I’ve been trying to do quick reviews over the last few months to get through some of my backlog, but … my “quick” reviews are increasingly becoming downright un-quick and growing to rival some of my “full” reviews, so I’m going to try a new thing here to get it a little more under control.
These are going to mostly be things that are a) very niche, b) are mostly unavailable, or 3) that I really don’t like; AND that are not interesting enough to be to justify doing a quick or full review. I’ll still do some reviews of things that fall in those categories if I really like them, they are “important” in the context of the headfi community, or I otherwise just want to talk about them at length.
I’m sure the format will morph over time. Just for my own sake, this will consist of the two most recent reviews, and then the rest in alphabetical order. If I remember to keep that pattern.1
Up first: the Hifiman x Drop HE-5XX.
Mini-Reviews:
Hifiman x Drop HE-5XX
(Reviewed April 5, 2026. MSRP $229, currently $119 open-box on Hifiman.com2)
Cost-agnostic: 6 out of 10 Denalis
Cost-sensitive: 7 out of 10 Denalis
The Basics. The HE-5XX was an early collaboration from Hifiman and Drop. They’re old enough to have the OG Hifiman band, and new enough to be a Drop-branded product instead of Massdrop-branded one. They’ve been out of production for several years, and with the demise of Drop.com it’s safe to say they’re a dead-end product. HOWEVER, they are apparently for all intents and purposes a re-badged Deva Wired, so … there you go. The 5XX are a relatively heavy headphone at 355 grams (without the cable), and aren’t particularly hard to drive at an impedance of 18 Ohms and a sensitivity of 93.5 dB/mW.
Technicalities. The 5XX are a reasonably well-resolving planar magnetic with better-than-average soundstage and separation, though both are slightly undercut by some slight timbral funkiness, with some guitar tones in particular sounding VERY metallic.
Sound. Out of the box, the 5XX are a perfectly acceptable, mainstream audiophile tune, though like most headphone they benefit from EQ. The bass is a bit light, though well-controlled, the mids are fine if a bit recessed, and the treble well-controlled but a hair recessed, particularly for a Hifiman headphone. They’re a decent tune as is, though once you add in a substantial bass shelf and tweak the mids/treble a little bit, they rise to being a very good headphone.
No one on Squig has an HE-5XX measurement, so here’s mine:
EQ. Start with Oratory1990’s settings here. I ended up turning Band 2 (overall bass) down to 4-4.5 dB just because they were a tiny bit bassy to my ear, but it’s a really nice, rich tuning as is.
Build. I personally like this style of Hifiman headband as long as I’m not wearing a hat with a squatchie. There’s nothing in this price range that’s going to be amazingly comfortable, but they’re perfectly adequate, and I find that they adjust well enough to get a good seal on my head. For what it’s worth, I also think these are a pretty handsome pair of headphones with minimal Cyberman risk, though your taste may easily vary.
Overall. Overall, these are pretty decent headphones at their price point. They were a reasonable deal at $229, and if you can get a (well-functioning!) pair at $119 or below, they’re a great deal if you want to dip your toe in the planar market.
Alternatives. I’ll take these over the 400se/400i/HE-X4/etc. family and most headphones I’ve heard under the $150 price point (including the Sennheiser HD 560S I reviewed last week). However, if you can afford an extra $40-50, the really excellent Hifiman Sundara are a better headphone in pretty much every way (except maybe very slightly comfort3). Just for fun, here’s Sundara vs. the 5XX:
Again; not Super* Review’s measurements and any flaws are my own.
- Reasonably certain I won’t. ↩︎
- Buyer beware when it comes to buying straight from Hifiman. ↩︎
- Despite having a suspension strap, the design of the Sundara’s headband makes it harder for me to get a good weight distribution between the strap and the ear cups. As always, your mileage may vary. ↩︎
Phil's Superpower of Enthusiasm 