[TonyNewman]

   
The research facility is located in their secret base under Antarctica.

 
Where ultra thin membranes are fabricated from unicorn tears and the blood of the innocent...

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

Hi,
There are a lot of comments about the appearance of HE-1000 here. We just want to say that most of people here haven't seen the actual headphone in person yet, so it might be a bit premature to make any judgement.
 
The Industry Design of HE-1000 took more than two years. It's a total collaboration between a very well known ID design firm we hired from Boston and our engineering team from China. Every piece of the headphone was designed from scratch. A lot of tools and machines were made or purchased specifically to manufacture this headphone. A good example would be the nanometer diaphragm. A lot of technologies and manufacturing process we used has never ever been done before.
 
We know that we cannot please everyone (who could?), but we are very confident that once you see this headphone in person, touch it with your own hands, and most importantly listen to it with your own ears, it would be very hard to put it down. 
 
Yes, HE-1000 will be priced among the top tier headphones (exact price hasn't been set yet.) However, as someone has said before HifiMan has always been a company that gives audiophiles the best value in the industry. HE-1000 won't be different. I bet if you knew the time and effort it takes us to manufacture this headphone, you would be surprised what a good deal you get. 
 
To wrap this up we would like to share the following post with everyone. It was written by a very well respected audiophile from China who actually got to spent some time with HE-1000 after our press conference couple days ago. 
 
http://www.headphoneclub.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=292464&page=1&authorid=61 
 
Allow me to translation couple sentences:
 
"The bass performance of HE-1000 impressed me the most. The bass hits hard and deep. It is full of impact and texture, and not a slight hint of bloomy. It is definitely the best bass (i have heard) among all headphones. The midrange and treble is also very detailed, transparent and airy. Someone will ask me how it compares against Sennheiser Orpheus. I just want to say that the sound of Orpheus will only get worse due to its age. The sound quality of HE-1000 can easily surpass Orpheus, and its sound tonality is also more modern. If one simply prefers the tonality of Orpheus, then you can say that Orpheus is still the best....If you ask me, i would get HE-1000 any day.
 
Fang promised me a set of HE-1000 and EF-1000 for a formal review after CES. But during the short listening session I am now certain that HE-1000 and EF-1000 is definitely a world class headphone system. It is no doubt on the same level of Stax 009 (whether it is better requires formal review.) HD800 and T1 are not in the same league. No matter what you think of the Hifiman company or its owner Dr. Fang, the performance of HE-1000 and EF-1000 headphone system simply cannot be questioned."
 
Again if you are going to CES next week, we encourage everyone to visit us at CES LVCC South Hall 21806 and Venetian room 30-219. We promise that HE-1000 will not disappoint.

 

[TMRaven]

TeamHiFiMAN, can you confirm if the wood on the cups of the HE-1000 is solid, or is it a veneer like the 560?  

 

[TonyNewman]

... "The bass performance of HE-1000 impressed me the most. The bass hits hard and deep. It is full of impact and texture, and not a slight hint of bloomy. It is definitely the best bass (i have heard) among all headphones. The midrange and treble is also very detailed, transparent and airy. ... It is no doubt on the same level of Stax 009 (whether it is better requires formal review.) HD800 and T1 are not in the same league. ..."

 
All of the above can (and has) been said about the modded HE6, when amped well.
 
The biggest competitor to the HE1000, for my purchasing decision at least, is the modded HE6 I already have - the HE1000 needs to beat the modded HE6 by enough of a margin to justify the outlay (2K+?) for the HE1000.

 

[abvolt]

is there any price point for these yet, hopefully not just for the uber rich thanks.. 

 

[yaluen]

 

 
Not a fan of the gloss and the grill with its cagelike structure and aesthetics. Undecided if horizontal bars would look better.
 

 

[money4me247]

  Not a fan of the gloss and the grill with its cagelike structure and aesthetics. Undecided if horizontal bars would look better.
 

 
I am not a fan of the color scheme. The light colored wood plus silver looks really silly. I know some people were commenting earlier about the richy yacht look or whatever, but these are headphones lol. I don't think it really works. A darker wood would nicer imo. or skip the wood completely and make it silver or black metal. That would look extremely nice. [I don't know how to photoshop like that, but if someone wants to photoshop an image like that, I think you will be able to appreciate the improvement.]
 
The holes in the headband are unnecessary (from both a comfort & aesthetics standpoint). Holes should definitely be removed as they make the headphones look tackier and uglier.
 
The Hifiman suspension system looks extremely dumb, but since it is practical from a comfort standpoint, I won't complain too much. A better design for the suspension would be rounded/oval shape rather than a blocky square. However, since the HE-400i and HE-560 both use that design, it is probably easier to keep the design for costs. My nitpick is that if every component of this headphone was redesigned from scratch, then a different suspension design should definitely be used.
 
Finally, positive comments is the replacement metal material for the suspension system and metal open grill are extremely nice. I personally like the vertical bars better than horizontal. The bars are definitely cool and interesting to look at, and has a practical sonic benefit so I'm cool with that.
 
The three major design flaws that make people looking at pictures of these headphones declare that they look ugly is color choice of the wood/using wood, the holes in the headband, and the suspension system design.
 
note: I am a HUGE Hifiman fan. I love their sound quality and extremely competitive pricing. They have recently alleviated my comfort concerns. I just think in terms of aesthetic design and build quality, there is still definitely room for improvement. Especially, with the aesthetic design of this new flagship. This is just my personal constructive feedback from a loyal customer

 

[TonyNewman]

Call me strange, but I couldn't give a warm bucket of monkey spit what the HE1000 looks like. I care very much what it sounds like

 
Make it sound significantly better than a modded HE6 and you could adorn it with plastic dog turds - I could care less. YMMV (of course).

 

[Dopaminer]

   
...
The three major design flaws that make people looking at pictures of these headphones declare that they look ugly is color choice of the wood/using wood, the holes in the headband, and the suspension system design....

 
None of those points register negatively for me.  To me, the HEK looks fantastic, and like pretty typical industrial design, ca2014-15: a mixture of natural textures, colors and materials, combined with exposed engineering, metals, etc.   It doesn`t look like other headphones, that`s for sure, but that is not a fault.  I remember some people were saying how ugly the 560`s wood-combo is, and how the 400i looks so much better, with its simple metal-can construction.  Definitely a to-each-his-own situation.  
 
I would definitely part with my warm bucket of monkey spit for a good looking headphone like the HEK.  
 
d

 

[amigastar]

I'm happy to hear the bass isn't suffering on these, but well executed. The only big downsize of these will probably be the price which won't be affordable to me at least. other than that i'm looking forward to some impressions.

 

[borrego]

The design of the HE-1000 is a projection of Fang's true inner self.

Just two days ago, a fellow in the Chinese headphones forum complained to Fang that a mail order reseller sold a used HM603 to him. Fang replied saying "The Emperor acknowledege"...

 

[1adam12]

   
The holes in the headband are unnecessary (from both a comfort & aesthetics standpoint). Holes should definitely be removed as they make the headphones look tackier and uglier.
 

 
The holes may be unnecessary for comfort & aesthetics, but not for usability. I believe the wholes will offer some breathability as the band looks rather wide and might get sweaty. 

 

[Gamingmusiclove]

This can majes me wonder, will this affect the price of the ortho ones? And funny thing, Audeze are also working in a new headphone using something different than planar Tech. Why, all of a sudden, 2 of the most prominent ortho manufacters decide to change this Tech? Branch out? Or are they changing theyre manufacturing

Now, im just guessing, don't take my insane guessings as true. I know that Headphone manufacturers always tend to make a "electrostatic super-luxury statement headphone" but still, pretty weird that they both decides to change Tech at the same time.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

The design of the HE-1000 is a projection of Fang's true inner self.

Just two days ago, a fellow in the Chinese headphones forum complained to Fang that a mail order reseller sold a used HM603 to him. Fang replied saying "The Emperor acknowledege"...

What?

 

[MattTCG]

Every time in check out, they pull me back in.