Head-Direct HiFiMAN HE-5LE Orthodynamic Headphones

[Frederik S]

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Head-Direct/HE-5LE/

[Easy Rhino]

another great review, frederik. imo, $699 is not a bad price for headphone of those caliber.

[caleb]

Thanks for the review. Will read tommorow at work.

[MK4512]

I have no idea how a pair of headphones can way outprice my 5.1 surround sound system...

Good review though!

[Mescalamba]

Originally Posted by MK4512

I have no idea how a pair of headphones can way outprice my 5.1 surround sound system...

Good review though!

Cause you have average 5.1 system and these are higher-end (not high-end) headphones. From sound quality point of view, these can outperform most of 5.1 systems. But headphones vs standart speakers are bit uncomparable.

Yea and these are just "cheap" higher-end headphones.. Real "stuff" starts around 1k USD.

[Mescalamba]

Frederik S

You are brave to post review and especially brave to write about headphone cables. Thanks for review, very nice. Very special and nice headphones.

[Ra97oR]

Just wondering if the drivers are angled or not (pad or mount or both), its a interesting phone I want to look at really. I just do hate all though bass heavy phones already.

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by MK4512

I have no idea how a pair of headphones can way outprice my 5.1 surround sound system...

Good review though!

put on a pair and you will have an idea!

[Taskforce]

Hell no, its not even as reputable as other headphone companies to justify the price tag especially since they had driver problems with the previous model, i bet some Senn HD650 sound better.

[pr0n Inspector]

Originally Posted by Frederik S

[The default oxygen free copper (OFC) cable sounds great, but users might want something that colors the sound to a lesser extent and this is where the SPC type cable comes into play, the performance of the cables will be discussed later on in the review's performance section.

THIS IS WIN.

[Frederik S]

Originally Posted by Ra97oR

Just wondering if the drivers are angled or not (pad or mount or both), its a interesting phone I want to look at really. I just do hate all though bass heavy phones already.

As far as I can see the drivers are not angled in any way.

[Frederik S]

Originally Posted by Taskforce

Hell no, its not even as reputable as other headphone companies to justify the price tag especially since they had driver problems with the previous model, i bet some Senn HD650 sound better.

Actually the HE-5s had a very low failure rate. Only three production samples where RMAed because of driver issues. The wood was the real problem with the HE-5s, and Head-Direct admits this. Quality control was not sufficient because they relied on a subcontractor to do the wood work and select wood. And the wood (handling, quality control, or selection) was not good enough.

And no to the second part. I have heard three sets of HD650s, two single ended, one balanced from a seriously sweet Woo audio amplifier and non of them came even close to sounding as good as the HE-5LEs out of an ordinary powerful amplifier. The HD650s I owned for a short while sounded good, but never really did anything out of the ordinary for me.

I do not know where you get your info from, but Head-Direct have a reasonably good track record, I think about the only massive failure from there part has been the Jade electrostat headphones which was a hobby project rushed to the market. The HE-5LEs (HE-5s) have been two years underway and I think the results speak for themselves.

[Mescalamba]

HD 650 was small mistake from Sennheiser, they should sound like HD 800 and then they could be great. I had them, they are good, but they change sound too much to my liking. No way that they can be "reference" headphones as they are not accurate in any way.

Tough I love my HD 555, so nothing against Sennheiser.. and HD 800 are just perfect. Just bit pricey..