[mysticstryk]

This is the most closed minded thing I've seen in the new thread.  It could very well sound like the best planar headphone in the world, in which case it IS priced accordingly.  Comments like this just show that some people will complain all day regardless.  What it sounds like is EVERYTHING.  Especially when I've seen 3 impressions so far, all saying they are significantly better than the HEK 2.  This is a forum for high end headphone audio.  If you don't care what they sound like, maybe you should join complain-fi, where people don't care what things sound like, they just whinge. 

$6000 price tag deserves more than just some good sound quality that will be obsolete in less than 12 months with edition 2. Build quality and materials need to be fantastic, R&D work needs to be extensive. It needs to be a headphone years in the making.

Not something that the creator goes walking around shows asking people how much he can get for it.

Closed minded? Psh. Perhaps I just demand a certain level of quality on premium products. Judging by others on this forum, I'm not the only one.

 

[xinghui0711]

Not sure about edition 6 but "RE2000" dollars does sound quite good and comfortable. Whether it's worth the asking price or not is a complete different question... Time will tell.

 

[mulder01]

$6000 price tag deserves more than just some good sound quality that will be obsolete in less than 12 months with edition 2. Build quality and materials need to be fantastic, R&D work needs to be extensive. It needs to be a headphone years in the making.

Not something that the creator goes walking around shows asking people how much he can get for it.

Closed minded? Psh. Perhaps I just demand a certain level of quality on premium products. Judging by others on this forum, I'm not the only one.

 
Well I was agreeing with you about taking the time to make sure it WAS the best headphone in the world and NOT releasing something else in 12 months.  Good job reading the whole post.

 

[roskodan]

 

 

 
One more question: What exactly is the reason for the extremely low sensitivity, i.e. what design features (meant for improving the sound quality) are responsible for it?

I spoke to Fang about this. He said one of the problems with the HE6 was that people would read reviews, not understand the amping requirements, and blindly rush to buy- then say it sounded like crap. So one of the design goals for the HE1000 was to get it to a higher sensitivity and to be easier to drive. With the SVR, he said, they aimed it at a different market who would already own or at least be willing to invest in good power. I told him that most of us were using speaker amps with the HE6 and he said he understood, that the EF1000 (which was paired with the headphone formerly known as Ed6) was also a speaker amp for this reason.
 
So it kinda sounds like they always wanted to do low sensitivity cans, just that it would not be as accessible to everyone, hence why the HEK came first.

 
That may explain the new direction with the Susvara, but not what the benefit from the low sensitivity is – or the compromize a higher sensitivity has to deal with. I'm seriously interested to know.

i'm really curious about that as well, cos we saw the trend of ever more efficient cans in general, both planar and coil, with stronger magnet fluxes etc.
 
also interesting how usually higher end phones ve their impedance raised, guess the ed6 is still around 50 Ohm, only with a very low sensitivity.

 

[jelt2359]

That may explain the new direction with the Susvara, but not what the benefit from the low sensitivity is – or the compromize a higher sensitivity has to deal with. I'm seriously interested to know.

It sounded noticeably more visceral and impactful than the HEKv2. Which is incidentally what I'd say about the HE6 as well!

 

[mysticstryk]

Well I was agreeing with you about taking the time to make sure it WAS the best headphone in the world and NOT releasing something else in 12 months.  Good job reading the whole post.

Okay, I read your post. I wasn't only posting for your benefit.

 

[roskodan]

 

That may explain the new direction with the Susvara, but not what the benefit from the low sensitivity is – or the compromize a higher sensitivity has to deal with. I'm seriously interested to know.

It sounded noticeably more visceral and impactful than the HEKv2. Which is incidentally what I'd say about the HE6 as well!

great, ed6=he6+fancy robe, case closed
 
mods can lock the thread now

 

[mulder01]

 
great, ed6=he6+fancy robe, case closed
 
mods can lock the thread now

 
More posts like this and they probably will.  
 
Someone mentions that they would describe two headphones as impactful and automatically they are exactly the same.  Jeez.

 

[rgs9200m]

OK, the HEKv1 needed more work, but then they offered the upgrade program to help out their customers who took a leap of faith on the first version. I can live with that.
I don't see Sennheiser offering to buy back an HD800 from someone who wants the HD800S.
 
My biggest negative personally is that these low-sensitivity headphones require a speaker amp. Most of us here have multiple headphones and a decent amp already.
But I can just stick with my HEKv2 and basically don't worry/be happy so I don't fault them for that.
And if there is an HEKv3 down the road with an upgrade program, that's also fine.

 

[gikigill]

Sennheiser didn't launch the HD800S an year after, almost 7 years passed between the two.

How many has Hifiman launched in 7 years?

 

[roskodan]

 

[Blueswyh]

  If that headphone is so great that it costs $6000 and is no longer the part of the edition line...... then why does the design and build quality look identical to the he/edition line?

how could you see the build quality?

 
well, the hd800 is still sennheiser's top headphone (he-1, we ll just ignore that one a little), 2009, since it was released, soon 10 years, and we still didn't hear about a successor. Now, why is that? Because sennheiser will not make a successor that's just a hd800-S and name it hd1000 and pretend it's 3x better, and back the fact with 3x the asking price, instead of, with a meaningful technical/design improvement. They instead made the he-1, a no compromise, statement product, $55k, which is clearly in it's own category, by design and technically.
 
But sennheiser doesn't make $$$ on the hd800 (% compared to their whole revenue) and they can just chill out 10 years, also cos they have poured all their technical expertise in the hd800, and that's it. You may not like the sound, but that's as far as dynamic driver headphones have evolved/perfected technically, everything else is just a matter of taste (hd800-S is not 'better', but a different sound/taste).
 
It's clear something like that can work only for a huge company with huge resources. A lot of technicians, experts, working on a headphone for years. That's not something an average head-fi company can afford.
 
However this doesn't answer/justify why are most head-fi companies charging 2x/3x/10x the price, for basically the same piece of technology, as their previous iterations, that's effectively the same product!?! In case of the edition 6, and that is what hifiman stated so far,  when the only change is a differently shaped magnet array? No technological breakthrough here, it's just a 'he1000-S' for $6k (drawing the parallel with the hd800/hd800-S). It may sound more to your taste, and therefore be worth the $6k for you, however i didn't see sennheiser price the hd800-S double the original hd800 price.
 
I'm not blaming or derogating hifiman, they just learned that... that's how it works, from their american counterparts (audeze, mr speakers which seems saw the light, aka COGS, recently http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/mrspeakers-introduces-aeon-over-ear-sealed-headphone#FcqLCMssC556Kqe9.97 , and many more), and they learned from their customers that it works, hype works.
 
They can sell u a he1000-S for $6k, because it sounds $3k more different than a he1000.
 
As long as you are happy.
 
Are you happy?

All based on the assumption that it's only a difference of the taste between he1000 and hE6, is it true?

 

[mulder01]

 

 
The thread becomes very useless very fast otherwise.

 

[Blueswyh]

  'HE1000v2: A perfected HE1000'
That there is exactly the issue...
HiFiMAN keeps struggling with getting finished products first time through the door 

Not like HD800, no improvement or struggle to finished it at all 

 

[roskodan]

 
 
The thread becomes very useless very fast otherwise.

it does when people quote out of context, like u did with me and @mysticstryk , my comment was in line with at least 5 replies before the two quoted by me, cos someone was trying to answer a question it clearly could not provide an answer to,
 
pls dont quote me anymore, nor reply to me, i just want people not to misunderstand my comment when they read it misquoted by you, thx