[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

Just seen it, thanks for that Austin! Great music also what is it?

Yves Vincent. Sounds amazing on the HE-300's, that's why I picked it. 

 

[Voohoo]

Nice unbox!! Especially nice since unboxing of headphones like Hifimans are rare! Hopefully in a few weeks time I will be unboxing these babies myself.

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

Nice unbox!! Especially nice since unboxing of headphones like Hifimans are rare! Hopefully in a few weeks time I will be unboxing these babies myself.

I'm going to unbox every audio related item I have. 

 

[Yuceka]

It is amazing that DHL made me drive all the way to the airport to let me pick them up  
 
So I finally have my HE-300. I have been testing them with different genres and I can say they perform the best with classical and acoustic music. They are not too laid back, yet not aggressive. They are definitely not like Sennheisers but not too bright on the other side either. I have been listening to Orthos for so long that it took me a while to adjust to their sound. I need to get used to their sound signature more before I make any substantial comments about them. But so far I must say that I am quite impressed with these babies. They look absolutely stunning and the pads are different than other HE series I had. They are quite softer. 
 
My current set up is : Macbook Pro + HRT Music Streamer II + Schiit Lyr + HE-300/HE-5 
 
I plugged them directly into my Macbook Pro and the result is not too bad but I definitely prefer them amped. I haven't used them with my portable set up yet (iPod + CLAS + UHA-4) and I'll report back on that as well. 
 
All in all, they are quite impressive and it looks like I'll be keeping them for a while. The only complaint that I may have with them is that while listening to drums (progressive metal/rock drums) they seem to be taken back too far and sound a bit lifeless. If you have pretty crappy bit rate mp3s, hmmm, you might want to start listening to better sources with them. But again, cymbal and acoustic rendering on these headphones are very lively and accurate. 

 

[Larryonfire]

Quote:

 
The HE-300 is a keeper for me. I should note that on some of these recordings, some would probably actually find the HE-300 "too bright", or that may actually just be me (cf. compared to the HE-500 and LCD-2). Anyway; the HE-300 is indeed like fresh air; sound wise and with a high SQ delivery for $300.
 

I´m looking for warmer and smoother headphone than my Grado SR125i and the HE-300 sounded like good choice, but when our northman write "too bright" I get a little confused. I have read this thread and the review on Headfonia, so I have some idear on the sound signature. The thing is how bright is the HE-300 compaired to other cans in the same 300-500 $ pricerange.  Brighter than senn HD 650, darker than Grado 125/225/325 or beyer 880 ???
I´m using af tube amp (X-can V8P), but I still need something sweeter.    

 

[Yuceka]

When I had my SR225is, I remember having moments I wanted to take them off my head due to their brightness. They were just ear piercingly bright. And with respect to HD650, I remember having moments of absolute boredom because of their dullness. So I would say HE-300 are somewhere between those two aspects. 

 

[FrimanizzlE]

Just ordered a pair, so now it´s just waiting time....

 
I will return with some impressions when they are unpacked and plugged in...

 

[Beagle]

A rich cup of coffee with a questionable amount of sugar.
 
After two days, that's how I would describe the HE300. There is a nice amount of inner detail and space in the midrange. There is strength and solidity in the bottom end. The mids and the bass lock together. There is dynamics and pace which are often missing in the Sennheiser HD600/650. Plays at a nice level without leaking much sound out the rear.
 
I began the procedure by listening to white noise. I noticed an odd honk/coloration in the midrange right off the bat. Actually made me feel sick on my first listen to new $300 headphones because the sound of white noise or tape hiss tells you what it's going to do to music. Bass was a bit overdone and the top kinda shut-in.
 
And the cable. Who thought that supplying a nice light headset with a ten pound bulky cord was a good idea?  I tossed the cable and swapped in the cable from my HE-5LE. Bass tightened up and the top opened.
 
The upper midrange to treble leaves me a bit perplexed so far. I seem to be hearing proper timbre on cymbals and the "correct" amount of air. But it seems so cool/cold up there. Like when you leave a window open on a sub-zero winter day. Leading edges of acoustic guitar are not crisp and sharp, rather distant. But the body is full and real. But the perspective is that the sound is a bit brittle, cold grey and musically lifeless. I never really seem to be convinced that the upper treble is actually there. That part of the spectrum does not seem to breathe properly.
 
I will do some more listening and return with more "observations".

 

[Voohoo]

Interesting impressions/observations. It's nice to hear about the "shortcomings" of the headphones for once.

 

[Beagle]

I listened to Don Henley's "The End Of The Innocence" track ( which I have been using for about 20 years and know inside out) and the piano was completely messed up, whole sections of FR missing. Many vocalists sound a bit Donald Duck-like. And although the bottom end is solid and authorative, midbass and kickdrum are too pronounced. Definitely some unevenness in the bass and midrange. And still no air or sparkle on top. Of course, the HE300 could be right and everything else I've used in the last 10 years is wrong. And I still want to hear it through all my amps so I can be sure whether or not the HE-300 is or isn't telling me things about my hardware and source. But the 'phone is comfortable, nicely designed and built. Oh well..

 

[Voohoo]

Wow, 2 "negative" impressions in a row. I'm now starting to question these headphones more. I might be better off saving up for the HE-4 like I was originally planning to do before the HE-300 was released. Well, all I can do for now is wait for more impressions/reviews...

 

[Austin Morrow]

I'm not changing my opinion, but, It's. Nice to see some people agreenwith MY preferred sound. These aren't for me, too warm, and lacks a lot of detail IMO. That being said, a lot of other people will enjoy them.

 

[Loevhagen]

Diversity is good. I do not find the HE-300 too warm. The reason for that can be as simple as that I love the sound form the LCD-2s and the HE-500, but find the K702 too bright. The HE-300 is somewhere between these outer boundaries.
 
One of the first things that struck me with the HE-500 was actually how fantastic the HE-500 portrays the sound from a piano. The HE-300 can't beat the HE-500 in that regard, but I didn't expect it to. The LCD-2 can't either. The HE-300 is for me a more all-rounder than the HE-500 and find the HE-300 quite enjoyable to listen to on a diverse portfolio of music. Quite diverse actually.
 
For those preferring one genre of music most of the time, should of course find a headphone that excels with that genre. For some music that can be HE-300, and other genres not.

 

[Idreamofsakura]

I agree with the negative side of the headphones. I'm running these out of and audinst HMX-MX1 ( I wished I could get something better but Korea has a really crappy selection of amps that are over priced) and my initial impression was muffled vocals and they were really warm. This is compared to the beyerdynamic dt1350 and the grado 125i that I used to own.  I read somewhere else on this forum that Fang recommends burning these in for 60 hours.  But I can say the sound is getting a better( or it may be all in my head but I swear I hear a but more detail after a night of burn-in) . I wish I had more amps available to see if I can bring a little treble out but I'll let them burn in a little longer. Other than that fit is comfortable as hell and construction is better than a grado .( No offense to grados fans. I would pick up a pair of RS1's , hf2's or even the sr125i, sr60  if they werent double what they were in the states. 
 
In case your wondering what I'm listening to :

Daft Punk Discovery
Dire Straits Live at the BBC
Various songs by Marc Anthony
Black Keys-Brothers
Jay-Z Kanye West Watch the throne
 
All FLAC files
 
EDIT: Fixed all my settings within Windows 7 and these things sound awesome!!!

 

[Yuceka]

Quote:

One of the first things that struck me with the HE-500 was actually how fantastic the HE-500 portrays the sound form a piano. 

X2