Which is better value, k712 or he-500?
Cyber monday is finally here and the best price for the k712 is $375 and he-500 is $699
Ive heard both on the same setup and it really depends... I would say that K712 Pro are the better value.
HE-500 are amazing for their very natural frequency response... And they have that orthodynamic transparency. On the other hand, they are not technically that much impressive. They are superior soundwise to K712 Pro but not by much, surprisingly. I was expecting a bit more from them to be honest.
K712 Pro are very pleasing due to their very well balanced FR (not as extremely balanced as with HE-500 but still really versatile) and they beat HE-500 badly in soundstage department (better imaging, better separation, better dimensionality in width and depth, height being the same roughly). They do not reach as low in bass as HE-500 but the bass is equally tight as with HE-500. Voices are where you could find HE-500 significantly better - HE-500 have beautiful, non-sibilant vocals while K712 Pro's vocalrs are a bit forward to shouty sounding. And you can spot a bit of sibilance as well... But its not as bad as it seems - I am just nitpicking.
K712 Pro are significantly more compact and comfortable while HE-500 are a bit heavy and their headband is quite odd - it could happen that people with "thinner" head could struggle to find a good fit.