[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

What kind of warmness are we talking about here? Are they more like Sennheiser warm or LCD-2 ? Would you say that they are similar to HD650? 
 

I tried the HD650 very briefly. But it definitely seems less warm than the HD650. Have you seen Headfonia's impressions? it pretty much sums it up nicely:
 
 
 
Quote:

Let’s start with the tonal balance. This is definitely the warmest sounding Hifiman so far. Take the Hifiman HE-500 and bring up the warmth even more. Tone down the treble a little bit, keep almost the same smooth midrange that everyone seem to love with the HE-500, add a little more bass body. The end result sounds like what I would’ve liked Sennheiser do with the HD650: a less sleepy HD650 with more engaging sound without loosing its cool and relaxed presentation. Cleaner mids and lows, still weighty, and without the slow bass and the “veil”. Ultimately it still can’t replace HD650′s low end impact, but the HE-300′s faster and clearer bass will probably be better for a lot of people, me included. The pace is definitely faster than the HD650, though overall it’s still a fairly laid-back music listening device.

 

 

[Yuceka]

Thanks a lot, I guess I forgot that part of that review. I was kind of scared that it would be a HD650 clone Personally, HD650 are not my cup of tea, too boring to my taste. Thanks for the impressions and awesome pictures. Now I need to decide or find out more about these leather pads. I've never had any problems with their velour pads but I'd like to see what they do with the leather pads as well. I wonder if the price will be any different for the leather padded version. 
 
Quote:

I tried the HD650 very briefly. But it definitely seems less warm than the HD650. Have you seen Headfonia's impressions? it pretty much sums it up nicely:
 
 
 
 

 

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

Thanks a lot, I guess I forgot that part of that review. I was kind of scared that it would be a HD650 clone Personally, HD650 are not my cup of tea, too boring to my taste. Thanks for the impressions and awesome pictures. Now I need to decide or find out more about these leather pads. I've never had any problems with their velour pads but I'd like to see what they do with the leather pads as well. I wonder if the price will be any different for the leather padded version. 
 


 

I'll ask Fang if their will be a price difference.
 

 

[franconero]

As long as your talking to Fang... The whole pads question could use some clarification. Are the new pads a fix for the fastening and potential variable thickness issues, or are they simply optional leather upgrades? Their customer service emailed me yesterday twice re the new pads saying they will have new pads in 2-3 weeks, but it wasn't really clearly stated because the email ended with:
 
"I believe the new headphone will have the new pad.I will double check this information for you"
 
Anyway, appreciate your review thus far and maybe you'll be better able to get some solid info re the pads.
 
 

 

[rawrster]

Austin Morrow, nice pictures I have a few questions for you.
 
Since you mentioned your preferred signature is an analytical one am I correct in assuming that the HE-300 would be a nice contrast to a more analytical signature such as my DT880s? Also the Headfonia review (or at least I think it was that one..cant remember for sure) mentioned that the cable was too heavy. What do you think about that? Lastly what is your source and amp for the HE300?
 
Thanks

 

[Austin Morrow]

If the DT880 are a detailed headphone, then yes, this would be a good contrast. Don't get me wrong, it has a nicely detailed sound, but no where near analytical or bloomy, just a warm headphone all around. Yes, the cable is rather heavy, and honestly, it's not the best. I already want a nicer aftermarket, but I can't seem to find any yet, although I am pretty sure it's the same cable as the HE-500 and the HE-6. Correct me If I am wrong. 
 
P.S. These sound fantastic with smooth jazz and Yves Vincent music. Also, Everything (live ins studio) by Lifehouse = Audio Nirvana.
 
Don't look for these if you want detailed, bloomy, analytical sound, like metal or fast paced rock music.
Do look for these i you want a great all around headphone, is warm, smooth and excels in laid back, gentle music, such as jazz or something soft and slow paced.

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

Austin Morrow, nice pictures I have a few questions for you.
 
Since you mentioned your preferred signature is an analytical one am I correct in assuming that the HE-300 would be a nice contrast to a more analytical signature such as my DT880s? Also the Headfonia review (or at least I think it was that one..cant remember for sure) mentioned that the cable was too heavy. What do you think about that? Lastly what is your source and amp for the HE300?
 
Thanks

I am using a variety of different amps and sources. My main setup right now is: iMac & iTunes Lossless Files > Pro-Ject Head Box II > HE-300. Although I will be using a iPod and a CablePro LOD through the TTVJ Slim, Electric Avenues PA2V2, and the Audinst AMP-HP here shortly. The CLAS DAC should be here soon and I will hook that up with my iPod here as well once I get one sent out here shortly.
 

 

[Yuceka]

From your pictures, it looks like you can use the same cables of different HE series of Hifiman. When I get my pair (I am still confused about this leather deal) I can test them with my HE-5 silver cable. Too bad, I recently sold my HE-6, but methinks that it might be a good investment to buy an HE-6 cable for HE-300 
Quote:

If the DT880 are a detailed headphone, then yes, this would be a good contrast. Don't get me wrong, it has a nicely detailed sound, but no where near analytical or bloomy, just a warm headphone all around. Yes, the cable is rather heavy, and honestly, it's not the best. I already want a nicer aftermarket, but I can't seem to find any yet, although I am pretty sure it's the same cable as the HE-500 and the HE-6. Correct me If I am wrong. 
 
P.S. These sound fantastic with smooth jazz and Yves Vincent music. Also, Everything (live ins studio) by Lifehouse = Audio Nirvana.
 
Don't look for these if you want detailed, bloomy, analytical sound, like metal or fast paced rock music.
Do look for these i you want a great all around headphone, is warm, smooth and excels in laid back, gentle music, such as jazz or something soft and slow paced.

 

 

[Austin Morrow]

Exporting the unboxing video as we speak. 

 

[rawrster]

I remember seeing somewhere that the HE6 cables might be available for individual sale eventually so if its reasonable priced it looks like it could work. Its a shame about the cable but the HE300 do look stunning.
 
Thanks for your response Austin Morrow and that was exactly what I was looking for...warm, smooth and a bit laid back. It's what I hoped some other headphones were to me but didn't work out so hopefully this one will fit the bill when I purchase it soon.

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

I remember seeing somewhere that the HE6 cables might be available for individual sale eventually so if its reasonable priced it looks like it could work. Its a shame about the cable but the HE300 do look stunning.
 
Thanks for your response Austin Morrow and that was exactly what I was looking for...warm, smooth and a bit laid back. It's what I hoped some other headphones were to me but didn't work out so hopefully this one will fit the bill when I purchase it soon.

What kind of music do you listen to?

 

[PleasantNoise]

@Austin Morrow,
I do listen to mostly metal, but I hate my music to be too in my face, Music needs some sense of distance between your ears and the sound, (when your at a concert, of any kind, be it classical, Rock, Electronic, or whatever), you don't sit with your ears pressed to the instruments as they play, so Why have headphones that sound as if you are?
Of course, like music itself, the listening experience is so different between people and its very much just an opinion.

If the He-300's are warm and a little relaxed with the rolled off highs, would this make them easy to listen to for extended periods of time? (4+ hours)
 

 

[koolkat]

 
The HE-300 just came out. Control your temper and exercise some patience instead of demanding answers within the hour. If you crave answers or are plagued by time constraints, buy the headphones and compare. Others aren't going to spend 300USD simply to help you with your questions.

 

Expect no further replies. ~ Non De Plume

 

Ohai there, madamoselle. 

 

I figured since this was a HE300 thread, someone would've done a proper review on it and maybe they can compare it to a DT770.

If I craved answers or are plagued by time constraints, I would've bought them, if they arrived 10 minutes after I placed my order but no,

they take weeks to ship.

 

 
 
Quote 1: It's not about comparing two headphones that have the same sound signature.
Quote 2:  I found your question a bit silly because there are lots of different DT770 models around and it does not make sense to compare a closed Beyer with an open and dynamic (which is the first dynamic of HifiMan) HE-300.
 
Ok.
 
I stopped reading there.
 
Quote:

First, take a chill pill and relax. With that demanding attitude and I am right posture, you're not going to get anywhere here. 
 
It's not about comparing two headphones that have the same sound signature. I found your question a bit silly because there are lots of different DT770 models around and it does not make sense to compare a closed Beyer with an open and dynamic (which is the first dynamic of HifiMan) HE-300. Of course they will be different and can be used for different purposes. Instead of being lazy, and insult people here, you can just do some research on DT770 around here and compare them with the two reviews of HE-300 outside of Head-fi. How hard is that? 
 


 

I don't mind getting a not-portable DT770 if it sounds a lot better. 
 
I think I'll go with malvaeu's (pardon the spelling) suggestion and try some higher end Grados,
since they're cheaper and easily available. But does the bass on the Grados improve as you
go further up the line? 
 
I don't need powerful bass, I like a clear, open, aggressive but with good bass extension, as in,
it can play low bass clearly, and with impact, but not excessive impact. The HD438s I have right
now sound like they have a "veil" over their sound, lol.
 
Quote:

@koolcat
 
Ooh, I can answer this, kinda. It seems like you're going after the lesser known Premium models, which are more balanced than the older Pros that everyone seems to love. I've only demoed them, so take this with a grain of salt, but unamped (which it seems like you're doing), I thought that they were surprisingly okay. You won't get stellar bass extension from just a Clip, or awesome transients, but I greatly preferred them to the Pros, which I really didn't like. 
 
And it's actually pretty hard to compare a closed headphone to a headphone that looks as open as this. Most closed headphones around $300 have some sort of "closed, muffled" sound that can get slightly annoying after a while. (I'd say all, but I'd probably get, "NO. XXX sounds just like an open headphone!" from someone.) I've found that generally, open headphones have better attack and transients than closed headphones in this price range. (I've tried the DT770 Pro/Premium, D2000, K271, M50, DT48, and various closed Senns as far as important closed headphones go. There are countless others, but I don't want to type them out. As far as open headphones go, I've tried the Grados up to the SR225, K240, K701, Sextett, HD595, DT880, SA5000, HD600/650 and some orthos.) You can only get so far with $300 in the closed headphone world--go higher, and it's a different story. If I had a budget of $300, I'd probably pick an open headphone like the SA5000 over a K271 or D2000 because, well, it's **** hard to make a closed headphone sound good. I've wasted a ton of wood trying to make good sounding closed woodies. If you have an open design, you have less to worry about concerning damping and tuning of the driver. Companies can only spend so much money on R&D for a closed dynamic headphone, and for $300, the best they can do doesn't involve amazing transients or an open sound. That's reserved for the flagships. 
 
And that's just my incredibly basic take on open vs closed. I could go more into depth if you really want, but basically, if you're after clarity, open headphones are generally the way to go. Bass extension's a toss up though.

 
Awesome pics, and the headphones look very large. 
 
How would these perform unamped from a laptop or desktop? Are they difficult to drive?
I'm not sure what warm means but maybe you can comment if these have a good amount of "attack"?
 
 
Quote:

Pics...
 
>lotsa pics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Oh, and the reason it says On The Edge Apps in the corner is my website watermarking. Not from a different site.

 


Quote:

I am using a variety of different amps and sources. My main setup right now is: iMac & iTunes Lossless Files > Pro-Ject Head Box II > HE-300. Although I will be using a iPod and a CablePro LOD through the TTVJ Slim, Electric Avenues PA2V2, and the Audinst AMP-HP here shortly. The CLAS DAC should be here soon and I will hook that up with my iPod here as well once I get one sent out here shortly.
 

 
 
So now it's between higher-end Grados and HE300.. hmm. 
 
 

 

[Baird GoW]

Did you really just do that...
Please don't quote pics, and if you find you must, crop all but one out so people don't have to scroll like a mad man.

 

[Digital-Pride]

     Quote:

Exporting the unboxing video as we speak. 

Now, you're just spoiling us!