SilverEars
Headphoneus Supremus
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Oh yes, this is important. It'st not easy to drive. It's one of the more difficult ones. Consider a pretty decently hefty amp.
= HiFiMAN HE-560 Impressions & Discussion Thread =
- Thread starter jerg
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- hifiman hifiman-he-560
Does anyone know if other headbands from hifiman headphones would fit the HE560. For example an HE350 headband ? Thanks.
HE560, HE400i, HE400S and HE350 (massdrop) are all the same and with some minor work the HE400/500 headbands will also work.
Thanks David.
hondavy
New Head-Fier
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Unfortunately I've been struck with the HE560 cracking yoke syndrome.
I've requested a return with Adorama. I'm a bit torn though as these sound really good. Absolutely the most refined sound of any of Hifman model I've tried. I'm sure most of us can agree that Hifiman man not win any awards for build quality but the trend that is developing with these later build HE-560s seems to be a little disconcerting. At this point I don't think I want to mess with a replacement yoke as the replacement might break and then there is the possibility of sudden driver death. I have several other good pairs of headphones including other Hifiman models which have been running strong for a couple years now. I think I'll just stick to what I have now and wait for a good deal on a used pair of HE-500s or possibly some Elears if the price on those get a little sweeter.
I wonder who owns the oldest (longest-surviving) HE-560? I got mine in mid December 2017, so it's like 2 months old.
The longest surviving would be about 4.5 years old since the HE560 came out in late 2013 IIRC. My 2 HE560 are from Feb 2014 and Jul 2014, both are the older SMC jack versions.
TheGame21x
1000+ Head-Fier
Well, it happened. My HE-560s (from the Adorama deal) gave up the ghost. First, a week or so ago, one of the gimbals cracked, which seems to happen to everyone. No biggie. I took the gimbals off and shored up both sides with some heat-shrink. Well, now it seems the left driver decided it didn't want to live any more and committed seppuku while still on my head. So it's dead. There are a few postmortem twitches every now and again (sound comes back) but it barely lasts half a song, if that.
To make matters worse, they died JUST outside of the 30 day window. I am not pleased. I don't know what HiFiMan is doing but their QC is the worst I've seen, which is a shame because these things sounded damn good. I don't even know if I want to deal with the hassle of returning them, only to possibly have to go through this again in another month or two.
To make matters worse, they died JUST outside of the 30 day window. I am not pleased. I don't know what HiFiMan is doing but their QC is the worst I've seen, which is a shame because these things sounded damn good. I don't even know if I want to deal with the hassle of returning them, only to possibly have to go through this again in another month or two.
LCMusicLover
Headphoneus Supremus
Certainly troubling. I've had mine since July 2017, with no issues. They're version 2 (2.5mm cable). I can create a little driver rattle with the very lowest frequency test tones, but never hear any rattle while listening to music, no matter how bassy. I must admit I'm being super careful putting them on and taking them off.
Despite my moving up the ladder (HEKv2, Utopia, Ether Flow) I'm still listening to them a fair amount. They're my second favorite (after Utopia) when moving around, sourced out of my DAP -- there are times I just prefer them over the Utopia when chillaxing.
Very sorry to hear about all the troubles folks are having with these cans. I enjoy them very much -- they drove my Monolith 1060s and Beyer T1g2s off my Wall of Fame
Midgetguy
Headphoneus Supremus
I swear it feels like people are complaining more about these dying after the change to the 2.5mm connection. Not saying that's the cause of the problem, but seems like HE-560s from the SMC era are holding up better than afterwards. Wonder if they started slacking on QC measures even more after that switch. @DavidA doesn't have a problem with his SMC-connector version (do you still have yours or is it now someone else's, but you just still have access to it?) and I'd probably bet the one I sold isn't having a problem either.
TheGame21x
1000+ Head-Fier
That's the most frustrating thing about this whole durability kerfuffle. I LOVE the sound these things put out. This is absolutely the kind of sound quality I'd expect from a $900 pair of headphones and getting them for less than half that just makes them sound that much sweeter. But I treated these things with kid gloves and they still broke. That's just not acceptable. Like, I don't know what they changed in their manufacturing process that made this batch so fragile but they need to fix it. And yeah, I know these have effectively been supplanted by the Sundara so they're basically discontinued but they need to do a better job by their customers.
George Taylor
1000+ Head-Fier
I don't think it's that either. I got mine when the price first dropped to around $500 USD, and they have the 2.5's. Have had no problems at all with them. I really think someone is cutting corners in every way possible somewhere. Bad plastics being used, bad wiring. I know if this was going on and i didn't have my pair yet, it would put me off of buying them.
phthora
Headphoneus Supremus
This all reminds me of when Gibson bought out WOOX, and with it the beloved Philips X2/27. Production switched over to a new manufacturer and took a major hit in quality. Glued pads, terrible sound, and unit failure abounded as the QC took a swan dive. As with here, the people that bought the older version wondered how people could trash such a great headphone, while those with the newer version wondered how the headphone earned such acclaim in the first place.
I wonder if HiFiMan just switched over the assembly of the existing parts to some new factory to save some costs and is now running into the same sort of Gibson-esque manufacturing problems. Bunch of new workers at the wheel figuring how to put these things together and over-stressing the gimbals during installation and that sort of thing.
I wonder if HiFiMan just switched over the assembly of the existing parts to some new factory to save some costs and is now running into the same sort of Gibson-esque manufacturing problems. Bunch of new workers at the wheel figuring how to put these things together and over-stressing the gimbals during installation and that sort of thing.
Midgetguy
Headphoneus Supremus
Well whatever they're doing, it sounds like it's affecting the recent iterations the most. Don't get me wrong, I saw reports of shoddy Hifiman QC when these originally came to market, then then I think it kind of equalized, and now it seems like it's gotten really bad again. I think a lot of people are expecting Hifimans to not be very well QC'd anymore because of this (despite the price tags) and it looks like it's gotten even worse rather than better.
Unrelated (somewhat): I like the original cherrywood box the best. It was so classy!
Unrelated (somewhat): I like the original cherrywood box the best. It was so classy!
I've been reading the last few posts about broken gimbals and such and I'm just wondering if this from normal use? Mine seem to be pretty sturdy albeit they are plastic. I just can't see them breaking as easily as I've been reading.
ra990
Headphoneus Supremus
Also, note that most of the problems are from people who got them from the Adorama deal. I should be getting my pair any minute now (UPS guy is late...). But, I wonder if the discounted price is because they have a lesser quality batch? It seems too coincidental. I'll report back once I get mine after a couple days of listening.
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