[Sonido]

According to this decibel meter app I got on my phone (take with grain of salt), 50% or 12 o'clock measures around 85 dB.

 

[pdrm360]

  Did you try the coupon code? Also I ordered when i first heard about it in the Deals thread. From what I understand Razor Dog started selling Hifiman products about a week ago, and they sent a newsletter to those subscribed with the coupon code for the discount. I guess they were doing it as celebration of carrying Hifiman. Perhaps once Hifiman got wind of the coupon, they told them to stop.
 
Also even if they aren't actively offering the deal anymore, you can still try emailing the guy about it. My friend got a new HD800 for $1199 from him just by emailing. They take offers, you just gotta know that's an option to do.

 
Where did you enter the coupon code?

 

[Sonido]

During checkout, AFTER the your info page.

 

[daerron]

I would wait a bit for the headphone to settle, the first couple of hours are a bit of a roller coaster, but strange that you have to EQ it down so low (interesting see the latest HE-500 review on the forum, mentions resonance in the 1Khz with the housing design). The midrange is however, more forward compared to the HD700 so perhaps it a matter of getting used to the sound? FWIW, my initial impression of the mids on the HD700 was that they sounded a bit off to my ears in the midrange which is why I didn't really like the way that headphone sounded.
 
I was also under the impression that the Woo Audio WA7 should be okay driving the HE-500, I contemplated buying one at one stage, as its got quite a bit of horsepower. I think it has more power at 50ohm compared to the Project Sunrise 2 which I thought was fine driving the HE-500, but close to the marginal point. It should certainly drive it better than the Lehmann Black Cube Linear I had! So I would just wait with burn in and see what happens.

 

[Llloyd]

  However, there is just one problem. I've heard these are suppose to have amazing midrange, but for me it's quite the opposite. Vocals, especially female, sound off and harsh. Same thing with aggressive electric guitar riffs. The sound I can describe best as harsh, recessed, and cavernous (reverberations). Definitely does not sound as good as my other headphones on these songs. Does it just need burning in, or maybe my amp isn't giving it enough juice and there are distortions? The WA7 is rated to give about 1 watt at the 38 ohms from what I've heard. I found this to happen especially on some JPop tracks. Quality of files are either 320 kbps or ~256 kbps VBR V0. Also volume level I'd estimate to be around 85-90 dB. One other odd thing is while I'm running my amp on Lo-Z, switching to Hi-Z doesn't change the volume or sound at all to me.
 
Does anyone else experience this?

 
This definitely does not sound right to me. The first words that come to mind with HE-500 mids are smooth with a great weight. My little dot only does about 200mw into the HE-500 and it still does not have this sort of problem. I would definitely never describe the mids of the HE-500 harsh or recessed as you did. Otherwise I'm not sure what headphone wouldn't sound that way. Nearly every headphone I listen to, it's hard to find such a good midrange. In some cases I did like the T50RP paradox midrange better than the HE-500, but that's more a of a signature/timbre difference. Oh I digress. Yeah, there shouldn't be that sort of sound coming from your setup with any bitrate. So if it's really painful maybe there could be a defect in one of your equipment pieces? IDK. Maybe email some tech support friends.

 

[Sonido]

   
This definitely does not sound right to me. The first words that come to mind with HE-500 mids are smooth with a great weight. My little dot only does about 200mw into the HE-500 and it still does not have this sort of problem. I would definitely never describe the mids of the HE-500 harsh or recessed as you did. Otherwise I'm not sure what headphone wouldn't sound that way. Nearly every headphone I listen to, it's hard to find such a good midrange. In some cases I did like the T50RP paradox midrange better than the HE-500, but that's more a of a signature/timbre difference. Oh I digress. Yeah, there shouldn't be that sort of sound coming from your setup with any bitrate. So if it's really painful maybe there could be a defect in one of your equipment pieces? IDK. Maybe email some tech support friends.

As I've later found out, it's actually at 1 kHz the sound is over-pronounced to where I have to EQ it by half the volume (-10 dB). After the EQ it sounds great. Same thing wiht my other amp, the O2. Also tried different sources, some problem. But no problem when I use my HD700 or Beyerdynamic T90. I'm hoping burn-in with fix the problem, but if not I will contact Hifiman or just ask for a replacement from Razordog. Although it's sounding great after the EQ, I'd rather have a pair of perfectly working headphones. Very odd that it's just that frequency and happening equally to both drivers. Perhaps during tuning, someone set the dB off by 10 at that exact frequency?

 

[rkyoto]

Actually the mid-range of HE-500 is not boosted. It's true that the decay time of mid-range is relatively longer which may be an issue to some people. Anyway, HE-500 is tuned to be so to imitate the sound of monitors in a small space. You can try the fuzz pads to alter the sound. Hope it will be helpful.

 

[Makiah S]

Actually the mid-range of HE-500 is not boosted. It's true that the decay time of mid-range is relatively longer which may be an issue to some people. Anyway, HE-500 is tuned to be so to imitate the sound of monitors in a small space. You can try thefuzz pads to alter the sound. Hope it will be helpful.

eww that sounds like my modded w1k sound in a nut shell...

 

[hifimanrookie]

eww that sounds like my modded w1k sound in a nut shell...

y
Dont worry y he500 dont sound like that..i think its all about the amp ur using..only thing that could be better is the soundstage..but with the grillmod u have that covered ..the grill mod improves the soundstage of the he500... Try it urself..but pls... Use a lossless track... And take the grills of..its easy..and listen to the he500 while u put them on and off... Be aware that ur hands cant be over the openings as that will block the soundstage... While doing this u will find out that the soundstage opens up ... On regular mp3's the change is minimal or non existent..u hear it on high quality material.. With the rig i have been using it was a considerable improvement in soundstage..but if u check my pics u will see i used grills with extreme big holes and NO dustscreen... That sounded best to me.. And ofcourse i have the jerg pads from modulor also..that helps!
Have it now runningfor two months now..no problem..but i do put my headphone in a airtight plastic bag after use..to protect it from dust..a precaution..it maybe looks cheap but it does its work perfectly!

 

[Dogmatrix]

Whatttt? How is that even possible? The wa7 at the meet was at 3 to 4pm driving my he500. Unless they had computer volume way way down which I don't think it was cuz other HPs were loud enough at around 12pm. Weird.

 
I run my HE500 through a WA7 most of the time and they sound great together . Anything over 50% on the dial and they turn into desk top speakers, still no audible distortion but I definitely would not put them on my head.

 

[kothganesh]

  Speaking of amps... I'm expecting my Burson Soloist to handle the HE-500 well when it does arrive.  Reasonable expectation?

 
Oh yeah, the Soloist will be a great pairing. Seriously though, check out the jergpad mod. It takes the 500 to a different level.

 

[Sonido]

 
I run my HE500 through a WA7 most of the time and they sound great together . Anything over 50% on the dial and they turn into desk top speakers, still no audible distortion but I definitely would not put them on my head.

 

Do you have this problem at 1 kHz? It's not a minor difference mind you. It's quite substantial and the sound is warped especially compared to after listening with EQ.

 

[koiloco]

   
I run my HE500 through a WA7 most of the time and they sound great together . Anything over 50% on the dial and they turn into desk top speakers, still no audible distortion but I definitely would not put them on my head.

That is great to hear.  There must have been something going on with the setup at the recent CA meet where I tried the WA7 with my HE500.  Thx for clearing this up.  I found it surprising too.

 

[tuna47]

Does a balanced system help the sound of the 500s

 

[Georgo94]

@ Sonido 
Is your source the HTC One ?
If yes, then this might be causing the problem with mids. HTC One has this "superb" beats audio EQ which is literally killing music. Even if you turn beats option off WA7 will still amplify crappy audio. Try connecting HE-500 to a CD player or computer via WA7.