[ScornDefeat]

Some reported arrival of the pre-ordered YH-5000se and open-box impressions. Actually, not much good impression (too dry, narrow sound stage, vague bass, etc.). Some of those who auditoned at the shops last week also mentioned "disappointed," contraly to the preferable comments in the series of audio-shows. This contrast suggests YH-5000SE demands at least a few hundred hours of burn-in. Needs time to see comprehensive and fair reviews.

Sadly, this doesn't surprise me much, as much as it hurts to admit (considering my considerable excitement for this). Almost every impression had somewhat alluded to dryness and light bass, along with general allusions to disappointment in quite a few.

Sounds like the Final D8000 could wind up being a better implementation of this development team's efforts than the 5000SE, despite all the extra years Yamaha put into fit and comfort.

 

[doctorK53]

Some reported arrival of the pre-ordered YH-5000se and open-box impressions. Actually, not much good impression (too dry, narrow sound stage, vague bass, etc.). Some of those who auditoned at the shops last week also mentioned "disappointed," contraly to the preferable comments in the series of audio-shows. This contrast suggests YH-5000SE demands at least a few hundred hours of burn-in. Needs time to see comprehensive and fair reviews.

Some of them already renewed their impressions and the changes are interesting (basically improvement). Next a few days I'll follow their comments and introduce here if I have time.

One common comment among early adapters and reviewers who repeated auditons is its high sensitivity to the environment such as power supply, source media, and amplifiers. Two of them mentioned it is like Utopia (1st gen).

 

[tcode]

I will never ever judge any headphones before properly burn in time. I almost sold my Meze Elites because of that. First 100 hrs they were lacking of sub bass, highs were so intense and harsh, 3d information was lean. I really hated them at that point. Today I can't imagine living without them, they are so tonally balanced and very capable of reproduce almost any genre perfectly.

 

[doctorK53]

I found Mr. Hadano, the Yamaha engineer, told it in the video about the shape of the film. I did a word-for-word translation of that part.

In a Japanese article on Yamaha's "TRUE SOUND team" posted in AV watch, Mr. Hadano, the main engineer in charge of the development of YH-5000SE, told a bit more about the driver and sensitivity to amplifiers;

" During the development of YH-5000SE, the TRUE SOUND team pointed out a large disparity of texture of bass by different amplifiers. So we added support to the diaphragm and adjusted the response. It is not always bad to be changed by the upstream devices, however, the prototype was reflecting the sound of the connected amplifiers too much. Then we tuned them into a bit relaxed direction. If I had developed the headphones alone, they would end up with too sensitive to amplifiers"

Mr. Sato in the video also said the final product was (still) very sensitive to the connected devices, such as cables, so they attached the best (expensive) cable in the package. These are consistent with the initial impressions of the early adopters. One already reported the sound changed a lot by a high-end cable of BriseAudio. We should remind the chains when we read reviews.

(The "TRUE SOUND team" is a kind of advisory committee consisting of several skilled engineers. They control the sound quality of all of the home audio products of the brand based on common criteria of the "true sound" concept (tonal balance, dynamics, and sound stage). It helps each development team throughout the development process, according to the above article. Mr. Hadano himself is one of the core members of the team. )

 

[doctorK53]

Yodobashi announced you should wait for shipment for four months. If you order now, you will get it in April.

They changed the info. Now it is "Delivery date undecided. Please allow us some time for delivery. It will be delivered as soon as it is in stock."
Hope it is earlier than April.

 

[HiFiDJ]

In a Japanese article on Yamaha's "TRUE SOUND team" posted in AV watch, Mr. Hadano, the main engineer in charge of the development of YH-5000SE, told a bit more about the driver and sensitivity to amplifiers;

" During the development of YH-5000SE, the TRUE SOUND team pointed out a large disparity of texture of bass by different amplifiers. So we added support to the diaphragm and adjusted the response. It is not always bad to be changed by the upstream devices, however, the prototype was reflecting the sound of the connected amplifiers too much. Then we tuned them into a bit relaxed direction. If I had developed the headphones alone, they would end up with too sensitive to amplifiers"

Mr. Sato in the video also said the final product was (still) very sensitive to the connected devices, such as cables, so they attached the best (expensive) cable in the package. These are consistent with the initial impressions of the early adopters. One already reported the sound changed a lot by a high-end cable of BriseAudio. We should remind the chains when we read reviews.

(The "TRUE SOUND team" is a kind of advisory committee consisting of several skilled engineers. They control the sound quality of all of the home audio products of the brand based on common criteria of the "true sound" concept (tonal balance, dynamics, and sound stage). It helps the development team throughout the development process, according to the above article. Mr. Hadano himself is one of the core members of the team. )

It would be great to hear more from them what amplifiers and other gear they used with it. I honestly don't mind it being source gear picky (like utopia & mypshere), but I get that they'd probably want to reach a wider audience so they made it more forgiving...

 

[Beagle]

You get what you pay for.

Rubbish. What you pay has nothing to do with good sound.

 

[04gto]

Rubbish. What you pay has nothing to do with good sound.

A thousand times this. If you think in this hobby or any other hobby, that paying more automatically gets you more, you are ripe to be hustled out of your money.

 

[doctorK53]

It would be great to hear more from them what amplifiers and other gear they used with it. I honestly don't mind it being source gear picky (like utopia & mypshere), but I get that they'd probably want to reach a wider audience so they made it more forgiving...

What we know so far is only RME ADI2 DAC FS. They say this DAC/amp (combined with normal windows PC) was the reference setup during the development. That's why they used this combo in the audio festivals held in Japan since this September. A blog post mentioned SP3000 was recommended at a festival in Osaka by Mr. Nomura, a famous audio writer, but it is not mentioned if Yamaha used any dap as a reference. (SP3000 cannot be the one because this AK's high-end dap was released very recently).

Well, in addition, I translated the summary of the above blog article.

Exterior
- Excellent build quality justifies the price tag
- The inside of the earcup was wider than expected

Fit
- Nothing but comfortable.
- Ultralight and good fitting on the head. Fit and comfort are the best at this price

Sound
- High resolution justifies the price tag
- Every detail of the sound is presented
- Sound image is very wide. The Center of the stage is low.
- Accurate positioning
- Highs are the main focus. Kind of cold nuance, but not like monitors.
- Unfortunately, the tonal character of highs is not my <the author's> preference

End

 

[stacey]

Happy new year! Anyone with any more impressions on this headphone?

 

[Beagle]

- Excellent build quality justifies the price tag

- High resolution justifies the price tag

- Unfortunately, the tonal character of highs is not my <the author's> preference

End

 

[paradoxper]

Called it. The market is simply oversaturated with far too poor value. I'll find a dealer for sub $3k commensurate with D8K.

 

[Kapazza]

I may be listing my D8000 soon...although I love the sound, I wear headphones for hours each day and the weight seems to be causing some chronic neck pain.

Any ideas on what this would sell for? Mint in box, brand new F pads (still in box), G pads have very little wear, another set of F pads (a bit more worn than I'd like to use), Silbian's leather headband, and an Audiophile Ninja custom XLR cable.

EDIT: Whoops! Wrong tab lol...meant to post this in the D8000 thread.

 

[HiFiDJ]

Called it. The market is simply oversaturated with far too poor value. I'll find a dealer for sub $3k commensurate with D8K.

Value is always going to be a subjective thing for an individual. And I'm assuming you haven't even heard it yet so who knows, it could surprise you...

 

[Beagle]

Value is always going to be a subjective thing for an individual. And I'm assuming you haven't even heard it yet so who knows, it could surprise you...

Exactly. If you’re rich it’s not a problem. And the rich are the ones who these greed mongers are targeting.