I had a pair that I Just LOVED for their ability to simultaneously provide impactful bass and sparkling treble. I then had a chance to get some rare vintage headphones, so realizing that as good as the HE-500 are, they were not rare vintage, so I traded my pair (with more) for the rare vintage headphones (Grado RS1 with wooden buttons), planning to get another pair.
I found another (used) pair, got it, loved it even more (it had a plug termination of 1/8" which was more convenient for me).
Then I had a chance for ANOTHER pair of vintage headphones for my collection (Joseph Grado HP1000s, the original HP1 with polarity switches). So I sold them again.
I again missed them, particularly since my 12 beloved Grados do lots well, but they don't do impactful bass. I needed a pair of HE-500s (again). And now I liked them so much I was prepared to buy them new.
So I went to my local HiFiMAN dealer. They also had the HE-560 which came out more recently, as well as the HE-400i. Of course I had to compare.
I found that even though the HE-500 had stronger bass, the HE-560 had almost as much and had much greater clarity throughout the mids and trebles. It was very close to my Sennheiser HD 800s. Even the HE-400i had that greater clarity in mids and treble, though its bass was weak enough that it was not a candidate for me.
But the HE-560 cost nearly twice as much as the HE-500, and I was not ready for that. So realizing how close it came to my HD 800, I began to work to get my HD 800 to be a portable headphone. To that end, I bought a 3' cable for it, started using my Sony PHA-1 portable DAC/amp with iDevice direct digital connect, and ordered a more powerful version of the PHA-1, specifically the CEntrance HiFi M8.
Finally, the HE-1000 was announced by HiFiMAN. I now have my eye on that, so I fear that the HE-500 and I will not likely have a chance to reunite. (Sigh!)
