to that of a tube, then go for it.  If you're worried about power, people overstate how hard it is to drive the HE-500.  It's much easier than I thought to drive it to acceptable levels that will make it sound better than well driven, lower class phones.  From what I could tell the extra power of the asgard did next to nothing in terms of performance out of the HE-500 between maybe 3-4 amps I tried.

 

[BrainFood]

so the suspension band is a case of buy the material and cut it yourself? 

 

[Yuceka]

Quote:

 
Well, I'm not saying it drives the he-500 really well.  I do keep the pot at about 10 o'clock.  The asgard maybe had a slightly "airier" sound to it, but it lost out imo.  The LD sounds more real, more impactful, smoother mids and highs  that bring you into the music.  Anyway at that price point I didn't really feel any of the extra power even though its 1W vs like 250 mw or something like that.  Still prefer my LD for that price point.  The asgard never made the he-500 sound any more well driven is what I'm saying.  If you prefer its sound to that of a tube, then go for it.  If you're worried about power, people overstate how hard it is to drive the HE-500.  It's much easier than I thought to drive it to acceptable levels that will make it sound better than well driven, lower class phones.  From what I could tell the extra power of the asgard did next to nothing in terms of performance out of the HE-500 between maybe 3-4 amps I tried.

Gotcha, thanks for the input. I actually am not a solid state guy and have been looking for a tube amp which will drive them well. I will keep your experience in mind. The only way to find out I guess is to try one. I wonder which Woo amps pair well with the HE-500

 

[wdahm519]

Quote:

Gotcha, thanks for the input. I actually am not a solid state guy and have been looking for a tube amp which will drive them well. I will keep your experience in mind. The only way to find out I guess is to try one. I wonder which Woo amps pair well with the HE-500

 
I really like the HE-500 with the EHHA Rev A.  It sounds better with the EHHA Rev A than it does with the Bijou IMHO (I own both).  The EHHA gives it better treble and since the bass is already a tad warm, it balances well with the EHHA.  I still need to measure the EHHA's output impedance to check the damping factor with the combination, but from what I hear the bass is tight.

 

[zenpunk]

I don't think orthodynamic care much about damping factor due to their design. High current and large  voltage swing is what matters.

 

[Llloyd]

Quote:

Gotcha, thanks for the input. I actually am not a solid state guy and have been looking for a tube amp which will drive them well. I will keep your experience in mind. The only way to find out I guess is to try one. I wonder which Woo amps pair well with the HE-500

 
There's a big thread on it.  I remember the reviewer stating he thought the WA22 sounded better than the WA6SE.  Can't remember the link at the moment though.
 
Jack of  woo audio seems too think WA22 is better for a balanced source and the WA6 is better unbalanced.  I've never heard either but I can only assume they sound quite good either way.  I was very close to buying one.

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

 
There's a big thread on it.  I remember the reviewer stating he thought the WA22 sounded better than the WA6SE.  Can't remember the link at the moment though.
 
Jack of  woo audio seems too think WA22 is better for a balanced source and the WA6 is better unbalanced.  I've never heard either but I can only assume they sound quite good either way.  I was very close to buying one.

Where does the WA2 stand?

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

There's a big thread on it.  I remember the reviewer stating he thought the WA22 sounded better than the WA6SE.  Can't remember the link at the moment though.
 
Jack of  woo audio seems too think WA22 is better for a balanced source and the WA6 is better unbalanced.  I've never heard either but I can only assume they sound quite good either way.  I was very close to buying one.

 
As I recall... the WA2 / WA22 are OTL amps, while the WA6 / WA6SE are TC amps.  In general, TC amps sound great with both low impedance and high impedance phones.  While OTL amps typically sound great with high impedance phones... and... often not as good with low impedance phones.  Though, some report the WA2 / WA22 sound good with low impedance phones as well.  The WA OTL amps also seem to have a bit more of "tubey"  sound, than the WA TC amps, while the WA TC amps sound less "tubey." 
 
Regardless... both sound superb  - my WA6 SEm is spectacular with both low impedance and high impedance phones.  Jack suggested I get the WA6 SE if I wanted to drive both my low impedance and high impedance phones to their optimum, but that the WA2 / WA22 may sound a bit better with high impedance phones (if I preferred a more "euphonic / tubey" sound).  And... I found the WA3 (also an OTL amp) did have an almost "spooky" real soundstage (outside of the head presence) with my Senns, but did not have enough current output to drive my low impedance phones without clipping.  I guess... if I were going to be driving high impedance phones, primarily... I'd likely have gotten the WA2 / WA22 for my Senns. 

 

[floorpug]

I pulled the trigger on the HE-500s, and being a 20yr old student, I hope they're an investment worthy of my savings

 
I never knew that you could use an equalizer going spdif out from windows; cause when I tried that some months back, I was getting clipping all the time in both Foobar and Mediamonkey.
The solution (in Foobar at least), set the equalizer to match the vertical inverse of the graph of your headphones, but make sure that any peaks of that inverse EQ stays below 0dB.
Now, turn the volume up on your external amp in the analog domain to compensate for the volume you might be missing in the EQ and enjoy your 'new' flatter responding headphones.
 
I got rid of the excess brightness and added sub-bass to my K701s and the smile on my face was bigger than the moon

 

[J-Pak]

Anyone have a balanced wiring diagram? I am looking to reterminate the stock cable.

 

[wdahm519]

Nevermind.

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

Anyone have a balanced wiring diagram? I am looking to reterminate the stock cable.

Its really easy with multimeter. Do you have one?