[raybone0566]

Just pulled the trigger on these, again. I suspect my inferior Dac was the cause of my poor decision to part ways with them. Just sold my t1's to make it happen. I really enjoyed them but after you really get into planar's they really just quit appealing to me. I've also got the 560 & he6 so I'll probably be running these through speaker taps.

 

[thefitz]

I have yet to see a pair of headphones that's flat from 20hz to 20kHz. That's the only possible frequency response that can be considered truly "neutral".

 

[canthearyou]

I have yet to see a pair of headphones that's flat from 20hz to 20kHz. That's the only possible frequency response that can be considered truly "neutral".

From what I've read is that our ears hear different frequencies at different volume levels. If headphones had a perfectly flat response, some frequencies would be lost at normal listening volumes.

 

[thefitz]

From what I've read is that our ears hear different frequencies at different volume levels. If headphones had a perfectly flat response, some frequencies would be lost at normal listening volumes.

That's for the source material to compensate for, no? My point is, what is "neutral"?

 

[John Q Lin]

getting mine next week, for $300 plus shipping, fingers cross for no deflects.

 

[malabargold]

Amazing price, where'd you find that?

 

[illyria]

Had to superglue my pads back together.  
 
Pads were glued together with some pretty cheap glue.. not what I would expect from $40 pads. 

 

[bracko]

  Had to superglue my pads back together.  
 
Pads were glued together with some pretty cheap glue.. not what I would expect from $40 pads. 

Is it FocusPads?

 

[BuLLeT_BaiT]

Thanks to everyone in this community for all the brilliant modding ideas.
I can finally say that after a combination of the Fuzzor, grill, full jergpad and the headband mods I've created the perfect franken-headphone.
 
 

 

[bracko]

Here's my hybrid HE500/HE560. I am working on the grills and the cable. The ear cups and the headband are from HE560. The drivers are HE500
 

 

[bracko]

  Thanks to everyone in this community for all the brilliant modding ideas.
I can finally say that after a combination of the Fuzzor, grill, full jergpad and the headband mods I've created the perfect franken-headphone.
 
 

Great job! I wonder if they sound like HE500.

 

[malabargold]

Does that change the sound at all?

 

[nickwin]

I have yet to see a pair of headphones that's flat from 20hz to 20kHz. That's the only possible frequency response that can be considered truly "neutral".

I don't think any HPs on the market are absolutely 100% objectively flat, but the he500s do come about as close as anything I have seen.  It is more or less flat from the bass up to 1k, at which point the output drops about 10db, then it remains fairly flat again until about 6k where it starts to rise about 10db again at 10k.  Its important to note that the 10k peak is basically level with the mid range.

 
There are different meanings to neutral though, there is objectively neutral meaning it measures flat and there's subjectively neutral which means it sounds flat.  Both are definable, although subjectively there will be some variation person to person.  Human hearing doesn't match that of a microphone, objectively flat usually sounds thin and bright to most peoples ears. What sounds subjectively flat in general is usually a linear but slightly downward tilting response from the bass to the treble.  This isn't truly 100% accurate, but it sounds balanced to most people while still remaining fairly neutral and linear.
 
With HPs specifically you have no crosstalk, no room interaction, and the drivers are directly firing basically right into your ear which results in a somewhat different subjectively neutral than speakers or live sound.  Usually this means a little bit of a shelf in the presence range and lower treble (2-6k) which is exactly what you see on the he500.
 
This is why I feel that the he500 has such an ideal FR for a HP, its fairly objectively neutral and linear, the bass through the important vocal range is incredibly flat, but it deviates a little bit from truly neutral in the presence range while still remaining fairly linear there (fairly flat from 2-6k). The result of this deviation is a more subjectively neutral sound in the upper mids and treble.  Its a very nice balance of true neutrality and perceived neutrality.  Your getting a pretty accurate representation of whats on the recording, but its altered just enough and in the right places to sound balanced and to be enjoyable for long periods.  Thats my 2 cents anyways.

 

[nickwin]

T1 colored? Absolutely not. I can't think of a more transparent headphone. You really ought to hear it for yourself.

I think "transparency" in the way most people use it, including myself, is something completely different than "coloration" (tonality, FR).  I don't doubt the T1s are transparent, but they are most definitely "colored" in the sense that they are altering the tonal balance of the source material (drastically in the case of the 10k peak).

 

[thefitz]

 
I don't think any HPs on the market are absolutely 100% objectively flat, but the he500s do come about as close as anything I have seen.  It is more or less flat from the bass up to 1k, at which point the output drops about 10db, then it remains fairly flat again until about 6k where it starts to rise about 10db again at 10k.  Its important to note that the 10k peak is basically level with the mid range.

 
The gray lines are the actual frequency response based on various positions of the headphones on a test dummy. The red and blue line are the average compensated for the Harman target response curve. This response curve "expects" a healthy boost in the 2-5kHz range and "expects" a hard shelf dip past 10kHz. The "dip" you're describing past 1kHz is merely the headphone not rising to the level that the Harman curve suggests it should rise to, and the "rising" past 10kHz means that the frequency response drops past 10kHz like the Harman curve suggests it should.
 
If a headphone measured +/- 0db from 0Hz to 100kHz, the innerfidelity graph would look like this:
 
                                                                            /
                                                                           /
-----------------------------           ----------------/
                                         \        /
                                          \      /
                                           \    /
                                            \  /
                                             V
 
and blasting off to infinity. That's an official diagram btw
 
I don't quite understand the "point" of arguing in terms of neutrality. The actual definition of neutral (no gain at any given frequency) would yield a very boring and unpleasant headphone as per the Harman curve, and no product currently does this anyway.