HIFIMAN HE1000 Review & Modification Notes
 
 

 
 
 
Allow me to preface this write-up by saying, this review has taken a while to materialize largely due to personal reasons (busy time in my life with graduate school deadlines).
 
I decided to embed my notes about potential modifications within the review rather than make a separate post or thread about it, as they are in my opinion fairly straight-forward mods that don’t need their own personal spotlight.
 
Hope everyone has an enjoyable read.
 
 
 
Durability, Design, & Ergonomics
 
HE1K is made from a premium set of materials. Its headband assembly is fully brushed steel and aluminum. The headband strap is genuine leather, while the headphone cups are a combination of aluminum and relatively thick shaped wood veneer. The pads are either lambskin or premium grade pleather, it feels very good either way. The finish on these cans is commendable especially when looking back at older Hifiman cans. Everything on HE1K lines up in symmetry, all gimbals and pivots are smooth, the brushed finish on all the aluminum parts are nice and even, the wood is 99% seamless to the adjacent metal on the cups, with the veneer edge being only a bit frayed near where they shear off at the connectors; I do contemplate getting some wood wax to help preserve the wood in the long term though, as that is not included. Personally, I am quite satisfied with these earpads, they are impeccable, and certainly a lot nicer-finished than the Focus pads that go with HE400i/560.
 
As far as I can tell, I don’t see any weakpoint in the physical build of these headphones, it’s a very robust design from top to bottom. Even the connectors are 2.5mm plug-n-play stereo jacks rather than the old SMC screw-on connectors favoured in the past by Hifiman; meaning if you accidentally yank the cables hard, they should give way before damaging the connectors. As long as the drivers with nm-thin diaphragms themselves hold up the test of time, I think these headphones will last a good long while.
 
With regards to ergonomics and comfort, I am for the most part, floored. Beta testers including myself raised the issue with headband not accommodating smaller sized heads, and that was remedied in production units. Other than that, these are share the top spot for most comfortable full-sized cans I’ve ever tried, alongside HD800s (the HE1K headband is more comfortable than HD800’s, on my head) and HE-audio Jades. HE560s are already quite comfortable, but HE1000s improve the comfort on 2 fronts: 1. The headband is full of perforations which keep the head cooler over long sessions, 2. The sheer size and reverse-teardrop-shape of the cups mean my ears have plenty of space.
 
Now let’s get on the sound…
 
 
 
Sound Quality Analysis
 
Treble
 
HE1K’s treble is ultra-detailed, tonally neutral with moderate smoothness. It possesses great treble texture, which is shown through the ability for me to discern the physical nuances of vocals (the rasp, the smack of the tongue and lips, the wheeze of the airway and lungs, etc) and instruments (crunch and ribbed texture of guitar strings, crystalline twang of the piano keys, metallic sounds, etc) in critical listening on these headphones.
 
However, I do think HE1000 sometimes shows a slight loss of treble cohesion, especially apparent with some vocal tracks at loud volumes. This lack of constant treble coherency is the only tangible gripe I can come up with HE1K’s sound.
 
Modding angle
 
A way I found even tracing back to HE560 modding, was that the spashiness / incohesion of treble in the case of that headphone (and homologously, of HE1K) is at least partly due to some form of chamber resonance. The shelf-liner mod works quite well here also, to dampen the treble “splashiness” without attenuating or filtering out treble detail.
 
Simply trace out the driver onto a template, and trim out a shelf-liner disc using this template, be sure to trim the disc ½-inch smaller around the circumference, to compensate for the baffles (you want to tuck the shelf liner disc under the baffles, so that the earpad clips will lock down the disc).
The type of shelf liner? Check my HE560 mod details (signature).
 
This modification readily reduces the splashiness that is sometimes present in HE1K’s treble, enough so that it’s no longer a point of contention to my ears.  At the same time, the tonal balance stays exactly as is, the shelf-liner does not seem to be reducing or boosting specific frequency ranges.
 
 
Midrange
 
The midrange on HE1Ks retains the classical Hifiman house sound (flat in the low mids, dips somewhat in the low~mid midrange (at 2kHz), and increases again at the upper mids and beyond) in midrange tone, but stays fairly close to neutral. Subjectively, HE1K’s midrange tuning strikes a balance between being full-sounding and spacious/ethereal, which to my ears is a very likeable tonal compromise.
 
Now this ties into the Imaging/layer separation section, but the sheer ability for HE1K drivers to effortlessly discern layering in music grants the midrange great presence and realism
 
 
Bass
 
The driver/earpad enclosure is able to produce large-sounding bass that succeeds in extending out of the headstage, almost subwoofer-like in projection, has its own presence independent of the rest of the frequency range.
 
HE1Ks have fantastic control in bass / sub-bass tautness. It presents really superb physicality, and is able to play its own part cleanly in complex layered tracks, while still seamlessly blending into lower midrange in more cohesive music. Personally this is the most enjoyable bass response I have heard from any headphones; simply put, these cans do bass great justice in all genres of music.
 
Modding angle
 
By modifying the earpads so that they are more angled (described in detail in the next segment – Imaging & Headstaging), it does in part allow the drivers to be distanced slightly further from the ears; as well as increase the firmness of the earpads to a small extent which improves the fit and seal. The first factor contributes to a slightly punchier bass (more mid-bass grunt). The second factor adds a tad more control and groundedness to the lowest frequencies (more sub-bass conduction and better seal).
 
 
Imaging & Headstaging
 
HE1K’s 3D imaging is spectacular in some aspects, interesting in others. It possesses a very clean diagonal and lateral imaging, but frontal imaging is slightly fuzzy.
 
These drivers boast one of the most competent layer separations I’ve heard from headphones, accentuated by the physicality of HE1K’s sound signature.
 
The headstaging is convincingly out-of-the-head, but biases toward stronger lateral than frontal projection of audio cues.
 
Modding angle
 
A simple modification to increase the angling of the earpads is to trace the outer- and inner-edges of the undersides of the earpads onto 1/16-inch creatology foam, and trim out the back-facing half of the foam. This foam insert can further be tweaked in terms of its thickness (you could trim out another foam crescent and glue to this, for instance) as well as coverage (whether you want more or less of the earpad circumference elevated by this foam insert).
 
This earpad-angling mod allows for a more natural angling of the HE1k drivers facing toward the user’s ears, which I find helps with centre-staging, and makes lateral imaging more natural – rather than audio cues biasing toward the far left and right, now they have more dimensionality panning diagonally to the ears.
 
 
Dynamic Range, Transient Speed, & Misc. Capabilities
 
Synergistic with its exquisite layering capability, HE1K has a very respectable dynamic range, observed both from tracks with quiet / loud segments, and complex tracks with simultaneous low/high volume information.
 
Their drivers are extremely fast in terms of speed, sounds and cues simply materialize and disappear on a dime; this trait contributes greatly to the naturalness and believability to HE1K’s presentation.
 
It has a well-rounded transient edge (stronger ‘attack’ than most headphones I’ve owned or tried), but retains a sense of sweetness to the sound that allows for comfortably long listening sessions as well. Midrange transients feel stronger than treble transients. The end result is a somewhat relaxed but technically top-tier sound
 
I Find HE1K’s drivers to have good power-handling, and largely holds its beans together when I crank the volume way up. Bass and mids simply ramp up in volume without much strain in the SQ, as does the treble though maybe with a slight loss of treble cohesion.
 
 
 
Summary & Conclusions
 
What do I feel about HE1Ks after several months of listening and tweaking? Simply put, it is the most “safe” and “assuring” flagship headphone in my personal experience to date.
 
These headphones in stock form do not possess attributes, sonic or physical, that beckon doubt from me. Every aspect and trait of the headphone ranges from at worst exceptional, to at best unmatched. With some relatively low-effort mods, the headphones are further pushed up the chain to a degree of sonic finesse that I no longer need to listen to the headphones and analyze and admire the sound quality, instead, I can actually enjoy the music with zero insecurities about the performance of the transducers.
 
My mods are performance-driven, and I have a hyper-critical ear for sonic performance, and it’s rare that I can put on a pair of headphones and go, “I’m utterly okay with these now!” HE1Ks with a few simple tweaks are actually that.
 
 
 
Jerg
Sept. '15

The test unit has been in my hands for a week or two now and I feel it's due time to share some organized thoughts on these cans.
 
 
 
Build & Ergonomics
 
*** Readers are recommended to read Build&Ergonomics portion of my HE560 review, as HE400i shares majority of its external components with HE560, and I don’t want redundancy so HE560’s writeup will retain a portion of the physical description and my opinion on various parts of the shared physical build.
 
Cups
 
The HE400is use the tried-and-true resin plastic cups, in this case with a very high-chrome glossy finish. The resulting look is sleek and sexy, quite a juxtaposition beside the prudent and reserved look of HE560’s matte plastic / wood veneer cups.
 
Due to the chrome finish, it is hard to describe what the base colour actually is. Under normal lighting conditions it’s gunmetal grey with an extremely slight hint of cerulean blue / deep purple. Those coming from HE400s will be a lot more satisfied with how these cups show off.
 
Earpads / headband
 
The headband is the same as HE560’s; comfort-wise just perfection in my opinion, very few other headphones come close in terms of headband ergonomics.
 
The earpads that shipped with the test units are the Focus-A hybrid pads, which in my opinion is sonically superior than the Focus hybrid pads, but retaining a less perfect finish with the sewing seams. It is possible the production HE400i’s will ship with Focus pad though.
 
A quick note on comfort; the supreme ergonomics of the headband, coupled with the new earpads as well as the (relative to other planars) very light weight of the drivers, meant that the HE400i’s actually “disappeared” on my head 5 seconds after I put them on properly. I’ve not had that experience with any full-sized headphone I’ve tried in the past.
 
Cable
 
Again, same as HE560’s; a 2-metre crystalline copper / silver composite cable with fabric sleeving and ¼-inch plug. I have no qualms with it, but some may find it a tad too short.
 
 
 
Sound Quality & Characteristics
 
Treble
 
Treble is respectably extended with hardly any roll-off before 15kHz, and considerably smooth across the entire band. It still has a behaved mid-treble sparkle reminiscent of HE500’s treble, though is not as utterly smooth/grain-less as HE560’s treble performance. Resolution / microdetail extraction is a hair better than HE500s (mostly due to the better extension), but again falls short to HE560 by a significant margin. Since the driver assembly components are from the same pedigree as HE400’s, one might expect vestiges of HE400 treble showing through HE400i; but nope, I try to but hear absolutely nothing that reminds me of HE400’s treble issues. In the simpliest description, HE400i’s treble is smooth, very well-extended, with just a hint of extra sparkle.
 
Midrange
Midrange is very natural-sounding, and just a touch intimate. To put it in perspective with other Hifiman’s offerings I’m familiar with, HE400i’s mids are cleaner than HE500’s, but quite similar in intimacy; it (400i’s mids) is much, MUCH fuller sounding than HE400’s, and noticeably so vs. The HE560s too. Vocal/rock/solo instrumental listeners will love these mids, while orchestral/concert/soundtrack peeps might find it a bit too “familiar” and homely to be perfect. Again, I need to stress that these do sound less lush than HE500’s mids, so I’m talking fairly line-straddling differences.
 
Bass
Bass is tight/dynamic yet enveloping at the same time, which is a very interesting combination reminiscent of LCD2’s perceive bass behaviour. It is indeed slightly elevated, so those seeking a sound signature fit for bassy genres will find the tone perfect for that. Bass articulation/texture is excellent, which coupled with the slight bass elevation means all the low frequency detail is delivered in an effortless manner. I think that it offers comparable pros/cons relative to HE560’s bass, and is easily one of my favourite bass responses.
 
Clarity/Transparency
 
With regards to clarity and transparency, I think these strike as close to the mark as anything I’ve heard that tries to retain some intimacy and warmth, while keeping optimal clarity. That said, I will state that the “openness” of the sound (subjective perceived sense of how non-headphone-y, and speaker/real-life-like, the headphone delivers music) of these is not exceptional, it is about on par with HE500, but is a ways behind HE400’s openness, and nowhere near how open HE560s are able to sound. Instead of sheer openness, HE400i instead presents music in an enveloping, lounge-y manner, which in a peculiar way does sound quite appealing or even euphonic, especially with the right genres.
 
Soundstage
 
Soundstage of HE400i is decent but not exceptional; I am not a great judge of soundstage but these sound to be slightly narrower in width but deeper forward than HE500’s soundstage dimensions. Imaging is good, very similar to HE400’s imaging capabilities, though centre imaging is somewhat fuzzy / spread out across the front. If there is one thing that I find a bit weak in HE400i’s sonic repertoire, it is the soundstage/imaging capabilities. Most people will be satisfied though, just not those seeking ultimate monsters in these traits at $500 category.
 
Try out the regrilling mod for a welcoming improvement to the soundstage openness.
 
Timbre
 
HE400i’s timbre reminds me of modded HE500s a lot, with naturalness is the main descriptor. However HE400i does not stray too far into lushness/warmness, so the timbre with most instrumental stuff is musical but still considerably realistic. That seems to be the theme of HE400i, that it straddles the line between a warm/musical signature and a measured/neutral one. I do feel that fully modded HE500s have slightly more realistic vocal timbre than HE400i, while on instruments HE400i edges out due to its treble advantage. HE560 is on another level though with regards to timbre / believability.
 
 
 
Conclusion
 
In one fell swoop, Hifiman wants to have HE400i replace HE400 and HE500 at the same time, and I feel that it is indeed up to that task. Those familiar with HE400 will certainly welcome the much more even and natural sound of HE400i, while HE500 folks may come to appreciate the improvement in speed and tightness. On top of that, the ergonomics of the new line of Hifimans make this generational change all the more deserving of attention.
 
Of course, HE400is don’t quite excel in every domain compared to higher “tiered” cans, especially vs. HE560 which I compared extensively. But what HE400i does have is well-roundedness; it makes smart compromises in almost every aspect of its sound signature to bring out both musicality and technicality, which many will probably find to be extremely appealing.

Without further a-do, I'll get right into it. (My HE560 thread has some preface words etc)
 
 
 
Build & Ergonomics
 
Cups
 
The finalized take on HE560 cups is a matte-plastic-and-veneer finish, with the body of the cup being plastic much similar to other Hifiman cans, but a Macassar ebony wood veneer wrapped around as largely a design accent.
 
To my knowledge, this was largely a compromising decision made so that cup reliability over the long term will stay stable. Solid teak wood used for early HE560 units suffered some visual/matching, milling, and cracking issues despite teak being one of the hardier lumbers to work with.
 
From a purely artistic design standpoint, I do like the new cup look better than the old, which on top of vastly improved long-term reliability makes it a no-brainer for me; but of course, solid wood does have its allure.
 
Earpads / headband
 
The new headband assembly is, let’s just say, one of the most ergonomic in the headphone market currently, which for a utilitarian user would more than trade off for its peculiar look when worn on the head. For those who may find their headband clamping a bit much, just use some gentle and firm pressure and flex/hold the two 90-degree bends of the spring steel band, and clamp is easily attenuated that way.
 
There are two variations of the new hybrid velour/pleather earpads that Hifiman is making available along HE560; the Focus earpads and the Focus-A earpads. Both are fully-sealing earpads, with a slight (15 degrees or so) angling, soft velour for the flat portion and pleather for the outside cylindrical portion. The core difference between these two earpad variations is the inner-facing lining material; whereas Focus pads use a perforated pleather inner ring, Focus-A pads use a sloped permeable mesh fabric. Focus pads are also sewn more neatly than Focus-A pads. By default HE560s will ship with the Focus pads, but those looking for a less energetic and more balanced sound signature may prefer the Focus-A pads. Comfort-wise both are stellar as long as you don’t mind your ears grazing the inner lining of the earpads sometimes, as the earpad openings are not exceptionally huge; the velour fabric is much less itchy than prior Hifiman velour pads’, the foam used in these pads are MUCH softer than prior Hifiman earpads, and the angling conforms more naturally to the head allowing for better pressure distribution.
 
Cable
 
The cable that comes with HE560 is a 2 metre ‘crystalline’ copper / silver composite cable with black fabric sleeving and 1/4-inch plug. Some might find it too short if they like to prance about when wearing the cans. Stationary desktop users won’t have a problem with the length. The fabric sleeving is a welcoming change in terms of looks and feel compared to rubber or plastic sleeving of most of previous stock Hifiman cables.
 
It’s more flexible than both the Canare cables that HE400s come with, and the white SPC cables that HE500s have; cable diametre is slightly thinner than Canare cable.
 
 
 
Sound Quality & Characteristics
 
***The “treble / midrange / bass” subsections will cover the bulk of my sonic analyses; other subsections will either reiterate or raise more miscellaneous points toward those specific traits.
 
Treble
 
While the midrange and bass have some back-and-forth in terms of their performance relative to contenders, HE560’s treble is sublime.
 
Treble is always tough to get right, you need the correct frequency response, extension, decay, but also resolution / detail extraction (which correlates to but isn’t exactly represented by current methods of measurement); subjectively the ideal treble needs to extend into the nether regions without tizziness, be grainless, smooth, with minimal sibilance yet never recessed, and with fast enough transients to deliver treble texture in a convincing manner.
 
And out of all the headphones I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, only HE560, Code-X, and well-driven HD800s fully achieve that degree of treble finesse. The test prototype HE560s came close but still had some grain to its treble that stuck out like a sore thumb; the finalized production HE560s squelched that issue.
 
Midrange
 
For me, HE560’s midrange is a complex creature to describe. Right off the bat though, two traits that are very apparent are that their midrange is highly transparent, and just as open-sounding, as these are innate traits of the midrange signature that I find to be constants. Harmonic distortions in the midrange for HE560s are extraordinarily low from measurements that are posted thus far, which coincides with the subjective transparency.
 
The intrigue, however, lies in its tonality; HE560s can sound neutral, bright, organic, dry, thin, dynamic to different people. Frequency response-wise, HE560 has a slight recession around 2kHz and rise around 5kHz, which by definition gives them attack/edge yet still somewhat laid back, and that is what I observe in music too.
 
Further complexity is set in in that HE560’s midrange reacts to different earpads substantially. Hifiman’s most up-to-date earpads, the Focus hybrid velour/pleather pads, give HE560s a dynamic, slightly aggressive midrange signature with more upfront soundstaging. The alternative hybrid pads, the Focus-A pads, give it a more balanced, nuanced signature with more ‘roomy’ soundstaging. Of course, I had to try my Jergpads on production HE560s, which rendered a sound signature that was as aggressive as Focus pads, but also more forward-sounding, with a more laid-back treble (i.e. more mids-heavy balance); it’s different enough of a presentation from the hybrid pads that I may just swap between these and the Focus-A pads (which I prefer over the Focus pads).
 
Regardless of tonal balance, HE560’s mids are fast, really fast. There is little to no bloom, and midrange detail is rendered with startling realism. Some might call that a deficiency in musicality; I beg to differ, if it sounds strikingly realistic and convincing, to me that is musical, just in a different way than the typical “romantic, lush, etc” characteristics of sound signatures branded as being musical.
 
Regrilling mod done on HE560s gives it one extra nudge toward an extremely open sound signature. And here comes a surprising observation: for those who own Jergpads from ventures with older Hifiman headphones, you can make HE560s almost speaker-like in openness via backvented Jergpads with the dust screens completely removed (HE560s have internal dust screens built into the face-facing sides of the drivers). This is in contrast to the room-like open quality of the hybrid pads.
 
Bass
 
The word I would use to describe HE560’s bass is “disciplined”. It is a very technically capable bass, with excellent extension, tightness / low distortion, quickness, and lack of colouration; at the same time, it is never out of line in terms of volume relative to midrange or treble, always presenting itself in adequate quantity when the music calls for it.
 
That does mean that true bassheads may need to look elsewhere, because the low-end tilt simply isn’t here with HE560. But for those who seek bass with utmost finesse, and which is cohesive with the rest of the frequency band, these will not disappoint.
 
On the modding side of things, I have only very recently found something very interesting, that being that (surprise surprise) Jergpads seem to introduce a slight FR tilt toward bass/lower mids, which noticeably increases bassiness in the sound signature, at the expense of some bass tightness. Personally I found this quite satisfying actually, and may listen in this pad setup for some time to really decide if it’s something I’d endorse as a definitive improvement or not.
 
Clarity/Transparency
 
Again, these are as good as any headphones I’ve heard in the clarity/transparency front. Vocals and instruments are always in full focus with very fast and convincingly realistic decay. Separation is not just clearly defined, but each source of sound has its own appropriate projected volume in space. The ability for HE560s to render treble with tangible texture is frequently startling to me.
 
Soundstage
 
Medium-sized with the stock configuration; partly due to the frequency response having an upfront aggressive signature. With regrilling mod and optionally some pad swapping, one may suddenly find the soundstage expanding at will depending on the nature of the recording.
 
Timbre
 
HE560’s timbre is almost, almost completely spot on. In my personal opinion, the slight emphasis around 5kHz is the only thing holding back HE560’s timbre from completely believable, especially coupled with the strong transparency. I have not yet played around with equalization, but some may find that a viable option to perfect HE560s’ timbre.
 
 
 
Conclusion
 
I feel that the finalized production HE560 is the real deal, reliability issues are resolved, sonically they are competent in all fields and absolutely brilliant in many, and these no longer carry the stigma with modern planar magnetic headphones being unwieldy space helmets.
 
There are still minor flaws in HE560’s sound which I noted in this writeup, which may be remediable in a variety of possible methods of course, and some of them are subjective to my tastes specifically.
 
On a personal note, I will have fun figuring out mods to try to milk out as much performance as possible in the foreseeable future too.