[Frank I]

You guys are great and I really appreciate your thoughts; it's also refreshing that my request for a comparison generated real insight comments rather than becoming the all too familiar p*ssing contest  .

Unfortunately I live in Tulsa, OK, and so I'm not close enough to take advantage of your generous offers. We are in LA for the week and I will try to check out any place around here that may have either ones.

I should add that I have Grado RS2's, and they sound fine, but just don't really grab me and keep me listening, so over the years I haven't used them much.
I always admit I have a sweet tooth re my sound and prefer a bit of warmth, and listento lots of female vocals, blues & jazz---so I'm thinking maybe the LCD-2's are at the top of my list at the moment.

Thanks again.

Randy

May I suggest you check headfi.org and ask if someone has both on their boards in both Okl annd I know you can find someone in LA for sure. I am not so sure of any shops carrying both in those two states but another option would be to order one of each from Headroom and send back the one you don't want they have 30 day return and carry both . Just clear it with them first and you may be able to get both

[HAL]

Thanks for the review.  Got to try the Audez LCD2's at RMAF2011 and they sounded very good but lacking HF.  Sounds like the HE500's may fit what I have been looking for as a replacement.

The HE500's should be here tomorrow for listening. 

Going to try them with my DC coupled battery powered Borbely SE HPA.  It is pretty easy to adapt it to a low impedance phone.

I am using the Borbely HPA with my Sennheiser HD650's at this point. 

[Frank I]

Thanks for the kind words and enjoy your new He500 and please post some impressions.Enjoy

[HAL]

How much burn-in time did you have on the pair of HE500's for the review?   

[Frank I]

25 hrs and it did not change much as I noticed on every planar headphone I have owned. There was about a month of every day listening before I did the review

[HAL]

Thanks!

[ajzepp]

So for those of us who own big planars, such as Maggies, do planar headphones offer a similar sonic signature? Or is the technology similar but the end result different?

[Frank I]

Both the HE500 and LCD2 sounds very much like a Maggie in sound signature. If you are a Maggie owner as I once was and want to enjoy the same type of signature the plar headphones will not disappoint. The best part is the bass on these headphones goes very low and hits harder than the MMG I had owned.

[ajzepp]

Both the HE500 and LCD2 sounds very much like a Maggie in sound signature. If you are a Maggie owner as I once was and want to enjoy the same type of signature the plar headphones will not disappoint. The best part is the bass on these headphones goes very low and hits harder than the MMG I had owned.

Interesting. I will have to make plans for HifiMan planars to be my second pair of headphones then. I'm set on the BeyerD 880s for now, but seems like many of you guys have more than one pair, so that's eventually the way I'll go, too.

I'm getting pretty excited about this stuff!

[Frank I]

Fang just announced the new HE400 and that has a pre-order price of 349.00 is lighter and designed to compete with the other mid tier models. The Beyer 880 600ohm is an excellent headphone but clearly the HE500 is in another league and as i stated in my review does some things better than my T1. But the 880 is a nice starting point also.

[ajzepp]

Are those new 400s the blue ones? I saw that preorder thread over at head-fi.org, I think. I found it interesting that those had a higher sensitivity and are apparently much easier to drive, whereas other planar headphones I've read about tend to be very difficult to drive. What amp are you using? I'm planning to order a Meier Corda Jazz in the next week or two, so I'm pretty excited to see what cans sound best with it.

[Frank I]

That is the one. I think that will be interesting and they will be here at my mini meet 1/28 so I will report on my thoughts. I also have been asked to review the Kods2 from Denmark by the manufacturer. They are modified Fostex TOP50RP headphones with wood custom enclosures and dampening. I will post that review in 3 or 4 weeks. They will retail 595.00 and are not made in large quantities.

[ajzepp]

DAng, I wish I still lived in Philly....I'd swing over to your mini-meet and soak up some of your headphone knowledge 

[dBel84]

I would have to second the feeling that planar headphones have similar sonic virtues to the big planar speakers. Even the vintage orthodynamic headphones have the same magical quality. You can find the old yamahas for less than $100. In some ways I prefer the vintage breeds to any of the modern planars.

Very interesting that there is a Dutch manufacturer of "thunderpants"  http://home.comcast.net/~garybutcher/Thunderpants_TP1/Available1.html , Gary Butcher came up with the concept and is making custom headphones per order. They are probably the best closed headphones I have ever listened to. I am glad to see that Fang has made such good headway with the planar magnetics, I had his initial HE5 and even with much tweaking, just couldn't get it to work well. I did get to hear the HE6 and HE500 at RMAF which were a clear sign that the design had matured over time.

Looking forward to your meet impression Frank  ..dB

[Frank I]

Thanks DB looking forward to the meet and some great gear. its less than 2wks away and I also will post impressions and I am interested in hearing the lower priced HE400 also.