Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
At this price point, these absolutely cannot be beat. There's nothing on the market under $1000 that matches or exceeds the HE-500s, and the bonus to these is they pair very well with fairly inexpensive amplifiers (Schiit Lyr). You don't necessarily need to spend $2k on an amp to do these justice. After listening to headphones quite a bit more expensive than these in comparison, I consider the HE-500 a steal of a deal even at full price. Paying less than $600 for them is a real bargain.
I have not had a chance to listen to the HE-5LE, so I can't comment in regards to that. It's also no longer made by HiFiMan. I have heard from several other folks that they do also prefer the HE-5LE to the HE-500. Since the HE-5LE is no longer made though, it's a bit difficult to put that in as a fair comparison for somebody who doesn't currently own either.
I'm hoping I'll get an opportunity to listen to the HE-5LE and the SR-009 with a Blue Hawaii or Liquid Lightning at the Austin Head-Fi meetup in January since a much larger group of folks usually attend. I'm not sure what gear will be present, but I may revise some of my opinions afterwards. Currently though, I've listened to a pretty wide array of gear and stand by my statements, although I certainly acknowledge they are merely my own personal opinions.