The Monkey Posted January 28, 2010 Report Posted January 28, 2010 The horse to water picmeme makes me laugh long and hard whenever I see it. Nate posted an awesome one somewhere the other day.
K3cT Posted January 28, 2010 Report Posted January 28, 2010 Call me crazy but I'm more intrigued with that contraption made from bricks in the foreground.
mrarroyo Posted January 30, 2010 Report Posted January 30, 2010 I have an old cross-feed built using the specs published by Dr. Meier, it has been sitting around and I started using it w/ the EF5 and HE5. Interestingly enough since the cross-feed removes a bit of the top end the HE5's are much more listen-able than before. Wonder if any of you has tried cross-feed as a means to remove some of the top treble energy. Cheers.
cetoole Posted January 30, 2010 Report Posted January 30, 2010 I find it interesting that so many find this bright. Granted, I havn't really listened with a pair other than mine, or with the EF5 or most of the other amps people use, but that just hasnt been an issue at all.
mypasswordis Posted January 30, 2010 Report Posted January 30, 2010 And then the Texas crew say the one they heard is more laid back in the treble like an HD650. Definitely seems like some huge variation in sound going on here.
mrarroyo Posted January 31, 2010 Report Posted January 31, 2010 Didn't Fang state that the HE5 had been modified including the impedance. If so wouldn't that have an impact on the sound.
cetoole Posted January 31, 2010 Report Posted January 31, 2010 That was since Canjam, where they were a 4ohm diaphragm with no traces on it and 12ohm series resistor. Since that point, I believe that the only changed made have been the heatshrink on the cable and the fix for the wood cracking.
K3cT Posted January 31, 2010 Report Posted January 31, 2010 Since the varying impressions here intrigued me greatly, I decided to take a listen again over the weekend at my friend's place. This time round, I tried the HE-5 out of a SPL Phonitor and Grace M902 just to get a different perspective from the ϐ22. My initial report in regards of the treble glare still remains unfortunately no matter what amp I used but it seemed to sound a tad smoother using the Phonitor. Other than that, I discovered that the HD800 is more revealing than the HE-5 as a badly recorded album (The Best of U2 - 2002) sounded unbearable using the former but actually decent using the latter. In regards to the soundstage, it's a little bit difficult to describe but if the HD800 presents sounds within a field of 180 degree arc surrounding the listener in the center, the HE5 is noticeably more constricted at 90 degree. There's also a slight lack of depth at the soundstage. Nevertheless, I felt that the HE-5 is a very musical can with its Ortho-y PRaT and I seriously feel that genres that require agility such as metal or rock will sound amazing with this can. It's a pity that I didn't get the opportunity to try the HE-5 out of a tube amp just to see what it will bring to the table.
mypasswordis Posted January 31, 2010 Report Posted January 31, 2010 Other than that, I discovered that the HD800 is more revealing than the HE-5 as a badly recorded album (The Best of U2 - 2002) sounded unbearable using the former but actually decent using the latter. Just because a badly recorded album sounds unbearable on one headphone and not unbearable on the other does not mean it is more revealing. IMO.
Kabeer Posted January 31, 2010 Report Posted January 31, 2010 I think the variance in sound is purely down to the manufacturing process. The tolerances used in the acid etching process Fang uses to create his traces. But much more importantly the tension of the Mylar (dependent on the process he uses to stretch and clamp it), small variances here are almost surely the culprit of these reported sound differences. It's probably not the absolute easiest thing to get right, id bet even with all their automation, headphones from big companies have some variances too.
Tyll Hertsens Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Been doing quite a bit of listening with these over the last day or two. Frankly, I'm amazed it does as well as id does in a pretty crouded field of damn good headphones. The mids seem really soulful to me, lots of body and strength. But I do hear something odd going on in the higs. I haven't measured them yet, but the guy in Japan seems to produce quality data and I tend to hear some stuff missing and some stuff accentuated as the graphs would imply. Cymbals are a little splashy sounding but the overal effect is omehow laid back at the same time. I'm not sure that the mixed results you're seeing is due to manufacturing variance as much as it is just some unevenness in response. I would suggest they may be similer to Grados in that regard. I also think he needs to work on the earpad some; it seems to contact my head top and bottom and not fore and aft as much. One the whole though, I'm amazed at how good they sound. A real luscious old school sound; I'm enjoying them.
mypasswordis Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 The only instance I know of two people comparing two HE5s head to head (and posting their results on HF), one HE5 was indeed brighter than the other. But you could be right, that may not be the main cause of everyone's differing impressions as the graphs do make the HE5's treble to be quite spikey. It's hard to say at this point without more data points, but even the graphs from Japan seem to indicate that the HE5 is brighter than the HD650.
Tyll Hertsens Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 I would say they do sound brighter than the 650, in there with the 701 but in a different way.
K3cT Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Just because a badly recorded album sounds unbearable on one headphone and not unbearable on the other does not mean it is more revealing. IMO. Perhaps you're right. Would "truer to the source" be a better descriptor?
penger Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 I also think he needs to work on the earpad some; it seems to contact my head top and bottom and not fore and aft as much. I'll agree with you on that one. The pads that are on my 'phones are actually kinda shoddy construction-wise. For one, the right one is more padded than the left and I'm scared to even try and take them off... Do you just twist?
mypasswordis Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 I'll agree with you on that one. The pads that are on my 'phones are actually kinda shoddy construction-wise. For one, the right one is more padded than the left and I'm scared to even try and take them off... Do you just twist? The hell? Email Fang or whoever and get correct-sized pads. I hear/read he's just sending people the fabric for the pads for them to replace themselves after some of them started fraying to avoid having to ship the HE5s back and forth so maybe he'll send you a whole pad too. Or maybe you can figure a way to remove the fabric, trim down the more padded side and put the fabric back on. Either case, QC fail and I wouldn't doubt that there are huge variances in sound among HE5s. I think the pads can be taken off, but haven't read through the thread on HF thoroughly enough to tell you right now. Edit: Oh, maybe he's just sending whole pads. My bad, that makes more sense.
penger Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Yeah. I'll take a look. These being NoNoNoNoNoNo's pair may also have something to do with it. Not to throw him under the bus or anything but I seem to recall him taking them apart for some pictures. Could be wrong though. I'll look through the HF thread and if I can't find anything, I'll shoot Fang an email and see what he says. Kinda makes me want to buy those AD2000's for $499 @ Guitar Center, assuming that deal still exists...
mypasswordis Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Throw him under the bus all day long, you'll probably be right. And I hope you get the pad issue resolved, since different thickness pads will probably make the stereo image wonky with slight channel imbalance, etc. AD2K's could be a good alternative.
penger Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Luckily Fang responded in the HE-5 thread on HF... sifting through 60+ pages would not have been very fun. I went ahead and emailed him asking about the proper way to remove pads so I have somewhere to start. We'll see how it goes.
Kabeer Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Yeah. I'll take a look. These being NoNoNoNoNoNo's pair may also have something to do with it. Not to throw him under the bus or anything but I seem to recall him taking them apart for some pictures. Could be wrong though. I'll look through the HF thread and if I can't find anything, I'll shoot Fang an email and see what he says. Kinda makes me want to buy those AD2000's for $499 @ Guitar Center, assuming that deal still exists... im pretty sure it was dBel taking pictures of that pair, and he had just removed the earpads and took the baffleside photos. Not opened the actual cups (i think they are glued shut)
grawk Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 It's fair to assume that sachu might have tried to mod them to some limited or negative success
penger Posted February 1, 2010 Report Posted February 1, 2010 Well regardless of who did it, it's possible the earpads are/were damaged. If I get them off and that happens to be the case, I will take some pictures for posterity...
mrarroyo Posted February 2, 2010 Report Posted February 2, 2010 Today I received a pair of replacement pads since one of mine was coming appart. I will try to take a picture tomorrow to show the back of the ear-pad and how it attaches to the headphone. Cheers.
mrarroyo Posted February 2, 2010 Report Posted February 2, 2010 I'll agree with you on that one. The pads that are on my 'phones are actually kinda shoddy construction-wise. For one, the right one is more padded than the left and I'm scared to even try and take them off... Do you just twist? No you pull, there are four platic ears that slide under the ring holding the unit together.
penger Posted February 2, 2010 Report Posted February 2, 2010 I see. I wonder if one of them is broken... Will investigate tonight.
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