[bagwell359]

I think the Fuzzor mod is worth doing. The highs on mine are smooth as butter! Absolutely no etch, overextension or harshness, even when comparing against my EQ profile that I made.

Fuzzor is the #1 mod along with parametric EQ IMO. Without EQ, they are a bit shy under 50Hz, infamous hole centered at 1.8k, need a bit of reduction from 700-1k, Another down at 3-3.5k, a narrow but steep removal around 9k (can be from 8.5-10k) to tame the ringing.

I've tried 15 pads on them and do not like felt/fabric/fenestrated/no angle - DCA Ether Angled is my choice which mates well with no/more open screen.

 

[Kukuk]

Having spent the last couple weeks exclusively using the Sennheiser HD800S, it's kinda interesting switching back to my trusty HE-500s. For one, they're far less forgiving. I always felt they had a mellow sound, which is still do, but the detail retrieval is so great that junk recordings sound like absolute trash; particularly if it's clipping to hell. The 800S seems to smooth over that mess, and breathing some life into mediocre mastering.

The other thing that's kind of interesting to me is soundstage and imaging. The HD800S clearly has a wider soundstage, but I think the HE-500 does a better job at making each instrument sound big. I think I generally prefer the imaging of the HE-500, but that might just be familiarity bias.

 

[BzzzzzT]

Fuzzor is the #1 mod along with parametric EQ IMO. Without EQ, they are a bit shy under 50Hz, infamous hole centered at 1.8k, need a bit of reduction from 700-1k, Another down at 3-3.5k, a narrow but steep removal around 9k (can be from 8.5-10k) to tame the ringing.

I've tried 15 pads on them and do not like felt/fabric/fenestrated/no angle - DCA Ether Angled is my choice which mates well with no/more open screen.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll probably get the DCA Ether Angled to try. Lots of people seem to like these. I know you said you don't like fenestrated pads but honestly its hard to imagine anything will outperform these cheap generic Chinese large fenestrated pu leather pads. They really sound amazing when comparing other pads I have. I have some big angled pu leather pads that resemble the DCA Ether pads and tried some ZMF BE pads and these cheap generic Chinese pads were much better. They also were flatter, giving a better timbre along with better bass and soundstage. They also seemed to quell the ringing in the 9k zone meaningfully. The ZMF BE pads did not sound good. I don't really know why??? I ordered more of these cheap 110mm Chinese pads on Ebay that resemble mine and they should be the same pads. They are honestly exceptional and super comfortable, plus they are cheap!

110mm pads

I also think the fuzzor mod is a must. I did not do the grill mod. The loss of dampening gave some weirdness and affected the timbre due to peaks. I can see why people do it though. Gives more perceived bass and a dynamic feel. Modded with the right pads, these are not very naughty headphones with regards to needing EQ. I like your EQ recommendation. It is very close to mine with my current pads.

 

[bagwell359]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll probably get the DCA Ether Angled to try. Lots of people seem to like these. I know you said you don't like fenestrated pads but honestly its hard to imagine anything will outperform these cheap generic Chinese large fenestrated pu leather pads. They really sound amazing when comparing other pads I have. I have some big angled pu leather pads that resemble the DCA Ether pads and tried some ZMF BE pads and these cheap generic Chinese pads were much better. They also were flatter, giving a better timbre along with better bass and soundstage. They also seemed to quell the ringing in the 9k zone meaningfully. The ZMF BE pads did not sound good. I don't really know why??? I ordered more of these cheap 110mm Chinese pads on Ebay that resemble mine and they should be the same pads. They are honestly exceptional and super comfortable, plus they are cheap!

110mm pads

I also think the fuzzor mod is a must. I did not do the grill mod. The loss of dampening gave some weirdness and affected the timbre due to peaks. I can see why people do it though. Gives more perceived bass and a dynamic feel. Modded with the right pads, these are not very naughty headphones with regards to needing EQ. I like your EQ recommendation. It is very close to mine with my current pads.

I can't speak to the fenestrated pads you heard, could be great. I dislike the ZMF's the most and they are leather... so, buyer must decide for themselves - as is always best.

I usually mention it, but the DCA Ether's don't work best w/ screens on. With them off it's got the widest stage for a planer of that era - not as massive as the HEX v2, and much shorter. Arctic cable sells some hex ones that look to be open enough to be audibly invisible. In fact I'm going to order them because there is a local meet in October and I'm not going to keep reminding people to touch them by the edges...

 

[BzzzzzT]

I can't speak to the fenestrated pads you heard, could be great. I dislike the ZMF's the most and they are leather... so, buyer must decide for themselves - as is always best.

The ZMF pads were really bad on the HE500! They looked like they would work fine. I friend was loaning me his Atrium and I decided to try the pads from it. I'm glad I did not drop any money on them! I still can't get over how good the HE500 is! Simply addictive to listen to.

 

[TWerk]

The ZMFs were really bad! They looked like they would work fine. I friend was loaning me his Atrium and I decided to try the pads from it. I'm glad I did not drop any money on them! I still can't get over how good the HE500 is! Simply addictive to listen to.

Literally probably my favorite open back I've owned in the last decade, full stop.

I love their sound. It is so engaging, musical, and pleasing. It is fun and dynamic and detailed and immersive plus you get gorgeous mids.

 

[BzzzzzT]

Literally probably my favorite open back I've owned in the last decade, full stop.

I love their sound. It is so engaging, musical, and pleasing. It is fun and dynamic and detailed and immersive plus you get gorgeous mids.

Just to clarify, I meant the pads when used with the 500, not their headphones. ZMF makes some great stuff! I'm excited to hear the Caldera.

 

[bagwell359]

RE Rear Screens:

Decided to order two sets of rear "HEX" screens for my HE-500 and HE-6 SE. Well, they have an updated version added to the OG. The new one pictured here is 95% open, which is as open as my solution from a few years back, and much more rugged and much better looking too. Will add more in Sep after using them for a bit.

The OG appears to be maybe 82-85% open. Not connected with Arctic in any way, but lots of people seem to like the products.

 

[Dramlin]

I ordered more of these cheap 110mm Chinese pads on Ebay that resemble mine and they should be the same pads. They are honestly exceptional and super comfortable, plus they are cheap!

110mm pads

Thanks for the pad recommendation! I'm going overboard on pad testing to get the perfect sound (for me), and I didn't have these on my list. I'll give them a go.

Decided to order two sets of rear "HEX" screens for my HE-500 and HE-6 SE. Well, they have an updated version added to the OG. The new one pictured here is 95% open, which is as open as my solution from a few years back, and much more rugged and much better looking too. Will add more in Sep after using them for a bit.

I assume those are the Arctic Cable "Air-Flow" grills. I've been using those on the 6se V2's as well as the HE-500's for the last few months. The stock grills add some left & right stage compression, and the Air-Flow grills correct that. IMO they are the best compromise of getting the grill to be as open as possible while still allowing protection from little fingers accidentally touching the connectors or drivers. Worth mentioniong that there's 3 color options, Silver, Black, and Gold. The Gold & Black have a color coating on them and are quite nice. The silvers don't have the same coating, and with that the metal edges are a little sharp.

 

[Phenom24]

Good day! please tell me who used the 500 with a Jotunheim amplifier? Was the sound too flat? Because I have a 500 and a Jotunheim and there is some dryness and flatness I listen to because of the balance.

 

[SeanHasAPairOfDuals]

Good day! please tell me who used the 500 with a Jotunheim amplifier? Was the sound too flat? Because I have a 500 and a Jotunheim and there is some dryness and flatness I listen to because of the balance.

Hopefully others will be more helpful than I will be, but are you able to use EQ in your setup? I'm not 100% sure EQ'ing will be the total solution, there may be other things you can do.

(20 mins later...)

Ok, just done a quick Google on this amp.

Is it the Jotunheim 1 or 2?
And do you know what modules are installed?

I'm asking that because anyone that might be able to help obviously can't see your amp, so the more they know, the better the replies will be.

 

[mab1376]

Good day! please tell me who used the 500 with a Jotunheim amplifier? Was the sound too flat? Because I have a 500 and a Jotunheim and there is some dryness and flatness I listen to because of the balance.

I use a Jot 2 with a BF2, and it feels a little on the warm side to me.

 

[Phenom24]

I have a Jotunheim of the first version, a separate DAC is available, the author's PCM56

 

[Phenom24]

 

[Phenom24]

Hello everyone, I found a problem on my system, there was a problem of flat sound, sound without fatness and dry, my system is a proprietary pcm56 multibit DAC and a Jotunheim 1 amplifier, it was a silver cable to hifiman 500 headphones, the cable initially gave a pleasant sound, but over time it tired my hearing, took a copper cable and the sound became lively and cool without fatigue.