[doraymon]

   
besides the price difference, do you find the HE-X more musical than the HE-K ?
 
.

I tested both today, connected to my Hugo for A-B testing.
I would say they are equally musical although this is a very subjective point.
The biggest difference I felt was the higher airiness of the HE-K and better detail. The HE-K are definitely my favorite headphones as of today, but the price difference with the X is not justified IMO.
 
I truly liked the X and feel like they are a better deal at their price point vs the K.

 

[bfreedma]

You are only paying to ship the product back. We are replacing defective units no questions asked, even if it's out of warranty.

There is no censorship going on. We are simply asking you to not spread inaccurate information.

There are out of warranty HEX already? The issue isn't repairs for units failing in the field, it's HFM asking customers to pay to return defective NIB product.

 

[Khragon]

In all fairness, Audeze, Schiit, MrSpeakers, Woo Audio and I'm sure many other also ask for customers to pay for the return shipment.

 

[Sonido]

I tested both today, connected to my Hugo for A-B testing.
I would say they are equally musical although this is a very subjective point.
The biggest difference I felt was the higher airiness of the HE-K and better detail. The HE-K are definitely my favorite headphones as of today, but the price difference with the X is not justified IMO.

I truly liked the X and feel like they are a better deal at their price point vs the K.

Yeah I mentioned the HEX had that airy treble quality that I've only heard in electrostatics, but because the treble wasn't so prominent, you didn't hear it as often or at least you weren't reminded of it much when listening. The HEK from what I remember had that same airy treble quality, but is much more prominent. The HEX has more sub bass though which makes it an enjoyable listen for me subjectively, but dang, I wish it had perhaps not the quantity of sub bass the TH900 has, but the quality and tightness.

 

[bfreedma]

In all fairness, Audeze, Schiit, MrSpeakers, Woo Audio and I'm sure many other also ask for customers to pay for the return shipment.

 
Can't speak for all of them, but Audeze and Woo do not ask for a customer to pay for return shipping on new product that is broken out of the box.  Repairs on non NIB, sure, but the expectation of a customer should be a working product upon purchase without additional incurred cost if the manufacturer fails to get them a properly operating new item.
 
I would be, at minimum, very reluctant to purchase something knowing that if it arrives broken, I would have to pay to return it to get a working model.
 
How much is a HEX?  $1799?  $1799 + (shipping x number of returns to get a properly working unit)?

 

[Khragon]

I don't want to argue, just wanted to point out the fact that this is not Hifiman alone, so no reason to bash them here, instead I think you should start your own thread to bash every company that practice this. but it look like you have an axe to grind with Hifiman.
 
As for Audeze...here's a quote from goldendrako from lcd4 thread:
 

... I just couldn't believe the audacity of a customer service person telling me they couldn't handle my issue because she has other customer issues to handle! What do I care about other customers issues? Your basically telling me that your going to hang up with me and go handle someone elses problems? Seriously?!? Sorriest customer service I've ever seen in my life and this is for a $2000 dollar headphone that BROKE after 1 year, was sent back AT MY EXPENSE, and returned 1 month later STILL BROKEN!!!! How am I not your first priority, lol.
...

 
and I've dealt with Woo before, trust me, you will not have to send anything back because they will never admit it's their amp fault.

 

[tuna47]

Why so many haters. Hifiman has problems like all smaller headphone companies,but at least you can talk to customer service

 

[AudioBear]

You almost always have to pay return shipping.  If you buy from places like Amazon they pay returns for a limited period of time but good luck talking to a person.
 
One of the things we loose when we deal on-line is the B&M dealer to whom we could turn over a defective purchase anytime during the warranty period and they would fix it, get it fixed or exchange it.
 
Some online dealers try to give you the same service as a B&M -- sort of a virtual B&M.  I thought I had a problem with my new Mojo and Todd at TTVJ was all over it to make sure I had a functional unit.  We even has Chord in the discussion the first day.  He immediately offered to send out an exchange.  As it happened I had a faulty Apple CCK. Apple sent me a new one and in the box was the return shipping label to send the old one back. So some companies will indeed pay shipping and some dealers are very good at customer service.  I prefer to shop with someone I can talk to and who has good customer support.
 
I'd like to know what kind of service people have gotten on Sennheiser, Beyer Dynamic, Shure, Sony, etc?  How are the big companies compared to the boutiques like Audeze, HiFiman, MrSpeakers, etc?  I would have guessed that the small companies would give better service and be more personal.  This thread is making me think that's not necessarily so.

 

[Khragon]

I paid to ship my HD800 back for repair. So add Sennheiser to the bad list too. Right driver crackles right out of the box. Took them a month to get me a replacement.

 

[dweaver]

I paid to ship my Sony Z5 back for warranty as well so guess they are no good either. Come to think of it I have bought extended third party replacement service and had to pay shipping to send them product too NOW THATS BAD!... Bottom line is almost nobody pays for shipping both ways because it's not standard practice.

 

[bfreedma]

I paid to ship my Sony Z5 back for warranty as well so guess they are no good either. Come to think of it I have bought extended third party replacement service and had to pay shipping to send them product too NOW THATS BAD!... Bottom line is almost nobody pays for shipping both ways because it's not standard practice.

Obviously, most companies require the owner to pay one way shipping for warranty repair. That's quite different than having the customer pay to replace/repair NEW headphones that arrived broken.

I've had a few NEW electronics that were DOA over the years. In none of those cases did the vendor ask me to pay return shipping for a working replacement.

 

[grizzlybeast]

I may not believe the HEX is the best value but it's plain dumb to say HIFIMAN has bad cms. Their cms is AWESOME. PLUS most first runs have issues for botique brands...

I paid to ship my Sony Z5 back for warranty as well so guess they are no good either. Come to think of it I have bought extended third party replacement service and had to pay shipping to send them product too NOW THATS BAD!... Bottom line is almost nobody pays for shipping both ways because it's not standard practice.

Exactly!

plus HIFIMAN is a good company they just need to get back to their roots and make an updated he6 and updated he400 at the same prices as before... More resources now should mean more affordability.

 

[swspiers]

I may not believe the HEX is the best value but it's plain dumb to say HIFIMAN has bad cms. Their cms is AWESOME. PLUS most first runs have issues for botique brands...

I paid to ship my Sony Z5 back for warranty as well so guess they are no good either. Come to think of it I have bought extended third party replacement service and had to pay shipping to send them product too NOW THATS BAD!... Bottom line is almost nobody pays for shipping both ways because it's not standard practice.

Exactly!

plus HIFIMAN is a good company they just need to get back to their roots and make an updated he6 and updated he400 at the same prices as before... More resources now should mean more affordability.

I read that a lot on Head Fi, and I agree. I wonder if the overall numbers would support that.

At any rate, it's rare to read in a HFM thread where there aren't serious cries for a true HE-6, HE-400 repalcement.

 

[Eddie Q]

 

I paid to ship my Sony Z5 back for warranty as well so guess they are no good either. Come to think of it I have bought extended third party replacement service and had to pay shipping to send them product too NOW THATS BAD!... Bottom line is almost nobody pays for shipping both ways because it's not standard practice.

Obviously, most companies require the owner to pay one way shipping for warranty repair. That's quite different than having the customer pay to replace/repair NEW headphones that arrived broken.

I've had a few NEW electronics that were DOA over the years. In none of those cases did the vendor ask me to pay return shipping for a working replacement.

 
I had a Beyer 990 PRO driver fail within 4 months & the dealer took care of everything.  The following year my Yamaha preamp died, and a different dealer gave the same service.  Both were under warranty, so I didn't incur any additional charges.  It seems that as far as Hifiman is concerned, you should buy them from a local dealer, that is, if you still want to buy their product.

 

[SeaWo|f]

That is what I recommend too, problem for me is that from Reno I suspect I would have to drive to the Bay Area for my nearest dealer. When I lived in Chicago things like this were never a problem, but once you move from one of the handful of major cities in the US you are screwed.