Insatiable One
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2014
- Posts
- 141
- Likes
- 20
I'm not an "audiophile". Let's start off by making that clear.
I just like music, like most people. However, unlike the majority of people nowadays, the quality of my music listening experience matters to me. I visit Head-Fi regularly and learn things everyday. I think I know enough by now to write this review. By now I also have a good vocabulary of all the terms and ways to describe a sound. Yay. Gold star sticker for me so I can show my mum.
I'm also a student. Hence, money is very scarce and everything I buy must be worth it. I don't have enough to spend $1000 on something that's worth $500, if you know what I mean.
My Experience with the HiFiMAN HE-500, and My Thoughts on that Experience:
The HE-500's aren't bad. They're great.
They're just not worth what you pay, at all, even at this all-time low price of $500.
My only other pair of headphones are the Audio Technica ATH-M50. The Budget King. A well-rounded, jack of all trades. They were my first pair of headphones ever. Before that, all I ever listened to was my desktop speakers, car stereo, and cheap SkullCandy earphones. And boy oh boy, these ATH-M50s were phenomenal to my ears. Even the brand name was cool. Audio Technica. For $150 at the time I bought them, they were the best I've ever heard. I was around 10, years old at the time, I think. No, I don't have "Golden Ears". I was not gifted with such analytical hearing. I think that if I was ever compared to some of the other members here on Head-Fi, I would actually appear as if I had poor hearing! I most certainly can't hear all the little nuances that you read about on gear reviews, and I definitely can't tell the defference between two different DACs, DAPs, amps, or even the differene between high bit rate MP3 and FLAC. Either these people are under the affect of placebo or under the influence of their own expectations (which actually really do have quite a powerful influence on one's perception of things*see the bottom) or under the influence of what other members say, or I really do just have poor hearing. I passed the hearing test though
I also found that I can hear all the way up to around 17.7khz, according to this website: www.freemosquitoringtone.com. My little brother showed me that website so that mum and dad wouldn't hear whenever a friend texted. I do believe that there are differences between headphones, and that those differences are indeed there to some extent, but it saddens me as I can't really distinguish between two sets of cans like that.
I am perfectly satisfied with my M50's, especially for the price I paid, which was a lot to me at that time. But, ever since I bought those headphones, I was wondering how much better sound could get? I knew that there were headphones that costed way above the mere price of $150. But I couldn't imagine what exactly this "better sound" really sounded like. I'm 17 years of age now, in my senior year of high school. I just purchased an HE-500 along with a Schiit Lyr 2. Great amp, great headphones, good pair together, I think. Not worth the money. At least the HE-500 really isn't. Supposedly, these HE-500s need a lot of power to drive. Here's the power, Schiit Lyr 2. Should be everything I need to make these headphones sound good, right? Oh yeah, I also have som hi-res music from HDTracks playing through an iBasso DX90 line out. I've sold it now.
First off, I was extremely underwhelmed by these headphones. Extremely as in outrageously. Think about the surprise and amazement people experience when reviewing headphones that they feel are really good and their experience when they put the headphones on for the first time. Now take that level of excitement and surprise and turn it into disappointment instead of satisfaction. "For $500 this is what it sounds like?!" That was the kind of thought that was running through my head. I didn't think they sounded much like what a lot of the reviews said. They certainly didn't sound like $500 on my head. I was so disappointed that I even thought that I got a fake! Well, there are no HiFiMAN fakes that anyone knows of, and I got these from a legit certified seller. They're real and they're not duds. Everything in the reviews, all of the good points about this headphone, that was everything that was actually missing from this headphone! Or, at least, those qualities of the sound signature weren't as pronounced as people made it seem. People give high praise to the mids of this headphone. They're good, but not stellar. Vocals are supposed to sound immaculate, they're actually kinda just "there". The bass, people say that its got great texture and superb bass extension, fast bass, great control over bass, bla bla bla. The bass is merely sub-par on this headphone! It was almost anemic! If only there was a little more of it! I love the way the bass handles on this headphone though, the way it keeps its place, not bleeding into the mids, and the headphone does indeed sport superior control over the bass section. Really, the best bass control I've ever heard. I just realized how much better a nice clean and fast bass response sounds. It's just that the quantity of that bass is minuscule. So, in short, the bass quality is there, the quantity is...where? Not there. I'm not a bass head or anything, I certainly don't like a ton of bass. But I could only hear the bass well enough if I really listened to it and searched for it. When casually listening and not really paying absolute 100% attention to the way the headphone sounds, I can't help but feel that the bass is a little too light. Next, the highs of this headphone were good too, not sibilant or anything. Just ok. Mariah Carey's voice, for example, was really good but just as much as my M50 could do (maybe a wee bit better sounding, but not much, maybe the highs on the HE-500 were 15% better than the M50). In My Honest and Most Humble Opinion, I feel that I actually prefer my good old ATH-M50 for the following reasons: In short, there are simply not enough pros to combat the cons on the HE-500 to make it truly superior to the M50. I'm just so disappointed, sorry guys who worship this thing. The entire headphone's sound signature was simply lackluster. The bass was fast, tight, and very controlled, but there was not nearly enough of it. Even though the bass was very good quality, the quantity of that bass was so low that the fact that there actually is bass in the M50s makes the bass on the M50s sound better. I like hearing the beat of my music. It makes the music actually feel alive, while the HE-500 is kinda limp and dead. Also, the sound stage. It's just as small as my M50s, which is small. Maybe on some songs it does seem a little bigger, but only just a little, and only on some songs. It's definitely not huge like people say just because these are open back headphones. Instrument placing and separation was noticeably better than my M50s. Maybe instrument placing was easier to identify and more pronounced than my M50s by say around 40%. I actually prefer on this headphone, but that is probably due to the placebo of expectation due to all the raving comments about the mids, the mids, the mids! But, not really. Maybe a minor improvement overall in the mids section. Again, uninspiring. The highs, same thing. Very small difference, if any. Negligible difference in the quality of the highs.
So to me, $500 is not a worthy investment for something that is in general only around 30% better than my M50s in terms of sound. Don't forget that these HE-500 also need more power, they're heavier (still comfortable, though. Just can't bob your head), and you can't take them out of the house, while, on the other hand, the M50s are ligher, you can take them out of the house, they don't need all the power in the world, they're relatively cheap, they're very durable, and they isolate sound.
But, to each his own. I'm sure that the vast majority of members here on Head-Fi will disagree with me, but hey, it's how I feel. It's what I hear. And I'm on a tight budget, remember?
The HE-500s aren't reall a quote-on-quote waste of money. To me they're not that bad but they're just not really worth it for the price that you have to pay. I just put that title in to get a little more attention
What do you all think? Does anybody else feel this way? Maybe I'll try the Sennheiser HD-650...but people compare that to the HE-500. If they sound similar, then I definitely won't buy those HD-650s either, even though they're the highest rated headphone in all of Head-Fi, according to the Headgear page of over-ear headphones arranged in order of highest raitng to lowest.
I think I'll return this headphone, unless someone wants to buy it from me. They're discontinued now and replaced with the HE-560, which costs a lot more, as it's new. If you want it, PM me. I'll probably keep the amp though. The Lyr has good reviews too. It doesn't sound bad or anything, and it's powerful. So it's kinda future-proof, in a way, in case I get any other hard to drive headphones. It was hard to decide on the Lyr 2 though. I really wanted to buy the Little Dot MK IV SE with its upgraded components, especially because it was quite a bit lower priced than the Lyr 2. But I ended up choosing the Lyr 2 because it has more power. MO POWA
I hope this was insightful in some way. Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe I italicized too much. But this is a completely 100% honest review from an average guy.
End review.
*http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/10/you-are-not-so-smart-why-we-cant-tell-good-wine-from-bad/247240/
I just like music, like most people. However, unlike the majority of people nowadays, the quality of my music listening experience matters to me. I visit Head-Fi regularly and learn things everyday. I think I know enough by now to write this review. By now I also have a good vocabulary of all the terms and ways to describe a sound. Yay. Gold star sticker for me so I can show my mum.
I'm also a student. Hence, money is very scarce and everything I buy must be worth it. I don't have enough to spend $1000 on something that's worth $500, if you know what I mean.
My Experience with the HiFiMAN HE-500, and My Thoughts on that Experience:
The HE-500's aren't bad. They're great.
They're just not worth what you pay, at all, even at this all-time low price of $500.
My only other pair of headphones are the Audio Technica ATH-M50. The Budget King. A well-rounded, jack of all trades. They were my first pair of headphones ever. Before that, all I ever listened to was my desktop speakers, car stereo, and cheap SkullCandy earphones. And boy oh boy, these ATH-M50s were phenomenal to my ears. Even the brand name was cool. Audio Technica. For $150 at the time I bought them, they were the best I've ever heard. I was around 10, years old at the time, I think. No, I don't have "Golden Ears". I was not gifted with such analytical hearing. I think that if I was ever compared to some of the other members here on Head-Fi, I would actually appear as if I had poor hearing! I most certainly can't hear all the little nuances that you read about on gear reviews, and I definitely can't tell the defference between two different DACs, DAPs, amps, or even the differene between high bit rate MP3 and FLAC. Either these people are under the affect of placebo or under the influence of their own expectations (which actually really do have quite a powerful influence on one's perception of things*see the bottom) or under the influence of what other members say, or I really do just have poor hearing. I passed the hearing test though
I also found that I can hear all the way up to around 17.7khz, according to this website: www.freemosquitoringtone.com. My little brother showed me that website so that mum and dad wouldn't hear whenever a friend texted. I do believe that there are differences between headphones, and that those differences are indeed there to some extent, but it saddens me as I can't really distinguish between two sets of cans like that. I am perfectly satisfied with my M50's, especially for the price I paid, which was a lot to me at that time. But, ever since I bought those headphones, I was wondering how much better sound could get? I knew that there were headphones that costed way above the mere price of $150. But I couldn't imagine what exactly this "better sound" really sounded like. I'm 17 years of age now, in my senior year of high school. I just purchased an HE-500 along with a Schiit Lyr 2. Great amp, great headphones, good pair together, I think. Not worth the money. At least the HE-500 really isn't. Supposedly, these HE-500s need a lot of power to drive. Here's the power, Schiit Lyr 2. Should be everything I need to make these headphones sound good, right? Oh yeah, I also have som hi-res music from HDTracks playing through an iBasso DX90 line out. I've sold it now.
First off, I was extremely underwhelmed by these headphones. Extremely as in outrageously. Think about the surprise and amazement people experience when reviewing headphones that they feel are really good and their experience when they put the headphones on for the first time. Now take that level of excitement and surprise and turn it into disappointment instead of satisfaction. "For $500 this is what it sounds like?!" That was the kind of thought that was running through my head. I didn't think they sounded much like what a lot of the reviews said. They certainly didn't sound like $500 on my head. I was so disappointed that I even thought that I got a fake! Well, there are no HiFiMAN fakes that anyone knows of, and I got these from a legit certified seller. They're real and they're not duds. Everything in the reviews, all of the good points about this headphone, that was everything that was actually missing from this headphone! Or, at least, those qualities of the sound signature weren't as pronounced as people made it seem. People give high praise to the mids of this headphone. They're good, but not stellar. Vocals are supposed to sound immaculate, they're actually kinda just "there". The bass, people say that its got great texture and superb bass extension, fast bass, great control over bass, bla bla bla. The bass is merely sub-par on this headphone! It was almost anemic! If only there was a little more of it! I love the way the bass handles on this headphone though, the way it keeps its place, not bleeding into the mids, and the headphone does indeed sport superior control over the bass section. Really, the best bass control I've ever heard. I just realized how much better a nice clean and fast bass response sounds. It's just that the quantity of that bass is minuscule. So, in short, the bass quality is there, the quantity is...where? Not there. I'm not a bass head or anything, I certainly don't like a ton of bass. But I could only hear the bass well enough if I really listened to it and searched for it. When casually listening and not really paying absolute 100% attention to the way the headphone sounds, I can't help but feel that the bass is a little too light. Next, the highs of this headphone were good too, not sibilant or anything. Just ok. Mariah Carey's voice, for example, was really good but just as much as my M50 could do (maybe a wee bit better sounding, but not much, maybe the highs on the HE-500 were 15% better than the M50). In My Honest and Most Humble Opinion, I feel that I actually prefer my good old ATH-M50 for the following reasons: In short, there are simply not enough pros to combat the cons on the HE-500 to make it truly superior to the M50. I'm just so disappointed, sorry guys who worship this thing. The entire headphone's sound signature was simply lackluster. The bass was fast, tight, and very controlled, but there was not nearly enough of it. Even though the bass was very good quality, the quantity of that bass was so low that the fact that there actually is bass in the M50s makes the bass on the M50s sound better. I like hearing the beat of my music. It makes the music actually feel alive, while the HE-500 is kinda limp and dead. Also, the sound stage. It's just as small as my M50s, which is small. Maybe on some songs it does seem a little bigger, but only just a little, and only on some songs. It's definitely not huge like people say just because these are open back headphones. Instrument placing and separation was noticeably better than my M50s. Maybe instrument placing was easier to identify and more pronounced than my M50s by say around 40%. I actually prefer on this headphone, but that is probably due to the placebo of expectation due to all the raving comments about the mids, the mids, the mids! But, not really. Maybe a minor improvement overall in the mids section. Again, uninspiring. The highs, same thing. Very small difference, if any. Negligible difference in the quality of the highs.
So to me, $500 is not a worthy investment for something that is in general only around 30% better than my M50s in terms of sound. Don't forget that these HE-500 also need more power, they're heavier (still comfortable, though. Just can't bob your head), and you can't take them out of the house, while, on the other hand, the M50s are ligher, you can take them out of the house, they don't need all the power in the world, they're relatively cheap, they're very durable, and they isolate sound.
But, to each his own. I'm sure that the vast majority of members here on Head-Fi will disagree with me, but hey, it's how I feel. It's what I hear. And I'm on a tight budget, remember?
The HE-500s aren't reall a quote-on-quote waste of money. To me they're not that bad but they're just not really worth it for the price that you have to pay. I just put that title in to get a little more attention
What do you all think? Does anybody else feel this way? Maybe I'll try the Sennheiser HD-650...but people compare that to the HE-500. If they sound similar, then I definitely won't buy those HD-650s either, even though they're the highest rated headphone in all of Head-Fi, according to the Headgear page of over-ear headphones arranged in order of highest raitng to lowest.
I think I'll return this headphone, unless someone wants to buy it from me. They're discontinued now and replaced with the HE-560, which costs a lot more, as it's new. If you want it, PM me. I'll probably keep the amp though. The Lyr has good reviews too. It doesn't sound bad or anything, and it's powerful. So it's kinda future-proof, in a way, in case I get any other hard to drive headphones. It was hard to decide on the Lyr 2 though. I really wanted to buy the Little Dot MK IV SE with its upgraded components, especially because it was quite a bit lower priced than the Lyr 2. But I ended up choosing the Lyr 2 because it has more power. MO POWA
I hope this was insightful in some way. Maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe I italicized too much. But this is a completely 100% honest review from an average guy.
End review.
*http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/10/you-are-not-so-smart-why-we-cant-tell-good-wine-from-bad/247240/
