There may be something that could rein HE560 much closer to HE500 in musicality, without loosing its finesse, but I have to do more testing to know for sure.
Quote from: jerg on August 01, 2014, 12:50:33 AMThere may be something that could rein HE560 much closer to HE500 in musicality, without loosing its finesse, but I have to do more testing to know for sure.tl;dr: different pads might get you close.The Full Monty:I ended up mutilating the AKG Q701 pads I'd been using on my HE-500s. Seems the new (HE-560) mounting rings are a bit smaller than the old rings. The foam donuts of the Q701 pads survived just fine though, and trimming the outside edge, and trimming the old mounting rings, allowed this combo to pass under the HE-560 yokes, thus allowing for a proper fit. Without trimming, the rings and foam just bumped up against the yokes.Very interesting change to the sound. The foam is quite dense, which may have something to do with it, and there is more room "inside" compared to the FocusPads (and that's with a Creatology stiff foam riser ring inserted into the FocusPads). My ears like the roomier aspect. The sound is warmer in the low end, with more quantity, but the highs are still pretty shimmering. Vocals are also presented well (male; don't have much music with female vocals). This new pad setup employs jerg's "get rid of the mesh dust filter on the FocusPads" mod, sort of by necessity, as I don't have mesh to add to the Q701 foam donuts. In my few back and forths trying to compare the two, guitars could seem a little distant with the Q701 pads, but that was with a less-than-perfectly recorded album, and even the FocusPads couldn't bring it up out of the murky depths.I should note my HE-560s only have about 40 hours on them thus far.One thing that does benefit is the soundstage, as with the Q701 pads on the HE-500s. Before my 500s went bad, I was using the FocusPads on them with pretty good success, but the un-mutilated Q701 pads still produced a superior soundstage. I'm using the same large hexagonal openings grills I was using on the HE-500s. The imaging may be less precise with the mutilated Q701 pads, as the angling is not as pronounced without the velour covers. I'm pretty sure the velour was pulled tight to compress the foam to create the angle. I've yet to figure out how to replicate that by hand. I've got some nice microsuede with which to try.I'd love to see a measurement, as this sound makes me think of a U- or V-shaped curve (HE-400s? Never heard them, but that description comes to mind). I can't say it's definitely worth buying the Q701 pads, but they're not that expensive in the U.S. direct from AKG (mine were $35 shipped). Anyway, something to consider if you're looking for a variation on the sound provided by the FocusPads. I've got FocusPad-As coming, since HFM shipped my 560s with one of each pad type. If there's any notable difference, I'll post a follow-up.
Strangely I find that imaging seems to improve when the earpads are thinner.
Well I'm still playing around but yes, pads are it when it comes to retuning HE560s, they appear to be very sensitive to different earpads indeed. And my finding is also that the foam density has a huge role on the overall tilt of the FR (higher density pad foam = more low-end grunt / fullness, and vise versa). Strangely I find that imaging seems to improve when the earpads are thinner.
It seems the only real criticism for HE560 is it doesn't sound as "full" as the dual-ended Hifiman planars, which I do also feel is somewhat the case. Hard to say what "fullness" really is though, it doesn't seem to be a matter of the FR, maybe it's a specific decay pattern in the lower mids.Conversely, at least with my HE500 one might say it doesn't have the agility in decay as HE560. So that perception of "fullness" goes both ways.
http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1654.msg43922.html#msg43922Relative to its surroundings, the 9-10k peak is gone. Instead there is a "peak" in the 4k range, but one can argue that has to do with the 560's more aggressive downward slope from 1k-2k, when compared to the 500 (560 ends about 2-3dB lower from origin point). I really liked my 500, and the 9-10k peak never drove me mad. I find the differences not extreme, and rather pleasant.
Our hobby is all about reference point, once the bar is set higher, everything under it gets depreciated.
