[mbyrnes]

Instead of the LCD series, definitely check out the Monoprice M1060. Stock they're good, but swapping to Audeze Vegan pads for $65 really makes them shine. The HEX are better, but you get really close with the M1060, and are extremely similar to the LCD2/3 for ~$365. They'll have new stock next week on the 24th according to their website. Revisions were made to the first batch according to Monoprice.

I have 8 full sized headphones, and the HEX and M1060 get all of my head time.

 

[seamon]

Even out of a Mojo I thought that the M1060 sucked. It's nowhere near the resolution of the HEX. Also the vocals are slightly awkward on the M1060. Not as good as the HEX. M1060 does have better body though.
 
M1060 does not play in the same level as HEX/LCD 3 though. It's closer to the LCD 2 and even then LCD 2 is much better.

 

[mbyrnes]

  Even out of a Mojo I thought that the M1060 sucked. It's nowhere near the resolution of the HEX. Also the vocals are slightly awkward on the M1060. Not as good as the HEX. M1060 does have better body though.
 
M1060 does not play in the same level as HEX/LCD 3 though. It's closer to the LCD 2 and even then LCD 2 is much better.

 
Did you swap to the Audeze Vegan pads? It is a totally different headphone. It is further improved with the paper towel mod. No not as resolving as the HEX, but still a really good listen. With the Vegans and paper towel, it definitely competes with the LCD2/3, as many owners of the M1060 have one of the other LCDs. For the price, it is a very good headphone. 

 

[Kyno]

Do anybody else having a hard time with ear fatigue?
 
It was rather unexpected given what I read about these headphones, although I noticed someone having this problem on this thread, but there's something somewhere physically piercing my ears, and it's felt right away. Sounds a tad harsh somehow, too.
 
From past experience, with the unmodded HD800 for instance, it never got considerably better with time. Had to mod it to tame it. Since these are efficient and already supposed to be great out of small equipments, I wonder how much it can be tuned down.
 
My previous Sony Z7 has a more sparkly treble, yet it sounds so rounds and easy/smooth on my ears compared to the HiFiman. And that's with my TransDAC on the HEX, which is too mellow for the Z7.
 
HE-560 had some of that, though not the 400i, both headphones I definitely liked. I can't say the HEX is swipping me of my feet like its baby brothers did.
 
It is indeed airy and spacious, maybe too much for me. My ears are getting adjusted, but will probably end up craving for more body/meat (I was a big fan of the HD650 too, but disliked the wide and leaner, despite cleaner, signature of the HD800, as a reference.)
 
I'm thinking I should probably hunt for a Focal Elear to compare them. Not that I dislike my Z7, but I can't stand closed cans for too long.

 

[bearwarrior]

  Do anybody else having a hard time with ear fatigue?
 
It was rather unexpected given what I read about these headphones, although I noticed someone having this problem on this thread, but there's something somewhere physically piercing my ears, and it's felt right away. Sounds a tad harsh somehow, too.
 
From past experience, with the unmodded HD800 for instance, it never got considerably better with time. Had to mod it to tame it. Since these are efficient and already supposed to be great out of small equipments, I wonder how much it can be tuned down.
 
My previous Sony Z7 has a more sparkly treble, yet it sounds so rounds and easy/smooth on my ears compared to the HiFiman. And that's with my TransDAC on the HEX, which is too mellow for the Z7.
 
HE-560 had some of that, though not the 400i, both headphones I definitely liked. I can't say the HEX is swipping me of my feet like its baby brothers did.
 
It is indeed airy and spacious, maybe too much for me. My ears are getting adjusted, but will probably end up craving for more body/meat (I was a big fan of the HD650 too, but disliked the wide and leaner, despite cleaner, signature of the HD800, as a reference.)
 
I'm thinking I should probably hunt for a Focal Elear to compare them. Not that I dislike my Z7, but I can't stand closed cans for too long.

 
I think I can answer your concern. If you like HE-560 and 400i, you will definitely like HEX. HEX will give your much more resolution. I do not find any treble problem. I used to own Beyer T90, which is definitely too bright. I want to describe HEX as better HD600 with much more bass. (As for the bass, you actually can feel the vibration when you hold the HP and play bassy songs.) So do not think HEX as another HD800. You don't need any EQ for any genre of music, IMO.
 
I actually have similar comparison (Elear) when I bought HEX. People think Elear is kind of too intimate, which is like higher resolution HD650. However, it is still dynamic HP. Planar magnetic HP is very different. HEX will have larger soundstage and give you the HEK signature. Also, people will find they spend more time with HEX than Elear and HD800. People actually want to compare this HP with Ether Flow. 
 
Btw, good DAC and amp combo will really bring out better experience with HEX. You are not looking for more power but your preferred tonality.
 
I hope these comments can help you.

 

[Kyno]

   
I think I can answer your concern. If you like HE-560 and 400i, you will definitely like HEX. HEX will give your much more resolution. I do not find any treble problem. I used to own Beyer T90, which is definitely too bright. I want to describe HEX as better HD600 with much more bass. (As for the bass, you actually can feel the vibration when you hold the HP and play bassy songs.) So do not think HEX as another HD800. You don't need any EQ for any genre of music, IMO.
 
I actually have similar comparison (Elear) when I bought HEX. People think Elear is kind of too intimate, which is like higher resolution HD650. However, it is still dynamic HP. Planar magnetic HP is very different. HEX will have larger soundstage and give you the HEK signature. Also, people will find they spend more time with HEX than Elear and HD800. People actually want to compare this HP with Ether Flow. 
 
Btw, good DAC and amp combo will really bring out better experience with HEX. You are not looking for more power but your preferred tonality.
 
I hope these comments can help you.

I may have been unclear, I already have the HEX.
 
It is odd, certainly. As I said, I also recognize the treble not being the most clear/forward, and it's not supposed to be the case with these headphones, but boy can they hurt my ears, at least as much as an un-modded HD800. When I say hurt, I mean something making my ears physically painful inside. I had ended up selling my HE-560 for the same issue, although on a smaller scale.
 
It did get a bit better out of my Creative X7 though (Bottlehead Crack is awful with it, but that's to be expected.)
 
Damn sensitive ears, right? 

 
As efficient as they are, I do find they respond very heavily to the amp/DAC used.
 
I'm going to give the Chord Mojo a try since it's not only known as a good DAC I've wanted to ear, not harsh either from what I've read, but also a great pairing with the HEX, and report here. 
I'll end up giving the Elear a try out of curiosity anyway (cause intimate+higher resolution HD650 is actually really appealing to me, as well as its other characteristics) and it's also a good combo, apparently.
 
The HEX doesn't really have the magic the HE-560 & HE-400i had on me for now, but you never know.
The 400i was probably my favorite. Definitely nothing impressive about its soundstage, and you might wonder why the HEX in this case, but I wanted to try it considering how much I liked the two other HiFiman's.
 
The HEX signature's pleasant, that's the better word to describe it, just not emotionally involving to me for now. On the contrary, they have a bit of the HD800 symptom where I'd get tired of them past 30 minutes or so.
 
If I had to give my biggest gripe about them, it would be the lack of body. I was just hearing a few piano notes as the end of this writing and was thinking "Damn it, slam these notes!".
 
Well, thanks for taking the time to answer anyway! You know, at the end, ear pain might actually settle this without too much thinking if it can't go away 

 

 

[seamon]

^I posted about that piercing 8Khz peak in the previous page. If you search this page another guy had the same problem.
HEX is one of the more piercing and irritating headphones for me out there. Not even THX00, Ether Flow has this physically painful 8k peak that makes the HEX unusable after a couple hours. 
 
I have since moved onto the LCD 3.
 
I did try the HEX with Mojo initially and it doesn't help

 

[tuna47]

I had the hex and hex2 from the beginning. I found them very relaxing never had a problem
I just moved to the hek v2 much more treble and more resolving sometimes on bright instruments I find it tiring

 

[watchdog507]

I had the hex and hex2 from the beginning. I found them very relaxing never had a problem
I just moved to the hek v2 much more treble and more resolving sometimes on bright instruments I find it tiring

One thing that may not have been addressed is the Headphone Cables.  When I installed new Lavricable's Master Silver XLR, I was presented with glare and fatigue.  I popped in Moon Audio Black Dragon's and the problem went away. Jump forward a month, the Silver Cables are have had time to break in and the glare and fatigue are gone but the detailed presentation is there.  I can do extended listening on the HEX V2. Copper can help mitigate a bright system configuration 

 

[tuna47]

Use black dragon the fatigue seems to be a lot less as I get used to hek treble

 

[seamon]

Just EQ 8Khz down and fatigue will go away. It will affect the sound signature however

 

[tuna47]

What is a good equalizer for Tidal

 

[seamon]

You can't EQ tidal on cellphone. In destop I use APO Equilizer

 

[tuna47]

Thanks

 

[Barndoor]

Don't use tidal, but i would have thought that it would be possible to eq on an android phone if using uapp as the streaming app. Don't know about Apple.