This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Yamaha flagship YH-5000SE open back headphone. It was kindly drop shipped by a member and costs US $5,000.
Unlike many high-end headphone, the YH-5000SE is quite light. It is sturdy though as parts are made out of metal. I really like the adjustable suspension band as once to your liking, it almost feels like you are not wearing a headphone! Very nicely done on this front.
The drivers are mounted quite deep in the cup with a very transparent fabric protecting them. It doesn't show well in this picture but here it is anyway:
Two sets of pads are provided. I opted to measure with the default leather ones you see here. There is another set that is made out of velour. It is similar thickness and compresses very easily.
If you are not familiar with my headphone reviews, please watch this video on how I measure headphones:
Fitment on the fixture was very easy although in higher frequencies, slightest adjustment would change the dips in response.
Yamaha YH-5000SE Headphone Measurements
Let's start with our usual headphone frequency response measurement using industry standard GRAS 45CA fixture:
I could not believe this response at first thinking something is wrong in my setup. But another reviewer measured almost exactly the same. I don't know what would justify that peak between 1 and 1.5 kHz. What follows it depressed jagged response from 2 to 5 kHz is another major oddity. We may have some clues here when we look at the distortion measurements but let's look at relative frequency response:
EQ development by hand/eye will be difficult but wait on that verdict. Here are the relative distortion measurements:
We didn't need more bad news but Yamaha delivers it to us nevertheless. As soon as the 114 dBSPL sweep started, I could hear severe distortion through the rear of the cups so didn't even need to look at the graph to see that problem. But even at 94 dBSPL we have narrow peaks between 2 and 3 kHz indicating resonances. Given the need for equalization, YH-5000SE doesn't leave us in a comfortable position. We could write off the headphone at this point and be fully justified but do stay tuned until end of the review.
Here is absolute distortion response:
Group delay is very messy indicating multiple sources mixing which points to more points of resonance:
Notice how the pattern from 2 to 3 kHz matches the distortion spikes.
Even our impedance measurement shows signs of this:
Sensitivity is about average:
Yamaha YH-5000SE Listening Tests and Equalization
It is warmer in my lab so my music listening is done with Tanchin One IEM. As soon as I swapped that for the Yamaha, the sound folded in and lost any spatial cues, as low as they tend to be with IEMs! I was not hopeful I could properly EQ the headphone but my quick attempts with some fine tuning produced excellent results:
First the negative: this headphone can't produce sub-bass with or without that bass filter. It simply gets distorted. Distortion there is a real problem. Fortunately most music doesn't have such spectrum and on rest of my music library, listening at modestly loud levels, I could not detect that distortion.
With the filters in place, the vocals came forward now as they should have been. Spatial qualities massively improved with sound now extending quite wide on each side of my ears (in relative terms). Now, combine this with a very lightweight and comfortable headphone that the YH-5000SE, and you could understand why I just laid back past midnight, and just listened to track after track and enjoying every bit of it!
Conclusions
Objectively, the YH-5000SE is very flawed both in tonality and in transparency (distortion). I don't buy it for a moment that much of this is intentional/voicing. You would need very elaborate equalization circuits to create that chewed up frequency response. And that leaves you nowhere in explaining the distortion even though at least one reviewer tried, calling it tube like. No, not remotely so. These are design mistakes that should have been caught and remedied. Build a proper headphone first and then change the tonality if you like, and document it.
Subjectively, the headphone sounds as bad as it measures. It destroyed my reference tracks of all genres. Female vocals collapse to the back of my head. Orchestral music sounded dull lacking resolution and spaciousness. I would say the overall fidelity was if you mixed AM and FM radio together for those of you who remember those things!
No way any Yamaha Piano sounds like this in person. Listening to recording of such through this headphone would destroy the art, not recreate it.
Shockingly, four filters transformed the sound to a magical place I didn't think was possible given what we had to work with. Then, back up forces in the form of comfort came in, producing a very enjoyable and satisfying experience. It hugely softened the blow of the objective measurements in the eyes of this reviewer. This shows the power of building correction filters based on objective measurements, salvaging what at first would not have seemed worth the effort.
If you are listening to this headphone and think this is what music is supposed to sound like, I highly recommend you get the aforementioned Tanchin One IEM to appreciate what high fidelity music reproduction is all about. At $27, it is pocket change. Indeed, I am listening to that IEM and marveling every second at its fidelity but we digress.
I can't recommend the Yamaha YH-5000SE although I do wonder if would be happy using it everyday with EQ and appreciate its comfort.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Unlike many high-end headphone, the YH-5000SE is quite light. It is sturdy though as parts are made out of metal. I really like the adjustable suspension band as once to your liking, it almost feels like you are not wearing a headphone! Very nicely done on this front.
The drivers are mounted quite deep in the cup with a very transparent fabric protecting them. It doesn't show well in this picture but here it is anyway:
Two sets of pads are provided. I opted to measure with the default leather ones you see here. There is another set that is made out of velour. It is similar thickness and compresses very easily.
If you are not familiar with my headphone reviews, please watch this video on how I measure headphones:
Fitment on the fixture was very easy although in higher frequencies, slightest adjustment would change the dips in response.
Yamaha YH-5000SE Headphone Measurements
Let's start with our usual headphone frequency response measurement using industry standard GRAS 45CA fixture:
I could not believe this response at first thinking something is wrong in my setup. But another reviewer measured almost exactly the same. I don't know what would justify that peak between 1 and 1.5 kHz. What follows it depressed jagged response from 2 to 5 kHz is another major oddity. We may have some clues here when we look at the distortion measurements but let's look at relative frequency response:
EQ development by hand/eye will be difficult but wait on that verdict. Here are the relative distortion measurements:
We didn't need more bad news but Yamaha delivers it to us nevertheless. As soon as the 114 dBSPL sweep started, I could hear severe distortion through the rear of the cups so didn't even need to look at the graph to see that problem. But even at 94 dBSPL we have narrow peaks between 2 and 3 kHz indicating resonances. Given the need for equalization, YH-5000SE doesn't leave us in a comfortable position. We could write off the headphone at this point and be fully justified but do stay tuned until end of the review.
Here is absolute distortion response:
Group delay is very messy indicating multiple sources mixing which points to more points of resonance:
Notice how the pattern from 2 to 3 kHz matches the distortion spikes.
Even our impedance measurement shows signs of this:
Sensitivity is about average:
Yamaha YH-5000SE Listening Tests and Equalization
It is warmer in my lab so my music listening is done with Tanchin One IEM. As soon as I swapped that for the Yamaha, the sound folded in and lost any spatial cues, as low as they tend to be with IEMs! I was not hopeful I could properly EQ the headphone but my quick attempts with some fine tuning produced excellent results:
First the negative: this headphone can't produce sub-bass with or without that bass filter. It simply gets distorted. Distortion there is a real problem. Fortunately most music doesn't have such spectrum and on rest of my music library, listening at modestly loud levels, I could not detect that distortion.
With the filters in place, the vocals came forward now as they should have been. Spatial qualities massively improved with sound now extending quite wide on each side of my ears (in relative terms). Now, combine this with a very lightweight and comfortable headphone that the YH-5000SE, and you could understand why I just laid back past midnight, and just listened to track after track and enjoying every bit of it!
Conclusions
Objectively, the YH-5000SE is very flawed both in tonality and in transparency (distortion). I don't buy it for a moment that much of this is intentional/voicing. You would need very elaborate equalization circuits to create that chewed up frequency response. And that leaves you nowhere in explaining the distortion even though at least one reviewer tried, calling it tube like. No, not remotely so. These are design mistakes that should have been caught and remedied. Build a proper headphone first and then change the tonality if you like, and document it.
Subjectively, the headphone sounds as bad as it measures. It destroyed my reference tracks of all genres. Female vocals collapse to the back of my head. Orchestral music sounded dull lacking resolution and spaciousness. I would say the overall fidelity was if you mixed AM and FM radio together for those of you who remember those things!
No way any Yamaha Piano sounds like this in person. Listening to recording of such through this headphone would destroy the art, not recreate it.Shockingly, four filters transformed the sound to a magical place I didn't think was possible given what we had to work with. Then, back up forces in the form of comfort came in, producing a very enjoyable and satisfying experience. It hugely softened the blow of the objective measurements in the eyes of this reviewer. This shows the power of building correction filters based on objective measurements, salvaging what at first would not have seemed worth the effort.
If you are listening to this headphone and think this is what music is supposed to sound like, I highly recommend you get the aforementioned Tanchin One IEM to appreciate what high fidelity music reproduction is all about. At $27, it is pocket change. Indeed, I am listening to that IEM and marveling every second at its fidelity but we digress.
I can't recommend the Yamaha YH-5000SE although I do wonder if would be happy using it everyday with EQ and appreciate its comfort.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
