[gauchotodd]

I just picked up a pair of HE-500s and ordered a custom JDS amp/dac (which somehow amazingly made it from the cart to shipped in under an hour, and from IL to my desk in HI in almost exactly 48 hours), and can't help but feel a bit underwhelmed. Wanted to give my impressions to see if anyone has had similar experience and maybe get some feedback on it.
 
I really don't have much experience with high-end gear, but I do have pretty sensitive ears. My last setup was the the over-ear Momentums and the Dragonfly, which is great for on the go, but I wanted to finally get a nicer at-home setup. I mostly stream 320kbps, and while the Hifimans are a definite improvement, but the two biggest things leaving me wishing I had saved and waited for the HE-560s are the lack of transparency and naturalness. They have maybe 10 hours of burn-in so far (I don't leave them on if I'm not using them, just my thing I suppose) so I'm expecting and looking forward to them smoothing out more and hopefully getting more detailed. Still, I'm skeptical that they'll ever make me feel totally immersed.
 
I switched the pleather pads for the velour and, even expecting a big difference, was really surprised how much the sound changed. With the velour, the treble is forward and the bass is recessed; with the pleather, the bass punches much more and the mids are recessed. I can't help but find this really odd, again even expecting a big change. Additionally, with the velour pads, there are more details, yet it's a bit muddy; with the pleather, less detailed but less muddy... and in both cases not very smooth or natural.
Edit: I changed my mind: the pleather are just as muddy, if not a bit more so even.
 
The biggest issue though is the discomfort, especially with the velour pads. Those things are just an absolute nightmare to deal with, and even though overall they sound better, I had to switch back to the pleather. These are pretty manageable, but not quite as enjoyable sonically, though I do prefer their bass presentation. I really can't believe how bad the 'phones want to hang even at the tightest setting, and it's not like I have a small head or something. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on some alpha pads sooner rather than later and see what that does. I've heard they improve sound quality considerably as well, but I'm skeptical about that for some reason too.
 
Anyway, just wanted to see if it's pretty normal to be feeling like these are underperforming, and what else I can try to get the most out of these cans. I compared some 320kbps tracks to FLAC ones and can hear more of a difference than I was able to with the Momentums, but nowhere near enough to justify dropping thousands on building a FLAC collection (yet). The last thing I wanted to note is that it sounds noticeably better with the higher gain setting, which also surprised me since I saw so many people say that the lower gain drives them perfectly well, which volume-wise it does for me since I tend to listen at lower volumes anyway. But the performance increase is immediate with more power.

 

[ieee754]

I have HE-560 which has the same sensitivity/impedance as HE-500, and I listen most of the time from JDS O2+ODAC with knob at 8-9 o'clock at 2.5x gain, which is loud enough for me. Perhaps it is something broken in your headphone/amp if you cant get enough power with it?
 
Another thing - don't use 6.5x gain in O2 with ODAC - it will clip the input and cause a lot of audible sound degradation (this is especially apparent with bassy EDM music). Also FLAC files shouldn't make any audible difference from MP3 so don't worry if you can't hear it.

 

[squareznboxez]

Thanks for the review, a mate of mine has the 500s paired with a Firestone Spitfire and Beyond HD combo, the first thing i noticed is how heavy they are?  Coming from Audio Technicas and Beyerdynamics, i found them very weighty on the noggin, the head clamp was pleasantly pressured though so no complaints there

 

[TheGame21x]

  I have HE-560 which has the same sensitivity/impedance as HE-500, and I listen most of the time from JDS O2+ODAC with knob at 8-9 o'clock at 2.5x gain, which is loud enough for me. Perhaps it is something broken in your headphone/amp if you cant get enough power with it?
 
Another thing - don't use 6.5x gain in O2 with ODAC - it will clip the input and cause a lot of audible sound degradation (this is especially apparent with bassy EDM music). Also FLAC files shouldn't make any audible difference from MP3 so don't worry if you can't hear it.

It should be noted that the clipping can be eliminated by lowering the system volume about 9 - 12 decibels, which, if you're using the ODAC in 24 bit mode, won't cause you to lose any bits of resolution.

 

[gauchotodd]

  Perhaps it is something broken in your headphone/amp if you cant get enough power with it?
FLAC files shouldn't make any audible difference from MP3 so don't worry if you can't hear it.

I'm getting plenty of power from it in either setting, I just noticed it sounded better from the higher gain. And I definitely notice a difference with FLAC files being more detailed, but it doesn't make the headphones sound any more transparent to me.
 

  Thanks for the review, a mate of mine has the 500s paired with a Firestone Spitfire and Beyond HD combo, the first thing i noticed is how heavy they are?  Coming from Audio Technicas and Beyerdynamics, i found them very weighty on the noggin, the head clamp was pleasantly pressured though so no complaints there

They are really heavy, almost comically so... but once on my head, the weight and pressure doesn't bother me so much as the fact that they want to pull down so it's hard to keep them in place, and they like to pull down on the ears too. The velour pads move around so much that it's pretty much impossible for me to keep a good fit.
 

 
It should be noted that the clipping can be eliminated by lowering the system volume about 9 - 12 decibels, which, if you're using the ODAC in 24 bit mode, won't cause you to lose any bits of resolution.

I have it in 24-bit with system volume around 50-60%

 

[ieee754]

  I'm getting plenty of power from it in either setting, I just noticed it sounded better from the higher gain. And I definitely notice a difference with FLAC files being more detailed, but it doesn't make the headphones sound any more transparent to me.

Well, usually anything sounds better with higher volume. And if you hear more detail in FLAC files then I guess you must have golden ears! Personally I can't tell any difference between properly done 128kbps MP3 and FLAC in ABX testing

 

 

[ieee754]

 
It should be noted that the clipping can be eliminated by lowering the system volume about 9 - 12 decibels, which, if you're using the ODAC in 24 bit mode, won't cause you to lose any bits of resolution.

log10(6.5/2.5) = 4.1dB, so that should be enough to remove clipping from input. I don't know how OP's volume mixer works, but if it's like perceived volume, i.e. 50% = -10dB, the scale should be log2(volume) * (-10dB) where volume is a number from 0 to 1. Now inverting the equation we get volume = 2^(-0.41) = 0,75 = 75%, that seems to be safe to use with high gain.

 

[gauchotodd]

  Well, usually anything sounds better with higher volume. And if you hear more detail in FLAC files then I guess you must have golden ears! Personally I can't tell any difference between properly done 128kbps MP3 and FLAC in ABX testing

 

It definitely has more instrumental depth and sustain. I suppose I'd have to spend more time with more artists to discover the extent of the noticeable difference!

 

[gauchotodd]

I replaced the stock earpads with the Alpha Dog ones, and I'm really happy with the result. It's so much more comfortable than the pleather pads, and gives a great seal without too much pressure, which I'm pretty sensitive to. The sound signature is much better across the board than with both the pleather and velour pads. It's much more even and balanced, with the mids being just a bit forward as I expected to hear from the reviews I read before getting them. Everything sounds more detailed and accurate, and much of the muddy quality I heard with the stock pads is gone. It could still be more detailed and natural, but the big thing that's lacking still is transparency... it just doesn't bring me into it nearly as much as I'd hoped. But I do still need another 100 hours of burn-in.
 
With these earpads making such a difference, I'm starting to wonder how much upgrading the cable would also make a difference. Can anyone point me toward some feedback or recommendations on cables? I took a quick look at the HE-500 thread but 15,000 posts is an awful lot to sift through!

 

[ieee754]

 
With these earpads making such a difference, I'm starting to wonder how much upgrading the cable would also make a difference.

Pads make a difference, because they affect the way how sound waves get into your ear. Cables however, can't make any difference, at least for audio. Plain and cheap cables can transport even very high frequencies (up to mega hertz) accurately, so I think that any difference people attribute to headphone cables are placebo.

 

[gauchotodd]

  Well, usually anything sounds better with higher volume. And if you hear more detail in FLAC files then I guess you must have golden ears! Personally I can't tell any difference between properly done 128kbps MP3 and FLAC in ABX testing

 

After much more 320 vs FLAC comparison, I think I must have had some sort of background noise or distraction, because I can't hear any difference now. Checked the same three tracks (from 311's new album) last night and just now with both the Momentums and the HE500s and couldn't even hear the slightest difference. Maybe I was even hearing a little bit of burn-in as it was happening, who knows...
 

  Pads make a difference, because they affect the way how sound waves get into your ear. Cables however, can't make any difference, at least for audio. Plain and cheap cables can transport even very high frequencies (up to mega hertz) accurately, so I think that any difference people attribute to headphone cables are placebo.

So what's all the hype about then?