[MrHaelscheir]

So I'm borrowing a set of YH5k from a buddy of mine and I've got some thoughts. I absolutely LOVE the look of these headphones, they are by far the best looking headphone I have seen to date. Thats kinda where these headphones shine and really only where they shine. The Sound of these headphones stock is just kinda weak. There's very little decay which feels very natural. The only part of the sound i can really compliment is the bass is nice and punchy and the attack of these headphones are pretty on point. The tonality of these headphones is just poor. I took the liberty of measuring the FR of these headphones as a launching point for trying to fix the sound to something more pallet-able.
Out of the box they aren't so bad that they aren't unlistenable I just want to be clear on that,
they just aren't impressive like a $5k headphone should sound.


I tried every pad I have at my disposal with very little luck fixing the upper mids with exception to one set...
my Grado G pads XD.

A little unorthodox but the clamp of the YH5k is enough to keep them in place when on my head.







That mixed with a little front damping using micropore tape lead to suprisingly great results.




If you have micropore tape and some G pads I highly recommend you try this out. My problems with the decay havent been fixed by this but the tonality is WAY better now imo.

Out of curiosity, was it the pads or the micropore tape that contributed the most to the restoring of the upper midrange? Was the micropore tape more so used toward addressing the decay?

 

[HiFiDJ]

In fact, I actually own the floor-standing version.

Is that model part of their flagship series of equipment? Or is that older?

I find myself continually intrigued by the YH-5K, but the polarizing reviews gives me hesitation. :/

Given how demanding in quality equipment they are (imo), you'll only be able to tell plugged into your specific system.

The more polarizing, the greater the potential

 

[sp33ls]

The more polarizing, the greater the potential

This is true -- I love the ZMF Verite, which is also one of those "polarizing" cans. If I went solely off of reviews, I would've purchased the Caldera, only to not jibe well with it.

Is that model part of their flagship series of equipment? Or is that older?

It was just recently launched. These are the NS-2000A ($8k/pair). I picked up a "like new" pair for $3k -- couldn't pass up on that deal.

So they're technically not part of their flagship, 5000 series, but they use the same technologies and don't require stands. My wife much prefers the look of the floorstanders over the NS-5000. They don't have pure Zylon drivers, but instead a composite of spruce and zylon. I've owned the NS-1200 which had a pure spruce woofer, and there was something magical about spruce, so I'm pretty content.

I'm looking forward to trying them with the legendary Yamaha VFET amplifiers -- my C-1 and a pair of B-3's.

As far as TOTL planars go, I'm kind of torn between a Final D8k Pro LE and this Yammie...

 

[HiFiDJ]

As far as TOTL planars go, I'm kind of torn between a Final D8k Pro LE and this Yammie...

I don't have the LE, but fwiw the regular pro sounds nothing like the yammy, two very different cans for sure.

What chain would you be running them with, out of curiosity?

 

[Fuku]

Out of curiosity, was it the pads or the micropore tape that contributed the most to the restoring of the upper midrange? Was the micropore tape more so used toward addressing the decay?

The micropore tape was a way to bring the bass shelf down to allow the new pads to have proper ear gain, not really much to do with decay as that sounds the same.

 

[Pokelij]

Did you guys use a DAP? No mention of the chain used….

And @Pokelij please don’t tell me you used the dongle in the picture for the Yamahas…..

I used it off my main stack, Soekris 1541 > Flux FA-10, and the DAP. I didn't feel like they scaled much they still sounded pretty bad on both.

 

[Floorless]

Really nice especially with the new amps I've got to play with. The thing that I noticed after switching back to them after using the HD800S primarily was the speed and resolution of the YH-5000SE, it is easily a cut above the HD800S. When listening to the HD800S the details were there but I would have to pay attention and actively look for them whereas the YH-5000SE resolution is good enough that I would constantly notice new details in my tracks even as I'm working. As a matter of fact, what really made the YH-5000SE click back for me was when I was listening to them as I worked as I was less focused on "the vocals sound different from what I think they should sound, or what sounds "right" "

Something to note is during the first week there was a bit of reacclimating that happened as the lower mids would make me think "I wish the mids had a bit more air" because I got used to the HD800S's presentation where vocals were right in the front of the soundstage so it took my brain a few days to reconcile with that difference. But once my brain had a couple days to settle in with the presentation the dip in the mids started to feel less like there was an awkward wackiness to them but it felt like the vocals were just naturally further back in the soundstage.

For me the YH-5000SE does soundstage and layering really well, especially when my brain is sold by the presentation. Since the mids are further back the other instruments are given more forground presence but coupled with the resolution of the YH-5000SE it gives me the feeling that I am surrounded by the sound as the sound cues for instruments in the bass to midrange sound like they originate from a point that's more forward but off to the side of the vocals.

To my ears the presentation of the YH-5000SE sounds something like:
----- midrange
----- instruments
----- /bass
vocalist ----- me
----- midrange
----- instruments
----- /bass

instead of the usual presentation that I'm used to from my other gear:

midrange
instruments
/bass
------------- vocalist me
midrange
instruments
/bass

Good!
I listened for a good 1.5 hour today in store. A little bit of background noise and I feel midnight is the best time for headphones really, but compared to my OG HD800. Their lower end is so much more satisfying, which balances out the treble for the most part, as they don't have that general pierce... USUALLY... I did find that the wrong voice at the wrong pitch can outright hurt with Yamaha.
Josh Groban's You Raise Me Up (Album: Closer), when he hits the higher notes just didn't agree with the headphones. I tried two other headphones (Sony Z1R and Susvara) and did not get that pain in the same song, and my bookshelf speakers not at all (his voice sounds way further back in the mix on speakers)

That was the biggest drawback, not that I listen to that song a lot, but of course I'm trying to throw as many different genres, voices and instruments. Piano and Josh's voice at at a certain pitch was a disappointment but everything else was enjoyable.

This is under Yamahas amp too. Which I think I'm sold on its uniqueness. But not in the very near future. For me $4k is a lot to drop, hopefully a one and only amp purchase. I can see me buying two headphones though.

 

[HiFiDJ]

If anyone's looking for a nice case for their yammy, I got the audeze aluminum travel case recently (twas on sale). Yes, I had to cut out some foam for it to fit nicely...