[Sonic Defender]

Dont know anyone who has that configuration..but tubes from holland? Only dutch people call the netherlands 'holland'...very mysterious

Could this be the mysterious poster??


 

Nope, here in Canada we say Holland as well!

 

[Sonic Defender]

He probably has a hard time picking up girls at the mall with the he-560 compared to the beats. Not sure I'd give that up even if the he-560 did start to sound good.

Girls aren't impressed by headphones. I think the Big Bang Theory gave the gadget geek the notion that girls sometimes dig them. Not so, unless you count your mother or that strange second cousin with the lazy eye.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

This thread is the 1st time I had to do a double take and spit take on the same post.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Girls aren't impressed by headphones. I think the Big Bang Theory gave the gadget geek the notion that girls sometimes dig them. Not so, unless you count your mother or that strange second cousin with the lazy eye.

I agree..BUT..i found out since recently that women like color on the phones..as since i have my new fat, beautiful braided, ruby red cable attached to to my code-x, they (the women in my life) love how it looks...women are weird! My wife even said yesterday it looks more sophisticated now..whatever that means
But she keeps by her statement that i look like an alien with that huge thing on my head

 

[Wildcatsare1]

OK, preliminary report on the Cambridge Azur 650BD>Lyr 2(pre-amp)>Belles Amp One>HiFiMan HE-Adapter>HE560. They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, OMG, maybe the Folks on the HE-6 Thread are on too something ! A little experimentation, Lyr 2 is a better pre-amp on low gain, duh, but I forgot to switch it over.

Listening to the Telarc DSD, Stravinsky, the Firebird Suite, Jarvi, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra late last night and the "jump" factor was out of this World, don't know how they fit the famous Telarc Tympani in my Office, but almost spilled my NyQuil at the thunder, deep in my backyard! Grip, balls too the wall bass, the 560 DO have, unparalleled dynamics, a stereo speaker system with similar capabilities would cost almost as much as HiFimanrookie's new car. Tone, good, but not quite as warm as the Lyr 2 with my sweet Amperex Tubes, soundstage, excellent, imaging, Just might, maybe could challenge Matt's Babies, HD800's, bring it on .

All and all, a little experiment I am thrilled with so far, Theogenes, think you could part with your HE-6's, in the name of science, for a couple of weeks?

 

[preproman]

Try it without the HE-Adapter.  Just be careful with the volume knob.  
 

 

[choC.]

Old & new 

 

 

[Tony1110]

Nope, here in Canada we say Holland as well!

LOL. As do we in the UK. As do lots of people around the world I'm sure.

 

[conquerator2]

So do we... We use both Holland and Netherlands so I suppose many countries do

 

[DaemonSire]

HiFiMAN HE-560 Review & Impressions

I've had my HE-560's for a few months now and I'm finally ready to give my review and impressions. After spending some time on this, I can now appreciate how difficult it can be to convey a cogent, dispassionate and hopefully thoughtful perspective.
What follows is only my opinion and should be viewed as such but please keep in mind that I have been listening to music since I was born, or maybe just a bit after, and definitely since I was four or five. Unfortunately at his point in my life I really don't remember.

Euipment:
Audio gd C-2 SA
Schiit Lyr with some tube thingies from Holland.
Audio gd NFB-15

Music:
Mostly classic rock like The Monkees , Donnie Osmond, The Partridge Family, and maybe The Archies if my mood is particularly dark.

Un boxing:
After waiting exactly a week or so the package finally arrived! Those guys can sure tape up a box.

The case:
The case has a nice industrial/grunge look to it which has been further accented by scratches on the aluminum top plate along with two crushed corners from shipping. Who needs some pristine fancy box anyway? I now have the luxury of not worrying about damaging the darn thing myself. Displaying the box sends the message that I have something that most people would consider outrageously expensive yet I can't be concerned about caring for properly. Groovy.

The cable:
The cable is of some quality and of a perfect length. I can't imagine a scenario where anyone would actually need to sit more than four or so feet from their audio device. To the detractors that may want a longer stock cable I would say quit whining, sit still and just don't turn your head. My only gripe with the cable is that its not a more fetching color like chartreuse or brain beige.

The headphones:
Let me start off by saying that I like the rub spots on the headphone cradles. The bilateral symmetry is a wonder to behold. How did they get them to rub on each side with such uniformity? You can't tell me that it wasn't planned.
The cups themselves also are nice. If you look closely you can really tell that the wood strips are not Formica. I think it's wonderful that they did away with the full wood cup. I mean having a cup made of some sort of beautiful exotic wood is all well and good but I would much rather have something a bit less classy.
HiFiMAN has made the headphones considerably lighter than their older offerings. I have already noticed my dress shirt collars are a little looser as a result of muscle wasting.
I have big ears. There, I've said it. I have found though, given a few attempts, that I can fold my ears over, origami style, to fit almost comfortably within the ear cup openings. All I can say is that I can't wait until the Focus B pads finally start shipping.

The sound:
Here is where things go downhill. When comparing these headphones to my beloved Beats, I'm afraid the HE-560's take quite a drubbing. Let me explain.

Bass:
Where is the bass? The bass on these headphones is too neutral, distinct and real. The depth, control and texture are disconcerting. I miss the rumbling, sonorous drone that the Beats produce with every song regardless of mastering. To illustrate how good the Beats are in this regard, I believe I have some low frequency hearing damage from the bass produced from my favorite recording of crickets chirping. I don't know about you but I want to be able to look into a mirror and see the headphones undulating on my ears like a bag full of cats.

Mids:
Here again, what the heck is going on? My Beats produce some mid frequencies, I'm pretty sure, yet to hear them in such neutral clear abundance with the HE-560's throws off my entire experience. I'm used to kind of guessing what is going on with these frequencies and the HiFiMAN's, I'm sorry to say, ruin the mystery.

Highs:
Oh boy. Call me a old frump, but in my day the highs rolled off after 3kHz and we LIKED it like that. Anything above that threshold is purely coloration. The smooth, delicate detail and extension that these headphones produce makes me wonder if HiFiMAN knows this is going on.

Separation:
I personally like other headphones where the sound is closely cuddled in a tight hug with each player partially covering the other. Instead of a hug, the HE-560's produce a sense that each voice or instrument are lightly holding hands without any one being too exuberant or shy. The most annoying thing is when I notice a sound so visceral and lifelike that I have to quickly look around to see if a musician has snuck into the room with me. So far each time this has happened it has been a false alarm but I'll still be on my guard thank you very much.

PRaT:
I don't know what this means. I think it might be slang for the buttocks although I'm not sure what that has to do with headphones. Perhaps when I have time I'll look it up in the urban dictionary. Either way, I'm sure the HiFiMAN's have it or they don't.

Air:
Every headphone should have this. I haven't personally tried it yet, but I don't believe these headphones would work as intended in a vacuum. I won't go into the physics, but you definitely need some medium to propagate the sound waves. For my money, you can't beat air.

Final thoughts:
I had high hopes that this headphone would be more like most others I've listened to. I guess my biggest gripe boils down to their fancy sound signature. I'm not accustomed to having all this information thrown at me and as a result I have to continue to spend untold hours playing all of my music again and again. I'm determined to keep listening with them as long and often as I can out of pure spite until one of us succumbs. Let me tell you if the HE-560's breaks first then, by golly, I'm going plop down $900 for another pair and start listening all over again. That is my resolve.

The end:

Best review ever.
 
Love it:
 
The case:
The case has a nice industrial/grunge look to it which has been further accented by scratches on the aluminum top plate along with two crushed corners from shipping. Who needs some pristine fancy box anyway? I now have the luxury of not worrying about damaging the darn thing myself. Displaying the box sends the message that I have something that most people would consider outrageously expensive yet I can't be concerned about caring for properly. Groovy.

 

[DaemonSire]

I just wanted to make a comment on the 'newer' FocusPad-A  (the one with the matched L/R pads and symmetrical seam).
 
I know the comparison's between the FocusPad and FocusPad-A's have always tilted the build quality in favour of the FocusPads.  But I have to say, I picked up a pair of the 'newer' FocusPad-A's and if anyone has any concerns over the build quality, do not worry.
 
Now keep in mind, I haven't seen the FocusPads (other than pictures of course), but the FocusPad-A's have excellent build quality.  The stitching is clean and the material seems to be of decent quality.  And the comfort is fantastic.
 
I understand the older FocusPad-A had uneven stitching and unmatched L/R pads (so the seam would be at the top on one of them).  Regarding the newer ones, I have zero complaints.
 
As far as ear size/fit goes:  I have medium sized ears I would say.  If had to compare my ear size to the opening size of the ear pad, I would say my ear is a bit bigger.  However, putting them on, I don't have any discomfort at all.  I think the whole "ear opening" size of the pad was blown way out of proportion.
 
To be honest, if these matched FocusPad-A's were originally released instead of the older FocusPad-A's, I don't think we would have seen the complaints raised against them and likely would never have seen the FocusPad.

 

[Sonic Defender]

OK, preliminary report on the Cambridge Azur 650BD>Lyr 2(pre-amp)>Belles Amp One>HiFiMan HE-Adapter>HE560. They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, OMG, maybe the Folks on the HE-6 Thread are on too something ! A little experimentation, Lyr 2 is a better pre-amp on low gain, duh, but I forgot to switch it over.

Listening to the Telarc DSD, Stravinsky, the Firebird Suite, Jarvi, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra late last night and the "jump" factor was out of this World, don't know how they fit the famous Telarc Tympani in my Office, but almost spilled my NyQuil at the thunder, deep in my backyard! Grip, balls too the wall bass, the 560 DO have, unparalleled dynamics, a stereo speaker system with similar capabilities would cost almost as much as HiFimanrookie's new car. Tone, good, but not quite as warm as the Lyr 2 with my sweet Amperex Tubes, soundstage, excellent, imaging, Just might, maybe could challenge Matt's Babies, HD800's, bring it on .

All and all, a little experiment I am thrilled with so far, Theogenes, think you could part with your HE-6's, in the name of science, for a couple of weeks?

I am very interested in getting the adapter from HiFiMan that you are using, but I notice that on their site HFM implies that it isn't for use with the HE 560. Now I know we can use it, but my questions is does it in anyway impact the sound quality? I would like to use my NAD M3 integrated and this would allow that (after I also buy a new cable that terminates in a 4 pin XLR). I don't want an adapter as I hate having multiple connections and in my view the fewer the better. It sounds like you are very pleased with the results so I hope I will also be that pleased.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Just asked Brian from Razordog to source the cable and adapter from HFM for me. I look forward to being able to use my M3 and if I like the result I may end up selling the Yulong A18. The A18 is amazing, but the M3 is a really solid beast that sounds fantastic and I would have a remote control!

 

[DaemonSire]

 
I am very interested in getting the adapter from HiFiMan that you are using, but I notice that on their site HFM implies that it isn't for use with the HE 560. Now I know we can use it, but my questions is does it in anyway impact the sound quality? I would like to use my NAD M3 integrated and this would allow that (after I also buy a new cable that terminates in a 4 pin XLR). I don't want an adapter as I hate having multiple connections and in my view the fewer the better. It sounds like you are very pleased with the results so I hope I will also be that pleased.

 
 
I'm with @preproman, try it without the HE Adapter box and use a pigtail cable like he posted at http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/9165#post_10965449
 
Once you get the 4pin XLR, get a female 4pin XLR cable that goes to the 4 cables (Left +/- and Right +/-).  It can just be bare wire even like you would have with speaker cable.  Plug that in the amp first and see if you like it.  Be careful with the volume!! Start at zero and slowly work your way up!
 
The HE Adapter box is basically just the same idea but it has resistors in line to cut down on the noise and give you a bit more play with the volume knob.
 
If you are into DIY, you can build one yourself (that is even better) by looking up Robinette Box.

 

[DaemonSire]

  Just asked Brian from Razordog to source the cable and adapter from HFM for me. I look forward to being able to use my M3 and if I like the result I may end up selling the Yulong A18. The A18 is amazing, but the M3 is a really solid beast that sounds fantastic and I would have a remote control!

Check out Brian @ BTG-Audio too:  http://www.btg-audio.com/webstore.htm
 
He can make one and may have better prices.  He can also do the 4pin female XLR to banana plug cable that I mentioned.