Drop + HIFIMAN HE5XX Planar Magnetic Headphones Reviews | Drop

Drop + HIFIMAN HE5XX Planar Magnetic Headphones

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Nov 5, 2020

Verified Buyer

Deeply flawed. Not a successor to HE-500.

Initial impressions were good but the more I listened and the more I investigated construction, I was dismayed. Blunted bass attack, lack of detail in treble, unusual bass rolloff for a planar... At best we were sold a Deva, and it bears little resemblance to the excellently performing HE-500 in all but frequency response. What's sad is most of this could have been corrected with maybe another $5-7 per unit on Hifiman's part, but we got this lazy effort from Dr. Fang. I'll try to show you how. All the caveats of flat plate apply with these measurements. No, they do not objectively reflect what happens on a human head, but most dramatic features like poor impulse response, large bass rolloffs, resonances across wide spectrums etc tend to carry over to head and torso simulators with slight differences. And a headphone measured on the same plate showing more treble, for example should sound brighter to you than one that measured darker, etc.

HE-500

HE-5XX

While the decay of HE-5XX isn't worryingly audible by tone, it is a leading indicator of the much poorer performance of the driver compared to HE-500, which is dead still before 1ms. The long decay across the spectrum is more worrying in planar/orthodynamic headphones because it can mean the diaphragm tension is wrong (too tight). We also have a very limp impulse response and rolled off bass. All problems the HE-500 didn't have. Looking at the construction we get good evidence of why.

The front volume isn't sealed between driver and head due to this gap in the baffle. This explains the bass rolloff and some of the weak impulse response (more on that coming up).

The magnet array is ferrite and identical to the Deva. No effort was made to make the traces more dense to compensate for the weakness of ferrite vs Neodymium. Even the lowest end products on the market use Neodymium in loudspeakers but Hifiman didn't bother. This explains the weak response to rapid amplitude change and general lack of finesse as control of the driver is compromised by this miniscule cost-cutting measure. To give you some idea of the difference:

Considering this is virtually identical to a Deva marketed as a successor to a much higher performing product, which I am confident will be vindicated by further teardowns and upcoming HATS measurements, I cannot recommend this product as marketed. If you are dead set on Deva for some reason and prefer how this looks, go for it. But I'd still recommend other products for the same price or less, such as 400i 2020 or HD6XX variant. If Hifiman had sealed the front volume like any halfway competent headphone, provided a little more space in the baffle for damping and used Neodymium magnets like.... everyone else... they could have had a fantastic headphone. But we got repackaged mediocrity. By the way, this is entirely on Hifiman. Drop probably had nothing to do with the design of the headphone other than appearance and the headband. All credit for teardown and measurements to takato14.

(Edited)

Recommends this product? No

Was this helpful?

burnart

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tDo you think that changing magnets to neodymium will improve things that you mention? Maybe there is a DIY way for geeks/modders.

Vote

mbvjmc

188

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tFor the HE-500, "[t]he magnetics are actually the HE-6's." -- http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/hifiman4/1.html

Nov 5, 2020

burnartUh, explain to me how to "DIY" your own trace onto a planar please. lol With better magnets it would probably have better dynamics and detail but that's not happening. What someone can do (which takato14 is already working on) is seal the front volume and slightly damp the driver to eliminate some of of those high Q (narrow) resonances. Not sure if there is a way to loosen the driver tension. It's usually easier to tighten than loosen with mods.

(Edited)

•

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tAs you only have one post and one review, I can't help but feel this isn't some sort of hatchet job or if you have an axe to grind. Now to be clear, I do not disagree with the measurements that you posted as I obtained similar results myself. I too found less extension on the 5XX compared to the HE-500 (GRAY) as demonstrated here :

The settling issues with the impulse response do look pretty ugly, confirmed here via CSDs, although I would have to slightly disagree on how these measurements translate into what is heard. Full discussion here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/drop-hifiman-he5xx-review-and-measurements.10082/page-4#post-323469 It would seem a bit unfair to compare a $220 product's bass extension with the HE-500 priced at $600 or the strength of the HE5XX's magnets to that of the HE-6, priced at $1200. The visual similarities pointed out to the Deva are valid, but the fact is, within a line, the parts are going to be similar or same. For example, with Sennheiser, HD6XX, HD600, HD58X, HD660, all use similar diaphragms / voice coil structures: plastic dome with a coil of wires around it and a magnet dropped in the center. The mention of the "gap" as the cause of lack of bass extension seems premature and an attempt to reinforce a narrative. It's possible, but my guess is that it's probably down to the resonant frequency of the driver being higher and the electrical and physical damping characteristics. The "$5-$7 more" and "lazy effort Fang" assertions are unfair at best (magnets are expensive, thinner diaphragms and denser traces are more difficult to manufacture) and character assassination at most. Bottom line is were corners but to meet a budget? Yes. But it seems unfair to "tear down", make unfounded assumptions, and compare the inner workings of a $220 product to $600 and $1200 headphones. P.S. Your recommendations of the HE400i or HD6XX over the HE5XX should provide for more context. While I am an HD6XX guy through and through, the HE5XX still has more extended and better quality (lower distortion) bass than the HD6XX. The HE400i is more peaky in the highs.

(Edited)

burnart

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tthat's not what I meant :) I think of changing the magnets to stronger ones (neodymium).

Vote

Nov 5, 2020

burnartFinding a neodymium magnet structure that drops right it would be more effort than is worth it. Neodymium isn't cheap. Also more magnetic force may require tweaks to electrical and physical damping to avoid even less bass extension. There are a lot of variables to driver design. This is a bargain ortho with agreeable frequency response. Let's not add turbos and wings to a cheap Honda when one is better off with the more expensive model that already has them.

(Edited)

mbvjmc

188

Nov 5, 2020

Heh, I knew that they were the HE-6. I just added the info for context to everyone else out there who happens to stop by wherein the results of the respective magnet arrays of the HE-500 and the HE-6 with the outer metal grille would be the same.

(Edited)

Vote

Nov 5, 2020

mbvjmcI misread HE-500 as HE-5XX my bad.

•

mbvjmc

188

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tI'm sure plenty did when reading the marketing materials for the HE5XX, lol.

Nov 5, 2020

purr1n"As you only have one post and one review, I can't help but feel this isn't some sort of hatchet job or if you have an axe to grind... It would seem a bit unfair to compare a $220 product's bass extension with the HE-500 priced at $600 or the strength of the HE5XX's magnets to that of the HE-6, priced at $1200." I agree. You should read the product description instead of taking it up with me. I didn't write it. And HE-500 has the same magnets as HE-6, as cited from Dr. Fang. I am judging these headphones as they are marketed. I've enjoyed other Hifiman products I have owned/tried which include HE-4XX, Sundara, Arya, HE-1000SEv1 and Susvara. As far as my credentials, I've been in the headphone community for several years. I have another posted review on head-fi. And I've been aware of you and SBAF for the same time. But I don't find clout to be relevant and prefer meeting claims with evidence or at least hearing impressions. Even opinions from the most venerable don't always hold up to scrutiny. We could go over your initial take on Panda, for example. And I know I've been wrong in the past. But if you disagree with me I hope you make it about the content, not my "reputation". "The "$5-$7 more" and "lazy effort Fang" assertions are unfair at best (magnets are expensive, thinner diaphragms and denser traces are more difficult to manufacture) and character assassination at most." The lazy effort comes mostly from this being sold to us as an entirely new design based on a much older and higher performing product when it is at best a minor tweak to an existing headphone that does not approach it's performance. All of a sudden NdFeB is some prohibitively expensive material reserved for the highest performance products, which I've found in Walmart shelves as far back as I can remember. It isn't advertised in product descriptions as much nowadays, probably because it's more or less standard and is indeed in the similarly priced HD-6XX you later mention. I'm not sure about the composition of HE-4XX's magnets but:

A little bass distortion is a small sacrifice for avoiding a giant ortho wall and getting far more detail, to my memory, having owned them. HD6XX will also scale better with modest gear investments, even if Senn bass is dookie. The one significant advantage HE-5XX has is soundstage, but that's about it.

(Edited)

Nov 5, 2020

SureSh0tYou have a valid point that you are judging on how they are marketed, that perhaps HE5XX invokes too much of HE500. Fair enough. I judged them on price, which is $220. The HE4XX vs HE5XX, if we look at them holistically, without cherry picking graphs, are somewhat different sounding headphones. I found the HE4XX tonal response to be slightly more uneven with hotter highs and less clear lows.

(Edited)

Nov 5, 2020

purr1nAs always, someone should look at FR vs preference before they buy. No disagreement.

•

takato14

Nov 5, 2020

purr1nlmao ok marv

excuse me while I appearify bass extension from this 100mm driver by blutak-ing the piss out of the baffle plate

Its almost like low excursion planar membranes need an ear side seal for bass extension! who'da thought!

Boulder

Nov 6, 2020

takato14Mine are coming tomorrow, I'll definitely give this a shot

Vote

Nov 6, 2020

takato14very cool. looks like some good modding potential. After simple mods, even a better value now, and edges closer to the HE500 namesake.

(Edited)

takato14

Nov 6, 2020

purr1nIt should've been sealed stock. And it still rings way more than an HE500. It will never get anywhere close to its "namesake" unless someone with way too much autism (probably me) opens it up and retensions the diaphragm by hand, _and_ possibly increases the diaphragm/magnet gap spacing so the now-lower-tension membrane doesn't smack into the magnets.

Nov 6, 2020

purr1nThat is a hard spin on fixing things that should not have been broken imo.

•

Nov 6, 2020

SureSh0tDepends how you look at things. Easy mod for even more fantastic performance. Or HiFiMan skimping. I've never met a headphone that I couldn't improve via mods. Just because I can tweak the HD6XX to be better doesn't mean Sennheiser skimped. I prefer the glass half full instead of glass half empty approach.

(Edited)

Nov 6, 2020

purr1nA rather servile characterization of a major headphone manufacturer neglecting to seal the front volume of a headphone to the ear. This has not exceeded expectations since headphones were invented. If you like being pissed on and told it's raining I suppose we all have our kinks. I don't get why you insist, but if I were you I wouldn't do it for free. The difference between modding this and a 6XX is like the difference between being sold a car leaking oil, broken air conditioning etc that you fix and a pristine car you put a larger engine in to go faster. In other words, the difference between repair and upgrade. Imagine being such a consumer you'll buy something for the pleasure of fixing a faulty, falsely advertised product and THANK who sold it to you for the opportunity. We shouldn't have to do most of these mods. We're trying to help others make a better buying decision than the marketing would indicate, and help those who did salvage some value from their purchase.

(Edited)

Doomguy-id

Nov 6, 2020

SureSh0tThanks for this review! I tried the 400i last year and got rid of it pretty quickly partially because I found it uncomfortable, but also because I couldn't believe that they had never fixed their terrible earpad design (the ones that are glued together and come apart with time). At the time I said I was unlikely to try Hifiman again, and seeing this now reminds me of why.

Aznablerey

244

Nov 14, 2020

takato14Does this blue tack mod alter the cans soundstage? That’s my main draw here and I’d be sad if i couldn’t have my cake and eat it too.

Vote

Lambdastorm

Nov 29, 2020

SureSh0tI'm in awe how hifiman is using ferrite magnets on their lower end products. I'm more surprised that someone actually find out about it. Do the sundara use ferrite magnets as well?

Vote

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