Yamaha YH-5000SE

[What Hi-Fi?]

Yamaha’s YH-5000SE have a performance that puts them among the finest headphones ever made.

Yamaha YH-5000SE : Read more

 

[Symples]

£4799 and they're damn ugly.
Not that I could afford one

 

[Jasonovich]

I recently switched from conventional Dynamic speakers to Planar magnetic ones, and what revelation in terms of transparency, expansion of sound stage, sweet treble and real bass.

I will not pay £5K for any headphones and I am a big fan of Yamaha products, though these bad boys are way above my league.
Poor people and ordinary mortals like most people I know, need not spend guzzillions on a good pair of planar magnet headphones, there are quite a few manufacturers out there, selling PM headphones at sub £500 price range, Monoprice Monoliths 1060, 1060C, 1570 and 1070 are all good designs and the Chinese manufacturers such as Hifiman and Moon-drop, Gold Planar are excellent choice.

I have recently purchased the Hifiman Edition XS (open back) stealth planar magnet for £407 (reduced from £499), truly tear evoking, 'I just want to hug somebody now and tell the world I found my true love speakers'. Really sold on the technology, so in addition to the XS's, I also got myself a portable Gold Planar (closed) headphones for my DSD512 DAP player. These costs a mere £85 including delivery. It's going to be a long wait for those, courtesy of AliExpress.
These little planars are inexpensive but it does give you a flavour and if you want something bigger later on like the top end Audeze LCD-XC, it's worth starting small before you splash out.

The Hifiman Edition XS's like many full size planar magnets need a good powered source, so fixing them on to your mobile, unless you use a portable DAC dongle, makes no sense, you won't hear it's potential. I'm using Topping E50 DAC with external linear power supply via Class A Lehmann's head amp, this is a magic combination in terms of dynamics and delivering sound that is faithful to the source.
My current headphones are on eBay, as much as I love my Yamaha HPH-MT5 and Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones, I need to recoup some of the costs!

 

[Northern Neil]

What about these against the Hifiman Susvara. I auditioned all the top end (except these) and the Susvara came out the best sounding. Although again you need a dedicated Amp like the Ferrum Orr to drive them to perfection.

 

[dreamer]

I own Focal Utopia and Sennheiser HD800, and have listened to them extensively,, probably more than a thousand hours of listening time. The Focals is very capable in bringing out the details and positioning of the instruments and vocals on the sound stage, although its stage is an intimate one, smaller than the HD800. The Focals really packed a punch when it comes to bass, more than my HD800s. The HD800s excel in larger sound stage, even more revealing than the Focals. Comfort wise, I prefer the HD800s over the Focals as they are signficantly lighter, have larger ear cups and lesser clamp force. The Focals have thicker ear cups and feel like they are enveloping my ears in a cushy couch.

Enter the Yamaha YH-5000SE. Long story short, these are simply the best headphones for me, bar none. I have listened to many high end headphones from Hifiman and Audeze before I landed with Focal Utopia and Sennheiser HD800. But man, these Yamaha headphones just simply tick all of the boxes, as if integrating all the good points of the Focals and Sennheisers and leaving out all their weaknesses. The Yamahas are extremely well built and robust. I have to change out my HD800s' ear pads becauase they started peeling. The headband started getting all sticky, probably due to humid weather where I live. The Focal Utopia's right earcup fail me 3 times!!! 3 times!!! The Beryllium driver was fried and no sound after a while, and each time I have to send in for repair, which took a few weeks. The Yamahas' leather was high quality as no degradation from hours of listening. The built is rock solid, yet miraculously light, even though some may say it looks weird. Trust me, once you hold them in your hand, you immediately can feel it is light but somehow it just feels extremely well built, the type that gives you great confidence of its built, compared to my Focals and Sennheisers. By the way, my Focals actually creak every time I move them or adjust them. I guess it's the extreme attention to details by the Yamaha engineers that made the difference.

The Yamahas' sound is: detailed, transparent, big sound stage, accurate positioning of the instruments in front of you, with solid, accurate deep bass, no bass bleeding; nimble and fast rendition of whatever genre of music you throw at it. Its treble can bring out all the details of the high notes. All these qualities are delivered to you in a coherent and natural way, that focuses your attention on the content and soul of the music, rather than its technicalities. This, to me, is unparalleled.