dimensiid
Head-Fier
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- Nov 20, 2011
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HE-500 with ZMF Ori Lambskin Pads.
HE-500 with ZMF Ori Lambskin Pads.
Looks nice. What pads did you have on them before? How do you feel the Ori pads have changed the sound?
Previously I used Brainwavz angled pleather...the stock pads sucks!
Compared to the angled Brainwavs, more impact and bass punch with the Ori pads, better clarity too. Sound stage has also improved slightly because the stiffer foam on the pads are keeping the drivers a bit further from your ears.
Comfort also increased twice fold...awesome!
Dare I say...the Ori Pads give you a slightly more Audeze-like presentation to the HE-500.
The velour pads are comfortable enough for me and they sound simply fantastic. I would not want to mess with pads on mine since the velours sound so good.
(Although I do like bass impact and punch... might be interesting just to try them if it's that much better.)
Thanks for replying with your impressions! I'd like to get my hands on some Ori and Eikon pads at some point. I've definitely heard a lot of negative opinions about the stock pleather pads, but I've heard good things about the velours sound-wise; I'm looking forward to trying them. The downside is that both the pleather and the velour pads aren't very comfortable, especially when combined with the weight of the HE-500. Luckily for me, the HE-560's chassis is much lighter and more comfy, so comfort shouldn't be an issue
IMO...the stock Hifiman HE-500 pads don't do justice to the headphone's true potential...they're more of a downgrade in sound quality.
Before trying on angled pads on the HE-400...and of course the HE-500...I always thought that the Audeze sound of LCD2 and LCD3 to be way superior to the HE-500.
With angled pads the HE-500 aren't too far removed from the Audeze gods...and now with lambskin Ori pads they sound even better!
Get the Ori...it's the perfect fit for HE-500 cups. The Eikon pads fits the slighly larger Audeze cups.
If you can get your hands on Jerg pads, they were perfect for the HE-500. Bass was insane, yet there was still excellent clarity.
It's very low gauge and few strands. That's the issue.
Measure the resistance, it is very low. Since the HE-500's are planars they do not have an impedance curve to affect FR. Do the math the loss in dB due to the resistance of the stock cable is negligible. The aesthetics are nothing to write home about and I do find them mechanically microphonic if I move and it rubs on something, however, I do not think they are a factor when it comes down to SQ.
I prefer the 500's with stock velour pads to the LCD2...
Are you saying you had them with velours or the pleather pads? I'm talking about stock velours here.
Stock velours...not much comfort...and sound wise they sound too soft with flat soundstage for me.
The LCD2F blows it away on dynamics, impact and 3D soundstage.
Have you tried angled pads on your HE-500, or focus pads? The Hifiman stock pads are a waste on such quality planar drivers IMO
The HE1000 V1 stock cable sucks too and it's not stiff or microphonic. Basically any third party cable is an improvement. There's a reason that the V2 offers an improved stock cable. What did they change? I'll let you look it up.Yea, uhhh I don't understand the point about low gauge and strands? Was there ever an issue there?
The problem I think everyone had was it was stiff, and incredibly microphonic. I honestly think the HE-500 stock cable is the worst stock cable I've ever had.