plin
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2010
- Posts
- 278
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- 19
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Quote:
Neither set is bright nor harsh, I think the HD650 bass is more splashy ( wet sounding is the best way I can describe it ) where as the HE500 is smooth, weighty and rock solid. Neither is fatiguing, the HE500 bass just like the LCD2 bass is well...er...just how bass should sound. Thats my take on it anyway. The HE500 trumps the HD650 in every way shape and form, it is more clear, more tonally balanced, more resolving, more detailed in every facet of sonic qualities your ears will pick up on. It is extremely evident the instant you plot the newer Orthos over your ears and try to go back to something like the HD650. You just can't...well, at least I can't lol
It seems that I have caused an unnecessary stir.
What I mean is this: HD-650 seems to my ears as having more distortion. I know this sounds silly, given the low distortion levels of HD-650, but it is how they are sounding to me compared to HE-500. This distortion gives some edginess to music like the edginess associated with rock or pop music. I cannot really explain it (and I am a technical kind of guy...).
I will try an analogy: it is like HD-650 has more ‘solid state’ type of sound where HE-500 has more ‘tube’ sound. The sound from HE-500 is more relaxed, more clear, makes me want to hear music in lesser sound levels, it calms me.
In contrast, with HD-650 I am usually hearing the same music in louder levels. With HD-650 music has more ‘edge’. By this I do not mean that it has more high frequency energy, I just mean that it is more distorted (to my ears at least).
Funny thing is that I originally choose HD-650 just for it’s mellowness. But, as they say, ‘the better is the enemy of the good’.
In the beginning, when I was hearing music in almost the same levels, HE-500’s sound was slightly (and I mean slightly) more fatiguing. Now, that I am used to its sound and I am hearing music in lesser sound levels with it, I am finding HE-500’s sound less fatiguing. Of course physically (weight, clamp and depth of pads) HD-650 is still less fatiguing.
I do find HD-650’s bass to be more controlled than HE-500, but in all other aspects (body, slam, extension, resolve etc) HE-500 wins HD-650’s bass easily. And I agree fully with swbf2cheater that 'HE500 trumps the HD650 in every way'.
