[Skylab]

Quote:

out of the HE line up (he6,he5,he5le,he-500) will have the best bass?  I am a bass junkie but I don't need a sub next to my head.  The he-500 sound to my liking but I know it was said that the he-5le are the "darkest" of all the HE line up.  Would that mean that it would have the most bass impact, punch and depth?  

"Best bass" is too vague to answer.  The HE-6 has the most palpable deep bass, when driven properly.  But the HE-500 has more mid-upper bass weight.  The quality of the bass in terms of tightness and detail is best on the HE-6, but the HE-500 and HE-5LE are also truly excellent in this regard.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Thanks for the reply Skylap.  Ok well now between the he-500 and the he-5le which is more versatile with many genres?  I like the way the he-500 has been described but the price range between the 2 is a factor I'm looking at.  But also from what I've read... the he-500 is easier driven than the he-5le.  I am willing to fork out the money for the he-500 if it is versatile with music but than I'd need a good amp/dac.  
But what is your impression on the versatility of genres and driving difficulty between the both?  I butchered that question about the driving difficulty but I meant which is easier to drive.  Sorry. 

 
Quote:

"Best bass" is too vague to answer.  The HE-6 has the most palpable deep bass, when driven properly.  But the HE-500 has more mid-upper bass weight.  The quality of the bass in terms of tightness and detail is best on the HE-6, but the HE-500 and HE-5LE are also truly excellent in this regard.

 

 

[eclein]

I just got some HE-5LE's yesterday and have a Lyr in waiting but I've been driving them with the MP-301MK2 Skylab helped me outfit with tubes and it drives these cans with no problem at all, I was surprised and may even put the Lyr on hold now. I also watched some movies and listened through an old Kenwood AV receiver and although I had to really crank it up I still got exceptable gain and dynamics, I also hooked them up to a Fiio E11 and got enough gain with that also, like passable, so they love power but will sound good with almost any decent amp....each of those three got the headphones to a level where I was satisfied, right before the too loud threshold for me.
 Just wanted to add that for you and hey Skylab thanks for hooking me up with the Mullards...awesome sound, just awesome....

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Thanks for the reply Skylap.  Ok well now between the he-500 and the he-5le which is more versatile with many genres?  I like the way the he-500 has been described but the price range between the 2 is a factor I'm looking at.  But also from what I've read... the he-500 is easier driven than the he-5le.  I am willing to fork out the money for the he-500 if it is versatile with music but than I'd need a good amp/dac.  
But what is your impression on the versatility of genres and driving difficulty between the both?  I butchered that question about the driving difficulty but I meant which is easier to drive.  Sorry. 

 

 
IMHO the HE-500 is the better headphone, but while I never had them both at the same exact time to compare.
 
 

 

[grokit]

The HE-500 is also easier to drive than the HE-5LE.

 

[Hawaiiancerveza]

Yes it is.  Price can take a back seat because if anything I'd have to pay for something powerful enough to power the LE.  

 
Quote:

The HE-500 is also easier to drive than the HE-5LE.

 

 

[dpump]

I posted some time ago about my HE-500 measuring 34-ohms on one driver and 43-ohms on the other driver. However, I had not been able to hear any channel imbalance either with music or test cds. When I contacted Head-Direct customer service and they contacted Fang, he told me to send them back for exchange.
 
I kept using the phones since I hadn't put much time on them. As I kept checking the drivers, the 43-ohm one stayed about the same, but the 34-ohm driver kept measuring higher and higher until it was almost the same as the 43-ohm one. At that point, I stopped measuring. Last week I measured again and I'm back to the 34-43-ohm I started out with. I don't understand what is going on but I still don't hear any channel imbalance. I called Drew at Moon Audio but he has no idea either.
 
When I had an HE-5LE, they always measured about 42-ohms on each driver and never varied. There was another Head-Fier who had a larger difference than mine on his HE-500 and said he had a channel imbalance. He was waiting on a replacement driver from Head-Direct. Anyone have any ideas or want to report on the measurements on their HE-500?

 

[munchzilla]

so, hey HE-500 people...
I'm about to upgrade from HE-4 to HE-500, but since I will be selling my amp + headphones as a package deal I kind of need a new amp too.
 
what I'm looking for is basically something warm-ish that does not hide the mids like I feel my current headphone kind of does. also this setup is a bit on the bright side, though very very good.
though I really value detail a lot, so I suppose I want something quite balanced. warm and detailed? that works good with instruments like violins and piano preferably.
would probably not want to spend more than say $400 though I would honestly prefer even less, used is not a problem if it's not too hard to find in that pricerange.
(since I've heard people get not-horrible results with HE-500 directly to an iPhone, I don't know if the amp is where to spend the money on but please feel free to correct me)
 
was looking at the Schiit amps but I have no clue what they are like. I got the impression they are good but meant to be used with very demanding headphones, which HE-500 does not seem to be.
tubes? never really got the chance to try a tube amp long enough to comment, but the hybrids I have heard sound quite nice.
well really, I am clueless. any help is good help here.
 
thanks!

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
I paired my HE-500 with the Lyr and it's been absolutely generous and loving to my ears. The He-500 actually loves having a ton of power. The HE-500's may not be as inefficient as the HE-6, but they do actually take a ton of power. I noticed on a lower solid state amp (Matrix Cube) and the Little Dot MK III tube amp that my HE-500 was under powered, clipped on some bass tones and volumes. Folk said it was sufficient, so I just went with it. The volume was there, it got that, but it was obviously under powered. Went straight to the Lyr. No power issues now. Plenty of power. Highly recommended for Ortho. By the way, the Lyr is good even for low impedance headphones. It will not damage them. That's internet myth. I tested it trying to blow some up. But the Lyr has a solid state buffer in there for this reason. It's an all around amp I found.
 
Very best,

 

[blankdisc]

HE-500 is a kind of warm-ish HP with super musical and smooth mids, so you don't really need to look for an amp to bring up the mids.
 
Although HE-500 is not as difficult to drive as its big brother HE-6, it still needs an amp for sure. It's more difficult to drive than LCD2. I can't even imagine driving HE-500 from an iPhone. Yes, you will get some sound, but not "music" if you know what i mean.
 
If you prefer a warm and sweet sounding, Hifiman EF5 is very good on that. See if you can find a used one, should be a lot cheaper than its retail price right now.
 
Lyr is also a fantastic choice. More powerful then EF5 which results in a more energetic sound. if you decide to upgrade to HE-6 later, then you wouldn't need to upgrade the amp again.
 
Quote:

so, hey HE-500 people...
I'm about to upgrade from HE-4 to HE-500, but since I will be selling my amp + headphones as a package deal I kind of need a new amp too.
 
what I'm looking for is basically something warm-ish that does not hide the mids like I feel my current headphone kind of does. also this setup is a bit on the bright side, though very very good.
though I really value detail a lot, so I suppose I want something quite balanced. warm and detailed? that works good with instruments like violins and piano preferably.
would probably not want to spend more than say $400 though I would honestly prefer even less, used is not a problem if it's not too hard to find in that pricerange.
(since I've heard people get not-horrible results with HE-500 directly to an iPhone, I don't know if the amp is where to spend the money on but please feel free to correct me)
 
was looking at the Schiit amps but I have no clue what they are like. I got the impression they are good but meant to be used with very demanding headphones, which HE-500 does not seem to be.
tubes? never really got the chance to try a tube amp long enough to comment, but the hybrids I have heard sound quite nice.
well really, I am clueless. any help is good help here.
 
thanks!

 

 

[munchzilla]

hmm, 2 votes for Lyr - and that's the one I've been eyeing. I think I may just go for this one, seems like a good working choice. 

energetic sound is quite what I like about the HE-4, and well, the HE-500 seem to be about as good. so it sounds perfect to me.
 
(that iPhone comment was pretty much was that you get sound, but yeah, not well sounding. I got *very* bad results with HE-4 straight out of one)
 
though I don't think I want it too warm, which you seem to think the EF5 is... so I think I'm ruling out that one. AND the Lyr looks nice too!
 
so, that will be on my list then! Thanks guys!

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

Heya,
 
I paired my HE-500 with the Lyr and it's been absolutely generous and loving to my ears. The He-500 actually loves having a ton of power. The HE-500's may not be as inefficient as the HE-6, but they do actually take a ton of power. I noticed on a lower solid state amp (Matrix Cube) and the Little Dot MK III tube amp that my HE-500 was under powered, clipped on some bass tones and volumes. Folk said it was sufficient, so I just went with it. The volume was there, it got that, but it was obviously under powered. Went straight to the Lyr. No power issues now. Plenty of power. Highly recommended for Ortho. By the way, the Lyr is good even for low impedance headphones. It will not damage them. That's internet myth. I tested it trying to blow some up. But the Lyr has a solid state buffer in there for this reason. It's an all around amp I found.
 
Very best,

It's not a myth; it happened to me and MacedonianHero with Edition 8s, that's why Schiit added that buffer which wasn't in the earlier models. It's a well-known secret, and they did the same thing with the Asgard. I had a feeling that it would be a very good amp for the HE-500 though, thanks for confirming that but please stop spreading disinformation as there are plenty of earlier models out there. Btw the HE-500 is low impedance, the concern is with highly efficient low impedance headphones.

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

 

It's not a myth; it happened to me and MacedonianHero with Edition 8s, that's why Schiit added that buffer which wasn't in the earlier models. It's a well-known secret, and they did the same thing with the Asgard. I had a feeling that it would be a very good amp for the HE-500 though, thanks for confirming that but please stop spreading disinformation as there are plenty of earlier models out there. Btw the HE-500 is low impedance, the concern is with highly efficient low impedance headphones.

Heya,
 
Yes, the previous version did. Buying a new one does not have this issue. It's not spreading misinformation. I'm simply not spreading past faulty hardware information as if all Lyrs have that issue (and Schiit unfortunately still advertises on their website that the Lyr might damage headphones, which is not going to happen). There's a difference. And yes, thanks for the correction on low impedance vs efficient low impedance terminology.
 
Anyhow, yes, the HE-500 and Lyr are a great match. It's very warm and musical. I absolutely adore listening to Bach Cello Suites (the CD's, not MP3's) on them. It's bliss.
 
Very best,

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

Heya,
 
Yes, the previous version did. Buying a new one does not have this issue. It's not spreading misinformation. I'm simply not spreading past faulty hardware information as if all Lyrs have that issue (and Schiit unfortunately still advertises on their website that the Lyr might damage headphones, which is not going to happen). There's a difference. And yes, thanks for the correction on low impedance vs efficient low impedance terminology.
 
Anyhow, yes, the HE-500 and Lyr are a great match. It's very warm and musical. I absolutely adore listening to Bach Cello Suites (the CD's, not MP3's) on them. It's bliss.
 
Very best,

Right. As there is no way to differentiate without knowing the serial number cutoff (anybody?) or opening it up to identify the buffer (pics please!), anybody buying a used Lyr or that has a first-run model still has to be very careful; but as you say this isn't a concern with current models.
 
My point though was that it isn't a myth, it did happen to some very expensive headphones in at least couple of cases. You didn't say new models so you were implying that they are all safe to use this way, and that the issue never happened at all with the myth comment.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 

Right. As there is no way to differentiate without knowing the serial number cutoff (anybody?) or opening it up to identify the buffer (pics please!), anybody buying a used Lyr or that has a first-run model still has to be very careful; but as you say this isn't a concern with current models.
 
My point though was that it isn't a myth, it did happen to some very expensive headphones in at least couple of cases. You didn't say new models so you were implying that they are all safe to use this way, and that the issue never happened at all with the myth comment.

Word.
 
I am never plugging in my Ed. 8LEs or my HF-2s into my Lyr. Thankfully my WA22 is right here too.