[Yuceka]

I also have some other cable news for our HE-500s which is a much cheaper option but I need to get home first to take pictures and such  

 

[Zoom25]

I just got my new HE-500 replacement today and they sounded bad. I initially got a burn in used HE-500 that was bought 5 months ago and that thing sounded amazing. The new HE-500 seems to have a better headband in comparison to my older HE-500. The design is still the same but it seems that they added a foam on the bottom side of the headband which made it noticeably more comfortable then before. I don't even notice the headband with this one. It still weighs a lot, but nonetheless a great improvement. I wonder if they could've changed/modified the HE-500 driver since then. Now I just have to burn them in for 200 hours to get it back to the way it used to be.  
 
I did a review of the HE-500 vs Denon AH-D2000 a while back. It might be useful for those wanting to upgrade from the Denon's to Hifiman. post #36
 

 

[Subsequence]

You may have mismatched drivers or they could be out of spec, if you have a multi-meter set it to 200ohms and measure each driver. 
Remove the cable first and lets us know the results.

 

[Zoom25]

Hmm it could be. I don't have a multimeter on me but I might get one if this doesn't change after 2 weeks of burning in. Any tips/instructions on how to do this test? Hopefully it will get better after two weeks of burn in. I won't jump to any conclusions quickly regarding the sound as I have experienced their true potential. Although if it doesn't i'll test it out and report back either way. 
 

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

I just got my new HE-500 replacement today and they sounded bad. I initially got a burn in used HE-500 that was bought 5 months ago and that thing sounded amazing. The new HE-500 seems to have a better headband in comparison to my older HE-500. The design is still the same but it seems that they added a foam on the bottom side of the headband which made it noticeably more comfortable then before. I don't even notice the headband with this one. It still weighs a lot, but nonetheless a great improvement. I wonder if they could've changed/modified the HE-500 driver since then. Now I just have to burn them in for 200 hours to get it back to the way it used to be.  
 
I did a review of the HE-500 vs Denon AH-D2000 a while back. It might be useful for those wanting to upgrade from the Denon's to Hifiman. post #36
 

I'd keep burning them in, mine changed quite a bit over time. They sounded quite closed in and dull out of the box. Really opened up after about 100 hrs or so.

 

[Subsequence]

Quote:

Hmm it could be. I don't have a multimeter on me but I might get one if this doesn't change after 2 weeks of burning in. Any tips/instructions on how to do this test? Hopefully it will get better after two weeks of burn in. I won't jump to any conclusions quickly regarding the sound as I have experienced their true potential. Although if it doesn't i'll test it out and report back either way. 
 

It's very simple, remove the cable and measure through the connector's on each side of the headphone. Lots has been said in this thread about it just use the search

 

[.Sup]

7 cm's  

Thanks. I measured the HE-6 V1 cable with heatshrink that I have and connector along with heatshrink measures 7.5cm so I don't think your cable will be to my liking. I understand that its so long for strain relief purposes but the other Hifiman cables I have have much shorter strain relief and none have broken so far (4 and counting).

 

[LugBug1]

Quote:

Thanks. I measured the HE-6 V1 cable with heatshrink that I have and connector along with heatshrink measures 7.5cm so I don't think your cable will be to my liking. I understand that its so long for strain relief purposes but the other Hifiman cables I have have much shorter strain relief and none have broken so far (4 and counting).

no probs, since you've mentioned it I've now become really aware of the connectors and they do slightly touch my shoulders when I turn my head... haha as long as I look straight ahead I should be ok!

 

[CJG888]

My listening session with the HE-500s has just come to an untimely end. The tip of the TRS plug on the stock lead sheared off and fell into my amp. This is a high voltage tube amp, and I'm lucky there wasn't a short circuit.....:mad:

On opening up the amp and retrieving the tip, I had a good look at it - this is what we Brits call "Christmas cracker engineering". Poorly plated, cheap base metal part, crimp-fitted onto its shaft. This component is absolute rubbish, and has no place on a headphone of this calibre. I would return it under warranty, but I don't want another new one back!

As I never had much confidence in this cable, I took the precaution of ordering a replacement from Toxic Cables (TOTL Silver Poison - should have it by the end of the month!). I would now like to rewire the stock cable to an XLR for balanced and speaker tap use. Does anyone know how I should wire the plug? I presume the outer sheaths of the connectors at the cup end are ground...

 

[madbull]

I can't remember if I mentioned this before but when I bought my HE-500, right out of the box the cable was broken (left side had no sound).
Jorge of HeadRoom promptly sent me a new cable free of charge... thanks Jorge and HeadRoom folks!

Seeing the post above and considering my experience, it seems like QC is not a strong point for HiFiMan.

 

[FlySweep]

Dug out my old but trusty Yamaha HTR-6240 home theater receiver (105 WPC @ 8 ohms, 0.9% THD).. nothing fancy, obviously.. but a speaker amp, nonetheless.. to see what the HE-500 is capable of with oodles of current at it's disposal.  I know amp manufacturers tend to grossly embellish when listing current output specs..  by my calculations, the Yammy should provide ~17.5 watts to my HE-500 (I measured both channels at ~48 ohms).  Even if the true, realized current is a half or quarter of that, it's still plenty for the HE-500 to gobble up.
 
Instead of using my ODAC or TubeDAC-11 as a source, I used the DisplayPort connection on my laptop to deliver sound via HDMI to the receiver & let its internal Burr Brown DAC handle decoding duties.  I streamed well recorded albums (in 320kbps) from my MOG.com subscription as well as FLAC- & APE-ripped albums w/ Foobar.  I found the 6240's DAC, in "Direct" mode (Yamaha's method of delivering the 'purest' audio output with all/as much of the processing bypassed), to be impressively smooth, neutral, and transparent.. with a dash of natural coloration.
 
How did the HE-500 sound?  Far & away, as good as I've EVER heard it.
 
I'll set aside the (obvious) fact I could drive it to deafening levels with ease.  Here's comes the laundry list of praise:  fantastic control, crystal clear clarity, impeccable instrument separation, an incredibly spacious soundstage, beautifully natural timbre, and effortless dynamics.  With my humble HTR, the quality of these aforementioned characteristics sounded as good as I've ever heard from the HE-500.  The control, clarity, separation, & soundstage, in particular, were truly something to behold.
 
How the HE-500's midrange sounded with this speaker amp deserves special mention.  The HE-500 has always had a gorgeous, liquid midrange presentation.. but in this rig.. it was practically showing off.  Once again, the words 'effortless', 'dynamic', & 'vibrant' come to mind.  There's was a degree of depth and multi-dimensionalty there I had never known the HE-500 was capable of.  In the process, I gained a renewed appreciation for just how special and technically advanced this phone is.
 
I could go on & on about how great the HE-500 sounded with this speaker amp, but I'm sure you get the idea.. I'm thoroughly impressed by the performance and, now, certainly understand the praise when paired with speaker amps/fed lots of clean current at low impedance levels.  The praise is certainly well deserved.  I've got a budget, T-class amp (DTA-100a) coming in later this week  to further test the HE-500 with (I'd like something with a smaller footprint than this behemoth of a HTR).  If it delivers anything close to what I'm hearing now, I'll be quite happy.
 
 

 

 

[plin]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Your observation adds to the many others about this issue. But why you do not use the same DAC?  Now, nobody is really sure if the benefit comes because of the DAC change.

 

[FlySweep]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Your observation adds to the many others about this issue. But why you do not use the same DAC?  Now, nobody is really sure if the benefit comes because of the DAC change.

I'll be A/Bing with the ODAC & TubeDAC-11 this weekend.

 

[FlySweep]

The DTA-100a arrived earlier today:
 

 
Hailed for its wonderful TK2050 tripath chip.. it delivers nearly 5 WPC of clean current to a 48 ohm HE-500 @ <.01% THD.. but shunned for it shoddy build quality from past production runs.  Mine has no external imperfections (I plan to open it up and inspect the board & plugs this weekend).
 
It's a highly neutral amp (much more than the 6240) with excellent dynamics and transparency.
 
I'll have more impressions on the sound this weekend.. but I've been listening to it for much of today... and I'm thoroughly floored.  An iPhone, $90 amp, and HE-500 have absolutely NO BUSINESS sounding this incredible.  Ran it with the ODAC as well and the sound continued to scale up.  Early indications are that I've got a winner on my hands.

 

[WNBC]

Very cool.  This may pair well with my Dragonfly.  Which headphone cables are those or DIY?
 
Quote:

The DTA-100a arrived earlier today:
 

 
Hailed for its wonderful TK2050 tripath chip.. it delivers nearly 5 WPC of clean current to a 48 ohm HE-500 @ <.01% THD.. but shunned for it shoddy build quality from past production runs.  Mine has no external imperfections (I plan to open it up and inspect the board & plugs this weekend).
 
It's a highly neutral amp (much more than the 6240) with excellent dynamics and transparency.
 
I'll have more impressions on the sound this weekend.. but I've been listening to it for much of today... and I'm thoroughly floored.  An iPhone, $90 amp, and HE-500 have absolutely NO BUSINESS sounding this incredible.  Ran it with the ODAC as well and the sound continued to scale up.  Early indications are that I've got a winner on my hands.