HiFiMAN HE-300

First, I’ll like to thank HifiMan for the HE-300 sample. For the last couple of years, Fang @ HifiMan has brought a lot of attention to the company’s line of full size headphones by releasing some of the best planar magnetic headphone there ever are. However, the HE-300 is the company’s first entry to the full size dynamic headphone – perhaps a challenge Fang sat for himself to release a (*price wise) class leading dynamic headphone. If that’s his goal, I would say HE-300 is doing very well. Note: though never announced officially, the second batch (and onward) of HE-300 (*known also as the ‘rev2’) is tuned differently to the first batch and being considered better by most who had listened to both. My impression however will be based on the first batch, which is what I have with me.



Packaging, Accessories and Build Quality
HE-300 comes in a rather big wooden box, which is akin to most of current HifiMan’s headphone packaging. While it is very well made for storing the headphone itself, the only grief I have with the box is that you can’t store the headphone with the cable attached (*the cable is designed to screw onto the headphone and comes unattached at first) – this makes the good looking box not a particularly useful choice for short term storage since cable needs to be unscrewed every times.





The cable itself is made from the Canare 4S6 star quad speaker cable, so the build quality is really good even though it is slightly on the heavier side. But that shouldn’t be too much of a problem for home use. The original headphone plug (as the one in this impression) is 3.5mm metal with a 6.5mm adapter, the later version however comes with a fully molded rubber plug to improve durability. The original batch comes with velour headphone pad, while the later also comes with pleather pad. I have both and for overall comfort and sound quality, I rather prefer the velour pad. The holding ring (the part that clips onto the headphone) of the original ear pad is a bit fragile looking and doesn’t look like they will survive for long, but the good news is HifiMan has replaced them with something much more sturdy on the later batch.





The design of the HE-300 resembles that of HifiMan’s planar magnetic headphone. It is function over form with a rustic industrial look. It might not win any beauty contest, but the simplicity in itself has a kind of attraction of its own. It is not the best build quality I have seen, but it is also far from being the worst. Overall, I’ll say it is quite a decent and comfortable full size headphone for day to day use.

Sound Quality
The headphone has been given no less than 50 hours of bun-in, though no significant change was observed. Gears used for review: Hifiman HM801 (line-out and balanced amp module), Meier Audio Corda 3MOVE and StepDance.





Warm, smooth, with a beautiful mid – HE300 has a more musical presentation that is more toward being euphonic than it is to reference sounding. One of the first things that grab my attention on the HE300’s sound is its bass. While it is far from being a bass monster per se, it is actually quite snappy and hard hitting for an open-back design. The mid range is definitely the strong point of the headphone. While it does sound a tiny bit grainy on the upper vocal, it is overall forwarded, easy-going and highly enjoyable, particularly for most mainstream vocal centric music genres, i.e. Pop, Folk, Country, etc. Treble is smooth and well extended – not lacking in any aspect but certainly not the main the focus in the overall presentation and not the best for analytical listener.



Going by my memory of how HD600 and K701 sounds like (and please take this with a big grain of salt since I personally believe audio memory is not particularly accurate in general), I’ll say HE300 isn’t quite on the same level just yet. But when compared to headphone of the same price range, the SR-325i which I do own, I can see myself reaching for the HE300 every time as SR-325i just sounds tinny and bright in comparison. Perhaps I am just not quite a Grado fan. While not quite as neutral as my previous favorite bang of the bucks full size, the Fischer Audio FA-003, I too find HE300 sounding better in comparison - likely because HE300 is more opened, dynamic and fun that makes music really comes to live.

Since I have the balanced amp module with the HM-801 and it has a balanced cable that is designed for the HE series, I take a quick listen to both HE300 under single-end and balanced configuration. HE300, when balanced, sounds richer and fuller in tone, in exchange for a bit of air when compared to single end configuration. The lower end, especially bass note, sounds grander and almost like listening to a closed back version of the HE300.The slight graininess on the upper vocal is all but smoothed out. Unfortunately, it also takes out of some air and closes in the soundstage, which seems to be typical for how balanced amp generally sounds like to me, as far as my experience with balanced amp goes. Overall, the balanced amp module adds some detail to the lower and mid range with the expense on soundstage, so I won’t say the overall improvement is night and day.



Final Thought
Overall, I really enjoy the HE300. It was priced around $300 at first but now it is lower to $250 or so, and that makes it a pretty good buy when compared to other alternative on the same price range. The euphonic sound is probably not for everyone and every genre, but I think the easy-going nature of the presentation has made HE300 a great headphone for casual listening – something you can just put on just to enjoy the music. Well, isn’t that music is all about?

Equipment:
Ipod 160gb lossless files
Ray Samuals Audo "The Hornet" amp

Cans uses to compare signatures:
Denon AH-D2000 - stock
Sennheiser HD-650 - stock

Let me start off with a special thanks to Fang from HifiMAN for letting me audition the HE-300's at home.  Fang sent these cans to our latest chicago headphone meet "Chiunifi 5" for everyone to check out.  He offered up the opportunity to take the 300's home for an extended audition if the person would write up a review.  I took him up on that offer.  Fang has always been a strong supporter of Head-Fi, as well as a constant figure at many local and national meets.

There must me something I like about how HifiMAN voices their gear.  I am a big fan of their IEMs, a lover of the Jade, and a HUGE fan of the cans in the orthodynamic collection, although I'll probably never afford them.  
With that...  The review.

There are already a few reviews of these cans with some beautiful pictures and descriptions of build quality.  I dont feel a huge need to repeat that.  I will just echo and agree that they look just like the cans in the orthodynamic collection, but are Much lighter.  They do clamp fairly tightly to your head out of the box, but this can be easily fixed by bending the headband open (ala grado).  Personally, I find these cans very comfortable and have worn them for hours with no ill effect.  One last comment on the way the cord attaches to the body of the cans.  Its a pain.  BUT, once its on, its on.  So unless your switching cords often, it is pretty much a non issue.

Most importantly, the sound.  Before I go into a lot of detail, let me just say that I really love these cans.  They may even replace one of my others at some point, if I can bring myself to sell my own things first that is!  They definitely fit into the "fun" category.

Bass:

The bass response on these cans is where they are strongest.  The bass is big and full, probably what really brings out the "fun" factor.  I find that there is a bit of a hump in the low mid bass. This brings in a lot of bloom in the low end.  It doesnt have as much "punch" as some would like, but it isnt flabby either.  Its very enjoyable; a ported speaker, not a sealed one.  On orchestral works, the double bass blossoms nicely.  Peter Gabriels "washing of the water"  on his book of love ep was stunning.  On a more dance like track, you wont be disappointed.  I'm a big fan of Chromeo, and that whole album sounds fantastic on these cans.  I'm a sucker for 80's pop synth sounds, and this can delivers that nicely!!

Another thing worth mentioning is soundstaging.  It may be because the drivers sit about an inch from your ears, but the bass has more "space" to it.  When I compared this aspect to my Denons, the denons sounded a bit more closed in.  Yes, they are closed back cans, and that may have been it, but I would say on many tunes, the bass on the denons and the 300's was very similar.  While I would give the 300's the nod because the bass just sounds like it has more space to evolve.  Who knows though.  When I do the partial markl mod on the denons, getting the driver further away from the head, things might equal out.

Midrange:

I have read many of the reviews on these cans, and I have found that a lot of people feel that the midrange is more forward.  I must say I disagree with this.  My HD 650's have (to my ears) a more accurate midrange then the 300's.  What I can say is that while I would not call the midrange recessed, I would most definitely call it mellow, or warm.  Some might say "covered", but I'm not sure if that's the best term either, as it is too negative.  I feel this warmth may be in part because of the bump in the bass.  If you have ever had your subwoofer turned up too much on your stereo, you hear that besides overwhelming bass, it robs the midrange of some clarity.  Now, I'm over exaggerating here in this comparison, but I think this may play a part to the warmth of sound.  on most music I listened to, I found the midrange to be fairly Even, but slightly pulled back.  Voices are where I really test midrange.  both male and female.  The 300's add a mellowness to the voice that is pretty pleasing, especially for listening for long periods of time.  If you have albums where you feel like the singer is just too forward or in your face, these cans would work well there.  another way of saying this would be that these cans are pretty forgiving.  your worst recordings might be nice on these cans.  But, if you have a muddy recording, it would not fair well here.

quick aside:  I was reading a review about the more recent HE 400's, and Fang was speaking about voicing for the american market and our listening preferences.  What this included was a more forward midrange, and tighter bass.  He commented about how he tries to voice his product to his preference, a more "English" or European sound signature.  Being a fan of vintage speakers and gear, I understand what he is talking about.  The 300's are akin to something like the Dynaco A25 speaker.  It has no specific character that sticks out, but it is one of the most musical and easy to listen to speakers around.  Most audiophiles who have speaker systems own, have owned, or want to hear the Dynaco's.  There musicality is that popular.  I own them myself, and I would say that the 300's are part of that family, to a point.

Treble:

The treble on the 300's was a new experience for me.  It is one of the first cans I've heard that gives you upper details, that have little or no harshness at all.  Even on the best cans I've heard, there are recording that have moments that are a little "hot", and super accurate detailed cans deliver that "heat" in all its glory, like it or not..  I found the 300's deliver the detail of those recordings with the same warmth that exists in the midrange.  I'm not going to kid you here.  These cans are not the last word in detail.  you will not get the "air", or the expansive sense of upper space that you would get on something like a Grado.  But the treble is there, you hear details, and it sounds good.  In my listening, I found that classical instrumental recordings sound simply lush.  strings, harp, guitars, etc.. sound wonderful here.

General Comparisons:

I have read that some people compare the 300's to the Sennheiser HD600 and HD650.  I believe that this is an unfair comparison.  I am not a fanboy of the Sennheiser family, but I do believe these two Senns to be overall superior when compared directly to the 300's.  Having said that, I will add that the Sennheiser family is A LOT harder to drive than the 300's, and requires a much greater investment from the start.  The 300's can indeed be driven respectfully from something as simple as an ipod.  In a price(investment)/performance contest, the 300's would put up a fight, and win.  You can do a lot worse

I feel a much more fair comparison would be to something like the Denon AHD2000.  Yes, one can is open, and the other is closed.  But, the given price point vs performance puts these two cans in the same game to me.  In direct comparison, the Denon will give you a bit more treble extension, but takes away the openness and width of sound you get in the 300's.  But, when I would listen to some songs back to back, the sound ended up seeming much more similar then different.  it really depends on your ears.  The denons are a lot less "warm", and can be fatiguing over time to some.  I am speaking to the stock version of the D2000.  What you find most pleasing is up to you.  I can say that I can wear the 300's for hours while working on the computer.  no sweat, no reaching to turn down the volume, no shock when a song comes on that is mixed a bit louder.  everything is delivered sweetly.

I will make a quick comment about where these cans sit in the hifiman family.  They are not orthos.  They dont sound like orthos.  They just live in the same house.

Conclusion:

With the recent price drop, these cans are an amazing value.  The performance you get is really really good.  The fact that they can give you very respectable results from the HP jack on an ipod is just stunning.  If you are a person looking for a laid back listening experience, but still want to hear that hi-hat cymbal, these may be for you.

again, special thanks to Fang and HifiMan for their continued support.

 

1) HE-500 sounds darker and smoother than the HE-300. Not the other way around. IMHO.

2) HE-300 articulates better than HE-500 and for some, the HE-300 will feel like fresh air / an opened window to the music compared with the HE-500

3) HE-300 has a bass impact the excels the K70x. They are worlds apart. Generally the K702 is perceived tuned quite brighter through the whole spectrum than the HE-300

4) HE-300 and the HE-500 have both good comfort, the former is best for those appreciating it's net weight and the latter for those finding the HE-300 too light. The HE-500 feels more sturdy

 

Bass impact enough to make all music genres believable = tick

Vocals. Renders male and female vocals beutifully = tick

Treble extention and on the right side of "not harsh" = tick

Weight & comfort = tick

Doesn't need a separate amp = tick

 

Note: The HE-500's renders vocal in a truly beautifull natural way and on that arena, the HE-300 loose the "competition".

 

The stock cable is the same for HE-300 and the HE-500 and should be shortened or replaced by aftermarket / DIY cable. The stock cable is too solid / heavy. Buying an aftermarket cable for almost the same price could be silly, but if you own more than one HiFiMAN; well, why not, if soldering and DIY is not your thing. Just be aware that no extra ear pad, nor extra coax connectors is shipped with the HE-300. The HE-500 includes those spares.

 

 

Used a variety of music genres to get impressions. Country, Techno, Acoustic & Vocal, pure instrumental and Live performances. E.g.

 

- Infected Mushroom "Vicious Delicious"

- Anders Widmark "Waiting for a Train"

- The Rippingtons "Let it Rip"

- Leonhard Cohen "Ten New Songs"

- Kirk Franklin "Hello Fear"

- Josh Turner "Your Man"

- Basshunter "Now you're gone"

- Jennifer Warnes "Famous Blue Raincoat"

- Stanley Clarke "East River Drive"

- a-ha "Ending on a High Note"

 

The HE-300 is a keeper for me. I should note that on some of these recordings, some would probably actually find the HE-300 "too bright", or that may actually just be me (cf. compared to the HE-500 and LCD-2). Anyway; the HE-300 is indeed like fresh air; sound wise and with a high SQ delivery for $300.

 

Bottom-line: The HE-300 is a fun and engaging headphone. This on a V200/HegelHD10 combo, but more important: It is an all-rounder that is also fun driven simply by the iPhone (3G) headphone jack. Unbelievable VFM.

 

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The following are not my reviews, but just wanted to collate external reviews at one place:

 

Headfonia - http://www.headfonia.com/hifiman-he-300-the-dynamic-driverc

Techpowerup - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Head-Direct/HE-300/

I have these for about two weeks now and I can hardly believe how these have changed during this time. Always when I get new headphones I listen with them and leave other headphones dusting. The only ones that didn't impress me when I got them were HD800. I know sounds odd but that's how it was. Anyway when I heard the HE-300 I said to myself these probably aren't for me as I got used to brighter sound signatures but I wanted something different, something closer to HD600 and from the past experiences I knew headphones need time to start working as they should and for my ears to get accustomed to their sound signature.