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OK, I think it is clear by now that we are excited. How does the Yamaha YH-5000SE compare to similar headphones?
At home, we compared the YH-5000SE to an electrostatic pair; the Hifiman Jade2 on a Stax 006t tube amplifier with the Weiss DAC2 as the source. The Yamaha has many characteristics of electrostatic headphones; speed, openness, phase integrity. The Hifiman/Stax combination wins in the midrange and high range by being just a bit faster, cleaner and more correct. In this class of quality, we talk about nuances, but it is audible.
When it comes to bass punch, low pressure and overall presentation, the YH-5000SE is more complete, and it makes us even more drawn into the music. Knowing that an electrostatic system always needs a separate amplifier, the YH-5000SE also wins on ease of use and applicability.
We’re actually curious to see how the Yamaha YH-5000SE sounds compared to other top models that reside in Headphone Heaven. As loyal readers of our reviews, you know that we are primarily interested in further interpretation of the qualities of these headphones and less in a ranking. Ears Unlimited in Delft is a specialist in personal audio. Owner Rick was willing to participate in the test and we spent a lovely Wednesday morning in his candy store.
The test setup at Ears Unlimited consists of
- Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC
- Grimm Mu-1 streamer
- Niimbus US5 Pro headphone amplifier
- Rack: Solid Steel
It doesn’t get any better than this. A very high quality system that pairs very well with practically any pair of headphones. We play music using ROON.
Music listened to
Everything But The Girl (EBTG), Nothing Left To Lose. Lots of (sub)bass. EDM-like effects. Good for testing speed, depth and accurate bass reproduction.
Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Philippe Herreweghe, Part 2 (Allegretto). Orchestral placement, spatial information, dynamic differences. If everything is correct, you can hear where you are ‘seated’ in the hall.
Joe Jackson, You Can’t Get What You Want. Very dynamic recording, acoustics of the theater where this track was recorded are easily audible. And take note of the horns; they sometimes blow the listener away when the headphones can’t manage the dynamics well.
We couldn’t resist playing some other tracks; Seal’s Standard album, for example, and of course Jacques Loussier’s rendition of Bach’s Little Fugue. Just because we love Jacques.
To avoid this review to expand to a 10-episode series, we will briefly share our listening notes and impressions. If you want to know more about the headphones we listened to, we recommend visiting (the websites of) specialist stores, such as Ears Unlimited, Headphone Auditions or The Sound Kitchen. If you are reading this and do not live in The Netherlands, be sure to look for local specialised personal audio stores.
In our selection of headphones, we had the following criteria: it must be an open system, over ear, the top model, planar magnetic and comparable in price to the tested Yamaha YH-5000SE.
Focal Utopia (€ 5,000)
- Refined, but slightly less spatial imaging
- More closed-back feel
- Beethoven: the room seems smaller than it is in reality
- Bass does not extend as far as with the Yamaha, heard well with Joe Jackson’s bass solo and EBTG’s sub-bass
Dan Clark Audio Expanse (€ 4,550)
- Electrostatic signature. Nimble, fast, accurate
- Yamaha seems to portray spatiality and reverberation a bit larger than this Dan Clark. Here it sounds as recorded
- Beethoven: wonderful spatial depiction and soundstage.
- Less bass-punch, especially audible when playing EBTG
Hifiman Susvara (€ 6,800)
- Less (sub)bass, very similar to the Dan Clark, slightly less nimble
- Beethoven: hall acoustics well audible, instrument placement excellent
- Joe Jackson sounds a bit bright, in your face. The rimshot normally has a deep undertone, here less so. Sometimes we do hear it appear. Midrange seems to fade into the background.
- With Seal it sounds OK again. Layering in Seal’s voice is very nice!
Final Audio D8000 Pro (€ 4,300)
- Bass response comes close to Yamaha
- With Beethoven the midrange slightly dominates, woodwinds more forward.
- Signature is somewhat similar to the Focal Utopia, also in terms of spatial image (more closed back headphone feeling)
- Homogeneous, balanced, natural and accurate but somewhat less open and fast than Yamaha
Audeze LCD-5 (€ 5,670)
- Very fast and open, bass response a bit less deep than Yamaha and Final
- Beethoven: sounds very close and intimate.
- Joe Jackson; bass guitar sounds less prominent than horns and piano. Does the midrange get priority?
Meze Elite (€ 4,000)
- Bass goes less deep
- Very spacious and fast, naturally
- Comfortable fit
- Beethoven: accurate spatial imaging, precise soundstage
Sennheiser HD800S (€ 1,799)
- Very open and loose, mid/high very nice
- Less bass response
- Beethoven: timpani in the background
- Joe Jackson somewhat bright
- Seal very nice, homogeneous, Capitol Studios acoustics well heard
It was a real treat to listen to all these top models. The progress of development in personal audio is very noticeable. The top models demonstrate that headphones are getting better and better at 3D reproduction of music, a quality that only electrostats really excel at.
About 10 years ago, we thought it was quite an achievement if headphones were able to project the music an arm’s length outside our heads. Very expensive electrostatic systems or planars with matching amps were able to do this. At these listening sessions, some headphones disappeared and we took our seats in the studio or concert hall. Very special. Of course, these cans are still quite expensive. But 10 years ago, you would have paid 10 times as much for this level of sonic performance.
