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New Hifiman HE-5LE planar magnetic headphone
Nov 16, 2013 at 12:19 PM Post #1,876 of 1,933
Nov 16, 2013 at 12:53 PM Post #1,877 of 1,933
preproman said:
Yeah Clem,

The 5LEs are a little better 5.  This is going from audio memory not side by side.  I should send you the 5s so you can do a side by side.  This is a used pair of course so the clamp is not as tight as I would like it to be.   Let me know..
Click to expand...


I appreciate the offer but I'm still struggling to having my current setup working at its best.
It's way better than in France in terms if of harshness, glare and all these nasty stuff but I'm still having issues with the soundstage. It's too much in my head and the center stage is fuzzy (as in no imaging) because of that. Depth is clearly missing here.
Funny consequence: I actually prefer the smaller sounding 5LEs to the 6s because the latter are even more distant on the sides (but not in depth) - they sound bigger than all the other Hifiman - and the center is even more fuzzy as a result.
I'm almost there, but not quite there yet!

Still, I can appreciate all the other aspects that make a headphone (voicing, details retrieval, extension...) different than the one next to it, but I really would like to hear the 5 in good conditions.

Do you think it is brighter than the 6s?

I recently got a SA-1 DAC which helps with brighter headphones ( I love it's tonality).
 
Dec 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM Post #1,878 of 1,933
I managed to find a pair of NEW "open box" HE-5LE's!!

Arrived Friday; I have done a bit of casual listening from the headphone output of my Marantz SA8004. The Marantz can drive them to moderate levels - but no more (not knocking the SA8004, it's not intended to be a 'phone amp). Even with less than satisfactory amplification the 5LE's sound very, very good, the tonal balance and speed are where I expected them to be.

I'll need to DIY an impedance matching box; will run them off of the 16 ohm tap of my tube amps, likely with a 30 ohm resistor paralleled. Hoping that I won't have to chase hum, I use AC heating on the DHT filaments (DIY push-pull 6B4G amps; 6B4G = 6.3v filament 2A3).

I was seriously disappointed when the 5LE's were disco'd, my finances had more important priorities at the time. I would imagine its sales were cannibalized from both ends, the mid-budget folks moving down to the easier to drive HE-500 while the folks with the financial wherewithal to drive them went up to the HE-6. Too bad, kind of left a mid-budget hole for DIY types.

Glad I was able to score a pair "new"!
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 7:07 PM Post #1,883 of 1,933
preproman said:
  I rate the this line like this.. HE-6 --> HE-5LE --> HE-5 --> HE-500 --> HE-4  All so close.  Did not like the HE400s at all.  I just might try to get the HE-5LEs back.
Click to expand...

I have now LCD-2.2, which is driven by Lyr with Telefunken and BDP-105.
In the same set-up, HE-5LE sounds better.
He-5les have more air with extension to slightly higher region.
They have more textured base than LCD-2.2.
 
Is it due to the amp and source of mine not matched well to LCD-2 or is there any other reason?
What is the ranking of LCD-2.2 among your rate in above?
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 7:24 PM Post #1,884 of 1,933
joong said:
  I have now LCD-2.2, which is driven by Lyr with Telefunken and BDP-105.
In the same set-up, HE-5LE sounds better.
He-5les have more air with extension to slightly higher region.
They have more textured base than LCD-2.2.
 
Is it due to the amp and source of mine not matched well to LCD-2 or is there any other reason?
What is the ranking of LCD-2.2 among your rate in above?
Click to expand...

 
Prep hates the LCD-2. He actually broke it open to get the cups and made two luxurious wood bracelet! That's how cruel he really is... 
biggrin.gif

 
I read the Lyr is a very warm amp so it pairs better with the "leaner" (less warm) of the two: in this case the HE-5LE.
With a Gugnir/Mjolnir stack, the LCD-2 would probably be the preferred one.
 
Audeze and Hifiman give an alternative for both the thick/dark/bass-heavy (think HD-650) and the bright/open/fast (think K-702/DT-880) headphone lovers, respectively.
The unfortunate consequence is that the furthest from neutral you are (think LCD-2 for the dark/warm side, HE-4 for the bright/airy side), the less neutral the rest of the setup will be (lean or warm DAC & amp) to compensate for this aspect. As a result, I can't imaging many people liking both headphones on the very same setup, with the same music.
 
This gap gets closer with the more neutral LCD-3 (now X) and HE-6 though.
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 7:31 PM Post #1,886 of 1,933
joong said:
  I have now LCD-2.2, which is driven by Lyr with Telefunken and BDP-105.
In the same set-up, HE-5LE sounds better.
He-5les have more air with extension to slightly higher region.
They have more textured base than LCD-2.2.
 
Is it due to the amp and source of mine not matched well to LCD-2 or is there any other reason?
What is the ranking of LCD-2.2 among your rate in above?
Click to expand...

 
 
Ha ha ha  what Clem said..  I rank them low.  I like air, space around the instruments and stuff like that.  I would rather not feel like i'm in a closed in closet with a pair of open headphones.  The best I've heard the LCD-2.2 was on the Mojo.  The Mojo can really open them up.  Put a Benchmark DAC or a Mytek DAC they might open up more.
 
Those LCDs sure does have good bass though...
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 11:18 PM Post #1,890 of 1,933
This is pure advertisement:
Is anyone interested by a pair of 5LEs with wonderful hardwired Norse Audio balanced cable (4-pins XLR, ~6ft / 2m)?

This is probably a mistake but these don't get much head time nowadays with the 6s around... I might get a HE-500 back or the LCD-X for my more romantic sessions :D
 
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