An open-back planar assembled from HIFIMAN's mid-tier parts and sold under an HE-500 name it does not sonically inherit — every reviewer who has heard both says so. Sources broadly agree on an unusually wide, airy stage for the money, a light 355-gram build that leaks sound freely, and a clean, quick bass that lacks physical weight. They split on treble (tamed in the presence region versus a narrow peak that etches consonants), on imaging (precise versus wide-but-diffuse), on resolution (excellent for the price versus no better than HIFIMAN's older entry models), on fit (it vanishes on most heads but slides off or presses on some), and on value. On build, the larger camp — owners especially — describes visible corner-cutting. It plays loud off almost anything, but many owners say it only comes together with a real amplifier.
About this product
Drop's sixth HIFIMAN collaboration, launched in October 2020 at $220 — an open-back planar, 355 g, 18 Ω, dual 3.5 mm entry. Despite the name it is not a reissue of the 2012 HE-500, and reviewers who owned both say so plainly. Its real sibling argument is with the HIFIMAN Deva (wired): the two share cup, gimbal, pad and driver specs, and three measurement rigs now put them within about a decibel of each other through most of the range, while Drop has always maintained the magnet structure is different. Not the HE-4XX, the Drop HE-X4, or the later Deva Pro. Drop has since left the audio business, so the price here is HIFIMAN's own open-box listing, not the $220 the reviews quote.
In late 2020 Drop reached into HIFIMAN's parts bin and came out with the HE-5XX: an open-back planar at $220, deliberately named after the HE-500, a 2012 flagship that enthusiasts still talk about in reverent tones. The pitch was a taste of that old dual-magnet sound at a sixth of the price, in a body a third lighter.
The community noticed within days that it looked exactly like HIFIMAN's own Deva. What followed was one of the more forensic arguments in budget-headphone history — testers took both headphones apart, measured them on different rigs, and published opposite conclusions, while Drop insisted the magnets were new. Drop has since left the audio business entirely, and the HE-5XX survives as an open-box and second-hand buy that a lot of people quietly love and a fair few quietly returned.
