[preproman]

Quote:

I find them kind of strangely muted as well. For the last month I've been a/bing them with the DT880/250, and I prefer the 880. According to everything written in these threads I shouldn't, but I do. That's the difference between theory and practise.

 
What theory do you speak of?  Seems to me the impressions that are giving have been from peoples experiences (practise).

 

[davidsh]

I found the dt880 lifeless, but the HE-500 very satisfying

 

[zeinharis]

I found the dt880 lifeless, but the HE-500 very satisfying

Yes it's sad but true, in terms of music enjoyment I find the HE-500 is very musical compare to the DT880, but every time I get tired after working or hearing music all day, I always grab my DT880 for gaming, so they pretty much complement each other to me

 

[captouch]

I find them kind of strangely muted as well. For the last month I've been a/bing them with the DT880/250, and I prefer the 880. According to everything written in these threads I shouldn't, but I do. That's the difference between theory and practise.

If you can demo the HE-5LE, I would recommend that. I found the 5LE's more lively than the 500's, especially in the upper frequencies. Simplistically, I thought the 500 was an enhanced HD650 and the 5LE was an enhanced DT880/600.

I owned them all at the same time and could compare, and I chose to keep the 5LE and HD650. If you're wondering why keep the HD650 if the 500 was an enhanced version of it, it was because I had built a Crack for the HD650 and wanted to keep it to tube-roll. Plus, the HD650 was even more laid back and physically comfortable than the 500. Finally, I wanted cans that were as complementary (and different) as possible within my taste preferences, and while different in sound signature, ultimately the 500 and 5LE were more alike than the HD650 and 5LE.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

If you can demo the HE-5LE, I would recommend that. I found the 5LE's more lively than the 500's, especially in the upper frequencies. Simplistically, I thought the 500 was an enhanced HD650 and the 5LE was an enhanced DT880/600.

I owned them all at the same time and could compare, and I chose to keep the 5LE and HD650. If you're wondering why keep the HD650 if the 500 was an enhanced version of it, it was because I had built a Crack for the HD650 and wanted to keep it to tube-roll. Plus, the HD650 was even more laid back and physically comfortable than the 500. Finally, I wanted cans that were as complementary (and different) as possible within my taste preferences, and while different in sound signature, ultimately the 500 and 5LE were more alike than the HD650 and 5LE.

 
 
I agree with this.  I also will pick the 5LEs over the 500s by a very small margin.

 

[MrTie84]

Quote:

If you want oodles more 'bite' in the treble but still a planar, look no further than HE400. Sometimes when I'm bored with music out of my HE500s, the HE400s just wake my right up.
 
While both HE500 and HE400 are Hifiman orthos, their behaviour for the upper half of FR is almost perfectly complementary; HE500s have a forward upper mids, raised treble followed by suppressed upper treble, HE400s have depressed upper mids, tame treble followed by elevated upper treble.

I have been playing around with an HE400 for the past few days, and I agree Jerg I enjoy the tonal balance a bit more, but they cause that "Smooth/Syrup-like" effect even worse then the HE500's do IMHO. Like I said I still really like the HE500 but no one can for everything I suppose.

 

[Frank I]

I have the he500 in house again. Just started to get reacquainted.  Using the stock cable for now. I will be reviewing the CablePro Freedom ohno cc pure copper cable also. I am waiting an d should have that cable by saturday.  I had Justin from headlamp switch the pads and put the velour on a last time I had these the leather pads did not sound as good nor fit for as well as the velour does.

 

[RichieE46]

Quote:

I have been playing around with an HE400 for the past few days, and I agree Jerg I enjoy the tonal balance a bit more, but they cause that "Smooth/Syrup-like" effect even worse then the HE500's do IMHO. Like I said I still really like the HE500 but no one can for everything I suppose.

So if you could own one pair which would it be?

 

[Phoo]

I find them kind of strangely muted as well. For the last month I've been a/bing them with the DT880/250, and I prefer the 880. According to everything written in these threads I shouldn't, but I do. That's the difference between theory and practise.

I agree with you. For me the HE-500 is good, but I prefer my DT880/600. The HE-500 is good for music listening, though a bit hit and miss for me, sometimes they sound a bit muffled. For movies they are good, and for gaming they don't work at all, especially in FPS games you just can't hear where sounds are coming from.

DT880/600 sound great for everything, I really like it's sound signature. Had them for so long and they still keep impressing me from time to time. They work great for all music, movies and excel for gaming with it's massive soundstage.

I did buy the HE-500 to try to replace my DT880's, but since I use my headphones for everything and not just music, the HE-500's aren't for me I guess.

 

[tuna47]

Love the he500 I have had many headphones I find these the best it's good in all areas
I had the 400s lots of fun but the female vocals where awful

 

[davidsh]

When I use sine gen and turn up the volume quite loud, I am getting a tone like a whine from the left driver. This whine is produced across the frequency range, but I can only hear it in the bass and lower mids. It is too hard to hear it in the treble and such.
 
Now I am wondering whether it is my tube amp or the driver distorting?

 

[No Days Off]

I had the DT-880 and now the HE-500 and for me it was no contest, the HE-500 is much much better for music.. the DT-880 just had too much treble bite and the HE-500 is more neutral as well as detailed.

 

[Solude]

Quote:

I was sure it was you who said that if Schiit's Reference amp uses 6SN7 tubes, you're in

 

 
I am the person who said that.  And I believe that's the way it'll go BUT it was more about being able to tune it should it be a little hot like the Mjolnir.  Having notes on a handful of tubes I already lost my shirt on instead of starting again on another tube type is the other reason.  If it uses a 6922 or some other tube type I'm back to another round of $100-200 experiments.  Rather not

 

[Acapella11]

When I compared LCD 2 (think it was rev 2), HE-500 and Denon ADH-5000 on Violectric V200 / V800, I found the HE-500 the best, simply because the sound signature was most balanced and in between LCD (a bit low on treble) and Denon (a bit hot there). It felt just right for me.

 

If you feel you need a little spark in the treble, maybe you could achieve that by complementing the HE-500 with a more "digital" sounding DAC and and your current amp. I know there are controversial opinions about Beresford DACs, but ignoring that, the Caiman sounds less polite than the M-DAC, still offering a large stage. Voices appear a bit thinner and harsher, but then instrument separation is nice. The harshness works well with guitars. This is just an example. Depending on taste, matching amp and DAC, you might be able to tune the HE-500 just to the right point.

 

[pp312]

Quote:

I had the DT-880 and now the HE-500 and for me it was no contest, the HE-500 is much much better for music.. the DT-880 just had too much treble bite and the HE-500 is more neutral as well as detailed.

 
 
I should have said in my post "provided the treble peak is dealt with".  It's really quite benign and easily ironed out unless you use a dedicated HP amp in isolation, away from a computer. This is why I won't use a dedicated HP amp and much prefer an integrated, because even the best phones need a tweak, and once that tweak is applied the DT880 is certainly one of the best phones. As for the HE-500 being more neutral, to me it makes everything sounds like it was recorded in a cave, as I've said elsewhere. There's a ringing/resonance somewhere that really bothers me, which the DT880 completely lacks. No, I don't find the HE-500 neutral at all.