Just a small update to my fellow Calgarian Head-Fier's - I received my Hifiman HE-560 headphones a week ago and have been listening to them on average of 10 hrs a day since with the exception of 1 day where I spent the entire day with my HD800s, just so I could make sure I was hearing what I thought. My impression so far:
THESE ARE A DEFINITE KEEPER!!
So far I'm willing to say that I think they're the best planar magnetic open back headphones under $1000 that I've heard. I haven't tried the new Oppo or the closed back Audeze LCD-XC, but given the musicality and enjoyment I'm getting from the HE-560s, it's unlikely that I'll even investigate them. They are incredibly comfortable compared to the earlier HE-500 and other planars from Hifiman and Audeze, almost as comfortable as my Sennheiser HD800s. And surprisingly, the 560 sounds very close to the HD800. Not quite as wide of a soundstage, but they are very impressive.
I'm not sure when the next local meet is being planned for, but in the meantime, anyone local that wants to give the HE-560 a listen can contact me and we'll see if we can arrange a mini-meet. I'm currently still off work on short term disability and recovering from my surgery, but I am now able to drive. I just can't spend more than 1-2 hrs at a time without using some heat or ice, so I'd prefer to do any listening sessions at my place. Of course if you would like to try the HE-560 using your own source/DAC/amp, I'm OK with you bringing them.
I have modified the stock cable that came with the HE-560 so that it now uses my modular adapters allowing me to connect to either balanced or single-ended outputs. I have adapters for dual 3 pin male XLR balanced, single 4 pin male XLR balanced, RSA/ALO/Cypher Labs Kobiconn balanced and 3.5mm/6.3mm stereo phono plug single ended. Contact me by PM if you're interested in a listening session prior to the next meet.
Dale