[SearchOfSub]

For the amp, there is a "used - very good" Schiit Lyr (Gen 1) available on Amazon for $289 plus $7.99 S/H. I'd pick that up for the amp. The seller appears to be mwsvette, who is a head-fi'er, so you could always try asking him about it directly.

For the DAC, you can just pick up a $99 Schiit Modi 2, and that should leave you right around $400 for the whole package.

That package will also give you the option to add some nice little upgrades down the line by rolling tubes in the Lyr and/or adding a Wyrd to your Modi. That combo should treat you very well!

Yes this sounds very good. I will messege him. Thank you.

 

[joespride]

Yep. Definitely a YLMV - your laptop may vary. Some have quite descent line out others are horrible. For clarity (pun intended) if your laptop sound app allows set output of headphone jack to Line-out, not headphone. Then use volume control on amp not in media player. That should sound noticeably better

I will take a look at that  thanks,
 
Joe

 

[Hansotek]

Hello, thanks for the responses. I mostly like to hear music while just lying down and so portability and size can be an issue somewhat.

Most of my sources will be from an Android Samsung tablet with OTG. I will occasionally play files from my desktop computer, but I enjoy just laying down on sofa and listening more because it's just more comfortable and im more relaxed.
I don't mind size of Hugo (used with speakers and I no longer have it however.)

This is going to be my first "proper" headphone setup I am getting into so I don't have much knowledge of good value headphone products in general.

I was looking to start with a low budget system and eventually move up so i was looking into buying a(all things considered) Audioquest dragonfly but I'm not sure if it will drive the HE500 well..

 Not sure what the power output is on the Ray Samuels Hornet, but I saw one up for sale recently in the For Sale/Trade section. That thing is very tiny, and I know for a fact it can drive high-impedance cans like 300 ohm Senns and 600 ohm Beyers to soil-your-drawers levels of loudness. I would think it would have enough juice for the HE500, but I'm not sure, so you should do a little homework on it, if it peaks your interest. Also, not sure if it would be compatible with your tablet or not, but I tried the Geek Out V2 Plus recently and it totally rocked. It's supposed to do 1W/ch, but I haven't tried it with the HE500 directly, so I can't give you hands-on impressions. I gotta say though, this thing has few peers as far as $300 amp/DACs go. Really, really impressive.

 

[Hansotek]

 

For the amp, there is a "used - very good" Schiit Lyr (Gen 1) available on Amazon for $289 plus $7.99 S/H. I'd pick that up for the amp. The seller appears to be mwsvette, who is a head-fi'er, so you could always try asking him about it directly.

For the DAC, you can just pick up a $99 Schiit Modi 2, and that should leave you right around $400 for the whole package.

That package will also give you the option to add some nice little upgrades down the line by rolling tubes in the Lyr and/or adding a Wyrd to your Modi. That combo should treat you very well!

Yes this sounds very good. I will messege him. Thank you.

 
Awesome! The Lyr is quite fantastic with the HE500!

 

[i019791]

Hello, thanks for the responses. I mostly like to hear music while just lying down and so portability and size can be an issue somewhat.

Most of my sources will be from an Android Samsung tablet with OTG. I will occasionally play files from my desktop computer, but I enjoy just laying down on sofa and listening more because it's just more comfortable and im more relaxed.
I don't mind size of Hugo (used with speakers and I no longer have it however.)

This is going to be my first "proper" headphone setup I am getting into so I don't have much knowledge of good value headphone products in general.

I was looking to start with a low budget system and eventually move up so i was looking into buying a(all things considered) Audioquest dragonfly but I'm not sure if it will drive the HE500 well..

Audio gd NFB-15 is dac/amp in your budget and will drive the HE500 well

 

[daerron]

Hello, thanks for the responses. I mostly like to hear music while just lying down and so portability and size can be an issue somewhat.

Most of my sources will be from an Android Samsung tablet with OTG. I will occasionally play files from my desktop computer, but I enjoy just laying down on sofa and listening more because it's just more comfortable and im more relaxed.
I don't mind size of Hugo (used with speakers and I no longer have it however.)

This is going to be my first "proper" headphone setup I am getting into so I don't have much knowledge of good value headphone products in general.

I was looking to start with a low budget system and eventually move up so i was looking into buying a(all things considered) Audioquest dragonfly but I'm not sure if it will drive the HE500 well..

 
Don't bother with the Dragonfly as an amp. Its okay as a DAC, but doesn't have nearly enough power to make the HE-500 sound anywhere near acceptable. You can look at the Garage 1217 Project Solstice if you are looking at a good quality affordable amplifier, the Garage 1217 are generally superb sounding amps, only minus is that you can get EMI interference with them. I had the Project Sunrise 2 with the Dragonfly driving my HE-500s at one stage and it was a very fun sounding combination and the Sunrise 2 performed way above its price tag, it easily showed differences between DACs many times its price. 

 

[Flyleaf]

Yes , agreed with this .
I have a Dragonfly and a Naim dac V1 .
The dragonfly was never up to the task to drive my He500 properly .
But my other headphone amp was another story ..lots of details and power coming out of the Hifiman .

 

[JoeDoe]

All of you and some people, anyone have any experience with Artemis cables? Looking for a good SPC upgrade cable, and I came across that one recently.

 

[BeatsWork]

All of you and some people, anyone have any experience with Artemis cables? Looking for a good SPC upgrade cable, and I came across that one recently.

Are they even still in business? URL gives domain error and FB page said something about being back after being MIA for awhile. Check my review on Zynsonix. Not a silver fan myself but pure OFC cable is excellent.

 

[Djinnenjous]

In addition to replacement grill rings, I just bought an HD600 headband cushion and a pair of Focus Pad-As. All that's left after this stuff comes in will be to upgrade my amplifier. That'll be six months or so from now, sadly.

 

[Noirkw91]

immediately swapped to alpha pads. Really loving these. Big step up from my 400s

Sent from my Oneplus Two via Tapatalk

 

[ardilla]

A big thanks to everyone who has responded positively to the pictures of my modding. That's really encouraging--especially since I felt like I'd probably half-assed it all, and this was my first-ever attempt at this sort of thing.

A little follow-up on my thoughts re:sound signature. While I cannot state empirically that this is all due to the mods, these things sound HUGE! I mean, the soundstage and energy to my music is just unreal. Prior to purchasing my HE-500s I'd read a few reviews where people made claims like "I've never felt this close to the music before," and now I totally understand what those people meant. Even with my eyes open and while paying conscious attention to my kids, or while reading a book, I am constantly blown away by the immensity of the HE-500s' presentation. Listening with my eyes closed allows the entire world to melt away from me, leaving behind only the music. The sound is also so unbelievably clean and detailed from one end of the spectrum to the other that I can listen at absurdly high volumes for four-plus hours on end without even a hint of fatigue.

For those on the fence, if you already feel this way about them in stock configuration then don't risk the mods; however, if what I'm describing escapes you then I wholeheartedly suggest you dive right in and treat yourself to the "real" HE-500 experience. I cannot imagine how anyone could ever regret this.

In a word, it's perfect.

Love your description, That's what it is all about.

You really make me want to consider this mod, even though I am happy with the plain version

 

[Djinnenjous]

I don't know if this is typical of HiFiMan's customer service but I wanted to share an awesome story about my first experience with them.
 
While performing the grill mod on my HE-500s I managed to snap off some of the thin tabs that lock the retainer rings into place around the edges of the grills. Since I'd already decided to purchase a pair of Focus Pad-As I thought I would drop HiFiMan an email and ask about the cost of replacing the retainer rings, which weren't listed for order on their web store. Within the evening a customer service rep had messaged me back and requested photographs of the damage to the rings. I quickly took and attached a few images and they said that a pair would run me $20, but if I wanted to save the cost of shipping I could just throw them $59 to the penny and they'd pack the Focus Pad-As in as well.
 
I paid and yesterday (the very next day) they sent me DHL tracking information. By the time I woke up this morning my order had made it from Hong Kong to Ohio, USA. Then on my drive home from school today I received a text alert from DHL saying that my order would arrive tomorrow.
 
[blinks]
 
So for $59 flat I got a pair of replacement retainer rings, a pair of Focus Pad-As, and two-day international air mail from halfway across the planet? Really? I'm still waiting on a pair of KZ ED10s I ordered from AliExpress sixteen days ago, without any updates on tracking since 8/24. Then HiFiMan practically teleports my order to my door at no additional cost to me. Wow. Just wow.
 
Customer for life? You betcha.
 
Afterthought: Just finished adding a Sennheiser HD600 cushion to my HE-500s' headband. Tomorrow I'll add the Focus Pad-As and replace my damaged retainer ring. Then my 'phones will be complete with grill, fuzzor, comfort, and pad mods! All that's left is to save up for a new amplifier so I can hear them in their full glory. 

 

[DaemonSire]

  I don't know if this is typical of HiFiMan's customer service but I wanted to share an awesome story about my first experience with them.
 
While performing the grill mod on my HE-500s I managed to snap off some of the thin tabs that lock the retainer rings into place around the edges of the grills. Since I'd already decided to purchase a pair of Focus Pad-As I thought I would drop HiFiMan an email and ask about the cost of replacing the retainer rings, which weren't listed for order on their web store. Within the evening a customer service rep had messaged me back and requested photographs of the damage to the rings. I quickly took and attached a few images and they said that a pair would run me $20, but if I wanted to save the cost of shipping I could just throw them $59 to the penny and they'd pack the Focus Pad-As in as well.
 
I paid and yesterday (the very next day) they sent me DHL tracking information. By the time I woke up this morning my order had made it from Hong Kong to Ohio, USA. Then on my drive home from school today I received a text alert from DHL saying that my order would arrive tomorrow.
 
[blinks]
 
So for $59 flat I got a pair of replacement retainer rings, a pair of Focus Pad-As, and two-day international air mail from halfway across the planet? Really? I'm still waiting on a pair of KZ ED10s I ordered from AliExpress sixteen days ago, without any updates on tracking since 8/24. Then HiFiMan practically teleports my order to my door at no additional cost to me. Wow. Just wow.
 
Customer for life? You betcha.
 
Afterthought: Just finished adding a Sennheiser HD600 cushion to my HE-500s' headband. Tomorrow I'll add the Focus Pad-As and replace my damaged retainer ring. Then my 'phones will be complete with grill, fuzzor, comfort, and pad mods! All that's left is to save up for a new amplifier so I can hear them in their full glory. 

Awesome news!  Once you throw on those pads, you will be pleased, I promise!  They are more comfortable and sound better than either of the stock pads or Alpha Pads (to me anyways).  Once I put those one and padded the headband, they were honestly one of the most comfortable headphones that I've owned.  Granted, you have to get used to the weight of course.

 

[Djinnenjous]

  Awesome news!  Once you throw on those pads, you will be pleased, I promise!  They are more comfortable and sound better than either of the stock pads or Alpha Pads (to me anyways).  Once I put those one and padded the headband, they were honestly one of the most comfortable headphones that I've owned.  Granted, you have to get used to the weight of course.

I'm thinking I might need to tone down the clamping force just a tad as I'm starting to suspect that actually plays a larger part in my head fatigue than just the weight alone. But before I go messing around with bending metal I want to at least throw the Focus Pad-As on there and see how things sound and feel. It would be pointless to alter the cans right now if the angled pads will end up changing the clamping pressure.
 
I'm glad to hear you favor the Focus As over the Alpha pads, but only because I could only afford one pair right now and I was hoping I hadn't chosen unwisely.