[cel4145]

I've got big ears, so I've had comfort issues with my 560's. See above for notes based on my experience.

tl;dr - I highly recommend the perforated Ori pads for comfort, sound and longevity (no driver crackle or potential for breaking them by putting the headphone on your head too quickly).

I see you mention smoothing the sound with the Ori pad. Is this a slight reduction in treble effect? I'm on the fence about keeping these as they are slightly fatiguing to me.

I also have big ears, so better pads for that wouldn't hurt either.

 

[thebkt]

I see you mention smoothing the sound with the Ori pad. Is this a slight reduction in treble effect? I'm on the fence about keeping these as they are slightly fatiguing to me.

I also have big ears, so better pads for that wouldn't hurt either.

They didn't so much reduce the treble, but helped ease the harshness of it. If you've read anything about R2R/Ladder DAC's easing digital harshness, I'd describe it as a similar, yet less prominent effect.

 

[thebkt]

How do those pads change the sound from stock? Also I'm assuming to actually use them I would need to purchase the mounting rings from hifiman first?

See the green notes in my previous post for impressions. And yes, you'd need to get some mounting rings. I sacrificed the velour pads that came with my HE-400S to get mine (still got HM5's mounted to another set I bought separately). They're cheap enough at $10USD, but were another $10 shipped to Canada, so $20 for some plastic rings

 

[vrln]

Just got my HE-560´s from the Adorama sale... Saved more than ~60% compared to local prices and that´s including shipping and customs. These are the first planar magnetic I´ve owned since the original LCD-2 (long story; big disappointment) back when it was released. Not going to comment on the sound quality much yet as it´s far too early, except that these actually have normal treble that LCD-2 did not plus the bass is awesome as expected.

Everything arrived in good shape. Mine also includes a balanced cable; I think this is probably some odd Adorama special as they aren´t officially part of the package. Going to burn these in now for a day or two before I start critical listening, but what I can already say is that the HIFIMAN headband design is wonderful and fits my head shape perfectly. Actually more comfortable to wear than the Sennheiser HD 800 series which are already very good in this regard. These are along with the Sennheiser HD 650/700 possibly the most comfortable headphones I´ve ever used. Very lightweight too for a planar design - which is actually the main reason I tend to discard most of them...

 

[HungryPanda]

I bought them from that sale too but missed the delivery today, they are bringing them tomorrow now

 

[thighmaster69]

I've got big ears, so I've had comfort issues with my 560's. See above for notes based on my experience.

tl;dr - I highly recommend the perforated Ori pads for comfort, sound and longevity (no driver crackle or potential for breaking them by putting the headphone on your head too quickly).

Thanks for the answer! I'll check the Ori pads out. I'm wondering if they'll even be an improvement over the Ether C pads

 

[HungryPanda]

Fedex just delivered my HE-560's bought for Adorama's sale price. Not bad since I ordered them 5 days ago and I'm in the UK. Saved quite a lot buying them for $350 and they cost £649 here. I even escaped the cursed import tax and customs duty so am very pleased. Balanced cable in the box alongside the normal SE cable. They are quite a step up from my 400i's

 

[bjj51]

Fedex just delivered my HE-560's bought for Adorama's sale price. Not bad since I ordered them 5 days ago and I'm in the UK. Saved quite a lot buying them for $350 and they cost £649 here. I even escaped the cursed import tax and customs duty so am very pleased. Balanced cable in the box alongside the normal SE cable. They are quite a step up from my 400i's

GLAd to hear they're a big step up from your 400i's. Mine come tomorrow and I'll be comparing them directly to my 400i's, can't wait!

 

[HungryPanda]

Got them burning in on my head right now

 

[Light - Man]

Got them burning in on my head right now

A bit like this: burn baby burn?

Can we assume that you continue to eat while listening?

 

[HungryPanda]

No I never eat whilst listening with headphones and never while sitting at my desk

 

[koover]

Fedex just delivered my HE-560's bought for Adorama's sale price. Not bad since I ordered them 5 days ago and I'm in the UK. Saved quite a lot buying them for $350 and they cost £649 here. I even escaped the cursed import tax and customs duty so am very pleased. Balanced cable in the box alongside the normal SE cable. They are quite a step up from my 400i's

I couldn't agree more with that statement. I owned the 400i and even though I enjoyed them, they just didn't do it for me and decided to sell them. Then everything I read about the HE560 stating how good this HP was, the temptation got the best of me and was to great to continuing holding off picking them up. I actually traded my TH900 plus cash for these and the Elears...blasphemous! No regrets. Additionally, the advice from 1 head-fier who I "almost" take his word as gospel kept pounding on me (in a very very good way) that these were the HP's for me paired with my LYR2. He kept saying the synergy would be very good with my preferred style of music....progressive metal and Djent where speed dominates. He also knows my listening levels and sound signature I like. He was correct!

Well after a month or so of procrastinating, I finally pulled the trigger on a trade and picked them up. I like them a lot and believe they're so much better then the 400i and a substantial step up. Many may disagree, but with my ears, amp and tubes I use, music I listen too, volume, etc., sublime.This is all subjective of course as I'm a layman who's more interested in getting lost in the music versus analyzing every small detail on every track.

Ok, enough of my generalities with no meat on the bone. I agree with you man. Eventually I'll give my take on them after a LOT more head-time.
Congrats man and enjoy. Looking forward to your impressions as you enjoy quite a few of the same headphones that I do.

 

[vrln]

Can anyone try to check if you are getting any audible rattling from the drivers with these subwoofer test tunes? http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_subwooferkicktest.php

After some burn in (with music) on a low volume my new HE-560 is now rattling on several of those and other test files. It isn´t audible with most music, but it is on some electronica with a lot of deep bass. Really disappointed... Otherwise I really like the sound quality and ergonomics a lot, but it´s likely I´ll have no choice but to return them (shipping them to China would cost way too much after I already paid >60 dollars in shipping and ~90 euros in customs). The source is fine, zero rattling on HD 800 S with the same stuff.

 

[phthora]

Can anyone try to check if you are getting any audible rattling from the drivers with these subwoofer test tunes? http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_subwooferkicktest.php

After some burn in (with music) on a low volume my new HE-560 is now rattling on several of those and other test files. It isn´t audible with most music, but it is on some electronica with a lot of deep bass. Really disappointed... Otherwise I really like the sound quality and ergonomics a lot, but it´s likely I´ll have no choice but to return them (shipping them to China would cost way too much after I already paid >60 dollars in shipping and ~90 euros in customs). The source is fine, zero rattling on HD 800 S with the same stuff.

No rattling on mine. I would recommend taking the pads off (some Focus pads rattle around on their rings), tightening the screws just a bit, and then running the test again. If the rattling persists, check the driver for debris. There are ways to remove that debris, but every way that I have seen has some risks to it. I am not comfortable recommending one of those ways, having no experience in that area myself. If there is no debris, you've just ruled out the three most common reasons for rattling. Or, at least the ones you could fix on your own. At that point, it's time to send them back to HiFiMan.

I had crinkling on a pair at one point. I did all of the above and discovered that the suspect driver was physically and visibly, um, scrunched (for lack of a better term). Had to return them. Very similar symptoms on mine. Having owned three pairs now, rest assured that bass distortion like you are describing is not up to spec. These babies should have glorious bass, and nothing short of that.

 

[vrln]

No rattling on mine. I would recommend taking the pads off (some Focus pads rattle around on their rings), tightening the screws just a bit, and then running the test again. If the rattling persists, check the driver for debris. There are ways to remove that debris, but every way that I have seen has some risks to it. I am not comfortable recommending one of those ways, having no experience in that area myself. If there is no debris, you've just ruled out the three most common reasons for rattling. Or, at least the ones you could fix on your own. At that point, it's time to send them back to HiFiMan.

I had crinkling on a pair at one point. I did all of the above and discovered that the suspect driver was physically and visibly, um, scrunched (for lack of a better term). Had to return them. Very similar symptoms on mine. Having owned three pairs now, rest assured that bass distortion like you are describing is not up to spec. These babies should have glorious bass, and nothing short of that.

Thanks for the reply. Rattling is there without the pads, tested both sides. Tightening the screws a bit has no effect either so I guess my drivers have debris on them somewhere. Let´s see what HIFIMAN support answers... I´m hoping they can fix this locally as they have a distributor in Finland. It would be quite expensive to send these to China after all the shipping/customs costs I already had to pay. I´d love to keep these, but if that´s the only option I´ll have to return these to Adorama, take the loss on the shipping both ways and stay away from HIFIMAN planar headphones in the future. Still love my RE-600 though. What can I say, great sound and ergonomic design - if only the build quality/QC was on the same level...