I haven’t done a review in quite a while. The truth is that I pretty much dropped out of the headphone scene for the last couple of years. My preference has been speakers and with my kids away at college, the need for headphones has diminished to the point that I don’t need to worry about making noise at night. I still have friends that I met during my years on Head-Fi who are still into cans so I have been close to up to date with the new stuff coming out like the LCD-2, 3 and the various HiFiMAN offerings. I went to RMAF in ’10 and spent a decent amount of time in the Head-Fi room which was the first time I had an opportunity to listen to these new planar headphones. Having organized a bunch of meets and CanJam ’08, I had become friendly with Fang at Head-Direct. I always found him to be one of the good guys and supported his products when they were to my liking.
I have had some pretty amazing headphone rigs including the Eddie Current Zana Deux, Headamp Blue Hawaii, KGSS and so many others that I have forgotten many of them. I’ve also had SR-Omega (one of my favorite headphones), PS-1, O2, Qualia, various Sennheiser, including the Baby Orpheus. I mention this only to point out that I have had experience with some fairly high end gear as a point of comparison.
My current set up is the HE-500 out of a modded Melos SHA-Gold. My source is an Oppo BDP-95. I cannot emphasize enough what a great sounding and versatile source the Oppo is and that is coming from a Sonic Studio Amarra 4. There came a point in the last 6 months or so that I decided that headphones had a place in my system. They were good enough in their own right that I realized it was did not have to be a choice between speaker or headphones as they could coexist. Jp11801 organized a small meet a few months ago and I decided I would take the opportunity to put together a rig. We had the LCD-2, HD-800, HD-500 and some Stax gear (probably O2/BHSE) in attendance so I had some decent gear to compare in deciding which direction to go. Of the various headphones I tried out the HE-500 was the one which reminded me most of my speakers, which are Aurum Cantus 3VM’s. My speakers are just all around good performers, lacking in no one area and they seem to do everything right. They are not perfect but just sound good to my ears.
This brings me to the HE-500. I put them on and tried them in the Melos, which was jp11801’s at the time, a Woo WA-6SE and probably one other amp but do not recall which one. It immediately struck me how much the HE-500 shared a sound signature with my speakers, at least to me. The sound was not colored but not completely neutral either. The upper and lower extremes were extended enough to my satisfaction. I’m 51, enjoy rock (deadhead) but I primarily listen to jazz so I do not require bass to the point of pain. I had that with a pair of Ultrasone Edition 9’s and realized the bass was so deep they were painful to use. I have not forgotten the mids, which are just amazing. I have a cd called Best Audiophile Voices which is all female vocals, like Jane Monheit, Eva Cassidy, Allison Krause and others. I can listen to that cd with the HE-500 over and over. The music and its reproduction is that good.
In terms of bass, I listened to some of my favorites like Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten (the two of them do a song on Wooten Across America called Miller Time that just sounds amazing). I also listen to a lot of Christian McBride and Ray Brown. The bass is deep and tight. I never find myself thinking that the low end is muddy or sloppy. Perfect no, but I’m not sure I would know perfect if I heard it. The HE-500 are just enjoyable. I never think there is something is missing when using them, which has been an issue with other headphones out there. The sound stage is not too up front but also not so spread out that you lose touch with the music. I am not into the extremes. I much prefer a more balanced sound.
I don’t have anything to use for a comparison and my general memory, let alone my music memory is not great. I decide something is good based upon how it sounds to me. I did do some back and forth with the LCD-2 and the HE-500. Both were in my price range and the HE-500 was my preference. Does that mean they are better? To me the HE-500 is the better headphone, but to others maybe not so much. One thing I have always believed is that you need to listen for yourself. This stuff is so subjective that what is great to one person may be the worst thing someone else has ever heard. I also felt the HE-500 was more comfortable, which is only an issue when listening for long periods of time.
Needless to say, I really like the HE-500 and at its current price it is a bargain. I am currently using it with an under $1000 amp and I have no complaints. I also used it for a while with a Zana Deux which I had here for a few weeks and this was an excellent combination. I highly recommend the HE-500 with this one grain of salt, give it a try and see if they are right for you. Reviews should only be guides to the answer, not the answer itself.
