No other HP manufacturer that I know assembles the HPs BY HAND one by one. That speaks volumes in terms of quality and attention to detail. The sole reason of these being produced in the high end yamaha factory and done entirely by hand is why I bought a pair. Ever since I saw them announced early last year, I said to myself that I want to own a pair, although I will never spend 5K on HPs. Luckily in Japan they are half the price.
Thank you for this great review👍 Very intriguing, looking really forward to try these. It would be an absolute delight if Yamaha has delivered the best sounding headphone ever. I am a huge fan of Yamaha and the brand deserves the respect it has earned worldwide. Shine on ✨
totally agree with this review. iowned this HP and what yoy say are true and a good description of this HP. Be aware that this HP is dynamic all over the spectrum so if you have high dynamic treble your ear could be hurt. But it's link with the recording not a HP default.
I think it's the first review I've seen, in which the presenter seems well-read... that is, he has a literary culture. There are a lot of engineers here... but too few intellectuals. I was at HighEnd Munich a week ago and listened to all the headphones, including DCA, Warwick, HiFiMAN, Meze and Stax. For me, Yamaha were the best headphones.
These seem like a Utopia style competitor... As soon as you mentioned "microscope" and "small stage, precise imaging" etc, that lines up with Utopia's character. But possibly miles better. Thanks for the detailed observations and review!
Hopefully going to have a comparison vid or article up soon comparing it a bit more extensively to a few other high ends. Utopia and D8000 pro are almost certainly going to be on it as they seemed like the most intuitive comparisons to make while I was listening with the YH-5000SE. I'll put the HE-1000se up for consideration, maybe the Dan Clark Expanse - we'll see! A matter of what I can get my hands on. All that is to say I'll have a more thorough answer to your question in the next week or two.
Wow, so you think it's more detailed than the Focal Utopia? My only issue with my Utopia is the bass is lacking slightly (but not nearly as bad as with the HD800S). So I would be very interested to hear these to compare.
Love the Utopia's detail, but for me, the YH-5000SE left me speechless lol. I know what you mean about the bass on the Utopia, it's significantly more powerful in the YH-5000SE. Utopia might have it beat in low-mid detail specifically but in terms of speed, separation...well, I've tried both extensively, and I have a favorite. I'll probably have a comparison vid or article up soon, everyone's asking haha
I like yahama House sound but a 5 grand headphone could make a man stick to his own house sound. Whatever sound comes out of that house is good enough. 🤣🙏
To be fair, to have a speaker set that matches the sound of the YH-5000SE you would need a speaker setup in an perfectly treaded room with everything that would easily cost you 50'000$+ and still be worse in terms of control, speed and detail. Thats like saying "For the price of an Honda CBR-1000RR R Fireblade, i can get an Volkswagen Polo". Yes, you can. But an Volkswagen Polo doesn't drive 345km/h and wins races. You can get a set of speakers for 5000$, that is true, but these speakers will sound closer to an ~500$ headphone than anywhere close to the YH-5000SE. And if you compare the 500$ Headphone with the 5000$ speaker, suddenly the speaker looks way to expensive. Take the MDR-Z1R for example, its almost completely handmade(!) in Japan for 2200$. In comparison, a speaker set for 2200$ is made with presswood in China, completely by a machine with only very few human steps and maybe cost around 200-300$ to produce. So if headphones prices are off, speaker prices are off too. You can buy pair of speakers for 80k+ easily.
1:52 why are you resting it metal on metal on the stand? Why risk scratching either the headband or the stand? dont be a heathen and rest it by its the leather strap lol. Thanks for the review, would you say they sound like you’re listening to martin logan speakers?
Thank you for the excellent and thorough review. I live in Japan and am keeping my eye on these, and so this will be super helpful in my future purchasing decisions!
Hmm……. Listened to these at CanJam NYC 2023 this past weekend. While show conditions are not optimal for open back listening, my initial opinion is that they were disappointing. That was the general consensus from a lot of show goers. I will be listening to them further under better conditions.
@@djhmax09 That’s a possibility but my pushback to that would be that this a major show. If a product needs to be prepped to show it in its best light, it should have been done. You’re presenting it too literally hundreds of potential customers. You only get one chance to make a first impression! I will have opportunities to listen to them under better circumstances going forward. I’ll see if there’s any validity to what you say because what I heard was not worth $5000.
End of the second verse. At 2:49, right around the lyrics "dreams about his food bowl," there's a little space before the "wah wah wah wah wah" chorus. You can hear what sounds like a deep kick drum getting drum rolled on really lightly with mallets. It takes a little longer to fade out than the rest of the instruments. Seems like it's present during the whole second verse, but you can't really make it out as its own distinct part until that fade out occurs. I can hear it on less premium listening set ups now that i know it's there, but it was the yamaha that had me notice it for the first time. First AnCo/Panda Bear related comment ive gotten here despite my constant references. My man 🤜🤛
They may sound good, but IMO, they are butt ugly. That skeleton looks like a structure you'd expect to see beneath the hood, supporting the beautifully sculpted exterior grill. You know, like the one of Meze Elite. Japanese know their audio, but they were never known for design skills. That's still uniquely European domain. Great review though. I'd like to hear them.
