[maze]

I went to demo a pair of he 5le's for sale by a guy that purchased them direct from hong kong. To me they looked like a fake model and here are the reasons why.

A. the bill was from some hongkong store and said only $10 headphone, no mention of the model.
B. Just after the velour pads comes the headphone casing which was piano black and left finger marks. To me this looked like a he6 however it clearly said he5le on the side. From pictures it looks to me as though the he5le's have a matte finish on the side.
C. the stiching didn't look as pronounced compared to pictures on the web and they felt pretty light in weight.


They sounded okay coming from my Lyr amp but i declined on the purchase. The bass was quite anemic and the highs were super bright which was another indication of un-authenticity, however I've never heard a pair of planar magnetics before and would not be the best judge.

Do you think these were knockoff's?

 

[Audio-Omega]

My HE-5LE has matte finish on its casings.  They are not really black, not as black as the pads and they have a tint of brown under bright light.  It feels like they are coated with a thin layer of rubber much like some mobile phone cases.  

 

[bigheadhifi]

maybe it was an undervalued bill... some asian stores or distributors do that, so the customer wont have to pay big tax... it is with the customer agreement though.
 
as for the physicall appearence, I cant say much, cause i never really see or touch the he5 le

 

[Ypoknons]

Which store was the bill from?

 

[maze]

The bill was from hongkong???aiai or something like that didn't have all night to examine it. It also said commercial purchase on the recipt. Complete bogus bill.

 

[maze]

I just got a message back from Head-Direct, they are now using the piano black casings on the HE5LE, so my apologies for stirring any misconceptions.