[TeamHiFiMAN]

  I like the look of the new wood!

really glad that you like the new finish. I like it too. As jamato8 has said above the new design is more reliable. More importantly it allowed us to add new internal damping to further stabilize the drivers. I have done quite a lot A/B in the past couple days, and the new damping we added has proved to be quite effective.

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

When we decided to change the design, we did have a concern that ppl might not warm up to the idea of going from solid wood to veneer. Would it be better if we start from veneer rather than solid wood?
 
Trust me if we could do all over again, i would really want that we started with this version. As we all know in life there is no going back. Yes, we did make some mistake, and we are deeply sorry about the inconvenience we caused. We promise that we will do better next time. 
 
Going back to the new design. We didn't make this decision lightly. At the end after we compared the new version vs. the old one we all agreed that the new one is better both comestically and more importantly sonically. We are sorry that someone might be disappointed about not having a solid wood finish. I would urge you to take a look at the new HE-560 in person and have a good listen. You might just change your mind. If you don't, that's cool as well. There are other options on the market.

 

[jerg]

does that include grado? at least they use real wood in their high-end cans.

Their top cans (HP1000) are aluminum actually.
 
A dense plastic medium (e.g. synthetic resin) should work as well if not better in terms of vibrational damping.

 

[up late]

didn't 'the hp1000 go out of production years ago? ps1000 is the current totl grado and it's made out of wood and metal. point being that neither can is made out of pretend wood.

 

[mlxx]

I think they should change it again and make it out of carbon fiber.

 
Seriously though, I think I like this new design better.

 

[Audiolic]

i hate wood or wood veneer on headphones.. SERIOUSLY LAME!
 
I prefer the last revision look of the he-5560 only because there is less wood hehe
 
carbon fiber would have been awesome =) or brushed aluminum on the cheap.. anything nice but no plastic look.. something slick, modern, light
 
oppo pm-1 are a lot slicker design in my personnal opinion..
 
I also prefer oppo pm-1 rectangular cups to round cups but i don't know what impact rectangular cups would have on sound.
 
rectangular give more driver surface(important for subbass in planars,stats), also there is a better distribution of front|back weight and it's more modern looking..

 

[jerg]

Inb4 all these pointless complaining causes another 6-month delay for HE560 release. You guys are just asking for it.

 

[Clemmaster]

Love the new design!
Gotta be more durable than the full wood for sure .

Bring it on!

 

[Ishcabible]

didn't 'the hp1000 go out of production years ago? ps1000 is the current totl grado and it's made out of wood and metal. point being that neither can is made out of pretend wood.

 
Veneer is real wood...
 
Add me to the list of people that like the new look. I'd honestly rather these are made of plastic for consistency. 

 

[ThurstonX]

Thanks very much for the pix.
 
While solid wood would (ugh) have been nice, I imagine the veneer will allow for consistency in appearance.  That recent review that appeared (Tech Power or something?) had pix where the two cups looked quite different in color.  That was disappointing.  HFM is still going for "distinctive," and I think the new ones still are.  Obviously not everyone's cup of tea, but count me still in.
 
And as someone pointed out, the pre-orders can be viewed as collectors items.  Personally, I'd find it tough to part with one, if I had one.  Of course, I'd want both!  Decisions decisions... 

 

[thegrobe]

New design looks fantastic. I really like it more than the first.

 

[ThurstonX]

My wife just raised an interesting question, one which should put us obsessive audiophiles to shame...
 
Does using veneer vs. solid wood change the weight, and if so, by how much?  Reckon it all depends on the underlying material of the cups.

 

[up late]

it's not pointless whining jerg. changing the material that the ear cups are made out of isn't a small revision. and it feels like it's been done at the last minute which doesn't inspire confidence. we're not talking about a budget can here.

 

[Terja]

 
I think those are seriously beautiful and will result in a more consistent HE-560 look. I also think it's time to close this 'book of improvements.' This headphone is ready -- especially if the team judges that it has actually resulted in a sonic improvement over the previous version.
 
Now for the cable -- is it complementary of this fabulous new look? I have always liked and still like the Canare 1109 L-4E5AT that I sport on my HE-500. I still don't understand how or why HifiMan ever gave up on it. It's not stiff, looks really professional and sounds great to boot.

 

[up late]

Veneer is real wood...

Add me to the list of people that like the new look. I'd honestly rather these are made of plastic for consistency. 

but it's not solid wood. solid wood cups was a selling point for this high end can. replacing that with wood veneer is kinda tacky to me in a can costing close to a grand.