Yamaha YH-5000SE Flagship Headphone Review

[ggg127]

Which entirely subjective opinion? The listening tests are most definitely subjective but informed by the measurements of a very oddly tuned and very high distortion pair of headphones.

Do you have anything to actually add to the discussion? If not, move along please.

"The listening tests are most definitely subjective"

This one. LMAO

 

[Jimbob54]

"The listening tests are most definitely subjective"

This one. LMAO

The measurements are not subjective. It's those we trust in. Laugh your ass off somewhere else .

 

[DMill]

I’m a huge Yamaha fan boy and then this… just thank you for testing these. $5k is a lot of scratch.

 

[ErinPraline]

I have to be brutally honest, this is exactly what I expected. As someone who's been following the headphone/IEM market for over a decade I've come to be skeptical of audio products coming out of Japan. At least when it comes to headphones and IEMs the industry is dominated by subjectivism where designers prioritize craftsmanship, exotic materials and tunings rather than following the research, even brands as massive as Sony and Audio Technica have fallen into this trap. Until it stops making them money though they have no incentive to change.

 

[phoenixsong]

I have to be brutally honest, this is exactly what I expected. As someone who's been following the headphone/IEM market for over a decade I've come to be skeptical of audio products coming out of Japan. At least when it comes to headphones and IEMs the industry is dominated by subjectivism where designers prioritize craftsmanship, exotic materials and tunings rather than following the research, even brands as massive as Sony and Audio Technica have fallen into this trap. Until it stops making them money though they have no incentive to change.

Been dabbling in the stuff for over a decade *myself- I'd say not to single out Japan, it's pretty much the same there as it is anywhere else (both good and bad eggs can be found)

*Edited "here" to "myself" for clarity of meaning

 

[AnalogSteph]

Looks like I missed this one. Oh my.

Let's start with our usual headphone frequency response measurement using industry standard GRAS 45CA fixture:

The expression "a face for radio" comes to mind...

 

[PBSequence]

At High-End Munich this year, Yamaha has presented two more audiophile headphones (as prototypes, they are not officially announced with a release date anywhere as far as I could find). I assume they will fill up their lineup with somewhat more affordable models (since they 5000SE is considered a flagship by them).

They had for testing: The YH-C3000 (a closed back orthodynamic) and the YH-4000? (another open-back orthodynamic, similar in design to the 5000SE).
Both of them are somewhat smaller than the 5000SE. Prices are not announced but as assumed above they are going to be somewhat cheaper.

Maybe anyone here has taken pictures (not sure if it was allowed)?

Anyways, quick subjective impressions from my side (take with an ounce of salt) and comparison to the 5000SE (yes, I subjected myself to this again):
C3000: similarly wonky to the 5000SE, but probably not quite as bad. Whatever they were going for, they are doubling down on it apparently...
4000?: much, much better! Not sure how "good" it will be finally, and it probably won't measure perfectly, but compared to the other two it was a massive improvement. I'm looking forward to the release and hopefully measurements thereafter.