While I agree HE500 is very good, it is not up to par with the HD800.........I have both and find myself drawn to the HD800 for all Acoustic, Jazz, Classical, Easy Listening, and most classic rock aka.........America, Cat Stevens, Steve Earl, Eagles,Clapton ETC...... Now with anything harder I do prefer the HE500 aka..............zeppelin, floyd, queen, stones, nazereth ETC...
Bottom line is both are great and if 1 were on a budget you could do a lot worse than the HE500, Especially at the used price they are a steal
While HE500 is probably not technically up to par with HD800 it certainly is up there musically. I definitely prefered my HE500 to my HD800 for allround listening and thus sold my HD800.