[ModMax]

I am advised by a professional headphone reviewer from a reputable site to purchase the Alpha Primes over the HE-560 for a better all-rounder type phone - i.e. more suitable for a wide variety of musical genres.  Can anyone who has heard both comment on their impressions of the Alpha Primes vs HE-560m their opinion on which is a better value overall, and which is better suited as an all-rounder type phone?

 

[Bill-P]

Yep.
 
Get the HE-560. I don't know which professional reviewer this is, but I'd respectfully disagree with him, and cite the fact that in terms of technical specifications alone, the HE-560 is already superior to the Alpha Prime.
 
Without resorting to hard data and numbers, my subjective impressions of the Alpha Prime is that its bass is lacking, generally very flimsy sounding although extension is quite good. Midrange on the Prime sounds weird and wonky, peaky, not smooth/refined/even. It's fairly "textured" probably as a result of some high amount of distortion, but it's really not the "right" representation of vocals IMO, unless one listens to primarily rock music with an insane amount of distortion. Treble on the Prime is also almost non-existent, but it still somehow manages to sound sibilant. It's a dark and peaky headphone from my subjective impressions.
 
The HE-560 has a larger soundstage, much fuller, more impactful, extended bass, more natural, smooth, refined vocals, and extended but not peaky or sibilant treble/
 
For the record, I did like the Alpha Dogs. I even wrote a raving review about it. But I honestly think the Alpha Prime is worse than the Alpha Dogs, by far.
 
I also have quite a few things to say about Dan's revelation recently regarding his V-Planar technique/technology, but I would prefer to not make it look like I have a bone to pick with Dan. I respect Dan, and I happen to think he's a nice guy, but I don't think his Alpha Prime is a good move at all.

 

[money4me247]

lol, this is totally a subjective opinion, but i am a bit iffy with the company's approach. the fostex trp50 is a decade plus old sub-$50 pair of headphones... how does it become a $1000 pair of headphones? I think the price seems extremely inflated.

also, i am extremely skeptical of some of objective merits of some of the mods implemented. the use of tuning dots from my understanding has been declared by some audio engineers to be 'snake oil.'

do note i havent heard the primes personally, but i am personally extremely wary of them due to how the costs do not seem justified to me and the objective validity of some of the mods.

 

[cs098]

  I am advised by a professional headphone reviewer from a reputable site to purchase the Alpha Primes over the HE-560 for a better all-rounder type phone - i.e. more suitable for a wide variety of musical genres.  Can anyone who has heard both comment on their impressions of the Alpha Primes vs HE-560m their opinion on which is a better value overall, and which is better suited as an all-rounder type phone?

The reviewer liked the primes due to the more overall involving sound, but you'd lose the more accurate, natural sound the 560s offers.
 
If you want almost neutral reference quality sound, the 560s is the best headphone you can get under 1k. However some people do like the colourations the primes have to offer but that will be more hit and miss.

 

[TMRaven]

I'll be getting a chance to audition some Alpha Primes within a month or two, should be eventful.  Unfortunately I've heard nothing but bad things about the one going around for auditioning.  The owner thought it sounded extremely off and returned it to Dan.  Dan said that unit was very wrong, and supposedly fixed it and sent it back to the owner, but it appears that unit is still very off sounding.
 
I'm also very skeptical of the pleating that Dan has done to the T50RP driver.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Kind of sad to hear this about the primes. I thought people were in general very impressed with them? Hopefully if the tuning is off Dan can bring the design back around. I do also feel that modding such an inexpensive headphone into such an expensive one is somewhat concerning, but again, the cost is certainly related to the extensive hand work that is required, Still, the 560 can be had for less and they are well vetted as an exceptional sounding headphone.

 

[headwhacker]

lol, this is totally a subjective opinion, but i am a bit iffy with the company's approach. the fostex trp50 is a decade plus old sub-$50 pair of headphones... how does it become a $1000 pair of headphones? I think the price seems extremely inflated.

also, i am extremely skeptical of some of objective merits of some of the mods implemented. the use of tuning dots from my understanding has been declared by some audio engineers to be 'snake oil.'

do note i havent heard the primes personally, but i am personally extremely wary of them due to how the costs do not seem justified to me and the objective validity of some of the mods.

 
My sentiments as well. Fostex should have done something already and capitalize if all they need is to fine tune there own driver and sell it for 1K.

 

[Bill-P]

They already did. It's called the Fostex TH500RP.
 
But really, there is only so much you can extract out of a small and old driver. They would be much better off designing something new and bigger to optimize for sound quality.

 

[nos024]

  I am advised by a professional headphone reviewer from a reputable site to purchase the Alpha Primes over the HE-560 for a better all-rounder type phone - i.e. more suitable for a wide variety of musical genres.  Can anyone who has heard both comment on their impressions of the Alpha Primes vs HE-560m their opinion on which is a better value overall, and which is better suited as an all-rounder type phone?

The HE-560 can be somewhat boring because for the most part, it is neutral sounding.  If you are looking at a more "colored" and "more bass" try looking at the HE-500.  I dont know much about the Alpha Primes, but I have owned the HE-4, demoed the HE-500, and currently own the HE-560, and I would rank them as about all the same, but different beast for different music taste.  The HE-4 and HE-500 have a smaller soundstage so you get more "intimate" with the music you listen to, and don't particularly work well for gaming and movies (simulated surround).  The HE-560 seems a bit boring and underwhelming at first because not any spectrum frequency stands out.  But it seem to have a much wider soundstage and much more airy than the HE-4 and HE-500.  
 
The one thing that I really like about the HE-560 is the quality of timbre.  When you listen to live recordings, you can identify the coarseness (texture?) of a singer's voice, identify the quality of the bass, the quality of the drums, etc.  It just adds to the overall sound that never seems to be captured by technical measurements.  The bass quality is a very odd beast.  In some songs it seems a bit weak, but whenever I listen to my Motown or R&B collections, the bass hits heavy and satisfying.
 
You won't go wrong with the HE-560 IMO, but you should demo for your own music taste and what sound signature you prefer.  Don't overlook the HE-500 (If you havent tried that already).

 

[pedalhead]

  The HE-560 can be somewhat boring because for the most part, it is neutral sounding.  If you are looking at a more "colored" and "more bass" try looking at the HE-500.  I dont know much about the Alpha Primes, but I have owned the HE-4, demoed the HE-500, and currently own the HE-560, and I would rank them as about all the same, but different beast for different music taste.  The HE-4 and HE-500 have a smaller soundstage so you get more "intimate" with the music you listen to, and don't particularly work well for gaming and movies (simulated surround).  The HE-560 seems a bit boring and underwhelming at first because not any spectrum frequency stands out.  But it seem to have a much wider soundstage and much more airy than the HE-4 and HE-500.  
 
The one thing that I really like about the HE-560 is the quality of timbre.  When you listen to live recordings, you can identify the coarseness (texture?) of a singer's voice, identify the quality of the bass, the quality of the drums, etc.  It just adds to the overall sound that never seems to be captured by technical measurements.  The bass quality is a very odd beast.  In some songs it seems a bit weak, but whenever I listen to my Motown or R&B collections, the bass hits heavy and satisfying.
 
You won't go wrong with the HE-560 IMO, but you should demo for your own music taste and what sound signature you prefer.  Don't overlook the HE-500 (If you havent tried that already).

 
Excellent summing up of the HE-560...100% agreed.

 

[Stillhart]

  The HE-560 can be somewhat boring because for the most part, it is neutral sounding.  If you are looking at a more "colored" and "more bass" try looking at the HE-500.  I dont know much about the Alpha Primes, but I have owned the HE-4, demoed the HE-500, and currently own the HE-560, and I would rank them as about all the same, but different beast for different music taste.  The HE-4 and HE-500 have a smaller soundstage so you get more "intimate" with the music you listen to, and don't particularly work well for gaming and movies (simulated surround).  The HE-560 seems a bit boring and underwhelming at first because not any spectrum frequency stands out.  But it seem to have a much wider soundstage and much more airy than the HE-4 and HE-500.  
 
The one thing that I really like about the HE-560 is the quality of timbre.  When you listen to live recordings, you can identify the coarseness (texture?) of a singer's voice, identify the quality of the bass, the quality of the drums, etc.  It just adds to the overall sound that never seems to be captured by technical measurements.  The bass quality is a very odd beast.  In some songs it seems a bit weak, but whenever I listen to my Motown or R&B collections, the bass hits heavy and satisfying.
 
You won't go wrong with the HE-560 IMO, but you should demo for your own music taste and what sound signature you prefer.  Don't overlook the HE-500 (If you havent tried that already).

 
It's interesting to me that anyone would call the HE-560 "boring".  It's definitely more of a reference sound than most folks are used to, but if you want boring, try the LCD-2f or LCD-3.  The HE-560 is reference, but with enough personality to keep it just on the fun side of boring.  FWIW, it also scales well with a good DAC and Amp.  The NFB-28 is no Ragnarok/Yggdrasil, but it sure makes the HE-560 sound good!

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
It's interesting to me that anyone would call the HE-560 "boring".  It's definitely more of a reference sound than most folks are used to, but if you want boring, try the LCD-2f or LCD-3.  The HE-560 is reference, but with enough personality to keep it just on the fun side of boring.  FWIW, it also scales well with a good DAC and Amp.  The NFB-28 is no Ragnarok/Yggdrasil, but it sure makes the HE-560 sound good!

Have to agree, boring isn't a word I can imagine applying to the 560, but I get what the OP was getting at. They are fairly neutral with an overall balanced feel. It also depends if your coming from a warm, fun sound. I was spending a few days with the Sony MDR 1A on for several hours (quite rare for me). As the 1A is a very fun signature, but not smeared garbage at all IMO, once I went back to the 560 I felt that the bass wasn't as present. Of course the bass is much more articulate and faithful on the 560, and I would take it any day over the 1A, but that fun, warm signature is indeed very engaging so I could see how somebody accustomed to a signature like that might be a little off-put by the 560s presentation at first. Love the 560, and next week I will have my ZMF x Vibro to enjoy as well. I like the idea of having two solid, but different signatures on hand.

 

[money4me247]

Have to agree, boring isn't a word I can imagine applying to the 560, but I get what the OP was getting at. They are fairly neutral with an overall balanced feel. It also depends if your coming from a warm, fun sound. I was spending a few days with the Sony MDR 1A on for several hours (quite rare for me). As the 1A is a very fun signature, but not smeared garbage at all IMO, once I went back to the 560 I felt that the bass wasn't as present. Of course the bass is much more articulate and faithful on the 560, and I would take it any day over the 1A, but that fun, warm signature is indeed very engaging so I could see how somebody accustomed to a signature like that might be a little off-put by the 560s presentation at first. Love the 560, and next week I will have my ZMF x Vibro to enjoy as well. I like the idea of having two solid, but different signatures on hand.

I actually think "boring" is the perfect word to describe the he560.

so with v-shaped headphones, you get that extra excitement from the extra thumping bass and brighter treble focus. mid-centric your attention is directed onto the guitars.

with the he560, the focus is not particularly on any specific region of the frequency response...

the excitement and focus ONLY comes from the MUSIC PLAYING... not the headphones. it is actually quite a cool experience once you adjust to the neutral sound signature sound.

music sounds more exciting when certain parts of the frequency response are emphasized. with you take away the headphone's coloration of the music, you only hear the excitement when the song calls for excitement.

the headphones can be called boring as they do NOT focus or emphasize anything themselves, they do NOT add excitement when there is no excitement in the song... rather they allow the music to focus & emphasize naturally as the song progresses.

it is pretty cool way to listen to music! you shld at least try em to see. i dont think there is a 'best way' or 'best sound signature.' just depends what you are looking for!

 

[StanD]

What's so exciting about a V or U shaped response? The treble usually gets a bit grating and a booming bass that doesn't allow the distinction of musical notes is not something that I would look forward to. The suppressed mids changes the coloration of voices and many musical instruments. I'll have to pass on this.
If anything I will EQ up the sub bass but not allow it to bleed above.

 

[cs098]

Agreed, I always had problems with colorations. Even though certain aspects of the sound sound better than it should with colored sound, it's always counterbalanced with some parts of the sound that is worse than normal. 
 
With my previous t90s it was the distant mids, with the grado rs2e it was the bass quantity and with the hd 650 it was the treble detail. The he 560s however, while nothing stands out, nothing is a huge problem either, though I feel like that is something you would only appreciate if you tried every other sound sig there is.