[moshen]

What else is good in the range of HE-500 these days?

 

[pp312]

Have you considered the Beyer DT880 in one of its many guises (32, 250, 600 ohm, Pro, Premium, whatever...). According to Headroom graphs it has a very similar frequency response to the HE-500 and is well thought of; can also be obtained relatively cheaply. Worth trying.

 

[miow]

Dude, you GOT to listen to the new AKG K167 TIESTO's. Have a look at the Appreciation thread.
 

 

[moshen]

Quote:

Dude, you GOT to listen to the new AKG K167 TIESTO's. Have a look at the Appreciation thread.
 

Hmm..I'm going to be very skeptical of any headphone marketed by TIESTO (in the same way I'm skeptical of ones marketed by Dre ), but I'll check out the thread. Thanks for the pointer

 

[miow]

lol, OK ; )

 

[moshen]

Quote:

Have you considered the Beyer DT880 in one of its many guises (32, 250, 600 ohm, Pro, Premium, whatever...). According to Headroom graphs it has a very similar frequency response to the HE-500 and is well thought of; can also be obtained relatively cheaply. Worth trying.

Will def. check out the DT880, thanks!

 

[planx]

Ermm... This can go many different ways. I don't own the Bithead myself so I can't help you there, but I do own the EF-5 and will be trading in my HE-400 for the HE-500 in the very near future.
 
DT880 and HE-500 similar? No. Graphs only tell one part of the story. I've tried both, similar would be an incorrect word to describe the two.
 
 

 

[cssarrow]

I'm in the same boat as you.

AKG Q701 too narrow mid sounding for me, fatiguing treble.
Ultrasone HFI-2400 too dark and echo-wy (not clear) presented behind a stage curtain

Sennheiser HD650 is great, but like you said, the treble kind of rolls off. It needs a little more bass and hold on the treble.

Seems like out of 10 people, 5 likes the HE-500 and 5 likes the HE-400.

$699 vs $399. If the HE-500 is only 5% better than the HE-400, that $300 difference isn't really justified.

I run a NuForce Icon HDP + Sigma 11

~ Tim

 

[pp312]

Quote:

Ermm... This can go many different ways. I don't own the Bithead myself so I can't help you there, but I do own the EF-5 and will be trading in my HE-400 for the HE-500 in the very near future.
 
DT880 and HE-500 similar? No. Graphs only tell one part of the story. I've tried both, similar would be an incorrect word to describe the two.
 
 
 
 
 

 
Sorry, I meant the 600 ohm DT880.
 

 
And I wasn't saying they're similar in sound, only that the graphs are similar.

 

[bbophead]

Quote:

Quote:

Ermm... This can go many different ways. I don't own the Bithead myself so I can't help you there, but I do own the EF-5 and will be trading in my HE-400 for the HE-500 in the very near future.
 
DT880 and HE-500 similar? No. Graphs only tell one part of the story. I've tried both, similar would be an incorrect word to describe the two.
 
 
 
 
 

 
Sorry, I meant the 600 ohm DT880.
 

 
And I wasn't saying they're similar in sound, only that the graphs are similar.

But why then even bring up graphs?
 
There's no way the 880 600 ohm has the sub-bass of the HE500, is there?  I own the 600 ohm and it does not have sub-bass.

 

[planx]

Quote:

But why then even bring up graphs?
 
There's no way the 880 600 ohm has the sub-bass of the HE500, is there?  I own the 600 ohm and it does not have sub-bass.

 
I only brought up a graph to show "recorded" measurements of the two headphones. And you are correct, the DT880 is no where near the same in terms of bass as the HE-500. The HE-500 has both more quantity and quality in that segment. But with that said, the DT880 DOES have sub-bass. It might be your amplification that is causing it. I used the DT880 600ohm, and both the 250ohm and 32ohm, on the Hifiman EF-5 and Schiit Lyr.

 

[pp312]

Quote:

But why then even bring up graphs?
 
There's no way the 880 600 ohm has the sub-bass of the HE500, is there?  I own the 600 ohm and it does not have sub-bass.

 
 
What's you definition of sub bass anyway? As a classical music listener, I'm not sure I'm even interested in sub bass, whatever it is.

 

[bbophead]

Quote:

Quote:

But why then even bring up graphs?
 
There's no way the 880 600 ohm has the sub-bass of the HE500, is there?  I own the 600 ohm and it does not have sub-bass.

 
 
What's you definition of sub bass anyway? As a classical music listener, I'm not sure I'm even interested in sub bass, whatever it is.

Oh, please.  If you're interested in orchestral bass drum, double bassoon, organ pedal notes below 40 Hz, that's sub-bass.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

Ermm... This can go many different ways. I don't own the Bithead myself so I can't help you there, but I do own the EF-5 and will be trading in my HE-400 for the HE-500 in the very near future.
 
DT880 and HE-500 similar? No. Graphs only tell one part of the story. I've tried both, similar would be an incorrect word to describe the two.

 
You're right, these don't sound the least bit similar, at all. But just focusing the FR graphs to judge that can be a bit misleading. CSD, impulse, distortion, all these add up to help correlate with our subjective impressions into something helpful and meaningful. They're just tools, not the end-all-be-all judge, but people usually just take one tool and forgets about the rest in the toolbox. And that helps no one, especially themselves. They shouldn't match perfectly, but during the times that they do, they can be really helpful in explaining why this particular aspect might happen.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE500.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880600ohm.pdf
 
They measure really similarly though, it's weird. Apart from the CSD and distortion. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can come in and help possibly explain why? The sound is much leaner on the DT880.

 

[planx]

Quote:

 
You're right, these don't sound the least bit similar, at all. But just focusing the FR graphs to judge that can be a bit misleading. CSD, impulse, distortion, all these add up to help correlate with our subjective impressions into something helpful and meaningful. They're just tools, not the end-all-be-all judge, but people usually just take one tool and forgets about the rest in the toolbox. And that helps no one, especially themselves. They shouldn't match perfectly, but during the times that they do, they can be really helpful in explaining why this particular aspect might happen.
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE500.pdf
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880600ohm.pdf
 
They measure really similarly though, it's weird. Apart from the CSD and distortion. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can come in and help possibly explain why? The sound is much leaner on the DT880.

 
It's fair for people to see that the FR on the two are similar, as they are here and there, but with that said, the real-life experience sort of makes the graph absolutely useless. I never trust graphs as I only trust my ears, but sometimes I agree with graphs and the graphs back-up my thoughts. But with that said, take a look at the HE-400 graph. To me, it does not sound like what it shows on the graph. That's why I don't trust machines and devices to tell me the story as I'm a storytelling type of person and choose to do things my way.
 
Yes, the DT880 definitely sounds leaner while the HE-500 sounds much, much more full, liquid, smooth, and organic. But I won't be much help to the OP if he/she is considering the DT880 as I don't like a lot of Beyerdynamic products myself.