HiFiman HE-500 (HE as in High End) Proving to be an enjoyable experience in listening.

[SilverEars]

Outstanding recording! Just ordered the CD, thank you!!!

I think the recording is responsible at least partially for the holographic response. Even Youtube sounds great!

I'll try to share more as like to share quality recordings.

The ones I find excellent recording quality, the artists tend to be grammy nominee or winners. The Trio above was a nominee

 

[alphanumerix1]

Just testing some 3d printed grills for my he500 WIP.

 

[bagwell359]

Just testing some 3d printed grills for my he500 WIP.

Nice. Looking forward to the write-up.

 

[bagwell359]

Oh oh - grills.

When I tested all the grills I was using midrange purity type recordings. With that 1/4" groundcloth there is a major loss in lower bass - up to 6 db, and a brightness that started to show at the same time. My A/C power was good, air pressure a bit high (good), no headache, good sleep night before.

Changed back to stock screen on left side, bass and treble better, soundstage not so good. F.

First test will be install the dust screens to the 1/4 screens, and see if that does anything.

So can the bass and soundstage be maximized at the same time? If not (tend to doubt it), can a point be found where they are as maxed as possible? Or do I need to buy another pair and max each (cue blood curdling scream)?

More to come.

 

[bagwell359]

Back to screens....

You can learn a lot just holding objects of different sizes at varying distances from the screen. Sure enough, these are horrific as closed cans. Ugh.

I doubt the treble is bouncing off of the stock screen and affecting the movement of the membrane. So it has to be bringing the bass up that will obscure the treble issues. How to do that w/o losing the openness of no screens - and no EQ?

Well, first thing will be making thin 'snakes' of mortite to be applied along the outside edges of the cup and pad to be sure there is no bass leakage, that should yield some results, but, the question - enough of the right type? Then there is the collected wisdom of increasing bass in cans - like the Fostex (30/40/50) models people love to mess with.

Might take some time, might have to invest in some testing equipment, but, too much truth and additional excellence to be found to just settle.

 

[bagwell359]

Back to screens....

You can learn a lot just holding objects of different sizes at varying distances from the screen. Sure enough, these are horrific as closed cans. Ugh.

I doubt the treble is bouncing off of the stock screen and affecting the movement of the membrane. So it has to be bringing the bass up that will obscure the treble issues. How to do that w/o losing the openness of no screens - and no EQ?

Well, first thing will be making thin 'snakes' of mortite to be applied along the outside edges of the cup and pad to be sure there is no bass leakage, that should yield some results, but, the question - enough of the right type? Then there is the collected wisdom of increasing bass in cans - like the Fostex (30/40/50) models people love to mess with.

Might take some time, might have to invest in some testing equipment, but, too much truth and additional excellence to be found to just settle.

Hold on... I'm having a hardness in the treble I can't locate. Coax (4 diff cables) vs optical (Coax more revealing than optical, but harder - but that isn't it.) ; two diff CD transports (Cambridge CXC vs old Sony - again recently added CXC more detail, bit harder - but that's not it either). What is clear that the various screen findings I have put forth, have to be verified by anyone looking into it - since they show soundstage differences for instance, but, all sound hard.

 

[bagwell359]

Hold on... I'm having a hardness in the treble I can't locate. Coax (4 diff cables) vs optical (Coax more revealing than optical, but harder - but that isn't it.) ; two diff CD transports (Cambridge CXC vs old Sony - again recently added CXC more detail, bit harder - but that's not it either). What is clear that the various screen findings I have put forth, have to be verified by anyone looking into it - since they show soundstage differences for instance, but, all sound hard.

OK, it's the VAC in. Possible since i leave my stuff on a lot that one of my Schiits got damaged. More likely the changes lately - Cambridge CXC clearly more defined than my old Sony, and going from optical to coax digital has paved the way for more digitalis noted.

117.7+ VAC is good, under 116.5 is bad, and I can nail the changes blind - but its also possible I'm missing changes as well.

One of the fine folks here gave me some Calrad silver plated digital cable, and it's clearly different than the typical Belden and AQ Forest (quite similar to each other) and both types are way different than my HCA Carbon digital cable. But the Calrad has a high end to die for. I did some blind listening but got stopped by the high end spike, will return to that.

Meanwhile a DIY auto voltage stabilizer of modest size for the Gumby and/or CXC to see if I can get one that sits on 120 VAC within 1 or 2%, those audiophile pieces are quite pricey.

Meanwhile my screen findings were and are good.

 

[vlach]

OK, it's the VAC in. Possible since i leave my stuff on a lot that one of my Schiits got damaged. More likely the changes lately - Cambridge CXC clearly more defined than my old Sony, and going from optical to coax digital has paved the way for more digitalis noted.

117.7+ VAC is good, under 116.5 is bad, and I can nail the changes blind - but its also possible I'm missing changes as well.

One of the fine folks here gave me some Calrad silver plated digital cable, and it's clearly different than the typical Belden and AQ Forest (quite similar to each other) and both types are way different than my HCA Carbon digital cable. But the Calrad has a high end to die for. I did some blind listening but got stopped by the high end spike, will return to that.

Meanwhile a DIY auto voltage stabilizer of modest size for the Gumby and/or CXC to see if I can get one that sits on 120 VAC within 1 or 2%, those audiophile pieces are quite pricey.

Meanwhile my screen findings were and are good.

You'll have to excuse me but I'm due back on planet earth.

 

[bagwell359]

You'll have to excuse me but I'm due back on planet earth.

You'll have to excuse me, but, until you make it clear what you object to, your snide comment isn't insightful or useful.

Next.

 

[alpovs]

OK, it's the VAC in. Possible since i leave my stuff on a lot that one of my Schiits got damaged. More likely the changes lately - Cambridge CXC clearly more defined than my old Sony, and going from optical to coax digital has paved the way for more digitalis noted.

117.7+ VAC is good, under 116.5 is bad, and I can nail the changes blind - but its also possible I'm missing changes as well.

If you look at the order page of Gungnir it's 115 VAC for voltage. Such minor voltage variations can't damage anything nor affect as there are internal stabilizers.

 

[bagwell359]

You'll have to excuse me, but, until you make it clear what you object to, your snide comment isn't insightful or useful.

Next.

As for knowing that there has been a change in the VAC coming into my home, the meter is behind my chair. When the sound changes one way or the other I crane around to look at the reading. 30% of the time I'm wrong (the reading doesn't correlate with the expectation. Also I have no way of knowing how many times it flips I don't pick up on it. But 70% right is pretty good. Sadly the VAC coming in can go from 115 to 120 and back 3 times an hour

If you look at the order page of Gungnir it's 115 VAC for voltage. Such minor voltage variations can't damage anything nor affect as there are internal stabilizers.

Well, besides my recent experiences with digital coax cables, I've been a disbeliever in audiophile cables, power cords, mpingo disks, etc. I've monitored my incoming VAC since 1982 at the 4 places I've lived, never saw the variation in incoming VAC since I've lived here anywhere else, never heard any changes either. My only previous problem was typical for the Merrimack Valley - well above average rates of black outs.

I can report is last night i got comfy with my cans, and after 4 min figured the VAC incoming was 118 or 119. It was 118. About 15 minutes later things started getting hard in the treble, so I figured drop to 116, and yes it was 116. Can't say if there were other changes during that time period. If so I didn't catch them.

Since 3/18 when I moved here I've seen the VAC go from 115 to 123 inside of 3 minutes, with at least 5-6 serious rises and drops in that period.

Believe me, I'd be much happier not to be dealing with this and I don't relish all the crap I'll hear about it, only to be exceeded by the review of 4 digital coax cables I'm working on (two similar, can't A/B them apart, two others very different from each other and that pair and easy to tell apart - one of them has technical reasons for being different, the other shouldn't be different from the first pair, but is, just need more blind A/B to verify.

 

[tetsuomastermai]

Oh oh - grills.

When I tested all the grills I was using midrange purity type recordings. With that 1/4" groundcloth there is a major loss in lower bass - up to 6 db, and a brightness that started to show at the same time. My A/C power was good, air pressure a bit high (good), no headache, good sleep night before.

Changed back to stock screen on left side, bass and treble better, soundstage not so good. F.

First test will be install the dust screens to the 1/4 screens, and see if that does anything.

So can the bass and soundstage be maximized at the same time? If not (tend to doubt it), can a point be found where they are as maxed as possible? Or do I need to buy another pair and max each (cue blood curdling scream)?

More to come.

Same conclusion here after tested some grills mods.
Without grills, or slight grill -> Good soundstage but less bass response.
With stock screen (removed foam) -> Slightly less soundstage but better bass response. So I stay on this one

 

[SilverEars]

I'm interested in the VOCE pads, but not the price. Come on, $90 stinkin dollars for some pads? The only reason I'm interested is the wide opening. Is there an alternative for these, that are reasonably priced with large opening?

https://www.mrspeakers.com/ether-electrostat-ear-pads.html

Look at how large the openings are.

 

[bagwell359]

Same conclusion here after tested some grills mods.
Without grills, or slight grill -> Good soundstage but less bass response.
With stock screen (removed foam) -> Slightly less soundstage but better bass response. So I stay on this one

i found a vast difference in soundstage size. It was like a 135 degree vista with a couple of thick posts at the front corners to a 210 degree view with no posts. Also some reverb noted in the lower mids and upper bass with the screens was removed. If I didn't have a hammer for an amp the lack of bass might irritate me, but any trace of midbass and upper bass thickness is also long gone with no screens.

Listened to some HE-6's (orig) yesterday at one point on a WOO WA5, the 500 is so similar. Lacking some treble details, but also the HE-6 has a harder more angular treble, didn't listen to enough bass stuff to see how much it had over the 500, but the point is the 500 is a heck of a can.

Off topic:

Yesterday in the "affordable class" it was:

1 Voce
.
2. Shangr-la
.
At a higher price (much) the Shangri-la had the HE-6 beat in many ways (not moving as much air in the bass was the shortcoming). Better than that to my taste was the Voce. Coherence to die for. From 30Hz-~11 KHz I'm quite sure I've near heard it's equal (never heard the 009). It doesn't make detail the only pursuit, there is a musical liquid gentleness that is instantly addictive.
.
3. HE6 (orig, no mods) potent across the board, highs could be hard, but the detail is intense, and it runs all over everything under #3.
.
. (call me a liar but I'd rather stick with my modded HE-500's than any of the below cans
.
4. Senn 800 - missing bass, clinical. Big soundstage, but the sound is like a great painter that paints in hyper realism, realer than real, with missing organic and harmonic pieces. A fave among Robots and Dieter.
5. Mr Speakers Ether Flow C (surprising finish) - fun and gusto, a bit tipped up, row B
.
6. Ananda - forward, lacking depth and body
7. LCD3 - better than the 2C, relaxing perhaps addictive to some - but still with the missing 12kHz and up, and laid back upper mids, and overly thumping bass. Easier listen then the Ananda, but less accurate. Where it is good, it's good. Can be lush and can push the bass, then I want to hear the high notes and overtone and it goes flat and dry.
.
8. Mr S Aeon Open & Closed - forgettable in this company, where is the soundstage?

 

[GREQ]

.